COUNTY TICKET.
For Clerk of the Courts,
SAMUEL R. MCLERAN.

For County Recorder,
J. B. JENNINGS.

For Member Board of Supervisors,
GEORGE A. TURNER.

For Building Jail.
Against Building Jail (erased).

For Appropriating $22,000 Swamp Land Fund.
Against Appropriating $22,000 Swamp Land Fund (erased).

A. Yes, sir; I think that I can.

Q. 132. Please examine it with the glass.

(Witness examines the ticket with the magnifying glass).

A It looks to me as if it were torn with a pencil.

Q. 133. Was that ticket counted for Frederick to-day in your count?-A. No, sir; it was counted as a blank.

Q. 134. Have you the ballot-box in your possession in the 4th ward?-A. No, sir. Q. 135. Have you the ballots cast at the 4th ward in your possession?-A. I have. Q. 136. How have those ballots been kept while in your possession, and when did you receive them?-Ans. I received them on the morning of the 8th, next morning after the election; in the ballot-box of the 4th ward; canvass was made; there were 383 votes cast, of which Frederick receives 271; Wilson. 96; Platner, 4; blanks, 12. I took them out of the ballot-box myself, and kept them just as I have kept the ballots when of the other wards.

Q. 137. To your knowledge, have any of the ballots been changed or disturbed or meddled with since the election?-A. No, sir; not to my knowledge.

Q. 138. Were they tied?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 139. Describe to the commissioner how they were strung?-A. They were strung open, just single, without being folded.

Q. 140. State how the string was fastened?-A. Just tied.

Q.141. Have the ballots the same appearance as they had when you received them ?— A. Yes, sir.

Q. 142. Did you know who the judges of the election in the 4th ward were, also who the clerks were ?-A. No, sir; only by the returns.

Q. 143. You may call to your assistance Mr. R. Eastbrook and W. H. Harrington, and count the tickets, and state how many votes, for Representative for the 5th district, 4th ward, in this city, and you may also state how many each candidate received. (Objection, incompetent and irrelevant, because the ballots were not shown to be the same as when the canvass was made.)

A. There were 383 votes cast, of which Frederick receives 271; Wilson, 96; Platner, 4; blanks, 12.

Q. 144. Have you the poll-book of the 4th ward of the precinct of Marshalltown?— A. Yes, sir.

Q. 145. Please present it and see how many votes on tally-list of the Nov. election, 1882, for Representative in Congress?-A. Tally-list shows Jas. Wilson, 98; B. T. Frederick, 270; David P. Platner, 4; Andy Abbott, 7.

Q. 146. Turn to the returns in that book and read them to the commissioner that he may copy the same ?-A. The returns show for Representative in Congress, 5th Cong. dist. of Iowa, that there were 373 votes cast, of which James Wilson had 98; B. T. Frederick, 270; Andy Abbott, 7; David Platner, 4.

Q. 147. You may state if there is a ballot there which you have counted for Wilson in which the name is written Wilso for Congressman?

(Witness examines the ballots.)

À. I think that there is such a ballot here. For Representative in Congress, 5th Iowa dist., Marshall Co., Wisson Congress; that is the way it reads.

Q. 148. You may take that ballot from the files, pass it to the commissioner, and let him attach it as an exhibit to your answer to his interrogatory, marked Exhibit H. You may state if you counted that ballot for Wilson in your return.

A. We did in this count to day count for Wilson.

Cross-examination:

Q. 149. How many ballots that you have counted to-day from the Second ward, bal. lots that you count blank, were scratched?-A. I don't know that I could tell without an examination.

Q. 150. In the Second ward are the ballots counted blank by you to-day, most of them or nearly all of them, scratched tickets?-A. Yes, sir; I think that they are. Q. 151. Are there several of the ballots of that ward with Wilson's name erased and Frederick's written in pencil?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 152. Is that also true of the 3rd ward?-A. Yes, sir; to the erasure of Wilson and the writing of Frederick.

Q. 153. Is that also of the First ward?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 154. And of the 4th ward ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 155. Can you tell from the books of these tickets to-day where Wilson's name is erased and Frederick written in pencil when it was done ?—A. No, sir.

Q. 156. Can you tell from the face of the ticket that erasures were not made since the canvass?-A. No, sir; I can't.

Q. 157. You were on the election board of the Third ward, were you?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 158. One of the clerks of the election ?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 159. Who took the tickets out of the box-ballot-box-of that ward at the canvass on the night of the election?—A. I think that the judges took them out; I think that all the judges took some out.

Q. 160. Who were the judges?—A. Mr. O. P. Arnold, D. W. Hartwell, and B. S. Burrett.

Q. 161. Can you explain the manner in which the tickets were counted in the box at night after the election?-A. The tickets were all taken from the box and strung, and then they were sorted, first the straight tickets, so far as they were straight, and then we counted, I think, every bunch. They were passed from one to another and marked on the back; then afterward they were counted; then I think they were tallied dowu so far as a State ticket.

Q. 162. You mean from one to another of the judges ?-A. After they were sorted out in bunches one of the judges or clerks would count the tickets, then the other clerk would recount the bunch to see whether they were right; then they would recount until they were satisfied as to the number of bunches; then the whole number of tickets, without any scratches on the State tickets, were tallied, and so on through the whole State ticket; then we finished the scratched ones; then sorted out the tickets for Representative; also for judge and attorney.

Q. 163. What evidence have you, aside from the taking of the ballots and counting them, that there was any error committed?-A. I haven't any evidence that I can think of just now.

Q. 164. When you say in the 4th ward the ballots have the same appearance as the ballots returned to you, as township clerk, do you mean individual ballots or a bunch of ballots?-A. I mean a bunch of ballots; I never examined them individually.

Q. 165. Did you examine the ballots when they were returned to you at all after the canvass, until two or three days ago?-A. No, sir; not any further than I examined them when they were returned; they were returned in bunches; I marked them on the back of each bunch what ward they were in; marked them just as they were returned.

Q. 166. You say there were four men that had keys to your office?-A. Yes, sir. Q. 167. How often has your office been left unlocked or open during the day when nobody was in?-A. I suppose almost every day from the election day until now. Q. 168. For how long a time have you known it for any one time to have been so?— A. It was our custom, except when going to the post-office or going out for a few minutes, perhaps not more than half an hour, to lock the office; if we were to be gone for any length of time it was always locked.

Q. 169. When did Mr. Stone apply to you to see the poll-book--about what time?A. I should say four or six weeks ago. The first time I have looked at the poll-books and affidavits for Mr. Stone.

Q. 170. Did he know where the poll-books were kept-in what room-at that time?— A. I could not say whether he did or not.

Q. 171. When he came in did he go to the back room and get them and bring them to the front room?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 172. Did he go to the back room with you?—A. No, sir; I went in, brought them out, examined them on the desk in the front room.

Q. 173. Did you bring in the box and all of them at that time?-A. I think at one time we did not and at another time we did.

Q. 174. He knew that these ballots were in an open paper box, without being locked?-A. Yes, sir.

So.

Q. 175. You think that was as much as four or six weeks ago?-A. Yes, sir; I think

Q. 176. Now Mr. Stone is at work for Mr. Frederick in looking up testimony ?—A. It is so stated.

Q. 177. You say simply that you have never seen anybody change these ballots?— A. Yes, sir; that is what I say.

Q. 178. In the Third ward did you count the ballots to see if they corresponded to the number of votes on the night of the canvass?-A. I would not be positive; we counted them to compare with the tally-list, but they were counted in bunches before we commenced to tally.

Q. 179. How many votes, as shown by the tally-books, in all, were cast in the Second ward-A. 308.

Q. 180. The number of ballots you find in the box to-day is 309?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 11. How many votes, as shown by the poll-book, have you in the 4th ward ?—

A. 380.

Q. 182. And the ballots you have counted to-day are 383 ?--A. Yes, sir.

Q. 384. When were these ballots put in that room you have spoken of-the room in the office?-A. The next day after the election.

Q. 183. When did you first count them?-A. We first counted them on the 7th of this month-the 7th of March.

Q. 184. You say in your direct examination as to the third ward, that you would have known of a change if any had been made-you would have known it ?-A. I don't know what that relates to; I don't know that I could answer as to mark or erasure on any ballot.

Q. 185. You don't mean to say that in your answer to that question on direct examination that you don't know that there was any mark or erasure on any ballots?—A. No, sir; I don't mean that in my answer.

Q. 186. I think you have testified that the ballots were all kept in one place?—A. Yes, sir.

Q. 187. They have not been under lock and key, except being in the room when the room was locked, since the election?-A. No, sir.

Q. 188. Did you count the ballots of the third ward at the time of the election, 1882the canvass?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 19. Do you believe that the ward returns were rightly made at that time?—A. Yes, sir.

Redirect:

Q. 190. You did not count the ballots yourself on the night of the election ?—A. Yes, sir; I counted some of them. They were counted in bunches, not being sorted out; first, as to the straight tickets, State tickets, Greenback, Republican, &c., and then the scratched tickets that we counted in bunches, one clerk and a judge would count, and then pass them to another.

Q. 191. Did you look carefully to see whether any ticket was scratched?-A. Yes, sir; we tried to reckon carefully, and only one of us attended to the sorting.

Q. 192. Was there any liability to mistake or error, it being done in the night ?-A. Yes, sir; of course there was a possibility.

Q. 193. It being night and the name not being very clearly erased, in looking over the tickets it would be very difficult to determine whether some were erased or not?— A. Yes, sir; some that were erased lightly might have been overlooked.

Q. 194. You are satisfied that your count to-day is correct?-A. Yes, sir.

Q. 195. It is a much more careful examination than you made on the night of the election-A. Yes, sir; I should say so.

Q. 196. Here you have looked for one office; there you have a good many to look out -A. Yes, sir.

Q. 197. You never knew of Mr. Stone being in there to disturb the ballots?-A. No, sir; not to my knowledge.

Q. 198. Mr. C. W. Stone is a Republican, is he not?-A. Yes, sir; I have always understood him to be a Republican.

Q. 199. What are the politics of these gentlemen that keep your office, Pinkham, Brennecke, &c.?-A. I think they are Republicans.

Q. 200. Was it possible for C. W. Stone to have changed these tickets from the time you were there with him without your having known it?-A. He did not do it when he looked them over with me, for we did not take the tickets out of the box.

Q. 201. At the time you counted them on that day was it possible for him or any one else to have changed the ticket without your having known it ?-A. Yes, sir; it might have been possible, but not probable.

Q.202. Who handled the tickets on that day?-A. I handled them.

Q. 203. Did any one besides you handle them?—A. I don't know that they did; I don't remember now that they did.

Q.204. You may state if there were any tickets of the third ward that had Wilson's