JOHN BROUGHT sworn. (Same offer as made to preceding witness. Counsel for contestee objects for the same reasons as to preceding witness.) Question. Do you know S. C. Brought?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Where do you reside?-A. Granville Township, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. Q. What is the politics of S. C. Brought? (Counsel for contestee objects that S. C. Brought is the best evidence as to what his politics are, and the evidence is hearsay.) A. He talked as if he was going to vote all the Republican ticket, and said he would do so. (Counsel for contestee, reserving, &c., cross-examines.) Q. Do you know that S. C. Brought voted at the election held for Granville Township --A. No, sir. Q. What was S. C. Brought's age?-A. He was twenty-one years old on the 4th March, 1878. Q. Do you know how he voted?-A. I don't know. Q. Do you know whether he voted before that election?-A. Not that I know of; that was his first vote. JOHN S. GARRETT sworn. (Same offer made as to preceding witness. JOHN BROUGHT. Counsel for contestee objects for the same reasons as to the preceding witness.) Question. At what time in the year 1878 was the Mifflin County fair held for 1878?-A. It was held on the 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th days of September, 1878. Q. State whether or not the State and county tax of Jacob Harlan, of the east ward of the borough of Lewistown, had been paid you thirty days prior to November 5, 1878, and whether or not you were the collector for that ward. (Counsel for contestee objects to this question that it is not rebuttal; 2d, that Harlan is the best evidence of the time when the tax was paid.) A. A State tax paid for him on the 5th day of October, 1878, by George S. Hoffman, chairman of the Republican county committee. (Counsel for contestee, reserving, &c., cross-examines.) Cross-examined: Q. Did you give Jacob Harlan a receipt for this State tax?-A. No, sir. Q. Did you give George S. Hoffman a receipt for him?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you seen that receipt since you gave it; and, if so, when?— A. No, sir; I have not seen it since. Q. What circumstance now fixes in your mind that the tax was paid November 5, 1878?—A. I have a list of all the taxes paid on the 5th October, 1878, and his name is among those on the list. Q. Did any one else pay you any taxes that day? (Counsel for contestant objects to this question that it is not proper cross-examination.) A. Yes, sir. Q. Did James S. Rakerd, esq., chairman of the Democratic county committee, pay you any taxes that day? (Counsel for contestant makes the same objection to this question as to the preceding question.) A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you a list of the parties for whom James S. Rakerd paid taxes that day?-A. Yes, sir. Q. Will you please to state for what persons James S. Rakerd paid taxes that day? (Objected to as before, and further that it would have the effect of introducing testimony which should have been offered in chief by the contestee.) Adjourned to meet at 13 o'clock p. m. April 8, 1879. Parties met pursuant to adjournment at 13 o'clock p. m. April 8, 1879. (The last question withdrawn by the counsel for contestee.) Q. Will you please to state for how many persons Mr. Rakerd paid taxes on the 5th October, 1878? (Objected to by counsel for contestant as not a proper cross-examination, as the witness was not interrogated thereto in chief.) A. By advice of contestant's counsel I decline to answer this question, they having informed me I was not compelled to answer. Q. How much money did James S. Rakerd, chairman of the Democratic county committee, pay you for taxes on that day? (Same objection as to preceding question.) A. I decline to answer for the same reason as given to last question. Q. Are you a Democrat or Republican ?-A. A Democrat. JOHN MILLER sworn. (Same offer made as to preceding witness. JOHN S. GARRETT. Counsel for contestee objects for the same reasons as to the preceding witness.) Question. Where do you reside?—Answer. I reside in Granville Township, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. Q. Did you vote at an election held November 5, 1878, for Granville Township for a member of Congress; if so, for whom did you vote?— A. I did; for Mr. Yocum. Counsel for contestee, reserving all exceptions, &c., cross-examines.) Cross-examined: Q. Did you pay a State or county tax within two years which had been assessed at least two months and paid at least one month preceding said election?-A. I did not pay the tax myself, but I sold my property in Lewistown to Mr. Woods, and he was to pay the taxes against it, and told me that he did so. Q, Was your personal tax included in the tax assessed against you? -A. I can't say whether it was or not. Q. What time was it that you sold your property to Mr. Woods ?— A. Some time in the summer of 1878. Q. Was it at the time you sold the property that you paid the tax ?— A. I don't know, but he told me some time afterwards that he paid the tax. Q. State how long you have been a voter in Mifflin County.-A. About 45 years; I came to this town March 10, 1834. Q. How long had you resided in Granville Township before last fall election?-A. I moved into Granville Township May 17, 1877, and have resided there ever since. Re-examined: Q. Was the tax which Mr. Woods paid a tax on the property which you had sold him, or your individual tax? (Counsel for contestee objects to this question as immaterial.) A. I cannot say. Q. Did you just see a book which purported to be the assessment for the borough of Lewistown for the year 1878, and was or was not the tax which was assessed therein a tax against the property which you sold to Walker Woods only?—A. I did just see a book which purported to be an assessment for the borough of Lewistown, and saw my name in it, but can't say whether the tax was against the property alone or against me and the property. Q. Was the tax which Mr. Woods paid a part of the consideration for the property?—A. Yes, sir; he was to pay the taxes. JOHN S. GARRETT recalled. JOHN MILLER. Q. Was or not the personal tax of John Miller, the person who just left he stand and who is from the township of Granville, Miffliu County, Pennsylvania, embraced in the amount of State and county tax which was paid to you by E. W. Woods, esq., for the said John Miller ?-A, According to the transcript, there was no personal tax in the amount paid me by Mr. Woods for John Miller. I at first thought that his personal tax was included, but the assessment shows it was not. Cross-examined: Q. Was this tax assessed against John Miller paid more than 30 days before the November election?-A. It was; it was along in the summer or in the spring of 1878. Q. Who paid this tax?-A. I think D. W. Woods paid it, and it is marked paid. Q. Was this all the State and county tax charged against John Miller on your duplicate?-A. It was. Adjourned to meet at 7 o'clock p. m. JOHN S. GARRETT. Parties met pursuant to above adjournment at 7 o'clock p. m., April 8, 1879, and contestant closed. S. BELFORD, I, Joseph S. Waream, first having been duly sworn by Edmund Conrad, a notary public, as the amanuensis of Hon. Samuel Belford, associate judge, acting as commissioner in the above case, to take down evidence in the aforesaid case of Curtin vs. Yocum, do solemnly swear that the testimony of the foregoing witnesses has been taken down by me exactly as given by them, word for word, and that the signatures attached to the testimony of each were signed by the witnesses respectively in the presence of the said judge acting as commissioner. JOSEPH S. WAREAM. Sworn and subscribed before me this 8th day of April, 1879. [SEAL.] EDMUND CONRAD, Notary Public. I, Samuel Belford, associate judge of the county of Mifflin, State of Pennsylvania, and of the twentieth Congressional district of said State of Pennsylvania, having examined the foregoing testimony as taken down by Joseph S. Waream, my amanuensis, and signed by the witnesses respectively in my presence, do certify in my official capacity as associate judge that the said testimony is correct as was given word for word by the witnesses themselves, and that the signatures appended thereto were signed by the witnesses themselves in my presense. S. BELFORD. Sworn and subscribed before me April 8, A. D. 1879. STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, County of Mifflin, ss: Notary Public. I, Samuel Belford, associate judge in and for said county in the twentieth Congressional district of Pennsylvania, do hereby certify that the foregoing sworn depositions of Thomas Stroup, Chauncey M. Shull, G. E. Conner, J. W. Bowsman, Geo. S. Carney, James Glenen, jr., C. Green, Andrew Broom, William E. Eyster, R. J. Graham, George Forsythe, Jacob Harlan, W. H. Myers, W. F. Speth, John B. Kuisely, John C. Prettyleaf, Charles Kitting, Abraham Kitting, Joseph Orner, Robert Caley, H. H. Matter, Samuel Nightsinger, Joseph Robison, W. N. Kitting, Christian Lyter, Descartes Kelly, John Wilson, J. J. Parker, Robert Shimp, William O'Brien, S. S. Woods, Sylvester Brought, Samuel Lyter, Abram Yeerick, David Norris, James Stevens, C. S. Mitchell, S. G. Rupert, Emery F. Kauffman, G. W. Kauffman, Enoch Castine, S. A. Rothrock, James L. Poztlethwait, Castor Taylor, W. W. Pecht, W. B. Powell, Emery W. Penepacker, Sterrett Wharton, Martin V. B. Norton, B. C. Wharton, II. E. Stall, Martin A. Price, William McCoy, C. E. Morrison, Charles Shugars, A. H. Shimp, Edward M. Lerbe, Joseph Rager, jr., A. T. Hamilton, Benjamin P. Hogle, John R. Moore, D. L. Ewing. T. F. Rossiter, Geo. W. Jones, James H. Davis, Joseph M. Allen, Samuel N. Wilson, J. L. McKinney, Susan Houser, John Brought, John S. Garrett, and John Miller were taken before me on the 31st day of March, and on the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th days of April, A. D. 1879, at the court-house in the borough of Lewistown, county and State aforesaid, between the hours of 8 o'clock a. m. and 12 o'clock p. m. of said days, upon the application and in behalf of Andrew G. Curtin, to be used as evidence in his contest of the claim of Seth H. Yocum to a seat in the (46th) Forty-sixth Congress, as member returned from the twentieth Congressional district of Pennsylvania. I further certify that the said depositions were reduced to writing in my presence by Joseph S. Waream, my amanuensis, and in the presence of the attorneys of contestant and contestee, and in the presence of the witnesses, and signed by them respectively, having been first duly sworn or affirmed. I further certify that the words "in the affidavits," on the 2d page: the word "a," on 3d page; the word "Conrad," on 10th page; the words "did you vote for a member of Congress," on 12th page; the word "in," on 24th page; the word "immediately," on 25th page; the word “preceding," on 25th page; the words "Mr. Elder," on 29th page; the words "at least," on 31st page; the word "held," on 38th page; the word "United," on 43d page; the word "objects," on 52d page; the word "neither," on 57th page; the words "was not" and "to the evidence," on 74th page; the words "at said election," on 75th page; the words "a" and "of," on 76th page; the word "of," on 81st page; the word "did," on 81st page; the word "for," on 86th page; the word "held,” on 91st page; the word "affidavit," on 92d page; the word "may," on 95th page; the word "in," on 96th page; the word "the," on 100th page; the words "and if so," on 104th page; the word "of," on 106th page; the word "it," on 108th page; the word "their," on 113th page; the word "any," ou 114th page; the words "there is," on 116th page; the word "oath," on 116th page; the word "the," on 120th page; the words "to pay," on 124th page; the word "preceded," on 126th page; the word "file," on 127th page; the word "the," on 130th page; the word "did," on 131st page; the word "you," on 154th page, and the word "witness," on 155th page, were all erased, and the word "not," on 3d page; the word "or," on 4th page; the word "not," on 8th page; the words "the State of," on 10th page; the word "ticket," on 13th page; the word "pay," on 16th page; the word "paid," on 18th page; the words "you voted," on 22d page; the word "for," on 23d page; the words "on file," on 62d page; the word "with," on 64th page; the words "them" and "or five," on 69th page; the words "know that the," on 73d page; the word "do," on 91st page; the word "oath," on 92d page; the words "were" and "in said," on 97th page; the words "gave your," on 101st page; the word "vote," on 102d page; the word "in," on 106th page; the word "it," on 108th page; the word "man," on 108th page; the words "and objections" and "to the," on 110th page; the word "have," on 112th page; the words "to vote""they" and "if such" and "his," on 113th page; the word "you," on 116th page; the words "if so," on 126th page; the words " to David Norton, collector," on 127th page; the words "of Wayne Township," on 127th page; the word "held," on 129th page; the word "next," on 134th page; and the words "an election," on 147th page, were all interlined and duly approved be. fore signing. Done at Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, on this 8th day of April, A. D. 1879. S. BELFORD, NOTE. All the notices served by the contestant and contestee upon each other to take evidence and all subpoenas of witnesses and the returns made by the officers serving the same, together with other matter not material to the case, are left out of the printed record. The papers not printed are placed on file in the room of the Committee of Elections, and can be readily found at any time. |
