214 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



Of Counsel. 



parochial, and Federal, as the law of the State 

 neither provides nor allows any separation of the 

 election for Representatives in Congress, etc., from 

 the election of State and parish officers. The elec- 

 tion is in law a single election, and the power of 

 inspection vested in law in the supervisors appointed 

 by the court extends to the entire election, a full 

 knowledge of which may well become necessary to 

 defeat fraud." 



In which opinion the Attorney-General of the State 

 of Louisiana coincided. Whereupon protestants 

 claim admittance to all sessions of the returning 

 board, and protest against their exclusion as unwar- 

 ranted by law, as informed by their attorneys has 

 been done and is contemplated to be done hereafter 

 in said proceedings of said board. 



F. C. ZACHARIE, 



E. A. BURKE. 



CHAS. CAVANAC, 



FRANK MoOLOlN, 



J. R. A. GAUTHREAUX, 



H. C. BROWN, I 



But that said Wells, Anderson, Kenner, and Casa- 

 nave, acting as such returning board, in further 

 pursuance and execution of said unlawful combina- 

 tion and conspiracy, then and there refused to per- 

 mit said United States commissioners of election to 

 be present for the purpose aforesaid, but proceeded 

 in their absence to the pretended compilation and 

 canvass aforesaid. 



That the said returning board, while in session as 

 aforesaid, for the purpose aforesaid, to wit, on the 

 20th day of November, 1876, adopted the following 

 rule to govern their proceedings ; that is to say : 



(9) "No ex purte affidavits or statements shall be 

 received hi evidence : except as a basis to show that 

 such fraud, intimidation, or other illegal practice had 

 at some poll requires investigation ; but the returns 

 and affidavits authorized by law, ma le by officers of 

 election, or in verification of statements as required 

 by law, shall be received in evidence as primajacie." 



But that said board subsequently, while sitting as 

 aforesaid, for the purposes aforesaid, having be- 

 come convinced that they could not, upon other than 

 ex parte testimony, so manipulate the said compila- 

 tion and canvass as to declare that said Kellogg, 

 Burch, Joseph, Sheldon, Marks, Levisse, Brewster, 

 and Joffrion, were elected electors at said election, 

 and in further pursuance of said unlawful combina- 

 tion and conspiracy did subsequently modify said 

 rule, and declare and decide that, as such returning 

 board, they would receive_ ex parte affidavits, under 

 which last decision of said board over two hundred 

 pages of ex parte testimony was received by said 

 board in favor of said Kellogg and others ; and afcer- 

 ward, when the said McEnery and others offered ex 

 parte evidence to contradict the ex parte evidence 

 aforesaid, the said returning board reversed its last 

 decision, and refused to receive ex parte affidavits, in 

 contradiction as aforesaid. 



And that, in pursuance of said unlawful combina- 

 tion and conspiracy, the said returning board, in vio- 

 lation of a law of said State, approved November 20, 

 1872, neglected and refused to compile and canvass 

 the statement of votes made by the commissioners 

 of election, which were before them according to law 

 for canvass and compilation as aforesaid in regard to 

 the election, of presidential electors, but that said 

 board did, in pursuance and further execution of said 

 combination and conspiracy, canvass and compile 

 only the consolidated statements and returns made 

 to them by the supervisors of registration of the sev- 

 eral parishes of said State. 



And that said returning board, in pursuance and 

 further execution of saidunlawful combination and 

 conspiracy, did knowraglyv willfully, and fraud- 

 ulently refuse to compile and canvass the votes given 

 for electors at said election in more than twenty par- 

 ishes of said State, as was shown and appeared by 



and upon the consolidated statement and return 

 made to them by said supervisors of said parishes. 



And that said returning board did, in said canvass 

 and compilation, count and estimate, as a foundation 

 for their determination in the premises, hundreds of 

 votes which had not been returned and certified to 

 them either by the commissioners of election in said 

 State or by the supervisors of registration in said 

 State, they the said members of said board then and 

 there well knowing that they had no right or Author- 

 ity to estimate the same for the purpose aforesaid. 



"And that said returning board, in further pur- 

 suance and execution of said unlawful combination 

 and conspiracy, knowingly, willfully, falsely, and 

 fraudulently did make a certificate and return to the 

 Secretary of State that said Kellogg, Burch, Joseph, 

 Sheldon, Marks s Levisse, Brewster, and Joffrion, 

 had received majorities of all the legal votes cast at 

 said election of November 7, 1876, for presidential 

 electors, they then and there well knowing that the 

 said McEnery, Wickliffe, St. Martin, Poche, De 

 Blanc, Seay, Cobb, and Cross, had received major- 

 ities of all the votes cast at said election for presi- 

 dential electors, and were duly elected as the presi- 

 dential electors of said State. 



And that the said returning board, in making said 

 statement, certificate, and return to the Secretary 

 of State, were not deceived nor mistaken in the prem- 

 ises, but knowingly, willfully, and fraudulently made 

 what they well knew when they made it was a false 

 and fraudulent statement, certificate, and return ; 

 and that the said false and fraudulent statement, 

 certificate, and return, made by said returning board 

 to the Secretary of State in that behalf, was made by 

 the members of said returning board in pursuance 

 and execution of, and only in pursuance and execu- 

 tion of, said unlawful combination and conspiracy. 



And that said returning board, while in session as 

 aforesaid for the purpose aforesaid, in further pur- 

 suance and execution of said unlawful combination 

 and conspiracy, did alter, change, and forge, or cause 

 to be altered, changed, and forged, the consolidated 

 statement and return of the supervisor of registra- 

 tion for the parish of Vernon, in said State, in the 

 manner following, to wit : The said consolidated 

 statement, as made and returned to said board, 

 showed that, of the legal votes given in said parish 

 for electors at said election for November 7, 1876, 

 said McEnery received 647, said Wickliffe re- 

 ceived 647, said St. Martin received 647, said Poche 

 received 647, said De Blanc received 647, said Seny 

 received 647, said Cobb received 647, said Cross re- 

 ceived 647 ; and that said Kellogg received none, 

 said Burch received none, said Joseph received 2, 

 said Brewster received 2, said Marks received 2, said 

 Levisse received 2, said Joffrion received 2, said 

 Sheldon received 2 ; and said board altered, changed, 

 and forged, or caused to be altered, changed, and 

 forged, said consolidated statement, so as to make 

 the same falsely and fraudulently show that the said 

 McEnery received 469, said Wickliffe received 469, 

 said St. Martin received 469, said Poche' received 469, 

 said De Blanc received 469, said Seay received 469, 

 said Cobb received 469, said Cross received 469 ; and 

 that said Kellogg received 178, said Burch received 

 178, said Joseph received 178, said Sheldon received 

 180, said Marks received 180, said Levisse received 

 180, said Brewster received 180, said Joffrion received 

 180 : and that said returning board, while in session 

 as aforesaid for the purpose aforesaid, to pretend to 

 justify the alteration and forgery of said consolidated 

 statement, procured and pretended to act upon three 

 forged affidavits, purporting to have been made and 

 sworn to by Samuel Carter, Thomas Brown, end 

 Samuel Collins, they, the said members of said re- 

 turning board, then and there well knowing that 

 said pretended affidavits were false and forged, and 

 that no such persons were in existence as purported 

 to make said affidavits. And that said members of 

 said returning board, acting as said board ; in pursu- 



