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STATE OF IOWA.

Iowa County, 88:

Deposition of witness produced before me, John Hughes, jr., a notary public and commissioner agreed upon to take testimony, this twenty-fourth day of April, A. D. 1883, in a proceeding before the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in a contested election for the office of Representative in Congress, in which proceedings Benjamin T. Frederick is contestant and James Wilson is contestee; T. Brown appearing as attorney for B. T. Frederick, and A. H. Simpson appearing as attorney for James Wilson.

FRITZ BRANCH, of lawful age, being produced and sworn by John Hughes, jr., in due form of law, testifies as follows:

(Contestant objects to the testimony of this witness for the reason that the name and residence of the witness is not given; also, that the evidence is immaterial.) Ques. 1. You may state whether you voted at the general election last fall, on November 7th, 1882.-Ans. Yes, sir; I did.

Ques. 2. You may state what ticket you voted.-Ans. I won't tell.

Ques. 3. You may state whether you voted for Frederick or Wilson for Congress.Ans. Why didn't they ask me when I voted, why didn't I vote an open ticket. Ques. 4. Well, you may state now.-Ans. I won't answer that.

Ques. 5. Will you state what is your political faith or doctrine?-Ans. I should think you ought to know that much.

Ques. 6. Well, I do; but the commissioner does not know it. You may state ir what nation you were born.-Ans. In Braden, Germany.

Ques. 7. At what age did you come to this country?-Ans. About twenty.

Ques. 8. Did you take out naturalization papers?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 9. Will you produce them in court ?-Ans. Yes, sir; I will if I have to.

(Witness produces papers.)

Ques. 10. In what year did you come to the United States?-Ans. In 1869.

Ques. 11. I will ask you if these are the only papers you ever received?-Ans. I had another one; I don't know what became of it; I guess that the court kept it; I had to wait five years before I could get this one.

Ques. 12. Well, your papers are good.

(Parties agree that the papers are good.)

85 cents paid as fees by contestee.

STATE OF IOWA,

Iowa County, 88:

Deposition of witness produced before me, John Hughes, jr., a notary public and commissioner agreed upon to take testimony, this twenty-fourth day of April, A. D. 1883, in a proceeding before the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in a contested election for the office of Representative in Congress, in which proceedings Benjamin T. Frederick is contestant, and James Wilson is contestee; T. Brown appearing as attorney for B. T. Frederick, and A. H. Simpson appearing as attorney for Wilson.

JOSEPH A. SCHMUKY, being of lawful age, and being produced and duly sworn by John Hughes, jr., in due form of law, testifies as follows:

(Contestant objects to the testimony of this witness for the reason that it is immaterial, irrelevant; that there is no allegation in the answer that there were illegal votes in this township.)

Ques. 1. Where do you live?-Ans. In Marengo, Iowa County, Iowa.

Ques. 2. Where were you born?-Ans. In Switzerland.

Ques. 3. How long since you came to Iowa-Ans. Since 1854.

Ques. 4. Have you got naturalization papers -Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 5. Have you got them with you?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 6. Please produce them.

(Witness produces paper in court.)

Ques. 7. Did you vote in this township last fall?—Ans. Yes, sir.
Ques. 8. What ticket did you vote?-Ans. I won't tell.

Ques. 9. This paper is made by a county judge and it is not legal. What ticket did you vote?-Ans. I won't tell.

(Contestant objects to the witness telling for whom he voted unless he wants to tell.)

Ques. 10. We will have to wait until you do tell.-Ans. You will wait until noon, then.

Ques. 11. You are not ashamed to tell for whom you voted?-Ans. I would rather get through quick.

Ques. 12. Tell for whom you voted and we will get through in a moment.-Ans. I won't tell.

Ques. 13. We will have to wait until you do tell.-Ans. Well, all right then. (Witness refuses to answer the question.)

Contestee states that the naturalization papers of this witness were got out in the county court of Marengo, Iowa County, Iowa, by A. H. Willet, judge of the county court of Iowa, dated the 7th day of Nov., 1864.

Ques. 14. You had better let us get through with this; it is all settled but to tell ns what ticket you voted; you are losing your time and ours; Frederick is not ashamed of it, and I know that you are not.

(Witness refuses to answer.)

Ques. 15. You had better tell us what ticket you voted.-Ans. I won't tell.

Ques. 16. Tell us what party you belong to.-Ans. I always belong to the Democratic party.

Ques. 17. Well, that is a good old party.-Ans. I think so.

Ques. 18. And you generally vote that ticket, don't you?-Ans. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

Ques. 19. Did you vote it last November?-Aus. Yes, sir, I did.

Ques. 20. Did you vote the straight ticket?—Ans. No, sir; I didn't vote the straight ticket.

Ques. 21. Did you vote for Frederick for Congress -Ans. I won't tell.

Ques. 22. Who gave you your tickets?—Ans. Well, I don't know; three or four gave me tickets.

Ques. 23. Did you vote the Democratic ticket?-Ans. Yes, sir; I think I did once for Mr. Morrison.

Ques. 24. Has anybody advised you not to tell? You are under oath now. -Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 25. Has anybody advised you not to answer this question ?-Ans. They told me I didn't have to.

sir.

Ques. 26. Who told that?-Ans. Most everybody said that.

Ques. 27. Name somebody that said that. Did Frederick tell you that?-Ans. No,

FREDERICK: I told the witness that he does not need to tell unless he wants to. Ques. 28. Did Mr. Brown?-Ans. No, sir.

(Brown makes some remarks.)

WILSON. I want to know, Mr. Brown, whether you say to the witness that he is not compelled to answer that question.

BROWN. I refuse to answer any question. I am not on the witness stand.

WILSON. Well, I want to know if you didn't instruct the witness not to answer that question.

BROWN. Well, I say that the witness cannot be compelled-if he is an illegal voterthat he cannot be compelled to state whether he voted or for whom he voted. (Among discussions all went into particulars as to what the law is.)

Ques. 29. You are keeping yourself and all these people from their work ?—Ans. (Witness refuses to answer.)

Ques. 30. I send for people to come here to carry on this contest, and pay them for it. I dislike to keep all these people waiting here; I dislike it very much.-Ans. (Witness still refuses to state for whom he voted.)

Ques. 31. I don't want to ask the House of Representatives to send here to take you down to Washington.-Ans. I say I belong to the Democratic party. Ques. 32. Did you scratch the ticket last fall?—Ans. I won't tell that now.

Ques. 33. You have said it once, that you voted mixed tickets?-Ans. I say sometimes I do that.

Ques. 34. Didn't you say last fall you voted a scratched ticket?-Ans. I believe not; I said I scratched the ticket sometimes. I didn't mean that election.

Ques. 35. You didn't mean that you did that last election?-Ans. I didn't say that. Ques. 36. Did you scratch the ticket last fall?-Ans. I didn't say that.

Ques. 37. You may stand aside a little while; we will go along with the rest ?Ans. I can stand it here all day long, if you fellows don't want me; I will send to have some lager beer brought up here.

(Excused for the present.)

JOSEPH SCHмUKY recalled.

Ques. 1. We wanted to know what ticket you voted last fall?-Ans. I will tell you I made up my mind that I wasn't going to answer any questions any more.

Ques. 2. Well, I have made up my mind that you are going to answer this question, s far as I am concerned. I will ask you this question: Do you know who you voted for for Representative in Congress? Which one of these two men or either of them did you vote for ?-Ans. I told you that I didn't answer any more questions. Ques. 3. Did you get your fees as a witness in this case?—Ans. Yes, sir; I did.

Ques. 4. How much did you get?-Ans. Eighty-five cents.

Ques. 5. You refuse to answer any more questions?-Ans. Yes, sir; I have nothing more to say.

Ques. 6. Now, Mr. Schmuky, I will read you the law, section 709 of the statutes of the State in regard to contested elections. [Reads the statutes to the witness.] I wanted you should hear this in the presence of both parties.

(Excused.)

STATE OF IOWA,

Iowa County, 88:

Deposition of witness produced and sworn before me, John Hughs, jr., a notary public and commissioner agreed upon to take testimony, this twenty-fourth day of April, A. D. 1883, in a proceeding before the House of Representatives of the United States of America, in a contested election for the office of Representative in Congress, in which proceedings Benjamin T. Frederick is contestant and James Wilson is contestee, T. Brown appearing as attorney for B. F. Frederick and A. H. Simpson appearing as attorney for Wilson.

JAMES QUINN, being of lawful age and being produced and sworn by John Hughs, jr., in due form of law, testifies as follows:

Ques. 1. You may state your name, age, and place of residence.-Ans. My age is about 55 or 56.

Ques. 2. Where do you live, township and State?-Ans. Two and a half miles south.

Ques. 3. What township?-Ans. This township, Marengo Township.

Ques. 4. Did you vote at the general election Nov. 7th, 18821-Ans. Yes, sir.
Ques. 5. What ticket did you vote?-Ans. I don't know.

Ques. 6. What country were you born in ?--Ans. Ireland.

Ques. 7. At what age were you when you came to America ?-Ans. I wasn't 21. Ques. 8. Did you ever take out citizen papers and become a citizen of the United States-Ans. No, sir, I never did; I never took out citizen papers.

Ques. 9. You didn't take out naturalization papers; do you know that difference between them-Ans. Naturalization papers and citizen papers are different.

Ques. 10. Have you the papers with you ?-Ans. No, sir.

Ques. 11. How many papers did you take out?-Ans. One set.

Ques. 12. In what county and State ?-Ans. Johnson County, State of Iowa.

Ques. 13. You declared your intentions there to become a citizen of the United States-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 14. You never took out any other papers ?-Ans. No, sir.

Ques. 15. What political party do you belong to?-Ans. I don't belong to any particular.

Ques. 16. What ticket do you generally vote?-Ans. I generally vote for the best

man.

Ques. 17. Which ticket do you generally put into the box?-Ans. Sometimes one, sometimes another.

Ques. 18. Which one at last fall election ?-Ans. I don't know.

Ques. 19. You are under oath.-Ans. Yes, sir; but I can't tell exactly.

Ques. 20. Who gave you your ticket?-Ans. I believe Mr. Lake.

Ques. 21. He is a Democrat, is he not, and belongs to the Democrat party --Ans. I don't know; I expect he does.

Ques. 22. He was distributing tickets for the Democrat party ?—Ans. It seems he was; he had some Republican tickets also.

Ques. 23. You expected you were voting for the Democratic man, did you not, at that election?-Ans. I thought I would any way.

Ques. 24. Did you know who were the candidates for Congress -Ans. I don't know exactly.

Ques. 25. Have you read that Frederick and Wilson were running for Congress ?— Ans. I heard something about it.

Ques. 26. There was no scratching on your ticket, no names scratched off, you say; it was a straight ticket?-Ans. I cannot tell whether it was scratched or not.

Ques. 27. Did you not intend to vote a Democrat ticket ?—Ans. Well, I generally scratch some men off every time.

Ques. 28. You didn't scratch any?-Ans. No, sir, I didn't; I don't know that I meant to scratch any; I wa snot acquainted with them.

Ques. 29. You expected you were voting for the Democratic nominees this time? Ans. I don't know; I can't tell; I took a mixed ticket anyway, I expect.

Ques. 30. What part was mixed, the township part?-Ans. I can't tell; some scratching, of course.

Ques. 31. You had confidence that Mr. Lake would give you the right ticket?—Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 32. You knew that Mr. Lake was a leading man in Marengo?-Ans. No, sir; I did not know that he belonged to the Democrat party.

Ques. 33. How did you happen to vote this ticket, or how did you happen to go to him for the ticket?-Ans. He asked me if I was going to vote. I said I was. He said, "I will give you the right ticket."

Ques. 34. What kind did he say that it was?—Ans. He had two or three kinds there.

Ques 35. Did you hear anybody say, or did you hear Lake say, that he was working for Republican candidates?-Ans. I cannot tell anything about that. I was not there many minutes; just came in and voted and went back again.

Ques. 36. You belong to the Democratic party, don't you?-Ans. Not exactly; I vote for the best man I know of when there is going to be an election.

Ques. 37. You have faith that the Democrats are the best men?-Ans. I have faith in the others, too. There are just as good men on the other side as there is on the Democratic side.

Ques. 38. How long have you voted?-Ans. I guess I have been voting about twenty-four or twenty-five years.

Ques. 39. You didn't think you needed the second papers?-Ans. I was told by Mr. Clark in Iowa City, that I did not need any; that I came under age.

Ques. 40. Did you come with your father?-Ans. No, sir; I came alone.

Cross-examination:

Ques. 41. Did you say Lake was peddling two kinds of tickets?-Ans. Yes, sir; he had more than one kind.

Ques. 42. You don't really know what kind of a ticket you voted?-Ans. I cannot tell what kind of a ticket I voted. I vote for one as well as the other. Ques. 43. Did you serve in the Army?-Ans. No, sir.

Redirect:

his

JAMES QUINN.

mark.

Ques. 44. Did you know Mr. Frederick prior to the election, also Mr. Wilson; and did you know which was the Democratic candidate?-Ans. I didn't know at the time, but did afterwards.

Ques. 45. Can you read print?—Ans. No, sir.

Ques. 46. What did you intend to vote at that election, Democrat or Republican ticket for the State ticket ?—Ans. I meant to pick out the best men, I began with Mr. Lake.

Ques. 47. You depended on his judgment?-Ans. He gave me a ticket and he said that was a good ticket; and for me to vote it.

Ques. 48. Did you get your fees from Mr. Wilson when he subpoenaed you?—Ans. No, sir; I live two and a half miles from bere.

Recross-examination:

Ques. 49. Didn't some one else give you tickets during the day?-Ans. Yes, sir. Ques. 50. You may have voted some other ticket then?-Ans. Yes, sir; I cannot tell, only I put one in.

Ques. 51. You cannot now tell positively what ticket you voted?-Ans. I think it was the one that Mr. Lake gave me.

Ques. 52. You would not swear positively?—Ans. No, sir.

Ques. 53. You had more than one?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 54. You have said, first, that you were only a few minutes at the polls?—Ans. I was not there more than half an hour or three-quarters.

Ques. 55. You think you voted the ticket that Mr. Lake gave you?-Ans. Yes, sir. Redirect:

Ques. 56. You said it was your best recollection you voted a ticket that Lake gave you-Ans. Yes, sir; that is it.

Recross-examination:

Ques. 57. You had more tickets than the one Lake gave you?-Ans. Yes, sir.
Ques. 58. You put them in your pocket together?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 59. Can you tell positively which one you took out; the one that Lake gave you, or one of the others?-Ans. I can't tell for certain whether I voted that one or the other.

Redirect:

Ques. 60. You have said you voted a ticket Lake gave you?-Ans. Yes, sir; I think so. Ques. 61. You think you did so?-Ans. I just put it in my pocket; I probably had

[blocks in formation]

some others in my pocket at the same time, so I can't swear I voted that particular one; I know that I voted some ticket.

Ques. 62. You think you voted the one that Lake gave you!-Ans. Yes, sir; I do think so; that is my opinion.

Recross-examination:

Ques. 63. You are not positive of that?-Ans. Well, that is only my opinion. (Excused.)

STATE OF IOWA,

Iowa County, 88:

M. STERN, being produced before Mr. Lake, a notary public for Iowa County, on this twenty-fourth day of April, 1883, testifies as follows (T. Brown appearing for the contestant; A. H. Simpson appearing for the contestee):

Ques. 1. State name, age, and place of residence.-Ans. Live in Marengo, Iowa County, Iowa; age, 47 years.

Ques. 2. Have you your naturalization papers with you -Ans. Yes, sir; I have. Ques. 3. Will you please produce them?

(Witness produces them.)

Papers prove good.

(Excused.)

Paid as fees, 85 cents.

STATE OF IOWA,

Iowa County, 88:

FRED. LIPSIUS, being produced before Mr. Lake, a notary public for Iowa County, on this twenty-fourth day of April, 1883, testifies as follows (T. Brown appearing for contestant; A. H. Simpson appearing for the contestee):

Ques. 1. Where do you reside ?-Ans. In Washington Township.

Ques. 2. Have you your papers with you?-Aus. Yes, sir; here they are.

(Witness produces papers in court.)

(Excused.)

95 cents paid as fees.

IOWA STATE,

Iowa County, 88:

JOHN HOWLETT, being produced before Mr. Lake, a notary public for Iowa County, on this twenty-fourth day of April, 1883, testifies as follows (T. Brown appearing for the contestant; A. H. Simpson appearing for the contestee):

Ques. 1. What is your age and place of residence ?-Ans. Born in England.

Ques. 2. Where do you live?-Ans. In this county and township, Merengo Township.

(Contestant objects to the evidence of this witness for the reason that it is incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.)

Ques. 3. Did you vote at the general election Nov. 7th, 1882-Ans. Yes, sir.
Ques. 4. In this township?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 5. Have you been naturalized as a citizen of the United States?—Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 6. Have you your naturalization papers with you?-Ans. No, sir; I have not. Ques. 7. Were you subpoenaed to bring them with you?-Ans. Yes, sir, I was; but I have not got them.

Ques. 8. You may state what ticket you generally vote.-Ans. Sometimes I vote one, sometimes part of another.

Ques. 9. Who did you vote for for Congress last fall?—Ans. I cannot really tell which one it was.

Ques. 10. Was it the Democratic ticket you voted?-Ans. I suppose likely enough

it was.

Ques. 11. You have not got your papers?-Ans. No, sir.

Ques. 12. Was your ticket last fall a scratched ticket, that is, the State part of it!Ans. I didn't notice; I can't read or write; I had a ticket given to me, and I voted it. Ques. 13. Who gave it to you?-Ans. This man, this messenger gave it to me. Ques. 14. Was it the editor of the Messenger?-Ans. Yes, sir; he said that he was. I expect that that was him.

Ques. 15. You have no papers?-Ans. No, sir.

Cross-examination:

Ques. 16. Did you ever have papers?-Ans. Yes, sir.

Ques. 17. Where did you get them?-Ans. In New York State; Utica; they gave

me one.

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