F 154 
 .L92 
 Copy 1 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 HON. M. B. LOWET, 
 
 SENATOR FROM ERIE, 
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE BERG:^ER, Esq., 
 
 EDITOR HARRISBURG TELEGRAPH. 
 
 ERIE, PENN'A. : 
 
 Republican Steam Printing Establisument. 
 
 1870. 
 

 LETTEES EEOM 
 
 5 Ho^. M. B. LOWET, 
 
 SENATOR FROM ERIE, TO 
 
 GEOEGE BEEGNEE, Esq., 
 
 EDITOR HARRISBURGH TELEGRAPH, 
 
 Ko. 1. 
 
 TIjo 'Slesslau of Tlie Marrisburs' Tclo- 
 C^orrespoiidoijcc . 
 
 IlAKr^iSBURG, Marc'ii 1, 1870. 
 Dkacon Geokge Bergker : — 
 
 As you are the editor of the only Republi- 
 can paper at the capilol of Pennsylvania, as 
 you are the late j publisher of the LegidcUive 
 Record, as you are the contractor for the 
 stationery and do the advertising of the State, 
 as you are a banker of the funds of the Com- 
 monwealth, as \'nu arc a law-seller and the 
 l;ingof the "ring," as you are a distinguished 
 ex-mule and horse contractor, as you are a 
 lurnier agent for bounty-jumpers, as you are 
 a vote seller of members of the Legislature, 
 as you are the agent for all Legislative jol)s, 
 as you are the ^lackey elector, as you now 
 are and long have been Postmaster at Ilar- 
 risl)urg, I know you will pardon me if I have 
 omitted any of the numerous titles you hold 
 and have so well earned. Ever since the 
 commencement of tlie present session of the 
 Leiiislaturc you have advertised me faitii- 
 f'ully and gratuitously'' in your own pure and 
 incorruptible paper, the whole aim and pur- 
 pose of which lias been to read me out of the 
 liepublican party, and to rentier me odious 
 to the people of this State, and especially to 
 those of my own constituents whom you 
 have kindly furni.shed with krgc editions of 
 
 your paper without charge. As there is no 
 o; her Republican paper at the seat of go^-- 
 ernment but your own, I most respectfully 
 ask tlie Eceninrj Tdegrnph of Philadelphia to 
 enable me to be faithful to you and just to 
 myself, by publishing these tokens of my af- 
 fection for you. 
 
 As I have bit little time to spare fnnn mj 
 official duties, I shall proceed to answer the 
 accusations of the "Heathen Hessian" in a 
 series of letters as brief as pos&ible, and be- 
 fore I get through with you I will show u]> 
 and expose to the people of this Common- 
 wealth your' recorded peculations from the 
 books of the Auditor-GencraTs office — pecu- 
 lations which are but trifling in comparison 
 with those which are unrecorded. 
 
 My first of!en,se against the peace and dig- 
 nity of the Republican party is that lastyear, 
 as well as this year, I refused to abide by the 
 decision of a caucus to pass the Metropolitan 
 Police bill, and also that last year, and this 
 year, I refused to vote for ]\[r. Jlackcy for 
 State Treasurer. In this lett'^r I shall only 
 briefly refer to the Metropolitan Police bill, 
 that hideous legislative monstorsity, and the 
 reasons which actuated me as a true and 
 faithful Republican in opposing it. In the 
 first place, as a t-ue and honest Reind)lican, 
 nc consideration that could be presented 
 would ever induce me to aid in the passage 
 of any bill that woidd not only bankrupt the 
 city of Philadelphia, but that would destroy 
 the very foundation upon which our republi- 
 can institutions rest. This liill struck a fatal 
 
blow at the republican coiiUitution of our 
 State ; it was in ilirect opposition to tbe let- 
 ter and spirit of the Federal Constitution; it 
 invaded the sacred rights of the people to 
 manage their domestic affairs in their own 
 way, and it deprived tlic people of their in- 
 herent sovereignty, the right to govern them- 
 selves, and all this I was re(iuired to do for 
 the benefit of a ring of bad men, of which 
 you were the ring-master. Admit for one 
 moment the doctrines contained in that bill, 
 and you may say a long farewell to civil and 
 religions libertv ; you establish an empire 
 upon the ruins "of this glorious Republic, you 
 desecrate the Temple of Liberty, and convert 
 it into the palace of a despot. Out of your 
 own mouth vou are condemue'l. Look at 
 the brutal attacks you have made upon me 
 for that vote, and then look at your paper of 
 the 11th ultimo, containing the immortal 
 message of (jovcruor Geary vetoing the bill, 
 and read your short but pointed editorial. 
 The irresistible reasoning, the unanswerable 
 arguments, were too much for you, and you 
 were compelled to justify my c(5urse by ap- 
 proving and endorsing the veto. As far my 
 information extends, every paper in this 
 State has endorsed the veto, and thus sus- 
 tained me. except three Republican i)apers, 
 one in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and 
 one in Erie. 
 
 With a unanimity unparalleled the Avhole 
 press of the nation approve of the veto, and 
 commend it in the higliest terms. This mes- 
 sage has done more, and Justly, to give Gov. 
 Geary a national reputation than any or all 
 other public acts in his life. It must have 
 had a tremendwus power and force, or you 
 never would have yielded to it in the tiuck- 
 ling, sycophantic manner you did. 
 
 When this vile invasion of the people's 
 rights first ui^peared I took my stand as a Re- 
 publican, solitary and alone, against it, and 
 continued to light it unawed and undoubted, 
 until Geary drove the peblde of truth deep 
 into the forehead of this uncircumcised Phil- 
 istine giant, Avho expired amid his weeping 
 worshippers, among whoin you were chief. 
 
 I stood, sir, unmoved, the storm of your 
 detraction, until it spent its force and lulled 
 into a quiet calm. The reservoir of j'our 
 slander, "the foulest whelp of sin," has been 
 exhausted and tlio bright raj's of the sun of 
 truth are about to penetrate the dark recesses 
 of your rascality, and expose you to the pub- 
 lic gaze in all your native and naked deform- 
 ity- 
 
 Before 1 am <lone with yon, sir, yonr natu- 
 ral and accpiired beauties shall be fully seen. 
 1 will make 
 
 "Your name, yonr hurain name, to every eye, 
 The climax of all Kconi to hang on high, 
 E.Kalted o'er yonr lossi abhorred compeers. 
 And restoring in the iul'amy of years " 
 Mj reasous and my Motives in opposing the 
 bill ate befoie the country, and Unowu and 
 
 seen of all BiPQ. The reasons and motives by 
 whioh you nr« acluate" in advocating it aie, 
 general, y. in yonr wallet and, covered by al! 
 the privacy and the da'kness which the clasp 
 that hoids the .<oine can secure. 
 
 The motive power, ihe niainsprinir of action 
 in vour soul, is avarice and cupidity; nil other 
 passions of your fallen nature, envy jealousy, 
 htitred. and reveiijie clusier in dwarf-like pn*- 
 l)ortijns around tlu< great overshadowing cen- 
 tral fi;iure, preteiuing a, group of horrid de- 
 formity. Selak. 
 
 You will hear from me again, my beloved 
 Deacon, at my e rliest convenience". 
 
 Faithfully yours, Moukow B. Lowky. 
 
 Ho^v BergtierDoi's Up His".4r?;iunPiits" 
 ill JEnvelope<«— SSis War Kec-oid— L,ow- 
 ry Gives tin- a*eople a '■Smell" of tl»«' 
 I>e coil's Vileness. 
 
 Harrisbukg, March 2, 1870. 
 Dkacon Georgk Bergxer: 
 
 At the conclusion of my letter of yesterday 
 I lelt you hissing likf a i^erpent at me for v«ting 
 against the Minropolitan Police infaniy. because 
 you could not use m", and cooing like a dove 
 to Governor Geary for vetoinor this same mea.s- 
 nre, "that thrift might follow fawning." In 
 this you n)ainfMSted at)out thesame consistency 
 as you do upon the bill for the establ shinenl 
 of a new county with its seat at Titusville. In 
 your vile paper, lieretofore, which boasts of 
 leading tbe great Republican party of Penu- 
 svlvania you base charged me at least a score 
 of times with being personally interested in it 
 to a very large amount in securing tbe passage 
 of the measure; and in the same paper of the 
 24:th, afiei- you had done your infamous work, 
 there yon ay that I went back upon my per- 
 sonal interest (a thing that jou were never ac- 
 cused of doing), and defeated the passage of 
 the new county bill in the House. In my sim^ 
 plicity I had not supposed, imtil you made the 
 wondenid discovery, that I controlled both 
 branches of the Legislature. But I was led to 
 believe, from rumors in the ears of every one, 
 and what was manifest to all, that there were 
 at least more than thirty men of the Hou.«e 
 who could each produce two hundred better 
 reasons than you give in your paper. These 
 private reasons, if rumor be true, were given 
 by v(m to them in envelopes. 
 
 You always have boasted that jou could 
 purchase more Democrats with the same mon- 
 ey than you coidd Republicans, and your ne- 
 gotiations upon the new county bill satisfies 
 me that for once you told the truth. You al- 
 ways purchase at the lowest market price, and 
 sell at the highest. 
 
 But this is a digression from the main oV>ject 
 of my letters which I have started with. They 
 were not so much to defend myself as to expose 
 you, and I will not in the future be switched 
 
ort' upon !iny side track. ITow dare j'on (jne?- 
 lion my Republicanism, and Lbat of a band of 
 men too lioucst to be boui:;lit and too luave to 
 be driven into voting- fur a candidate tbr Slate 
 Treasurer, when Ibey knew, ar.d everybody 
 knew, that your ortrnnizaiion bad corrupted a 
 majority of the caucus bofbre you had called 
 ihem together? 
 
 George Bersiner. you .'sir. have bad an unin- 
 terrupted career of fraud at the capiiol. galh- 
 erins;- gains from <H-ery act of wrong perpetra- 
 ted by the vile of boih parties in the Legisla- 
 ture, and were alvvay>i moie willing to enter 
 int > alliance with political foes for plundering 
 tlie Treasury than to unite with a political 
 tiieiid to protect it. It is no secret that your 
 I'aper is a vile organ ofa dangerous ''ring." and 
 the defender and coverer-ui' of ttie tracks uf 
 the vile. You, sir, who. by persistent prac- 
 tice, have lived in the faith that the end of all 
 public life should inure to the corrupt foi tunes 
 of jjri'fiigate adventurers, of whom you, a lew 
 years aiio, were a mere ajiproiUice. but are 
 now chief, should not call in ciuestiou the in- 
 tegrity or Republicanism o( any man 
 
 I now propose in this letter, and that which 
 is to follow, to dissect your political course, 
 and let the people of this Stale smell you, and 
 they will be enabled to say with certainty who 
 have been betrayers of the party and the 
 plunderers of the State. For forty years I 
 have been a careful observer of politics at 
 Harrisbnrg, and for nine years, during all the 
 reign of terror through which we have passed. 
 I have been a watchful man of your course, 
 Auuing the m isses of ihe gi-eat m ijority which 
 compose the Republican party its principles 
 are held sacred and dear, aud those Republi- 
 cans who I his year refused to vote for your can- 
 didate for State Taeasurer are among the best 
 men in the State and from the most faithful 
 Republican counties. You were here at Har- 
 risbnrg when thousands laid down their lives in 
 tlieir devotion to the principles of the Repub- 
 lican 5)arty, and to-day the country is filled 
 wiih the widows and the orphans of the he- 
 roic martyrs. At Harrisburg. in the circle 
 where you move(l,when the nation was bleeding 
 at every pore,tf e only incentive that entered the 
 heart of you and your a-sociates was to plunder 
 —feasting on the holy offerings that others made 
 to insure the safety of the Government ! You, 
 during these times were clinching vowr game.-*, 
 and selling and ro-selling your influence with 
 your horses and mules, when the brave, the 
 generous, and the patriotic wore spilling their 
 blood and scatcring their fortunes to crush 
 treason. 
 
 The war, thank God, has now passed. Re- 
 construction is a li.ved fact, and good men's 
 fears are not that the G&vernmenl will be 'ost 
 from enemies without, but that it will be de- 
 stroyed by corruptiouists, like yourself, from 
 within. The office of State Treasurer has 
 been one of the mediums through which you 
 and your eonfederates have boldly corrupted 
 State polities, debauched both political par- 
 ties, and outraged the people at large. It is 
 
 no secret at Harrisburg that every man. pro- 
 bably, .save one, who has held the office of 
 State Tr«asu!er since lS(iO. and many before 
 that day, purcha-ed, or by dishororable m ans 
 procured, the votes < fa sutticient number of 
 members to elect him before the caucus was 
 called. The caucus system of nominations, 
 which is a protection for party organizations, 
 has, under )<iur management, become a 
 gigantic machine moved aud controlled by 
 bad men to perp trate gtuj.ondous villainies. 
 The breaking up of this organization by any 
 means aitd l)y all means was not only a public 
 duly but a private virtue, and your iHdignaiion 
 at those whu broke it up is the bi^st evidence of 
 their virtues. ]'>y means of tbocaucuis the candi- 
 dates for State 'freasurer are forced by you and 
 your paper, and your coconspirators, to ex- 
 pend thousands of dollars to obtain the place, 
 or to give you the whole treasury of the State 
 to be used for venal purposes. Thercj is no at- 
 tempt to keep this fact a secret. You have 
 been an active dealer in such business for more 
 than ten years, managing in that time (for be- 
 foiethat you were comparatively a poor man) 
 to amass an immense fortune, and which by far 
 the greater portion thereof, by this aud other 
 legislative and governmental rascalities, has 
 come out of the pockets of taxpayers or corpor- 
 ations that sought legislation at Harrisburg. 
 All these gains were accumulated to gorge the 
 avarice and greed of the vile body of men that 
 the best men in Penn.sylvania now look upon 
 as the greatest crivninals of the age. I do aot 
 assert that in the sale of the office of State 
 Treasurer, Senators and Representatives, 
 as a general thing, have personally 
 ''stepped up to the captain's office" 
 and ofl'ered them.-.elves for sale, or 
 that in all cases ihey can show the profits of 
 this disreputable traffic. In this busine.ss the 
 m; gic power is controlled 'in the wheel within 
 a wheel," such as you managing to selt the 
 votes of new members screwing up their fiears 
 and ambitions to become members of commit- 
 tees or the promise of office for the support of 
 Senators' and Reprosentatives' votes in elections 
 of Treasurers and other legislative commodi- 
 ties. 
 
 The mem thus bartered for, in many cases be- 
 fore they left oome, were ignorant of knowing 
 it, or feared for their private legislation and 
 for their reputation in your paper too much to 
 complain of it. Your frowns aud your flatter- 
 ies, aud those of your backers have bad a po- 
 tential influence. Your paper has been used 
 as a straw to tickle or to tingle their ears, or 
 as a penny whistle to please their fancy, or to 
 damn them amongst their constituents. Hun- 
 dreds, if not thousands, have been bound hand 
 and foot, and voted to subserve the ends of 
 your frauds. 
 
 You could toll us now, George Bergner, if 
 you would, the state of the negotiations of the 
 raid of seven millions upon the treasury now 
 about to take place. If those who have it in 
 charge will come down gracefully, their bill 
 will succeed. If they do not. you will crush it 
 
— 4 
 
 (lilt. (Uid unbliishingly claim tbat you acted 
 fi'din piil)lic consideratif ns. 
 
 [ shall continue this subject, Deacon Berg- 
 nor. and I will be failtifnl to you, fairnCnl to 
 the people of Pennsylvania, faithful to the lic- 
 pnlilican party, that mu^it perish or set rid of 
 you, and faithful to the cause of truth. 
 
 MOKROW B. LOWRY. 
 
 Xo. 
 
 «>. 
 
 He Traohs tlie EJeacotj-^ " Slimy 
 Licusth" TlaroHsli tUa J^obbtes, and 
 SUo^^•s Ills Prospect ctl' Sonne Day Han g-- 
 iiis iroiii a l-aisi|»-po*t, Higli Above 
 il»e Rest oil !!ie I'liiudereis. 
 
 CoxTiNEXTAi, Hotel, PHii.ADKLPnrA, March 
 ?>, 1870. — Deacon George Bergner: — Yesterday 
 1 parted with you ubmiiily. and with regret, 
 at the capitol of law sellers; today I warmly 
 greet yeiu from the city of Penn. My duties 
 bc-re are of svrch a character that it may be out 
 of my power again to salute you before I re- 
 turn to the home of the bead of an organiza- 
 tion which p\irchases, intimidates, and de- 
 bauches men at the lowest price, and sells their 
 votes at the highest— a city which has within 
 itself an oriranizatioa of whi.h yen aie an out- 
 rider, standing like a highwayman, demanding 
 of every corporation in the State, as well a:< ev- 
 ery individual who seeks legislation, their pur- 
 ses or. their lives. Pardon me, my dear Dea- 
 con, for this complimentary digression, and I 
 will pi-oceed with the main issue. 
 
 One year ago I protested against your out- 
 rageous practice of corrupting a majority of the 
 Kepiiblicaa party on or belore their arrival at 
 llairisburg. and then calling a cauciis, when 
 you knew that the knaves could oiitvofe the 
 honest men, and compelliDg us to stiind by the 
 party or suffer the ignominy ot voting with the 
 Democracy. I protested against these out- 
 rag«s, and showed my contempt for such cau- 
 cus nominations by refusing to vole for the 
 caucus nominee for State Treasurer. 
 
 I would not have dared to have done so dur- 
 ing the war, tor then we had a nation to save 
 from rebels, but now we have to save it from 
 thieves. The African to-day is riding in the 
 cars, the negro has taken the seat of J;iFDav!.s 
 in the Senate of the United States, the colored 
 man will vote at all future elections, ho already 
 represents us in the army and at foreign courts, 
 and with these great facts accomplished, the 
 qi estion of his position is forever establishe<l ; 
 i«nd in lutnre my attention shall be directed to 
 such men as you. 
 
 I knew last winter that the nomination of 
 Mr. MaoJvey had been purcha-ed, and that the 
 movers in it had insulted the dignity and out- 
 raged the clearly expressed preferences of the 
 Republican party for another man. In this 
 struggle private bankers openly took par'^,Sen-' 
 ators ar.d representatives were importuned 
 before they reached Ilarrisburg, and long be- 
 
 fore a caucus was ca'leil a niajoiiiy of (he dom- 
 inynt party were pledged, bound hand and 
 loot, and carried into our gatherings, where 
 they were voted in the interest of the ring that 
 ruled. I beheld, with shame and humiliation, 
 these proceeding tor years. I have watchi d you 
 Deacon Bergncu-, while showing your shiny 
 lengih along the lobbies of the Legislaiiire. 
 plying a vocation as fixed by yourself or fixed 
 for you by your \vealihier and, if po8?it>le. 
 more corrupt masters. 
 
 Your newspaper has been prostituted to 
 these disgraceful purposes, and is the defender 
 now of (he ))lundeier.- of the Treasury, and the 
 defamer ol those wh(un you could not purchase, 
 and who are endeavoring to protect the pub- 
 lic moneys from swindlers and robbers. Oiio 
 year ago I was compelled, injustice to the peo- 
 ple and out of regard to the honor of the Re- 
 pul)licaH party, to strike at tho-^e who are its 
 wor.-t enemies, and try to protect it from fur- 
 ther polln ion. Of coiu>e. in doing this [ in- 
 curred your hatred and that of your confeder- 
 ates, who monopolize the deposits of the pub- 
 re money, and who do the great measure of 
 their banking business with the funds of the 
 Commonwealth. A year ago you supposed 
 the Treasury thieves had become permanently 
 fixed in power, and you, Dtacon Bergner, al- 
 so started a t)ank, that you might share in 
 their profits, Mr. Mackey, the State Treasur- 
 er, giving you a deposit, on which capital. I 
 have leasou to believe, this institution was 
 solely based. My course and that of my com- 
 rades put an end to your note-shaving with the 
 public money. And when I used my efforts to 
 save the Republican party and the .State Trea- 
 sury from the clutches of thieves.' I drew upon 
 myself their miilignant hate, and thou;:b you 
 ^vere ])ut forward to tiirnw your tilth upon me. 
 1 knew that behiad weie those who owned and 
 used you. 
 
 By the practices to which I have alluded, 
 youandyourconfederat.es have amassed for- 
 t;ines, gigantic in proportion and in fraud - 
 fortunes stolen from the Treasuries of thft 
 S a'e and General Government — and it is 
 stated as a fact, and I believer it to be true, 
 that you may present a bill of an- character, 
 however questionable, and for any amount of 
 money, and you can pass it through the Leg- 
 islature. Tb« fortunes thus m-'de are now 
 fioldly used to defy the will of the people of 
 Pennsylvania, by corrupting their rapresentti- 
 lives wh<^never it is the interest ot these men 
 to do so, and after having once dono so, auda- 
 ciously make it public that whenever they wanf 
 a Senator they buy him like a sheep in the 
 shatnbles. 
 
 The defeat of Mr. Mackey for State Treasurer 
 was the o ily way I could see to the beginning 
 ot the end of this shame and fraud, which the 
 people of Pennsylvania have so long and so 
 grievously suffered. I tiave started an iuvosti- 
 gatiou, which has already developed a condi- 
 tion of affairs which would, if driven homt-, 
 arouse the apprehension of every tax-payer, 
 and impel the people to force their represeuta- 
 
tivee to inaugurate an absolute reform in their 
 legislation, ar Ihey will tivko it in their own 
 hands, us the people did in the French rovolu- 
 t'on, and hany the leaders to the lamp-posts ot 
 the Capitol, and yon Deacon Bergner, when 
 that day comoij, will be exalted above the rest, 
 as chiel among the clan of public plnnderers. 
 
 Believe me, dear Dcnxcon, with distinguished 
 consideration, faithfully yours. 
 
 MOKUOW B. LOWUY. 
 
 Xbe Figriire!* in Tlie Case-Bereiior UruwM 
 Over $'.iOO,000 from tlie Slate Treaiotiry 
 ill NiuoVearx.Liilio*viNe $200,000 I'roui 
 Otker Public Treasuries— $3O,0OO a 
 Vear iu Clear Oaiu, 
 
 Harkisbuuu, March 4, 1870. 
 Dkacon Geouue Bekgxer: — 
 
 I salute you again this morning, having re- 
 turned to a city and a Legislaturi' which you 
 and your associale.« are fast making od.uusaud 
 infamous by your vile practices. So inldmous. 
 that th* public, when they see that you, you 
 yourself, without exposure until now, have 
 made a sum out of the sweat ol' the people suf- 
 ficient to build a State Capitol in any square 
 in Philadelphia, will be astounded, and you 
 had better i)reparo to meet the scorn and right- 
 eous indignation which your conduct so justly 
 deserves. In my first letter 1 promised to give, 
 the people some ot the items from the Auditor- 
 Generai'a office of your recorded peculations. 
 The unreconled ones of which I spoke will, la 
 all probability, be covered by an impenetrable 
 veil until the great day of accounts— lor under 
 the laws of Pennsylvania you are a close cor- 
 poration. Deacon George Bergner, stand up 
 and listen to thd following statement from the 
 Record : 
 
 In 1861 — For furnishing Senate and Ilonse 
 with Ptaiiouery and piintin>r the 
 
 Btcord $10,180 
 
 In 1862. •' " " 9,.S14 
 
 In 186.9. •' " " 8,6S8 
 
 Inl.-'64. '• " " 12,<39 
 
 In 186.5. " " " 13,S84 
 
 In 1866. " " " 17,71^ 
 
 Inl8H7. •• " " 2--J.V9-! 
 
 In 1866. " " " 4-i,'(70 
 
 In 1869. " " " 'i0,357 
 
 Total $158,506 
 
 It must bo borne in mind, while contemplating 
 this vast sum, that you have claimed and been 
 allowed the monopoly of hirnishing nil the de- 
 partments, while in the hands of Republicans 
 with all the stationary used therein since 18G1, 
 which may be safely aggregated at, for ten 
 years, the sum of SoD.OOO, which added to 
 $158.o06, makes the princely sum of $208,506 
 you have drawn from the State Treasury since 
 1861, M-iying nothing about tons upon tons of 
 your worthless Le'jlslative Record which you 
 sold to the paper makers, and pocketed the 
 proceeds, after you had received pay from the 
 Btu(ti i^t the rate of fifteeu dollars a page, 
 
 ' (u addition to thi.'i, Deacon Bergner, you 
 have been Postmaster of Ilarri.^bura; for six 
 years, a place ilia' a crippled soldier and au 
 honest mau should hav<5 eujnyed, at an ag- 
 gregate salary of $18,300. While Postm<ti,ter 
 you have had a share In a m ijority of tho 
 contracts given during the Rebeili( ti to a 
 favored class of Republicans ol llairisburg, 
 from which it is pojiularly asserted and be- 
 lieved you made $l.J0.0ll0. You have ha 1 a 
 monopoly ot all advertising done for ten years 
 past by the United Stales Government at llar- 
 risburg, which practical printers assure me 
 was worth $10,000. You have been doing the 
 printing and advertising lor Dauphin county 
 ior fifteen yiNir.-, for which you rei eived 510,- 
 OUU i)rofit. This shows, in round llgii res, that 
 you have received from theNatioui.l, State and 
 bauphii) county treasuries, iu ten years, the 
 Bum ot $390,806. 
 
 Nor is this all. You have bad a profit on all 
 the coal lurnished to the State of Peiinsylviaiia, 
 lor use in the Capitol, during th(* same ten 
 years. \''ou undoubtedly made meney in fur- 
 nishing the Legislature with postuiie-stamj s (of 
 which I shall speak in detail) while you were 
 Postmaster — so that, aggregating all the piofits, 
 you have reaped from all the public treasuries 
 into which you cuuld plunge your arm, it issafe 
 to put down your total of clear gains, ind'.'pen- 
 dent of your Legislative jobs, in ten year, at 
 $275,000! And you are not done or satisfied 
 even now, because you still have a 
 monopcly of the patronage of the t lerks 
 of both branches of tho Legislature, un-l all 
 the departments ot the Stale Government, are 
 Postmaster, and do all tho advertising at Har- 
 risburg for the United States Goveriiment, so 
 that you to-day, independent of your publicly 
 ])lundeied fortunes, enjoy an income of clear 
 ])rotit from official patronas'e alone ot noi. less 
 than $6000 annually ! You allow no other 
 Republican to claim any share in a Reini'ilican 
 victory. Not satisfied with your gatnn as I 
 have given them, you actually started a kind 
 of book bank, and shaving shop, to ea/ry on 
 the business of which during last year — the 
 first of its existence — State Troiisurer Makey 
 allowed you to use, and you are still using. 
 $25,000 of the people's money, which yc u loan 
 them (their own money). at usurious interest. 
 
 What can tho masses of the Republican par- 
 ty think of the picture? I gain my knowledsie 
 of the amounts of money you drew Iron the 
 ?itaie from the reports of the Auditor-G-neial. 
 On one occasion, after you had been paid an 
 account to which you had sworn, it was discov- 
 ered' you had fraudulently drawn moie than 
 you weie entitled to, and were compelhd to 
 reltirn to tho State the sum of which you 
 sought to cheat it, and it was no easy |0b to 
 compel you to disgorge. My informaii >n as to 
 your other receipts of public money, 1 i/eliepe, 
 is correct and reliable. You may have lieeu in 
 secret schemes of i)liinder outside of y< ur 1-iw 
 selling, with which I am not acquainte>l. You 
 certainly are engaged as a constant barer in 
 the lobbies of the l.,egislaturc, where you pass 
 
— G 
 
 your time during the session of that body, in- 
 stead of remaining in the Harrisburg Post 
 Office attending t^ duties which you thus ne 
 gleet, and for which you receive an annual 
 salary of several thousand dollars. 
 The Postmaster-General ought certain- 
 ly to know that the Post Office at 
 Harrisburg is, to all intents and purposes 
 conducted without the pre^sence of its legally 
 appointed Postmaster; one whom nine-tenths 
 of the decent and respectable Republicans of 
 this city repudiate, and who, if they had the 
 power, would hurl from a positinn he dis- 
 graces. In conclusion. Deacon Bergner, let me 
 whisper in your ear. and suggest that before 
 you go hence, you sell you ill-gotten hindt) and 
 newly-constructed blocks, and have ihe pro- 
 ceeds ready to deposit in the am>)le pockets of 
 your shroud, and in a strong iron safe in your 
 grave, wherewith to lemnt St. Peter, as you 
 have often tempted mombert of the Legisla- 
 ture, and be prepared to cheat the Devil, as 
 this is manifestly the best use you are likely 
 ever to make of it. 
 
 As I intend to be as radical on thieves in 
 peace as I was on rebels in war, I shall contin- 
 ue this subject. 
 
 I am, Deacon, as ever, faithfully yours. 
 
 Morrow B. Lowry. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 The neacoii's "Total Depra-^'^ity"— How 
 He Used to Knii Up the Postage Bin of 
 the Slate— How He Is watched While 
 Passing Around the Collection ISag in 
 Church, and Oivers Other lUatters, 
 
 Harrisburg, Maich 5. 
 Dear Deacon Bergner: — 
 
 The conciusion of my letter ihis morning 
 was perhaps a little severe. This, however, 
 you must attribute to the reckh'ss manner in 
 which you have prostituted tl>e Legislature, 
 and, by a reluctant division of the spoils, secur- 
 ed the assistance of some of your political op- 
 ponents. You have almost, if not quite, es- 
 tablished the doctrine of tot d depravity. I 
 write this on Saturday evening, so that you 
 may not be disappointed in my daily evidence 
 of devotion for you. I have further evidence 
 from the Auditor-Generars office, to which I 
 now call your special attention. 
 
 It has been the custom in this State, and 1 
 believe nearly all the States, for members of 
 the Senate andHouse of Repre.-entativeg to put 
 their names upon their letters and documents 
 which are deposited in the Post Office by the 
 Messenger, and for the Postmaster to put. on 
 the necessary stamps and charge it to the State. 
 This jiractice has been in force in this Com 
 mcn^ealth until the pre.sent se.ssion. We dis- 
 covered that the State was being largely de- 
 frauded by you. and at a very great incor.ven- 
 ience and d-iily annoyance to oursr vi.s we 
 changed the law. Our reasons for d ling so 
 you already know, and the public will lind in 
 
 be following statement taken from the books 
 
 of the Auditor-General. In 1862 you the 
 Postmaster at Harrisburg, swore that you had 
 put postage stamps on mail matter for the Sen- 
 ate and House of Representatives, vulgar frac- 
 tious omitted, to the amount of Sl.'JjlilO. In 
 the year 18f)4 the amount of your account 
 against the State reached the handsome little 
 sum of $23,392, to the correctness of which 
 you made oath. In 1865 you were removed 
 from the post office by Andrew Johnson, which 
 deed on his part was perhaps the best he per- 
 formed during his fitful and unsatisfactory ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 General Simon Cameron, in an evil hour for 
 his own lame, and in direct opposition to the 
 wishes of the citizens of this city, and against 
 the protest of the Republican party heie, had 
 you rein? tated in office and a brave soldier re- 
 moved to give you possession. 
 
 According to the record now before me, your 
 account against the State the first year after 
 you took charge of the office the second lime 
 amounted to the enormous sum of $19,072. 
 Stand up Deacon George, and tell the people 
 that, iu 1862, you used posrage stamps for the 
 Legislature amounting to $15,199; in 1864 you 
 advanced to the sum of $23,392, and that after 
 a short absence from office you again took pos- 
 session and made a forced march up to the sum 
 of $29,072. when the Legislature wisely took 
 the matter out of your hands, having become 
 alarmed at your de.xterity and facility in in- 
 creasing the charges against the Stale, without 
 any inciease in the quantity of mail matter 
 sent off. Give the people an estimate of the 
 amount to which you would have increased 
 these expenses had the Legislature not taken 
 the alarm and relieved you from the opportunity 
 With no increase in postage, with no more 
 letters and documents sent off requiring stamps 
 in 1869 than in 1862, and perhaps not as many, 
 we find under the judicious and skilful mKuage- 
 menlof the pious Deacon an increase m the 
 sum paid in 1869 over that paid iu 1862of $1],- 
 873. Bear in mind, my wortby friend, that 
 whenever the Legislature becomes uneasy, or 
 disturbed, or alarmed at anything you do, no 
 matter what it is, there must be great danger, 
 and some stupendous, overwhelming defect 
 and deficiency somewhere. I see from your 
 paper of the 4th iufttant that your tranquility 
 lias been disturbed. You make a fieebie and 
 abortive effort to ridicule me, without attempt- 
 ing to reply to a single charge that I make 
 against you. I may refer to this article again, 
 but my object at present is to propound to you 
 some interesting interrogatories, and let the 
 people see whether you will answer them di- 
 lect or not, or resort to ridicule. 
 
 Question 1. After you bad been reappointed 
 to tbe Post Office, and after the blue postage 
 stamps had been issued several months, how 
 many red stamps did you sell to the people of 
 Harrisburg, and what was the amount you re- 
 ceivde? 
 
 Question 2. When you went into the office 
 the second time, how many red postage stamps 
 bad you on band, and as tbe General Post Of- 
 
lice was not issuing any, and bad not for sev- 
 eral months, where uud from whom did you ob- 
 tain Ihe same? 
 
 Question d. When the opposition of the peo- 
 ple ol this city, and the clamor which thoy 
 raised against the selling of the old red postago 
 stamps, forced you to stop, did you not send 
 Ihe remainder ol what you had on hand to Phil- 
 adelphia or some other locality fur sale, and 
 what amount did you receive (or the sauu^? 
 
 Question 4. Were the^e red stamps, which 
 you must have held tor over Ihn'n y urs, in- 
 cluded in the 1)111 you presented ajjraiust the 
 Slate in ISfii for $23,392, which you alleged 
 you liad furnished the Legislature in postage 
 stamps to stuid otf their letters and docu- 
 ments* ? 
 
 Question .>. If these stamps were included 
 in the aforesaid hill, please state your reasons 
 for not returning them to the State Treasury? 
 
 Will you answer the above interrogatories? 
 That's the question. No dodging. 
 
 Again referring to your paper of the 4th. you 
 t<ay: "'lie (Lowry) has imposed on his con- 
 .stituents continually by the publication in the 
 Ligislative Ilecord of speeches which he could 
 aoi compose and never delivered." 
 
 I nev^-r wrote a letter or dictated one, made 
 a speech or dictated it, that any intelligent 
 man or woman in my district could not at once 
 point to the author. My aUiiclion, which jou 
 have so often gloated over in your paper, re- 
 quires me to employ an amauuesis. Such 
 ftatements do not and cannot injure me, but it 
 is a source of pain and regret that eveu you. 
 Deacon George, are so lost to every moral sen- 
 sibility, 80 destitute of all shame, all virtue 
 and all truth, as to utter such a falscdiood 
 
 Suppoee the statemeat you make was true, 
 what then? You have charged the State fif- 
 teen dollars a page, and sworn to the truthful- 
 ness of your account and received your pay 
 therefor, for forged and bogus and fradulent 
 bpeeches, thus making yourself as great a ras- 
 cal as I have ever charged you with being. If 
 there is any one thing which is better known 
 to my constituents than another, it is that my 
 speeches and writings father themselves. Thty 
 are as legitimate and unmistakable as my own 
 peculiarities and image are in the children and 
 grand children whose hearts you delight to 
 wound by advertising with a scornful mouth, 
 in your hell-born and hell-bound paper, the 
 brainsoftening and dementing process which 
 you say is now going on within in consequence 
 of the physical misfortune of a father aud 
 grand fattier. 
 
 You, George, are a professor of religion. 
 You belong to a Christian Church and hand 
 around the bag for the coUectiua on the Sab- 
 bath day, and j'et you are watched even in 
 the discharge of this pious duty. 
 
 As good a man as there is in this city, and 
 as high in the Church, told me so. Is it possi- 
 ble, Deacon, that your brethren in the Ch;irch 
 are afraid that you would "with one hand put 
 a penny in the urn of poverty aud with the 
 other take a shilling out?" 
 
 This is my fifth letter to you. In my next 1 
 will make, if possible, developments more as- 
 tounding, from official records, than any that 
 have preceded it. 
 
 Faithfully, Morrow B. Lowky. 
 
 Xo. <i. 
 
 The Senator «ocx for liic Deacon Onre 
 .^lore— He ShoAvs up ^oinc of la is Of- 
 flcia! Peculation!^- He UcniiiidH Iiim 
 oi.>>onic Unpleasant TrurliM, and Ad- 
 vises Iiini that lie lias a Few More 
 Shots in Ueservc. 
 
 Ilarrisburg, March 7, 1870. 
 
 De.vcon Geokok Bergxkk:— '•Remember 
 March, the Ides of March remeinbei." for days 
 before ;md days after the 6th of that month, 
 the anniversary of my own existence, I send 
 those tokens to you, which you will never — no, 
 never— forget. This morning I salute you 
 again with hideous rows of figures, which 
 please exp'.ain how they came to be found on 
 the books of the Auditor-General. I give you 
 the gross amount that it has cost of the hard- 
 hande I sons of toil of the Keystone to keep in 
 order aud retain a place f jr you to lobby and 
 fatten upon the lax-payers. 'Remember, Dea- 
 con, these items do not include the amounts 
 paid the poor washerwomen and laboring men 
 who keep clean and warm jour lobbies. Their 
 pay comes in under an item of 'Legislative ex- 
 penses,'* of which you have probably heard be- 
 fore. 
 
 The grounds of the Capitol of Pennsylvania 
 are somewhat extensive. They contain about 
 thirteen acres, — with a plain, substantially 
 constructed brick State House, a Land Office 
 of small dimensions, and a cheap office for the 
 Secretary of the Commeuwealth, with an exe- 
 cutive chamber over it. The grounds are in- 
 closed by a strong iron fence and the buildings 
 covered with metal, the expense of which was 
 incurred tweniy years ago. On the grounds 
 is an old arsenal, which, if it ever had any re- 
 pairs done to if, came out of the military fund, 
 aud does not enter into the accounts for which 
 I am about to arraign you. There is also a 
 monument on the grounds, the expense of the 
 construction of which follows. There are 
 men everywhere, mechanics in abundance, 
 who have told me that they would be 
 glad to take the contract of keeping 
 tho building and grounds in repair lor any 
 length of time for two thousand dollars a year, 
 and do it in a neater and more satisfactory 
 manner than is now done. These items are 
 under the head of "Repairs to Capitol Grounds 
 and Buildings." It is conr;eded by everybody 
 that you have managed affairs at ihe Capitol 
 since 1859. The expense to the State for "re- 
 pairs to ))ublic buildings and grounds" in 1860 
 was $5,330.21; in 18G1, $10,626.27; in 1862, 
 $6.856.91;inlS63.$8,02'i.29;iS64:, $14,142.49; 
 1865. §38,093.68; in 1866, $38,080.33; in 1867, 
 $39,291.65; in 1868, $45,903.42; in 186;) 
 
$32,2G6.71. My experience i?, that to open 
 lip the vouchers which are put on file to 
 coi'or up these sums as well aa those of your 
 other accounta, is hard to do. And some rich 
 things are in store to be developed by way of 
 Rub-rebuttinfic testimony, after you answer my 
 serious and dama2;in<!; accusations. Let it be 
 borne in mind that the Capitol extension, or 
 what is known as Clymer's monument— and a 
 cri'ditable one it is— cost $150,000, which does 
 not enter intc any portion of these items, and 
 on which I never thought that portion of the 
 Rfpublican party to which you belong made a 
 profit of more than 10 per cent, on the gross 
 amount. Ii was more honestly conducted on 
 the whole than anything of the kind ever done 
 in your day at Harrisburg. 
 
 Deacon Bergner, will you please inform the 
 hard-fisted farmers of the Keysone and their 
 wives, how your cows have thrived on grass cut 
 and put in your barn and the barns of your 
 friends, at the. expense of the State, off the 
 giounds of the Capitol,and what has become of 
 the carpeting and furniture which you fit and 
 refit annually, and how much of the sura total 
 ol $288,616 96— to say nothing of the other 
 diippings of the Capitol — come to you as 
 this part of your portion of the public plun- 
 di^r, of which I have not spoken in ray former 
 letters. The horrible expose. Deacon Bergner, 
 which I have been compelled to make of you 
 was not one of my own seeking; but "the Lord 
 maketh the wrath of man to praise Him," for 
 you, in your own paper, triumphantly declare 
 that I sought, sent friends, to cause you to 
 d<'si>t, but that I was a traitor to the republican 
 party, and you would follow mp." I wrote to 
 your master on the 18th of January, 1870, 
 "that since I saw proper to vote as I did on 
 the State Treasurer question, the Harrisburg 
 lelegraph, a paper controlled by yourself, and 
 ostensibly edited by one of the worst men that 
 was ever associated with a legislative 'ring,' 
 h'.a been following me with slander, the object 
 ol which is to detract from my personal charac- 
 ter and impair me in the good opinion of the 
 public, for no other earthly reason than because 
 1 would neither be bought nor driven into his 
 corrupt designs. "With all sorrow, I swear I 
 will not submit to this, and unless you forth- 
 with call off this dog I will war against the 
 whole of you." The dog was not cailed off. 
 You continued to hound mo like a wounded 
 stag, or a disabled "Butler county bull, with 
 his horns sawed off." Deacon Bergner, a 
 sound orthodox Republican and a bad 
 man are incompatible, and cannot ex- 
 ist in the same person at the same 
 time and I have the evidence before me that 
 you are unfaithful, and always have been, to 
 ihe Government which you adopted and plun- 
 dered, and untrue to your own soul and your 
 neighbor's purse in regard to your sworn year- 
 ly income tax return. You have compelled 
 me to make history for you. I do it with sor- 
 niw, in self defence, and I do it because 1 am, 
 and not becau'^e I am not, a Rejiublican. I 
 believe the party to which I belong must be 
 
 purged or perish. My orthodox faith In its 
 doctrines is deep, and runs down clear into my 
 heart. Yours is deep down into your wallet, 
 and goes where it leads you. Its immortal 
 principles can never die. You never conceiv- 
 ed them, Dor comprehended them. A man, to 
 be a true Republican, must be an enthusiastic 
 believer, not only in the principles of Thaddeus 
 Sievens aud in John Brown, but Ih God and 
 everlasting justice to all — even to Democrats 
 honestly elected to high places. We must have 
 an undying faith in all that is right, and fight 
 for it because it is right, and condemn and spit 
 upon all that is wrong, and he must fight against 
 it and crush it with his heel because it is wrong. 
 Weak Republicans we must feed upon milk; 
 old harlots like you we must hew down with a 
 broadax before the Lord. I knew what it was 
 to balk you. I knew it was peril, and I know 
 it was fire, but I took the chances. 
 
 Deacon B'Tgner, I have before me a heavy 
 recorded oath, under the seal of Berks county, 
 that you made, "renouncing all princes and 
 potentates, particularly the King of Hanover." 
 If what you swore to there was true in regard 
 to your age, daring the late Rebellion you 
 cheated the Government out of two drafts. and 
 the army out of an ornary, cowardly soldier 
 with more ease than you would cheat the Devil 
 out of your bones, or read me out of the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 Deacon Bergner, I have before me a letter 
 from the widow of a dead soldier officer, the 
 truth of which is certified to by a Republican 
 officer of the Government, dated March 26, 
 1869. Both the widow and the dead hero are 
 held in saint-like remembrance by all the neigh- 
 bors round about who knew and loved them. 
 This widow of a dead hero says, and so does 
 her certifier, and so does her neighbors, that 
 you defrauded her out of the post office at Har- 
 risburg by lejiresenting at Washington, and 
 falsely proving by witnesses, thatshehad with 
 drawn her desire to obtain the place, and that 
 you had agreed to pay her eight hundred dol- 
 ars per year so long as you should bold the 
 office. She charges you, and so do I, that you 
 lied about her like athief to obtain the office 
 ycmrself, and that you lied about yourself, lor 
 you never paid her, you never will pay her, 
 and you never intended to pay her anything 
 whatever. Deacon! if John Brown heard 
 you called a Republican he would rustle in his 
 winding-sheet, and would burst the rocks where 
 he lies to kick you! 
 
 But I have other letters and proofs enough of 
 which have come rushing in upon me since I 
 have got into this contest, to fill your own be- 
 loved Bccord, which, because I voted against 
 and broke your cnud ring info a thousand 
 liieces, you would stab me in my seat in tho 
 Senate it you dared. Are you not glad that 
 your infamous newspaper per.'ocutions on the 
 "demented,'' "paralytic," '•brain-softened," 
 "treacherous," "old man of the sea" got me 
 into this job? I must close, to resume, George. 
 How do you like it as far as I have gone? 
 Morrow B. Lowrt. 
 
— . 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 Another Epistle to tlte Deacon— The 
 senator Keviews lii« Personal lli«it'>ry 
 past and present— WUJ' tUo New Coun- 
 ty Bill was killed, and ^vUo killed 
 i£. 
 
 Harrirbukg, March Sth, 1870. 
 
 DeaCox Gj:orgk: — 
 
 This morniiiK the undorsigned was sort^ly in 
 trouble, and is not yet without liis anxieties, 
 teelins; the sadness tiiat ini(;ht liefall you, ifyou 
 did not promptly receive his seventh (daily) 
 epistle to you. 
 
 M.y "head lights'' were missing, the papnr mulaid; 
 For Ink, pea and wriiei- 1 looked hisiu and low; 
 I feared you had stole them, but dear George it 
 aint fo. 
 
 The veritable same "head lights" were lost 
 and found again, which you and your puro 
 paper of the 24th of January says, that [ '-stole 
 from the Erie light house." 
 
 The hundreds of attacks which you have 
 made upon me, with the exception of one class. 
 never disturbed me. I never cared what you 
 charged me with. In regard to your false alle- 
 gations that I had bargained with the Demo- 
 cracy and betrayed the Republican party. 
 "Lies are hut short living creatures," and the 
 short space of time which has already elapsed 
 since you made these charges has vindicated 
 me and condemned you; and the robberies 
 which you alleged they baa agreed to aid mo 
 in andl them to tho amount of millions has not 
 yet taken place. 
 
 The charge of traitor to the Republican par- 
 ty beca<-.se I vot^d ai<aiust Mackey, has no ter- 
 rors, whether coupled with or without the 
 names of Kerr, Billiiigrelt and VVarfel (Sena- 
 tors.) and Ames, Craig. McCraken, McCreary, 
 Bowman, Wheeler, Buffington, Leslie, Wib^y. 
 Rienoehl, Godschalk, Herr and Coray. of the 
 House. 
 
 Ifyou again dare to speak in your paper of 
 jny bodily affliction, I will tell a tale that will 
 mark your grave. Thus far I have kept strict- 
 ly to your public life, professional praaiice and 
 recorded villainies; and gloat not again in de- 
 rision of God"s visitation to me a year ago. 
 Speak not again to me as "an old triitor loo 
 tteble from paralysis to support his body upon 
 his logs;" neither again lick not up ttte spawn 
 of another. 
 
 It is true that I was a man afflicted, but it 
 was and is good lor me, j^ood for the taxpayers 
 of Pennsylvania, but bad lor you, Gooige. My 
 affliction'was just, and I b-tw with humility. 
 ••Far.tlysis" is the effort of the soul to get rid of 
 the body. In my case the soul is persistent, 
 and the body resistant, but the will is impla- 
 cable in ccinmanrting the place between them. 
 The contest may last for years, or it may gra- 
 tify you now, to have the pitcher broken ai tho 
 well. The timbers upon the starboard are 
 strained, the posts are as heavy as lead, the 
 planks are water loged, the yard arm has fal- 
 leo. I weep for it as I repeat it, yet thank God 
 
 that the level and the compass are uninjured, 
 and the trumpet is not even cracked yet. In the 
 end the soul must triumph, and I care not how 
 soon, could I take with me those dei)endent 
 upon tne. if. you and mi^ii like you are to gov- 
 ern when living and rob our children when 
 dead, not only of their property, but of all 
 public virtue. 
 
 Had tlu' hulk not been battered by a raid to 
 save fho life of John Brown by railroad disas- 
 ters, by mob violence, by exposures upon bat- 
 tle fields, and in dead houses, and the crushing 
 weight of the storms of State, after inhaling the 
 foul air of hospitals, and ytmr breath the soul 
 would not so soon have made an effort to esca[)e 
 from its mud house. Let my paralysis alone, 
 for you are entirely sate from the same afflic- 
 tion. 
 
 A soul that could endure your body as long 
 as the Children of Israel .were passing through 
 the Red Sea, would always be contented to live 
 on unsalted "Hanover pork," growing fat up- 
 on still slops ct its own government plundered 
 and governmetit seized. Bergner bailed whisky 
 distillery at Uarrisourg,and is iron-clad agaiust 
 paralysis. 
 
 Deacon Bergner, this is a wonderful country. 
 Your ancestors (and I speak of this as the 
 most creditable page in the history of your 
 family,) I am informed, about sevcmty years 
 ago, were slaves in the old w<irld in coal-pits 
 and in salt-mine»<, laboring sixteen hours of the 
 twenty-four, and subsisting upon oat-raeal and 
 pea-soup. When the coal-pits and salt-pits 
 changed hands, they were transferred with the 
 mines and the mules. Not only your fathers, 
 but ail similarly situated with them, each wore 
 a collar riveted around their necks with their 
 owner's name and clan engraved upon it, and 
 they were iis well known, and more respected 
 than the statute of corruption, that stinks and 
 laughs and laugtis and stinks about our lobby. 
 Take compassion upon lue. George, in my 
 misfortune. Look at the honorable hole from 
 whence you yourself were digged and whose 
 fathers you have disgraced. If your ancestors, 
 either of them, had torn the collar from off his 
 neck, V would not have been any greater of- 
 fence against the criminal laws of that day, 
 than I have committed against tho laws of par- 
 ty organization and State robbers. It is true 
 that ihey were not protected as the laws of 
 Pennsylvania protect you from the possibility 
 of legal exposure, much lessof condign pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 As a party of Republican leaders, character- 
 destroyers, a» moral lepers, as State thieves, as 
 soul-sellers, and soul-destroyers has placed in 
 tho hands of a descendant of coal and salt-pit 
 i«laves, the cleaving-axe of a pany press, of ex- 
 ecration and death in Us hcnd, to destroy sud- 
 denly and violently, and ignominously, all who 
 are not corruptible, and to bury them at the 
 cross-roads of public indignation, and 
 have a stake driven through their 
 body by a hungry Hessian, as a warning to 
 others not to follow them. I have the evidence 
 belore me of other divers little, yet horrible 
 
10 
 
 transactions of public peculation and forgeries 
 to plunder the state which I desist from giving 
 till I hear from you. 
 
 You charge mo in your paper with making 
 a bargain with the Democracy in regard to a 
 new county, with its seat at Titusville. I deny 
 it. 1 will prove to you before I am done that 
 there is a good dealof human nature in a De- 
 mocrat. The Democracy voted with me in the 
 Senate for a now county for legitimate reasons; 
 whether good ones or not, parties always fol- 
 low them. The Republicans to punish me for 
 not voting for Mackey, and because I would 
 allow a Senator who was honestly elected, re- 
 gularly certified to take his seat, conspired 
 ogainst mo on my new county bill, with the 
 exception of the Lancaster county senator and 
 Gen. Kerr; and this of itself would have been 
 two sufficient causes for all the Democrats of 
 the Senate to support me. Kerr stood by me 
 and was abused tor it like a thief; Billingfelt 
 and Warfel went back upon me to keep a con- 
 sistent record, that they might not be guilty of 
 the same inconsistency and shame as oth<'r Se- 
 nators. Wallace followed my bill into the House, 
 and it is true, told his political friends that 
 "this new county question was a cancer that 
 would oat out the vitals of the Republican 
 party in Crawford county," and they must 
 hold it where it was. This had its effect, and 
 you, George, at two hundred dollars a head 
 • drank out of the same coffee pot with Wal- 
 lace" and did the rest of the work. You 
 did it before. You and your associates did it 
 last year. You strangled it in a pool of corrup- 
 tion in Committee in the house, after it had 
 passed the Senate. A year before you and 
 your associates killed it in the Senate, and of- 
 fered Mr. Neal and other gentlemen from Ti- 
 tusville to reconsider it and pass it tor a price. 
 And this is the way that the blG;?sings of civil 
 government for the people of Titusville, have 
 been knocked up and knocked down by your 
 
 Had Mr. Neal and his associates given the 
 conspirators what they demanded of them, 
 which I am told was eight thousand dollar3,you 
 would have followed it in the other branch of 
 the Legislature, and killed it there, unless they 
 had paid your ring three times that amount. 
 
 I now pay my respects Ic men of your ilk, 
 clothed briefly wiih legislative authority, by a 
 poem sent to mo by an unknown hand, which I 
 adopt, and with my compliments respectfully 
 dedicate to you and ttiom. 
 
 "The man who takes a bribe would strip the dead, 
 "Or rob the orphan of his crust of bread; 
 "80 lost to justice, eiiiiily and rii^ht, 
 ■'Th'8 man would Hteal itio aged widow's mite. 
 "Is well prepared foi every kind of Jraud, 
 "Wouldsell his country, or beuay his God, 
 ••Pillage the palace ol the Kinsol' Kings, 
 "Or strip the gildint? from an angel's wings. 
 "On sad events, now pass nj,', do rellect; 
 "Freemen, be firm, and sleru, and circumspect. 
 "Let none be trusted who for office pants, 
 "To pamp r vulgar artiiicJal wants. 
 "Let every Idle, vain and vicious drone 
 ''Live, if he can, but trust not such a one. 
 ''Kemember what Time's faithful record salth, 
 »' Thai Carthage fell, and fell bj "runic faith." 
 
 "The man who Is unfaithful to a trust, 
 "However small, is vitally unlust; 
 "And he who is uninst in little things, 
 "Would be a villlan in the court of Kiiiza. 
 "Piesent a bribe, and down his virtue falls, 
 "In court, or camp, or legislative halls, 
 "'1 he bribea— apostate blot hi? hateful name 
 "From each ana every scroll of honest fame. 
 "Let no man trust him; none lorbear to shed 
 "Contempt, and deep dishonor, on h s head. 
 "Let scorn still point her finger and her .jibes. 
 "And say "Behold the consequence of bribea." 
 '•]jetguiless children, as he passes by, 
 "Shrink from his touch, and shudder at his eye. 
 "Let lovely woman loathe him with disgust, 
 "And shun him like the reptile in the duet; 
 "A" d, whilst he li^e^ lei infamy alone, 
 "Claim the bribed legislator as her own ; 
 "Dntil he dies and sink into the grave, 
 
 "To pnison worms that feed upon the knave. 
 
 ' There, midst the storms let hodeous furies fonl, 
 
 "Hold nightly revels, and in concert howl ; 
 
 "Let hissing serpents make that spot their home, 
 
 "And be the waichful guardians of his tomb; 
 
 "And when he goes to Hell, let Devils stare, 
 
 "And ask him who the Devil sent him there? 
 
 "And feel the insult, deep, seveie, and keen, 
 
 '•To see a fiend preemineuily mean. 
 
 "Midst better Deviia rudely uauered in, 
 
 "A loul, appallng jirodigy of sin; 
 
 •^And iu Ilell's fiercest, hotte?t furnace crammed. 
 
 "Let him bo damned,— superlatively damned: 
 
 "And why not damned for such tiancendent crimes, 
 
 "Yoa, damned eternally, ten thousand times!' 
 
 I had intended to show you. Deacon Berg- 
 ner, what excellent material was in you to 
 ressurrect the Native American Party; but I 
 must desist. The bint may be useful however. 
 It was also my intention to devote a letter to 
 your hide-and-seek practices, with the editors 
 of two Gazettes in the western part of the State, 
 l^had intended to show that those two papers, 
 through your aid, had robbed the State at 
 large, of an improvement worth more than two 
 hundred millious to her, and had destroyed 
 property iu their respective cities to a vast 
 amount; at least they have done this for the 
 time being, and we will never know the amount 
 of labor that it will cost to repair the damages 
 which they have done. 
 
 To-morrow. Deacon Bergner, I intend to 
 defend myself against the attacks of you and 
 your crew who have lied about me in regard 
 to the ScuU-Findlay case. I must now (tor 
 to-day) como to an abrupt conclusion with 
 you. 
 
 Faithfully yours until death. 
 
 MuRROW B. LowKT. 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 The Senator Receives Tokens of Affec- 
 tion— He Koturns the Compliment 
 with InlcreMt— >11s 0|>inioii of our 
 Koprcsentative— History of the Scull- 
 Findlay Case— Action 0% Republicans 
 Vindicated. 
 
 Harrisburo, March 9th, 1870. 
 Dear Deacon Bergner: — 
 
 IJpoa crawling out of bed this morning, I 
 found my mail had been sent to my room, and 
 among it were two newspapers, both of which 
 were called the "■ Ilarrishurtj Evening Tek' 
 
11 
 
 graph," which a dear old friend had returned 
 to me, being tokens of affection that you have 
 been lurniahing to my constituents. 
 
 Oi the contents of one of these newspapers 
 1 will speak now. Of the other I may speak 
 hereafter. It is dated the 2Gth of Jan- 
 uary, 1870. I find in it the loUowing classical 
 and sweet scented extract, a part of which I 
 give you: It reads as follows. "7'/ie Traitor 
 Lowry fears us; he must be shoivut up at the 
 hazard of the Republican Party, however much 
 his physical i)iti7'mities and the mental condition 
 of the lunatic, may have heretofore stayed our 
 hand." 
 
 "T7ie hoiTible old debauc?iee is insane." ^'He 
 wants to go to Congress," '7ie wants a foreiyrt 
 mission." '■'he wants Brewster made Attorney 
 General." ''With a culture's eye he sees the 
 action of Congress respecting the 
 Mormon Exodus from their pleasant 
 homes, and his sordid lieart becomes 
 ravenous." ^^ The desired opportunity for re- 
 venge against a party who reicarded him loith- 
 ont merit, presented itself in the case of Scull vs. 
 Findley. Ilis corruption, his ignorance, his in- 
 solence, his blasphemy, was as active as a luna- 
 tic's could be. in prejudging the case and preju- 
 dicing it." In this '-Morrow B. Lowry has de- 
 fiantly left the Republican Party, with the dev- 
 elish malignily of an itnclean spirit." 
 
 The '•traitor Lowry," my dear Deacon, has 
 been giving evidences for some days past, that 
 he is in horrible dread of you. and you will 
 never forget that he fears yoti; but the '■Luna- 
 tic," 1 apprehend you will concede, has "meth- 
 od in his madness." "I am not insane, most 
 noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and 
 soberness" to a noble party who 
 has liberated four millions of slaves, but has 
 wiihin itself festering elements which the last 
 hope of the world must get rid of or it will 
 Rtink UB all to death. 
 
 You are mistaken, Dear Deacon, in saying 
 that I want to go to Congress. My district is 
 r epresented by a man as cold and as pure 
 as all the ice that Seward purchased 
 in Alaska. He is an honest man, — 
 he is an able man, and with him I am 
 coBtent if George H. Cutler, William W. Reed. 
 Orange Noble. W. Benson, J. H. Walker and 
 Jas. Sill are. Honest men are wanted in Con- 
 gress; a few of them here are a luxury that 
 you most dread. 
 
 As to the ''foreign mission," even one to the 
 Court of St. James,if offered me. Dear Deacon, 
 I could not, for manifest pihysieal reasons ac- 
 cept. My affection for you is so sincere, that 
 if I remain on earth and in public lite it shall 
 be with jon— "the undersigned will never 
 leave or forsake thee." 
 
 I know. Deacon, that your care for me is so 
 great that altho -'demented and unable to stand 
 upon my feet," you would be glad to get me to 
 the Court of St. James, and your arms again 
 up to the elbows in the Treasury that you 
 have robbed. Shamefully! Shamefolly! 
 SHAMEFULLY! robbed. ' 
 Brewster, in my judgment, would make an 
 
 Attorney-General second to no man in this 
 country; but he should not make the sacrifice; 
 he is great, and struggling Cuba needs him and 
 religious and civiljliberty would be the better off 
 were he in Grant's Cabinet as Secretary of 
 State. With my "vulture's eye," and ''serdid 
 heart," I might long to rob the Mormons of 
 their beautiful homes, and, if you please, of a 
 hundred farms; but 1 am not the man to be 
 sent upon such an errand. 1 am fit for noth- 
 ing but to watch you, your co conspirators and 
 the Kingdom of Heaven, and really I am not 
 lit for that. Those tarms of the Mormons. I 
 am told, are very tempting, and I am so cor- 
 rupt that 1 would not play l\iir and divide. 
 There are fine farms with great brick houses 
 and Dutch barns in Lancaster, Lebanon, and 
 Dauphin, and all along up the Juniata and 
 Susquehanna; and when you get these old "re- 
 cords," Deacon. I will have something more to 
 say about the farms and the blooded sheep, 
 horses, men and heifers that pastured thereon. 
 I will try to show that the men who made 
 those early "Records,'' Deacon, which you 
 threaten me with, were better men than you 
 are, but unfortunately for you, Deacon, died in 
 the Penitentiary. 
 
 But this is a digression from the object of this 
 letter. 
 
 Now, for the Scull-Findley case," and 
 "my desired opportunity for revenge against a 
 a party that had rewarded me without merit," 
 and my "defiant leave-taking from the Re- 
 publican Party with devilish malignity." 
 
 It has, particularly since the breaking out 
 of the Rebellion, grown into a vicious practice, 
 both in Congress and the several States, in 
 cases of contested election, that the dominant 
 party in contested election cases elected the 
 party's favorite. Whether the people did or not, 
 was of secondary consideration. 
 
 This great, this growing, and this shameful 
 evil, if 1 have done anything towards abating, 
 I have rendered more service to my country 
 than it is probable you or your back- 
 ers will ever do. 
 
 The practice leads to all that is evil, and 
 nothing that is good; and men engaged in 
 your profession are more active in its intro- 
 duction and execution than they have ever 
 been to advance the purity of the elective fran- 
 chise, or the good of the party they disgrace by 
 belonging to it. In the Senate of Pennsylva- 
 nia, this year, there were two cases of contest- 
 ed elections; that of Scull versus Findley. and 
 Diamond versus Watt. It was my misfor- 
 tune to be drawn upon both of these Commit- 
 tees. A single objection would have 
 stricken my name from either of them. 
 This objection was not made, and 
 I proceeded with the other members ©f the Com- 
 mittee, after being duly sworn, to discharge 
 the duties thereof with fidelity. 
 
 The case of .Scull versus Findley is decided, 
 and I am at liberty to speak of it. That of 
 Diamond versus Watt is yet undisposed of, and 
 it would be improper in me to say more in re- 
 gard to it. 
 
12 — 
 
 In the Findley-SctiU case I will speak "with 
 malice towards none and in charity for all." 
 I had no acquaintance with Mr. Scull, the Re- 
 publican, neither had I any with Mr. Findley 
 the democrat. I was invited to a caucus ot 
 the Republicans the day before that fixed by 
 the Constitution of Pennsylvania for the or- 
 ganization of the Legislature. On entering I 
 found a strange i^entleman speaking, and I 
 soon learned Irom his discussion that it was 
 Mr. Scull, who was teaching senators how to 
 pet himself into the senate and how to keep 
 Mr. Findley out. I knew, not only from news- 
 paper reports but the published official returns 
 therein, that Mr. Findley held the regular 
 certificate of election and was therefore law- 
 luUy entitled to his seat. I considered Mr. 
 Scull's presence in the caucus when some of 
 us would be sworu to well and 
 truly try his case. highly improper, 
 and 1 ventured promptly so to express 
 myself. I was given to understand that the 
 court ''understood herself," and if I objected 
 they could get along very comlurtably without 
 my assistance. I was indignant aud left the 
 caucus. The uext day the Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth, immediately upon the Senate 
 (which is a parpoiual body) being called to 
 order by the si)eaker. delivered to 
 us the official returns. Ten Senators who held 
 the game kind of certificates, returned thnuigh 
 the same channels, were sworn in, and Mr. 
 Findley was shoved aside.yot he held the samo 
 evidence of the right to his seat which every 
 Senator in that body was admitted upon, I will 
 not even speak of t!ie '-Peter Funk" one horse 
 certificate of Mr. Scull. 
 
 A resolution was then oflFered by Senator 
 White, that a committee of three be appointed 
 to decide whether Mr. Findley or Mr. Scull 
 was entitled to the seat, prhna facie. 
 Against this unheard of, dishonest and uulaw- 
 lul proceeding, 1 protested with all the warmth 
 of my nature. 
 
 The resolution was carried, and the commit- 
 tee alter hatching and haggling over a new pa- 
 tent to make Senators, reported that Mr. Scull 
 the Republican, should be sworn in, and that 
 Mr. Findley mi^ht contest il be chose. On the 
 resolution being read 1 shocked your party 
 and "blasphemed" because I made a 
 remark— addressed to no. one, "there w^-i 
 silence in heaven for the space oi hall an hour" 
 
 Be it remembered that the act of assembly, 
 and the practices ot all deliberative bodies, as 
 old as the ballot ilself, were by this action 
 struck a dastardly blow between the eyes, by 
 back-scarred party "ring" boned Republicans. 
 
 The report of the Committee had been kept 
 back, aud Mr. Fiiidley's time to make the 
 contest with specifications which iinder the law 
 must be within ten days, was delayed until but 
 two days of bis tim^wou Id be left to contest in. 
 I denounced Mr. Scull and his backers, of which 
 you are the ]U'incipal conspirator.aud from the 
 worst ot motives, as attempting to get a Re- 
 publican into the Senate, not through tho law- 
 ful cbaBUplS; but thrgy^'U his climbing up upon 
 
 the shoulders of a party that never can aflford 
 to violate law. 
 
 Mr. Billingfelt voted with me and with the 
 democrats, wQich defeated the infamous report 
 of the Committee, and Mr. Findley was sworn 
 in, as he ought to have been without hesita- 
 tion on the first day of session. 
 
 During the pendency of these proceedings, in 
 answer to a letter, the late Attorney General 
 Benjamin Harris Brewster, an bonest man and 
 Republican from principle, declared thai I 
 was not only right, but that any other course 
 had within it the seeds of anarchy, and of the 
 party's death that dare practice it. 
 
 In the meantime I went to Philadelphia be- 
 fore Mr. Findley was sworn in, aud as the case 
 could not come before the Supremo Court, I had 
 no hesitation in conversing with mv old and 
 valued friend, the Chiel Justice ot Pennsylva- 
 nia, and the Hon. M. Hazleherst. and other 
 pur(> and good men, honorable and good Re- 
 publicans, — who scorned this revolutionary and 
 unscrupulous attempt 'o place unlawfully a 
 man in power, who, as proven by the jyapers, 
 then and the investigation since, was uot elect- 
 ed. The papers of Mr. Findley were honest 
 papers, had come to us through the only legal 
 channels known to the law and to custom; but 
 if his papers had been Ibrgeries coming through 
 the channels they did, we had no right to in- 
 quire into it other than through a Committee 
 of seven, lawfully drawn, lawfully organized 
 and lavvlully sworn. 
 
 For so doing and because I would not per- 
 jure myself to give Mackey a vote and tho ring 
 a recruit, your paper could not coin woids vilo 
 enough to appiy to me. 
 
 Mr. Findley look his seat and Mr. Scull be- 
 came the contestant. A jury was drawn, of 
 which 1 was one, and the trial proceeded. 
 
 There lie upon my table something less than 
 half a bushel of extracts which I cut Irom your 
 paper, denouncing me at every step, as un- 
 willing to go to Johnstown where witnesses 
 were accessible, aud that 1 was throwing every 
 embarrassment in the way to prevent Mr. 
 Scull from receiving a fair and impartial trial. 
 You charged me many times when my lips 
 were sealed and I did not speak, with betray- 
 ing tho Republican Party, on the Committee 
 to siille investiijation. 
 
 Thank God, I can now spe-.k and vindicate 
 myself Irom the record before an impartial 
 world. 
 
 In the investigation that followed, there was 
 nothing occurred of sufficient importance to 
 call the yeas and uays, excetitiu nine instan- 
 ces. An examination of the yeas aad najs in 
 our journal when it is published, is the only 
 vindication that I want. 
 
 You, George Bergner, denounce the Com- 
 mittee as " a Star Chamber" one, and that I 
 had conspired wiih the Democracy in the dark 
 to keep a man in his seat whom the people had 
 never elected. 
 
 The first two resolutions that came before 
 the Committee, it will be seen from the journal, 
 related to striking out matter fiom the peiiiiou 
 
— i: 
 
 of Mr. Skull, vital, it is said, to substantiating 
 his riulu. to a s-eal in the S<'nat«. In both iii- 
 i^tances. I vott^d with ibe Republicans on the 
 CoMiniitu^e, and' ayninsi. s'likiufj; (^iii anythiufj;. 
 The nu'iits and thu truth were what I sought to 
 <^)btain. 
 
 Tho next repolulion for a call of the yens 
 and nays, is btfoie lue, and in the followinf 
 words : 
 
 That the commillee t-hall Lcroaftor sit with 
 ojieu doois, and all quesiions shall be decidtul 
 by yeas and nays, and ttie C'leil; shall keep a 
 lull record of iho same. 
 
 The tollowing was ihe vote ujion the resolu- 
 tion : 
 
 Messrs Lowry. Linderman and Rundall in its 
 fivo , and Mi ssrs Allen, Brown, Osttrhout and 
 lirooKe iigainst it. 
 
 If liisSaiauic Majes'y, by solemn prool:-,ma- 
 tiou had called a world's convention of knaves 
 and liars, and commissioned you, Deacon 
 George iSergner. as President of tie same, with 
 lull power to selecf Mackey for Treasurer, and 
 (Lo arreatest liar in all the vast mnltitude for 
 iSecretaiy. there could not have been devised 
 or invented accusations more false or wicked 
 than your or}i:an has niadr agaiiist me. 
 
 The next call lor tue yeas and nays, are on 
 the following: 
 
 •'That fraud sha'l not be presumed, but the 
 contestant or tlie sitting member shall have ti;e 
 Jullest tipportuuity to make the charge of 
 fi and. or illegal voting, and the most amrde 
 opportunity shall be given him by the commit- 
 t. e to prove the same accoidiug to the rules 
 of law and the specifications before us, and 
 the whole force and power of the Stale shall 
 be given him to obtain any testimony he may 
 desire." 
 
 It may be proper here to state, that the only 
 pretense lor geltiHg up the Peter Funk, illegal, 
 unsworn i)arty conimittee of three in ihe Sen- 
 ate, consised in a technical error of the return 
 judges of Allegheny towasbip, Bedford county, 
 and in regard to ihis the committee disposed 
 of it by the following resolution, which was 
 carried by ihe vote of Messrs. Brown, Lowry, 
 Lindeiman and Kandal: 
 
 "That because the township of Allegheny, 
 by a mistake of its officers, returned the tally 
 paper instead of the regular certificate of elec- 
 lion. that, of jtself, should not be a sufficient 
 cause to oust the sitting member; and that the 
 return (;f the tally paper and the substitution 
 »;■ the ]iroper one was a i)iactical correction of 
 a manifest error, and it should not oust the 
 sitting member merely because it did not ar- 
 rive befoie twelve o'clock at night on the re- 
 iiirn fl'iy biit. thnt s)ll alleiTatifms of fraud in 
 the election of said township should be fully 
 inves: igated and all illegel votes, if any are 
 proved, shall be thrown out." 
 
 Messrs. Allen, Osterbout and Brooke, as in 
 duty bound, voied against it and were con- 
 scientious jurors. 
 
 Whoever will read the whole proceedings 
 of this Committee which will soon be laid be- 
 fore the public, cannot fail to ditcover that 
 
 Mr. Scull, from the very inception of the case, 
 desired to have certain lawful cirizcMis who vote 
 disfranchised, particularly in Ihe township of 
 Conemauiih where it appears that a niimbt^r of 
 Republicans rebelled, and voted as (iod, their 
 conscience the Constilutiou and tho law allow- 
 ed them to do; and they were entitled to the 
 protection of the law and a secret ballot with- 
 out Ihe fear ef ihe party lash from a liepubli- 
 can edihir. A knave who votes illegally, can 
 be compelled to disclose for whom bo voteO; 
 an honest voter alone is protected from inquis- 
 iliorial investigation. 
 
 The following '•osolution which is nut only 
 good law, but good morals, took him between 
 wind and water, and as he said himscdf. was 
 a fatal blow to the end of the in\e-tigation ; 
 
 '•That the right of a lawful citizen to vote a 
 secret ballot cannot be questioned, nor should 
 a lawful citizen be called upon to disclose for 
 whom he votrd. The mere proving of himself, 
 by himself, to be a citizen, should not exclude 
 the othia- party from proving that he waj not 
 one; and when proved that his vote was ille- 
 gal, then, and not until then, shall he be re- 
 quired to stale for whom he voted, which vote 
 should be deducted from tho vote of the one 
 for whom it was cast." 
 
 This i)osiiion was carried by my vote, and 
 was my ow a work. 
 
 There had been something said in the speci- 
 fication of Mr. Scull, relative to certain votes 
 in the Poor Houses. Mr. Findley upon h's 
 part, dixied investigation, and it looked at one 
 time, as though the paupers from three county 
 poor-houses, would be brcnight to Harrisburg 
 at the expense of the Stale; and to define what 
 I believe to be the law, aiid to give notice 
 whom they might properly subpoena, I offered 
 the following resolutions: 
 
 '•That neither poverty nor riches constitute 
 the qualifications of a voter, and the mere fact 
 that a man is a pauper, and lives in the pool - 
 house, does not disfranchise him, provided he, 
 in all other respects, has complied with the 
 law and tho Constitution of the State and of 
 the UniTed Stales; and the same rules and laws 
 that govern the qualification of citizens re- 
 siding in palaces should govern that of tho oc- 
 cupants of almshouses and poor-bouses." 
 
 This was adopted by the same vote as the 
 preceeding ones. 
 
 The returns from Conemaugh township show 
 that Mr. Scull had run behind his ticket in a 
 strong Republican township, and where the of- 
 ficers of election were, every man of them. Re- 
 publican; and he pif^posed to subpoena nearly 
 two hundred Republicans from that township 
 to prove that they v\'ere all true, faithful and 
 luyal ])arty men, and had voted for him; but it 
 has come out since the investigation closed, 
 that the counsel for Mr. Findley had in bis 
 })Ocket the certificates of sixteen Republi- 
 cans who s^iid they would swear that they vo- 
 ted for Mr. Findley the Democrat, and for 
 Gov. (Jleary the Re2)uolican. 
 
 The following proposition which I submitted, 
 
_ 14 _ 
 
 Mr. Scull said, cut his whole case up by tho 
 loots. 
 
 '^ That tho fact that Mr. Scull, a Republican, 
 ran bobind his ticket thirty-tbree vo'es and 
 tbat Mr. Fiiidlev, a Democrat, ran abend of his 
 ticket thirty-three vote?, in Con- nmugh town- 
 f^bip, is no evidence of fraud, neither is it fair 
 to presume it. because the efiicers of the elec- 
 tion in that township, it is conceded, were all 
 Republicans, and that if fraud be charged the 
 ballot l)ox«s should be sent tor, the ballots 
 counted, and the ofScers subpoenaed and sworn 
 before tuiw coujmiiU'e, and that thc^ whole body 
 of the Republican voters will be subpoenaed if 
 fraud is proved." 
 
 This was adopted by the followino: vote : 
 Veas, Messrs. Lovvry, LindermaH, Uiown and 
 Randall; nays, Messrs. Allen, Osterhout and 
 ISrooke, who, no doubt wert; patriotic party 
 men. 
 
 You, George Bergnor, have made dirty an 
 immense amount of white paper, declaiming 
 that the committee would not go to Johnstown, 
 nor do any other act or thing, to prove the 
 undue election of Mr. Findley, and tte fraudu- 
 lent voting, and you ran about the streets 
 shedding great crocodile tears as large as your 
 feet, and your paper bellowed hugely Lowry 
 •'the traitor to the Republican Party; and that 
 he had sought to stifle investigation and 
 '•(^fused to go to Johnstown, Hear the homes of 
 tlieir witnesses." 
 
 Now, the record 'shows that I oftcred the 
 following resolution, and the sinners on the 
 committee voted for it. and the saints against 
 it, by precisely the same vote of tho last! 
 
 That this committee will go to .Jshnstown or 
 elsewhere within the Commonwealth, if re- 
 ijuested by contestant to do so. to hear evidence 
 on the basis presented, and that every case 
 of fraud or undue election shall be investiga- 
 ted. 
 
 There were a large number of witnesses 
 called. There were two votes that were pro- 
 bably illegal; this however, is doubtful, but 
 Mr. Scull got the benolit of thera, Mr. scull's 
 indecent letter on withdrawing from the con- 
 test was returned by a unanimous consent to 
 him. Mr. Findley allcgini that ho could prove a 
 great many moie illegal voles than his opponent 
 Jiaddone, being only two; but after Mr. SchU 
 abandoned his case at a cost to tho state of an 
 inimonsc amount of money and much valuable 
 iii:te, $000 of the money of tho state went in- 
 
 to Scull's own pocket. Mr. Findley, of course, 
 did not press the point of producing any wit- 
 nesses. 
 
 Let us now for a moment return. Mr. Find- 
 ley. on being .'worn in. Mackf-y lost a voie 
 thereby. Your immediale pressing necessifies. 
 Dear George, were very great, as the Stah; 
 Treasurer was te be elecied the next day. 
 
 Your greasy and benign face, which up t(* 
 this time was iengest across it. became sudden- 
 ly reversed, and up and down l)ecame as long 
 and as lovely as a mule's. Billingfeh'.s vote 
 for Findley, and my vote and preaching, had a 
 hiimanizing effect upon the Democracy, and 
 developed the fact of which I have previously 
 stated, that there really was "a good deal ef 
 hurHan nature in a Democrat, and is proof 
 that 
 
 "Whilst the limp holds out to burn, 
 ' The vilest sinner may returu,'' 
 
 For all fell ints line and voted with us for 
 Irwin, as good a Rtjpublican ad there is in the 
 State. 
 
 I will d0 you the credit to say here, that 80 
 more liu^e and respectable convention «f Slate 
 robbers with you again as their President, with 
 banker's and editors lor their officers ever a^-sem- 
 bled at the capitol of Pennsylvania, than on 
 this occasion. 
 
 I will, at my earliest convenience, review 
 and publish these letters in pamphlet form. I 
 have made more damaging accusations against 
 you. sustained by official records, than was ever 
 made against any public plunderer in our day. 
 Your defense of yourself by charging me of 
 robbing the Erie Gompany(a corporation) when 
 all I ever obtained from it was for work and 
 labor done, aad that at the end of the law, and 
 where such men as the late J. W.Fairley — one 
 of the most distinguished Senators that Penn- 
 sylvania ever had. the late Hon. John Mitchell 
 — a distinguished Ex-Member of Conirress, and 
 for many years Canal Commissioner of Pa., the 
 late and deeply lamented Hon. Arnold Plum- 
 er, and men of this character, were the jurors 
 who decided in my favor, and where Judgt? 
 Pearson and Judge Thompson were my counsel, 
 i-^ the most remarkal:)le case on record of yoiir 
 shameless villainy, and proves you totally 
 destitute of truth. 
 
 As ever, 
 MoRi:ow P>. Lo\yRT. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Ex- Attorney GMicral Brewster 
 
 ON TIIK 
 
 findlay-scull case. 
 
 ?le Sustains Senator I^owry'j* 8''<>sit8oii, 
 
 uttd SI)o\v<! that iU r. Fiixliay i;^ 
 
 Entitled to the Seat. 
 
 The subjoined letter, from the Hon. Benja- 
 min Harris Brewster, late Attorney General 
 of Pennsj'lvania, has been received I)y Sena- 
 tor Lowry. It will be seen that Mr. Brews- 
 ter regards Mr. Findlaj- as clenrlj' entitled to 
 llic seat in the Senate, prima facie, for the 
 Twentieth Senatorial district. The letter 
 -needs no comment. It speaivs for itself: 
 
 70() Walxctt St., Pnii>,VBKArniA, 
 January 7, 1870. 
 J/y Dear Mr. Lowry .-—I am so occupied 
 that I cannot answer you as freely as I wonld 
 like to do. However, the whole question is 
 within a very narrow compass and will not 
 admit of much elaborate discussion. You 
 ask me if you have taken the right ground, 
 and j'ou say you are anxious not to go astray. 
 You have not gone astraj^ You are right. 
 Party has nothing to do with this. Princi- 
 ple alone must be considered, or confnsiim 
 .and legislative anarchy will be the result. 
 The matter has been determined over and 
 over. Indeed, no precedent can be found to 
 uphold the proposed course. The man who 
 holds the certificate is the elected man, and 
 entitled to his seat. Those who dispute his 
 certiticate must contest. No legislative body 
 can be organized on any other princijtle. 
 The return judges having certified b}- a ma- 
 jority that A was duly elected, A muat take 
 the seat. If B has a dissenting opinion from 
 one judge, or a minority, that no more enti- 
 tles him to the seat than it would give a citi- 
 zen a judgment in a court of law when the 
 majority of the court had resolved tlu^ other 
 way. In either case the remedy is by appeal. 
 In the meantime the occupant holds, or he 
 must be ejected by judgment in the whole 
 case as presented to the higher court, and 
 tliat "court in this case is the committee .is 
 provided by law. But there is no occasion 
 to illustrate by analysis in this case.the law 
 — the law is imperative, and to revoke it for 
 the mere purpose of upholding party supre- 
 macy, or from any legislative whim, must be 
 destructive of all true legislative orgauiza- 
 
 tiOD. 
 
 Some j^ears ago I gave an opinion of a 
 like character in Judge King's case, and ho 
 was commissioned, ^tr. W. L. Hirst united 
 with me in that opinion. The pai)ers you 
 can get do doubt in the Secretary's ofliee, 
 and so I decided in the Covodc and Foster 
 case. 
 
 Consistent action and stiict adheveheo lo 
 tlie law is essential in such cases. The meth- 
 od of solving such disputes is a part of par*- 
 Inmciitary history in England, and the con rsc 
 provided was adoptiil after much contention, 
 and has been accepted as the wise, just and 
 imi)arlial way, and being accepted ])rocured 
 tranquility on a subject which before was the 
 caa.se of much injustice. Tlie law, as it has 
 been applied to vach gentleman who now 
 holds his seat in your body, must be applied 
 to this case, or you will all of you "go astray.'* 
 Truly yoTU' friend, 
 
 BEN.tAMIN UaUKIS BrEWSTKI!. 
 
 To Hon. M.B. Lowry, Senate, Harrisburg, 
 Pa. 
 
 PnlT.ADEt.PHIA, 706 Waiatt St., \ 
 February 7, 1870. S 
 
 T^ the Hon. A. H. Coffroth .•— Dear Sni:— 
 I will answer your questions in the order in 
 which you proposed them. 
 
 Fii'st, Can the question be asked of a wit- 
 ness, for whoni did you vote for Senator? un- 
 til it is first decided by the committee that 
 he is not a qaulitied voter? 
 
 Answer — Before a voter can be thus inter- 
 rogated it must be proved that he was an il- 
 legal voter. The act nf assembly expressly 
 d("c1ares the law to be so — act of July 3, 
 1839, p. 1. 550, section 143, and there has 
 been an express judicial decision on this sub- 
 ject, to be found in 4th Penna. Law Journal, 
 p. 348, in tlie case of the contested election 
 of Ward. If the statute were not so, 
 
 the CoBStitution, article 3, section 2, express- 
 ly prescribes that all election i shall be b.y 
 ballot. To re(|uire a citizen, therefore, who 
 is a legal voter to disclose for whom he vot- 
 ed would be a violation of this clause of the 
 Constitution. If he is no legal voter, and 
 that is proved, and he did vote, he is not 
 within the protection of the Constitution. 
 That protects the secret of the lawful voter. 
 The unlawful voter has no protection because 
 he has no right to protect. He has perpetra- 
 ted a fraud. 
 
 Second. When the petition all'fges that in 
 Conemaugh township thirty-three legnl and 
 qualified electors cast their ballots for Ed- 
 ward Scull for tho ofliee of Senator, which 
 said ballots were received, deposited in tiie 
 ballot-box, counted and returned for Hiram 
 Pindlay, whereby the same were lost to the 
 said Edward Scull, is it legal and proper for 
 the committee to hear secondary evidence by 
 calling the electors and asking tor whom 
 they voted for Senator, or should the com- 
 mittee require the primary evidence, that is, 
 examine the tickets in the ballot-box and 
 hear the sworn testimony of the election offi- 
 cers ? 
 
— 16 — 
 
 Ynswcr— The committee are as much 
 bouud Uv tlie established rules of evidence 
 as any judicial tribunal ; lirst, because those 
 lules conform to sound reason ; second, l)e- 
 cause thev are rules established by law- 
 universal, uniform and equal in their applica- 
 tion— and to dei-art from them would l)e un- 
 reasonable and unjust, and would unsettle 
 established authoritv, producing uncertainty 
 and sctllino- or unsettling public rights and 
 ])ublic duties by arbitrary whim or caprice, 
 or by parti/.an feeling. Secondary evident^ 
 never can be received unless primary evi- 
 dence cannot be obtained, and the reason tor 
 not producing the primary evidence must be 
 satisfactorily proved, and that reason must 
 be a full and siiHicieut one to warrant the ad- 
 mission of secondary evidence; and if the 
 ])rimary evidence be in the possrssion of an 
 individual and it or his testimony cannot be 
 l)rocured ; if he refuses to answer ; if he pre- 
 varicates, conceals, or misleads the party 
 calling ; if he suppresses documents or pa- 
 i>ers within his possession, or if it be writ- 
 ten evidence that is lost, mislaid, suppressed 
 or destroyed, and all or any of these tacts are 
 jjroven to the satisfiiction of a tribunal in- 
 vestigating a question, then secondary evi- 
 dence may be given, and not till then. 
 
 The case, as you state it, is covered by 
 tins rule. The proper and only way to es- 
 tablish the fact asserted in the speciticatiou 
 would be to examine the tickets, to hear the 
 sworn statements of the election officers. 
 They are the b^st evidence that the case is 
 capable of, and it is the cardinal rule of evi- 
 dence that the best should be given. If the 
 tickets are destroyed, and that destruction 
 is proved ; if the election officers refuse to 
 appear, or, api)earing, refuse to answer, or 
 answering, satisfy the committee that they 
 have a flagrant determination to evade, pre- 
 varicate and conceal, so as to pervert the 
 truth and prevent a fair investigation, then 
 secondary evidence may be given, and not 
 till then." 
 
 Tuird. Is a poor man (pauper in a county 
 poor house) a (lualitied elector in the poor 
 house election district, although said poor 
 man (pauper) had been sent there from an- 
 other election district provided he is a white 
 freeman, a citizen of the United States, and 
 has resided in this State at least one year, 
 and in the election district where he offers 
 to vote at least ten diiys immediately preced- 
 ing such election, and within two years paid 
 a State or county tax, which shall have been 
 assessed at least ten days before the election, 
 and has been registered V 
 
 Answer— Such a person is a qualified 
 elector and can vote, and bis vote cast is a 
 lawful vote and as good as any man's vote, 
 and it ought to be so. The constitution es- 
 tablishes tills, and it does not disqualify him 
 because he is poor. That does not deprive 
 him of his freedom or his citizenship. The 
 necessities of li:e tJ^t ha\e driven him to 
 
 seek relief do not degrade him below the 
 level of a manhood and strip him of an in- 
 alienable right which the law does not refuse 
 to the convicted felon. All are freemen now, 
 and all citizens of the United States, who«re- 
 side permanently within the Commonwealth 
 for one year and pay their taxes, are citizens. 
 They are amenable'to the law, and being so. 
 upon the very fundamental principles of our 
 government have a right to be represented, 
 and to sav who shall make llie laws. It is 
 not property or poverty that rules here. It 
 is the man, responsible to God, and responsi- 
 ble to the law. To say otherwise, would 
 make poverty worse than a crime. The 
 pauper is bound by every law upon the stat- 
 ute book, and is j^rotected by every pr(jvis- 
 ion of the constitution, as much so as the 
 wealthiest, ^visest, or most successful mau 
 in the community. Sickness, the calamities 
 and accidents of "life may reduce men to this 
 sad condition. That is bad enough. _ The 
 law never intended to add to his miseries by 
 making him the only slave that remains iu 
 our Republic. All the duties of life, bind 
 him ; he can make a contract, he can bo 
 obliged to testify, he can marry, he can sue 
 and'be sued, he is only restrained and bound 
 by rules as every one is who lives in any in- 
 siifution. Persons in hospitals, asylums, 
 factories, homes for disabled soldiers, iiublic 
 works, government shops and all kinds of 
 public and elemosynary institutions, as well 
 as private establishments— are bound by fix- 
 ed rules— that are enacted for the preserva- 
 tion of good order, to maintain discipline 
 and carry out the purposes of the establish- 
 ments. 'This isallthat he is subjected to, 
 and these rules and the restraints of the 
 house, he can relieve himself from at any mo- 
 ment by asking for his discharge. The poor 
 house is his residence, it would be there that 
 process of law, criminal or civil, would be 
 served upon him, and it is from that residence 
 he may vote, provided he has lived there teu 
 days preceding tbe election and conformed 
 to "the requirements of the law. If to receive 
 public support would be legal cause of dis- 
 qualification, we must not forget that evea 
 now a large number of white and black cit- 
 izens of the Southern portion of this nation 
 are still receiving and levying upon the sup- 
 plied bounty of the government. What 
 would be their condition? For some of those 
 who have received and still receive that 
 bounty were once the wealthiest and best 
 bred, 'and the most accomplished and some- 
 times reputed the wisest people in this re- 
 gion. By the calamities of war they are re- 
 'duced to want, but God forbid that they or 
 any one should by any calamity be stripped 
 of their right of manhood and brutalized 
 down to tliat slavery from which we have 
 been, by God's providence, all emancipated. 
 I am respectfully, 
 
 Benjamin IIakius Beewstek. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 006 993 930 2 
 
006 993 930 
 
 Consenratkw Resonnw 
 lif-Fra^Typel 
 
 PhSABuflered 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 006 993 930 2 4