Mr. DAWES. I will, Mr. Speaker, dispatch the rest of the case very rapidly. The counsel for the sitting member inquired of the contestant if the testimony which I hold in my hand was what he relied upon, and he stated affirmatively before the committee it was what he relied upon and all that he relied upon. Then we proceeded to the hearing of the preliminary questions. When we got through the prelimi nary questions we met to hear the pas ticson the book which I hold in my hand. The contestant was not there. We did not see his counsel for 3 weeks. Where he went and what he went for we knew not until the committee had a tele gram from Harrisburg asking what testimony we wanted and whether the original records at Harrisburg would not answer. That was the 1st intimation we had of his whereabouts. This was after having stated this testimony was all that be relied upon. Yet, without telling the committee, he left and went we knew not whither. Now, in due time this volume came back. The statutes of Pennsylvania require that the soldiers’ vote shall be returned to 2 placesto Harrisburg and to the prothonotary’s office in each county, 'so that there would be 2 papers. His paper consisted of simple statements, scraps of paper and not copies of any thingin the world; simple statements of votes without stating before whom they were cast or how; 20 votes for Dawson here and 20 for Fuller there; so many in another place for Fuller and so many for Dawson, without telling how or when, giving the committee no knowledge whether they could be relied upon or not. The other attempt was to get the poll books, going to the prothonotary’s office to get some and going to the secretary’s office to get the others. t was not an attempt to get the whole of them at the secretary’s office or the whole of them at the prothonotary’s office, but some at the prothonotary’s office and some at the secretary’s office. It was an attempt to get a full poll book wherever it was deemed to be desirable. What the contestant says is that the whole vote of this district, upon which he relies, and upon which he argues before this committee and the House, gives him a majority of 1& Now, Mr. Speaker, we are asked to count these votes as shown in the certificates of poll books purporting to come from the office of the prothonotary and from the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth. I say it is necessary, in the 1st instance, to prove t icse are returns. It is necessary to show when they came and whence they came. They were votes certified to be in the secretary’s office, butI know that the certificate of election was given to the sit ting member. I submit there ought to be evidence to show when they came there. The soldiers’ law of Pennsylvania says if they shall come in after the time when they are sent in accordance with the law they shall be counted as well as those which came in before, so that I submit to every law yer in this House, that returns brought from the secretary’s office 14 months after that date should be accompanied with some testimony showin that it was taken at the proper place and att e proper time.