Q. 34. Do you believe them to be the same ?-A. Yes, sir; I kept them in the box so, ever since the election. Q. 35. You believe that these are the same identical tickets?-A. As far as I know they are not changed or been changed to my knowledge. Q. 36. You now find one more for Frederick than found at that time?-A. Yes, sir; the way it is counted now. Q. 37. How do you account for that vote?-A. I cannot tell. Q. 38. Do you think that you made the mistake when you counted the votes on the evening of the election ?-A. I cannot tell you that. Q. 39. Is it possible that you might have made a mistake?-A. Yes, sir; possibly so. Q. 40. What are your politics?-A. Republican. Cross-examination: Q. 41. Tell us how you counted the votes on the night of the election?-A. We counted them in this way; the judges counted out all the straight ballots, that is, straight ballots for the State and county. Q. 42. Did they count them one by one?-A. At first we did, if I recollect right. Q. 43. I mean did they examine each ballot ?-A. We tallied for Wilson and Frederick; we tallied there; we did not see the heading of the page until we got started. Q. 44. I mean did you examine each ballot when you took it out of the box, to see who was voted for?-A. No, sir; I was clerk. Q. 45. You kept tally as the judges called them?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 46. You returned 75 for Wilson in the poll-book?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 47. 54 for Frederick ?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 48. Did you make a careful count?-A. Yes, sir; we were careful about it. Q. 49. Were they counted more than once?-A. Yes, sir; they were counted several times. Q. 50. To see that they came out right?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 51. You numbered them out the same each time ?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 52. Now we find here 7 ballots with nobody on them for Congressman, were they not? Now, was each of these ballots found in the box when you opened it that night? A. Yes, sir; they were in the box. Q. 53. Were they tallied separately?-A. I could not answer that. Q. 54. Now, you say Mr. Stapleton and Mr. Shipton came down to your house to count the ballots?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 55. They counted them?-A. Mr. Stapleton and Mr. Shipton did, if I remember right. Q. 56. They took them out of the box ?-A. No, sir; I took them out of the box and laid them on the table. Q. 57. They counted them ?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 58. You didn't tally ?-A. No, sir. Q. 59. You didn't count with your own hands?-A. No, sir. Q. 60. Which one of them did the tallying?-A. Mr. Shipton did the tallying. Q. 61. Who handled the ballots?-A. Mr. Stapleton. Q. 62. Was that he who counted them, when they counted them over that night of the election?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 63. Had they been, previous to that time, where nobody could get at them ?-A. Yes, sir; they were locked up. Q. 64. Were they in a room where nobody had access to it?-A. No, sir; I was frequently there myself; I was working up there. Q. 65. Who else went up there?-A. My children did. Q. 66. Any strangers-A. Not that I remember of any strangers. Q. 67. Was the box locked?-A. Yes, sir; it was. Q. 68. Was it sealed; was any cover put over the hole at the top-A. No, sir. Q. 69. Any cover put over the key-hole?-A. No, sir. Q. 70. Was it a common lock?-A. I guess so; I didn't examine it. Q. 71. Was it kept in a bed-room up-stairs?-A. No, sir; it was kept in a new building I got; I have no bed or anything up there. I have some seed-corn up there. Q. 72. Any strangers ever up there ?-A. Not that I know of to my knowledge. Q73. Was the ballot-box ever brought down that you know of?-A. No, sir; not up to that time. Q. 74. While those men were counting, you were about the house talking, I suppose?-A. Yes, sir; I was there. Q. 75. Did you have your eyes on the ballots all the time?-A. No, sir; I did not. Q. 76. They might have added a ballot without your seeing it?—A. Possibly they could. Q. 77. How do you account for this discrepancy? You say that there was only 132 votes that day of the election?--A. Yes, sir. Q. 78. And yet we find 5 more ballots than that; 137 instead of 132; can you account for that difference? (Witness examines poll-books.) A. I cannot tell you how that came. Q. 79. The ballots were not strung together?-A. No, sir; they were tied with a string around each bunch; Democratic tickets by themselves; Republican tickets by themselves; torn tickets indicated with a pin run through them. Q. 80. In this count, did you take them afterwards, and tie them in the same papers again, just as counted, and in a bunch instead of stringing them again?-A. When Mr. Stapleton looked them over? Q. I. I mean when Mr. Stapleton and Mr. Shipton looked them over?-A. No, sir; they were scattered around the table, so. I Q. 2. You left them scattered around the table?—A. Yes, sir. Q. 3. Then they had to be searched out after they went away?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 34. Well, how long were they there?-A. I cannot tell exactly; about an hour, guess, or three-quarters of an hour. Q. 55. Was it in the day time or in the night ?-A. In the day time. Redirect examination: Q. 86. Do you remember tallying during the day, that you or the other clerk, one getting ahead of the other; that one of you tallied so as to keep up with the other?— A. Sometimes one of us was absent to get a drink, when we came up we would just put down the names we had voted. Q. 87. I mean in the evening when all the voters had all voted, did either of you get ahead?-A. No, sir. Q.88. You always kept even right along?-A. Yes, sir. Q.9. No question of the count carried up ?-A. No, sir. Q.90. When the tickets were counted they were poured out on the table, or taken out by hand?-A. I don't remember that. Q.91. You don't remember?-A. No, sir; I don't remember how they were taken out, but they were not poured out on the table; I can answer that. Q.92. Did you count these tickets over the same time Mr. Stapleton was there? Did you count them over yourself?—A. Yes, sir; just as we were ready to go they arose and were going to go when Stapleton requested me to count them. Q.93. You counted them?-A. Yes, sir; I did. Recross-examination: Q.94. At the tallying in the evening of the 7th, when the tickets were called off, do you know who handled them at that time? Was it one of the trustees? Can you tell what he did with them? How he kept them?-A. It was handed to one of the trustees. Q.95. You may tell what he did with them, whether he put them in another place or laid them on the table?-A. The way they counted; they counted straight tickets; straight ballots by themselves; then those that were not straight by themselves. Q.96. What did they do with them immediately after they were counted; just after they were taken out of the box ?—A. Well, I don't know; they went into possession of another judge or clerk. Q.7. Well, state whether or not there were any loose tickets lying around there; being around during the day; whether they were all entirely cleared away from the table?-A. Yes, sir; I think that they were. Q.9%. You stated in the direct testimony that they could have been tampered with while the recount was being made?-A. Possibly so; I went into the room after the poll-book. Q.99. When you were gone they were alone?-A. No, sir, not exactly; my brother Was there, and several others in the house were there. Q.100. Did they take any particular interest in it?-A. No, sir; not particular. I sat there awhile; also my brother sat close by there too. Q. 101. While they were sorting out on the table-while they were counting-you went to get the poll book?-A. Yes, sir; I did. Q. 102. After they had counted them and left them on the table you counted them for the first time, and you found 55 instead of 54 for Frederick?-A. Yes, sir. Redirect: Q. 103. In counting them, that time, did they leave the tickets lying loosely over the table, or leave each party tickets in a pile by themselves -A. I think that they laid them over, and just shoved them to one side to make room for the others. Q. 104. You then piled them up in piles just about as they found them, did you? I understand you to say you recounted the ballots while they were there.-A. Mr. Stapleton was standing there looking at me at the time. Q. 105. You made 55 of them?-A. Yes, sir. Recross-examination: Q. 106. That was after they had counted them ?—A. Yes, sir. Redirect: Q. 107. Who asked you to go out of the room after the tally-sheet-A. Nobody; I went myself. Recross-examination: Q 108. Did they want to ascertain what was on the tally-sheet ?-A. I don't think that they requested me for anything at all that I can remember; Stapleton looked at it, as I can remember, after I brought it in. ($1.50 paid as fee by contestant.) STATE OF IOWA, Iowa County, 88: ANDREW JACOBS. MARTIN HANSON, being produced and sworn before A. J. Morrison, notary public for Iowa County, on this 8th day of March, 1883, and examined before me, testifies as follows (T. Brown appearing on the part of contestant and A. H. Simpson on the part of contestee): Q. 1. What is your name, age, place of residence, and occupation ?-A. My name is Martin Hanson; my age is 40 years; I live in Hardin Township, State of Iowa, Iowa County; my occupation is that of a farmer. Q. 2. State if now or in 1882 you held an official position in Hardin Township, State of Iowa.-A. I was township trustee. Q. 3. You attended the election November, 1882 ?—A. Yes, sir. Q. 4. Did you help recanvass the ballots?-A. Yes, sir. Q.5. What did you do during the day of the election?-A. Well, part of the time I was receiving the ballots and putting them into the box, and part of the time I was sitting around the table by the clerk. Q. 6. Do I understand you to say that you didn't help recanvass the ballots in the evening-A. Yes, sir; I did in the evening of the election. Q. 7. What part did you take in the canvass in the evening of the election ?—A. I read off the names of the ballots. Q. 8. You have helped canvass them here this evening, havn't you?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 9. What is the result you found now as compared with the result then; what is the difference?-A. As I understood it there was one more vote than our returns showed that night. Q. 10. Do you think you could possibly have made a mistake on the evening of the election-A. Such a thing might be, although we counted them over several times and we felt confident that we had them right. Q. 11. In counting these ballots, did you count out all the straight Democratic tickets there were in a pile?-A. In the first place we separated them; I think it was Mr. Powell, the other trustee, who took the Democratic tickets; I took the Republican tickets and strung them out in our hands and put them in square packages; then we looked them over and saw how many straight tickets there were; then afterwards I read them off. Q. 12. You told the clerk how many straight tickets there were ?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 14. Do you remember how many straight Democratic tickets there were ?—A. No, sir; I cannot remember. Q. 15. Did you lay them out in piles of 5 or 10, or did you give him the whole list of straight tickets there were at one time?-A. He tallied them down; afterwards we read them over again to compare them. Q. 16. Then you took the split tickets?-A. Yes, sir. Q 17. And read them over?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 18. You believe them to be the same tickets voted November 7th, the ones you have canvassed to-night?-A. As far as I know; I have not seen them since; I cannot say for certain; we put them back into the box the evening of the election; we took the box and turned it over after we got them all out; we strung them and put them back in there. Q. 19. Who took the tickets out that evening?-A. Myself and Mr. Powell. Q. 20. How did you take them out; one at a time? A. Yes, sir; one at a time; then strung them and made packages of them. Q. 21. About how many straight Democratic tickets were there voted straight ?-A. Well, I cannot tell you; I don't know; I don't remember how many there were; I did know that night, but I cannot tell now. Q. 22. You believe these tickets to be the same tickets that you canvassed that night? -A. Yes, sir; they look like the same tickets. Cross-examination: Q. 23. You took the tickets out of the box when you commenced counting them ↑A. I helped to take them out. Q. 24. You examined them one by one to see whether Democratic or Republican? -A. Yes, sir. Q.25. Then you looked them over carefully and rapidly-A. Yes, sir. Q. 26. You are positive that you got them right?-A. Yes, sir; we thought we were pretty positive of it. Q. 27. Now there are 7 tickets here that have no Congressmen on them by your count to-night; now in what shape did you find these tickets in the box ?-A. The same number. Q. 28. Were they folded or by themselves?-A. By themselves. Q. 29. Each of these is where one man voted, and all the ticket he had a chance of voting-A. Yes, sir. Q. 30. How do you account for the fact that there are 132 men who voted there that day; is that the number?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 31. You find 75 for Wilson ?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 32. You find to-night 55 for Frederick, which makes 130, and then there were 7 of these little tickets, which make 137?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 33. And only 132 names on the poll-book?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 34. Can you explain that ?-A. I can't do it. Q. 35. You are positive that you counted them right on the night of the election A. Yes, sir; we counted them over several times, and thought we had them right. Q. 36. Did you count the ballots to see whether they corresponded with the names on the register?-A. Yes, sir; we compared them that night. Q. 37. Did you find that they corresponded; 132 ballots, and 132 names on the pollbook-A. That is the way we had it that night; yes, sir. Q. 38. How did you find it that night ?—A. There seems to be 5 more to-night. Redirect: Q. 39. You say positively that there were only 132 tickets in the box that night ?— A. We compared the ballots with the figures that night. Q. 40. Are you positive that there were only 132 ballots in the box that night when you counted them?-A. According to what we counted. Q. 41. Is it not a fact that during the evening you had some trouble in counting these ballots?-A. I remember we counted them several times. Q. 42. Did you not have some trouble, something about these American tickets, you didn't know what to do with them; that you had more names than you had on the tally-list?-A. Yes, sir; we did, but we kept on counting them until we got them straight, Q. 43. How did you get it straight?-A. We counted the tickets over. Q. 44. Isn't it a fact, sir, that you didn't get it straight at all; that you had more tickets; you did not know what to do with these two American tickets; you did not have tallies for them, or names on the poll-book for them?—A. I can't remember about that. Q. 45. Don't you remember you had trouble about these tickets ?-A. We counted them over several times. Q. 46. Do I understand you to say that you are positive there were only 132 ballots in the box, counted the county ballots and American tickets? Are you positive there are only 132 ballots in the box?-A. Well, we counted; I know in the first place there was one of these State tickets in the township box, and, and I changed them, and counted them in. Q. 47. Are you positive there are only 132 ballots in the box, counting all the tickets?-A. Well, I cannot say for certain; I know we counted them until we were positive we were right. Q. 43. Then you can't say for certain that there were only 132 tickets in the box; did you have a good deal of trouble counting them?—A. No, sir; I don't know that we did; I know we counted them several times. Q. 49. What was your object in counting them over several times?-A. To be sure that we had them right. Q. 50. Didn't you make up your minds that some men voted county tickets; also voted State tickets with them that you did not count out as a full ballot ?—A. There was some such, as we were talking about it at the time, before we found that ticket in the township box; when we found that we counted them over again. I think that we had it right according to the numbers on the book. Q. 51. Then you are positive there are only 132 ballots in the box that night? Now wasn't it the tally-list you compared with on the books? Did you compare them with the tallies -A. Yes, sir. Q. 52. You didn't look back to see how many names had been tallied before you compared them with the tally-list ?-A. Well, I don't know as I looked at the names; how many names, but I think the clerk said we had corresponded with the names; that is the best of my recollection. Q. 53. You compared the tickets with the tally-lists?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 54. That is the best of your recollection, is it ?—A. Yes, sir; as near as I can recollect. Recross-examination: Q. 55. Whenever you are clear in your own mind that you counted over the tickets for every man for Congress, as you counted them; that you felt sure that you are right? A. Yes, sir. Q. 56. You didn't leave any ticket for anybody that you didn't count ?-A. No, sir. Q. 57. You are clear in your own mind that you are right? A. Yes, sir. Q. 58. You are a good deal surprised to find one more for Frederick to-night?-A. Yes, sir; I am. Q. 59. You have no doubt in your mind but what you got these tickets for Congressman the proper number in each list ?-A. I know that we tried to count them for the ones they belonged to; at least I always tried to. If they made a mistake it was not willingly on my part. Redirect: Q. 60. You are not positive that you did not make a mistake?-A. I am liable to make a mistake as well as anybody. ($1.50 paid as fee by contestant.) STATE OF IOWA, Iowa County, 88: MARTIN HANSON. C. L. SHIPTON, being produced and sworn before A. J. Morrison, notary public for Iowa County, on this 8th day of March, 1883, and examined before me, testifies as follows (T. Brown appearing on the part of contestant, and A. H. Simpson on the part of contestee): Q. 1. What is your name, age, place of residence, and occupation?—A. Marengo is my residence; I am one of the publishers of the Marengo Messenger; I am 25 years old. Q. 2. How long have you resided there?-A. About three months. Q. 3. Were you present at Jacobs' when Stapleton and Jacobs were looking over the tickets a few days ago in Hardin Township, Iowa County ?-A. Yes sir. Q. 4. Where were you when this was being done?-A. I was in the room with them at the table. Q. 5. Were you watching them?-A. Yes, sir; I was tallying. sir. Q. 6. Did you see them handle the tickets?-A. Well, we were handling them; yes, Q. 7. Do you believe or know whether there was a chance for a man to change the tickets, or take out any? (Objection as being the opinion of the witness and not a fact.) A. I think that I saw Mr. Jacobs bring the tickets into the room; they were tied up; I saw him untie them; I saw Stapleton take them up. I sat there and tallied; then-well, he counted them, for I followed him with my eye most of the time. Q. 8. You didn't see any change, or any tickets being taken out or put in during the time?-A. No, sir. 9. Who else was in the room?-A. Andrew Jacobs, the clerk; John Jacobs, one of the trustees; also two other young men; also two women, the wives of Andrew and John Jacobs. Q. 10. You think if there had been anything of that kind done, any change of the tickets, in either marking or erasing, or writing names in, that you would have seen them? (Objection as asking for an opinion of the witness, rather than for a fact.) A. Yes, sir; I think that I would. Q. 11. You are most positive that there was nothing of that kind done?—A. I feel positive that there was not anything of that kind done. Cross-examination: Q. 12. You are the editor of the Messenger, are you?-A. Yes, sir; one of them. Q. 13. Did you write for it?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 14. Was it a political paper?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 15. Frederick paper?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 16. That is, against Wilson?-A. Yes, sir; as far as politics goes. Q. 17. Does it pronounce decidedly in his favor, and has it through the canvass ?A. Yes, sir; as far as politics are concerned. Q. 18. Are you the gentleman who writes the editorials?-A. No, sir; not that part. Q. 19. What part did you?-A. Some of the local writing. Q. 20. Did you do the writing as far as Frederick and Wilson were concerned ?—A. No, sir; I never wrote any of them. Q. 21. Politically you are the friend of Frederick?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 22. You and Mr. Stapleton went down there to count these ballots?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 23. You did the tallying; he did the counting.-A. Yes, sir. |