7443. Q. Will you please to describe, as near as you can recollect, the method by which parties were naturalized in this county preceding the last presidential election, and the number of naturalizations?

A. I presume there were somewhere about six hundred, perhaps over and perhaps less. They were brought to the office, the most part of them. Some were taken to the court-house; when the court was in session they were taken to the court-house; when it was not, the judge. as a general thing, came round mornings to the office, and they were naturalized there.

7444. Q. Were they examined by the judge, or by you?

A. When the judge was present he examined them; when he was not they were either examined by me or by the clerk.

7445. Q. What proportion of them were examined by you and the clerk. and what proportion by the judge?

A. That would be rather difficult for me to state.

7446. Q. Which did the most of it?

A. The clerk did the most of it.

7447. Q. Did the court sit any particular hours for this purpose, or did you do it as part of the current business of the office?

A. There was no particular hour set for it.

7448. Q. It was done whenever parties applied at the clerk's office, the same as you would any other current business?

A. Yes, sir.

7449. Q. What proportion of these cases did a man by the name of Haggerty act as a witness upon?

A. A considerable amount of them.

7450. Q. About how many, by hundreds?

A. I should think between one and two hundred. I should judge so 7451. Q. Did these parties that came forward pay for their own papers. or were they paid for by the political parties?

A. A portion of them paid for them themselves, and a portion wer paid for by the political parties.

7452. Q. Both parties?

A. A political party, I should have said.

7453. Q. What political party?

A. The democratic party.

7454. Q. Was the judge at the clerk's office every day on which they were naturalized?

A. I do not think he was.

7455. Q. Some days he was not there at all?

A. No, sir.

7456. Q. When he did come round, how long would he remain! A. Sometimes he would stay an hour, and sometimes longer. 7457. Q. In making out these naturalizations, did you examine the party and the witnesses, or did they simply subscribe the printed affida vits according to the printed form?

A. I usually examined them. I asked the regular questions. 7458. Q. What questions did you ask?

A. They were asked how long they had been in the country, and when they had procured their former papers-that is, if they had not their papers, and made their affidavit they had not the papers. They were asked how long they had the first papers, and different questions that would arise; I cannot state the questions exactly now.

7459. Q. When a party appeared without his first papers what did you require?

A. We required the affidavit of him, and a witness that he had had his papers.

7460. Q. Then you granted naturalizations upon the affidavit of the party, and a witness that he had had previous papers?

A. Yes, sir.

7461. Q. You did not require any certified copy of the former paper? A. No, sir.

7462. Q. What proportion of these papers were issued or lost, or alleged lost, papers?

A. I should presume probably a hundred of them that were granted, and probably more, on papers stated to be lost.

7463. Q. Without the production of any record, or any duplicate of such certificate?

A. Yes, sir.

7464. Q. To what political party does this man Haggerty belong? I think it very likely any

A. That would be a hard matter to state.

party could get him that would pay for it. I have been told so. I do not know it of my own knowledge.

7465. Q. To what political party do you belong?

A. I have always belonged to the democratic party.

7466. Q. When you granted a certificate of naturalization, by whom was the paper signed?

A. All that I signed, I signed my own name to.

7467. Q. As deputy clerk?

A. Yes, sir.

7468. Q. You granted naturalizations yourself when the clerk was absent?

A. Yes, sir.

7469. Q. What proportion were granted by you, in the absence of the clerk?

A. As nearly as I could judge, I should think one-third of them; probably not so many; maybe more.

7470. Q. What proportion of them were taken into court?

A. There were considerable many papers taken into court. I could not tell you what proportion. Every court that sat last season there were more or less papers taken into court. Probably one-third of them were granted at the court, and two-thirds out of court. That is a mere matter of judgment, I mean.

RONDOUT, ULSTER COUNTY, January 14, 1869.

PATRICK M. HAGGERTY sworn and examined.

To Mr. DICKEY:

7471. I reside in Rondout.

I am an officer-a constable.

7472. Q. State whether you were present at any naturalizations at Kingston last fall?

A. I was.

7473. Q. Who did the business of naturalizing?

A. The clerk and deputy clerk.

7474. Q. State in how many cases you were present, as near as you can?

A. Well, it was over a hundred; I could not be positive now without counting. I was there several days, occasionally once a day, sometimes twice a day, and sometimes there would be probably from 10 to 15, 20, 25; I do not think there were any more naturalized at one time in my

presence.

7475. Q. For how many parties were you witness?

A. I would not be positive, but quite a number? I would not like to say without looking over the clerk's records.

7476. Q. We will take the best of your judgment.

A. In the neighborhood of 100, more or less, probably; I would not be right positive whether more or less.

7477. Q. What proportion of those that you know of being naturalized on lost papers?

A. The principal part of them were naturalized on the affidavit of losing their first papers?

7478. Q. With what party were you associated or connected, politically! A. I always sided with the democratic party, except on two occasions. I believe the only two occasions that I ever voted for republicans was for one supervisor last spring, and for Thomas Cornell last fall.

7479. Q. You voted the democratic State and national tickets?

A. I did, sir. I always have identified myself with the democratic party.

7480. Q. In what month were the naturalizations that you spoke of made?

A. The principal part of them were in October. Some in November: September and October.

7481. Q. In these cases when they were naturalized by the clerk and deputy clerk, was there any court-any judge present?

A. I saw a judge there on some occasions. He might have been there every day for aught I know. I saw him there once when the naturalization was going on; I saw him there one morning.

TROY, NEW YORK, January 14, 1869.

GEORGE R. OLNEY Sworn and examined.

To Mr. DICKEY:

7482. I am studying law at Catskill, Green county.

7483. Q. Was you one of the clerks or deputy clerks of that county during any portion of the past year?

A. Yes, sir; from the 1st of January until about the middle of November.

7484. Q. Are you familiar with the mode in which naturalization was conducted in that county;

A. Yes, sir; I had a little experience. The parties to be naturalized appeared before the clerk at the court-house-at his office in the court house-and the clerk would inquire if he had any witnesses with him: whether he was a discharged soldier, and if so he would show his discharge paper, and on that he would be granted his papers, having been over one year in the State.

7485. Q. Without a witness?

A. I would not say as to that, because there were only two or three cases where they were naturalized on these papers; but in other cases he would appear with two witnesses; he would swear that he had been in the country so long, if he did not show his first papers, and that he was over 21 years of age.

7486. Q. In case he did not show his first papers, they took affidavits to supply them.

A. Yes, sir; they took affidavits of these men, the witnesses. 7487. Q. Was there any judge present in these naturalizations? A. Not that I remember.

7488. Q. It was not done in open court then?

A. No, sir; it was in the clerk's office.

7489. Q. Did the clerk attest the papers?

A. I don't know that I ever read over these blanks; he had blank forms, and he would fill them up.

7490. Q. What are your politics?

A. I have always professed to be a democrat; it would have been impossible, I presume, to get the position of deputy clerk if I were not. 7491. Q. The fact is that you are a democrat?

A. Yes, sir.

7492. Q. Was any oath administered to the applicants except the oath of allegiance?

A. I think they had to take an oath that they had been in the country so long.

7493. Q. There was no other examination except what was contained in the printed affidavit?

A. No, sir; the form of the oath was taken from Hull's Treaties; the form is laid down there, and the oath put to the witnesses was taken from the same.

7494. Q. Have you ever naturalized any yourself as deputy clerk? A. Yes, sir.

7495. Q. In the absence of the clerk? A. Yes, sir.

TROY, NEW YORK, January 14, 1869.

OLIVER BURKE sworn and examined.

To Mr. DICKEY:

7496. I reside at Catskill, Green county; by occupation I am a postmaster at present; I was present there acting as witness for some few that were naturalized; it was done in the manner which my friend, Mr. Olney, states; there was no judge present; it was done in the clerk's office by the clerk; nobody present, I think, but the clerk at the time.

TROY, NEW YORK, January 14, 1869.

IRVING HAYNER sworn and examined.

To Mr. DICKEY:

7497. I am a lawyer; my residence is in this city-Troy, New York; I was present at two or three different times at the justice's court, in the city of Troy, prior to the last election; I saw applicants for naturalization brought in there in squads or schools of 10, 15, and 20 at a time; the clerk of the court was usually present with the book of oaths, as it is called; the book of preliminary declarations, signed by those who testified that they came to this country under 18 years of age; they would start a file along, each party would sign his name or make his mark in the book of preliminary oaths, and pass along in that way until the whole squad had signed their names; the clerk would then tell them to hold up their right hands, and mumble over some kind of an oath; some of the men, most of them, perhaps, would hold up their hands; some would not; just as it happened; the clerk would pay no attention whether they observed the formula or not; he would then make out a list of names from the book and hand it to some democrat in attendance there who seemed to be overseer of the naturalizations; he would bring the squads there, coming from different portions of the country or adjoining counties, make out a list of names, and the leader would take it to the justice of the court; the justice would sometimes be in his office, south of the court-house, in a separate building from the court-room, and sometimes in some of the saloons adjoining the court-house-in there

with his friends drinking; the party would take the list of the names and march the candidates out; the justice would tell them to hold up their right hands, and administer the oath without examining the parties, or questioning them in his office or in the saloon, as the case might be; I have no doubt that one-half or two-thirds of all the naturalizations were done in that way-that is, in the manner of swearing by the justice; the justice's court-room is in the basement of the court-house.

7498. Q. After administering the oath, what became of these parties and the list?

A. They would go out to the street, on the right hand of the courthouse, and the clerk, as soon as he had time, would take the list from the leader who marched them over, and the clerk would take the names and make out the certificates, and the leader of the squad would take the certificates and distribute them among the men.

7499. Q. Were the applications bound in a book?

A. Yes, sir; they are the records of the court; the clerk would not fill up the blanks at the time, or before the oath was administered; all the writing in the blanks would be the name of the alien, and sometimes the country from which they came, Canada or Ireland, as the case might be. 7500. Q. The oath, attestation, &c., was filled up afterwards?

A. Yes, sir; all that was left blank at the time, and probably a couple of hundred pages of that book were not filled up until a week or two after election day; I was present in court from day to day, and saw the clerk filling up these blanks for a couple of weeks after the election.

7501. Q. Then the dates could only be ascertained from memory? A. From memory or memoranda made in the naturalization book, where they entered the dates of naturalization certificates, &c.

7502. Q. Did the judge, when he handed back these lists of names sent to him by the clerk, make any endorsement upon it to show that he had administered the oath?

A. He would usually put the initials of his name on. 7503. Q. On the whole paper, or on each name?

A. On the whole paper. Several of these papers were brought in and thrown upon the floor of the court-room. I have looked at them, but did not preserve any of them.

7504. Q. How many were naturalized in this court, and in what time? A. The whole number naturalized by the Troy justices' court during the year 1868 was 2,358. I should think during the months of Septem ber and October two-thirds of them-three-fourths probably-and, per haps, a larger proportion. Out of this number, the number naturalized who swore that they came to this country under the age of 18 years was 2,002. The number who made previous declaration-two years previous -and those who were soldiers of the United States army and were honorably discharged after one year's service, was 356; of that number perhaps one-third were soldiers. I saw men who had the appearance of being 50 or 60 years old swear that they came here as minors. Perhaps along about the 20th or 23d of October they would come from Washing ton county and Columbia county, in squads of 30 or 40, and perhaps more, whose names would appear on the naturalization book, one following the other, for pages, all swearing, without exception, that they came here under the age of 18 years. As a rule, all these squads that came on such days swore, without exception, that they came under the age of 18 years.

7505. Q. How many were naturalized from adjoining counties?

A. The number from Washington county naturalized under 18 was 257; over 18, 10, who were soldiers. From Columbia county, under 18,