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 'Copy 1 
 
 THE RECORD 
 
 OP 
 
 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER 
 
 SINCE HIS ELECTION AS GOVERNOR OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 BOSTOIT, 1883. 
 

 
 
THE 
 
 RECORD OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER 
 
 SINCE HIS ELECTION AS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHtJSETTS. 
 
 Having been elected by the people of Massachusetts as their 
 chief magistrate, Gov. Butler at the outset distinguished him- 
 self, in his inaugural, by a series of charges reflecting upon the 
 fair fame of the Commonwealth, — charges which showed a 
 wilful intention to mislead, or a lamentable ignorance of the 
 facts, and which have served only to hold the Commonwealth 
 up to the ridicule of her sister States. 
 
 We propose to take up the governor's charges and statements 
 in order, showing what he claims, and what are the real facts, 
 in each case. 
 
 ILLITERACY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 Says Governor Butler, — 
 
 "The population of Iowa was 1,624,G19 ; the population of Mas- 
 sachusetts was 1,783,085, — not far from equal. lu 1880 the 
 native-born population of Iowa above ten years was 926,301. The 
 native-born population of Massachusetts above ten j'ears was 
 1,005,570. Or, Iowa had 75+ per cent of such native-born popu- 
 lation, while Massachusetts had 70+ per cent, or five per cent less 
 than Iowa. Now the illiteracy of Massachusetts — i. e., those of 
 ten years and upward who could not read — was by the same census 
 5.3 per cent; and the illiteracy of Iowa by the same census was 2.4 
 per cent, or 2.9 per cent less than Massachusetts. This difference 
 of illiteracy is against Massachusetts in the comparison between 
 
her and Iowa, and cannot be accounted for from the fact that Mas- 
 sachusetts had more foreign population, because the excess of our 
 foreign population was only five per cent over Iowa ; which would 
 only reduce the per cent of illiteracy in favor of Iowa, and against 
 Massachusetts, to 2.32 per cent." 
 
 THE FACTS. 
 
 Tlie very tables which lie employs to blacken the fair fame 
 of the State, and humble the honest and special pride which 
 our jieople take in the intelligence of the Commonwealth, con- 
 tain the correction to his injurious deductions. 
 
 Of course, Gov. Butler could not be more ignorant than any 
 other intelligent citizen of the fact that the foreign population 
 of Iowa, being mainly Swedish and German, is a very different 
 element, in such a comparison, from the foreign population of 
 Massachusetts, which comes principally from famine-ridden 
 Ireland. The figures were at hand along with those he has 
 quoted showing that the proportion of illiterates among the 
 native-born whites in Massachusetts is only 7 per 1,000 against 
 26 per 1,000 in Iowa ; while the proportion of illiterates among 
 the foreign-born whites of Massachusetts is 196 per 1,000 as 
 against 81 per 1,000 in Iowa. This is a good specimen brickbat 
 of the many missiles which our new governor has flung at the 
 honored reputation of the State of Massachusetts. Of course 
 it excites unmeasured applause from the haters of New England, 
 and those jealous and envious of the historic standing and in- 
 fluence of the old Bay State. 
 
 From a statistical table compiled by the secretary of the 
 Board of Education, for his annual report of the current year, 
 is copied the following result : — 
 
 '" From the above tahlo it appears that the total number of native 
 illiterate persons of ten years of age and over in the Commonwealth 
 in 18H0 was 6.933, or seven-tenths of one per cent of the population ; 
 that the number of native illiterates born of Massachusetts parents 
 was probably about 2,486, or one and two-fifths tenths of one per 
 cent (.014) of the population." 
 
 We add the following from the report of Hon. Carroll D. 
 
Wright, ill 1878, upon the results of the Massachusetts school 
 system. 
 
 " It should be remembered, that, within thirty-tnree years, our fac- 
 tory operative population has been composed of three distinct nation- 
 alities. A generation ago our cotton and woollen mills were filled 
 with operatives from the farming villages of New England and the 
 homes of Old p]ngland. The traditionary factory girl gave place, and 
 rapidly too, to the Irish operative, till hardly a native woman could 
 be found in our mills. The Irisli girl held undisputed sway for a few 
 years ; till now the French Canadian is crowding her away from the 
 looms, and so quietly and 3'et so swiftly that in many localities the 
 Irish brogue has almost died awa}' in the chatter of the new-comer. 
 "With each change the tendeucj' to illiteracy has become more and 
 more marked. Yet the State preserves her superiority over most of 
 her sisters in the small proportion of her people who can neither read 
 nor write. The illiteracy of jNIassachusetts in 1875, by the last State 
 census, was 104,. 013 above ten years of age, or about six and one- 
 third per cent of the whole population. The native-born illiterates 
 over twenty-one years of age numbered G,947, or about two-fifths of 
 one per cent of the population. In 1850 the percentage was about 
 three-fifths of one per cent, showing a decrease of one-fifth of one 
 per cent in native illiterates over twenty-one years of age ; while the 
 population increased during the same period, 1850 to 1875, over 
 sixty-six per cent. Illiteracy was not reported in 1860. I am there- 
 fore debarred making comparisons for that year. ' ' 
 
 ATTACK ON THE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 
 "The State has five normal schools, which it carries on from the 
 common-school fund. In 1881 these schools had 836 scholars (about 
 two-thirds of whom were young women), of which total number 184 
 were graduated. The expense, per average scholar, to the State was 
 873.85, of which expense $61.63 was for salaries of teachers; the 
 total expense being 861,760.79. Assuming that a corresponding 
 number will be graduated every j'ear, then the whole cost to the 
 State of each graduate will be 8335 plus ; to this I do not add the cost 
 of the land, and the very large establishments built by the State for 
 these schools, because I am informed by the auditor's reports that 
 the ' value of the five normal establishments has not been ascer- 
 tained. ' 
 
'• What right had these 184 youug men and women to so expensive 
 an education out of the comnion-seliool fund, at the hands of the 
 State?" — Gov. Butlkk'.s InaiKjural. 
 
 Until the governor raised his voice against them, there had 
 been, of late years, no question as to the efficiency of the nor- 
 mal schools ; but, on the contrary, they had received the un- 
 qualified indorsement of educators in this State, in all States, 
 and in all countries. Prior to their establishment, the educa- 
 tional position of Massachusetts was low and unsatisfactory : 
 since they came into being the progress of the common-schools 
 has been marked and sure ; and the Commonwealth has come to 
 be looked to as a pattern among educators on both 'sides of the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 In the five schools the number of pupils in 1881 was respec- 
 tively as follows: Bridgewater 174, graduates 52; Framing- 
 ham 112, graduates 33 ; Salem 2G3, graduates 58 ; Westfield 
 120, graduates 25; Worcester 167, graduates 16, — 836 pupils, 
 184 graduates. Gen. Butler places the cost at §61,760.79, 
 whereas the appropriation for the 3'ear, which was not overrun, 
 was §!59,900, — a difference in favor of the schools of 81,860.79 ; 
 not a large amount, but worth noticing. The classes of 1882 
 show the following strength : Worcester 183 pupils, 33 gradu- 
 ates; Bridgewater 194 pupils, 47 graduates; Westfield 136 
 pupils, 29 graduates. The returns for Salem and Framingham 
 are not at hand, but the classes are about the same as during 
 the previous year. Giving these two schools the same number 
 of scholars and graduates as in the classes of 1881, we lind a 
 total of 888 pupils and 200 graduates. The a^jpropriation, 
 which was not exceeded, was $60,325. 
 
 Ninety-six per cent of the graduates teach, almost all of them 
 in Massachusetts, on an average of five years each ; while many 
 of them continue in the service during life. It is idle, there- 
 fore, to say that the pupils of the normal schools are educated 
 at the expense of the common-school fund, and to insinuate 
 that it is for their own individual benefit alone. These pupils 
 are trained, not for their own sake, but for the benefit of the 
 State; who by training them supplies herself with an able and 
 
efficient corps of instructors. The expense per pupil is neces- 
 sarily greater than in the common-schools, as much individual 
 teaching is necessary, and a class of from twenty to twenty- 
 five is as large as can be satisfactorily trained. The eagerness 
 which school committees exhibit to secure a normal-school 
 teacher is sufficient proof of the thoroughness of the work of 
 these training-schools, and the influence exerted by them upon 
 the education of the masses. 
 
 THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 GOV. butler's statement. 
 
 "Boston affords a curious iUustration of the increase in cost of 
 teaching in her schools. I take that city for illustration, because 
 she has every class of schools ; they are claimed to be the best in the 
 Commonwealth, and the city has quite one-fifth of our population. 
 In 1854-00 the whole number of day-scholars was 22,528 ; the salaries 
 of teachers, officers, and school committee, $198,225 ; the net rate 
 per scholar, $10.94 ; the total expenditure, $274,847. In two years, 
 1874-75, the whole number of day-scholars and evening-scholars, 
 46,464; salaries of teachers and officers, $1,249,498; rate per 
 scholar, $36.54; total expense, $2,081,043. Increase in number of 
 scholai's, 106.7 per cent; increase in cost of teachers, 530.3 per 
 cent; increase in cost per scholar, 231.6 per cent; increase in 
 total expenses, 657.1 per cent." 
 
 THE FACTS 
 
 As shown by the report of the Superintendent of Public Schools 
 in Boston : — 
 
 "A conspicuous instance of ill-founded criticism on schools 
 appears in the recent address by his Excellency the Governor of 
 Massachusetts to the two branches of the Legislature. As much 
 of this criticism is directed to the schools of Boston in particular, 
 it may be well to show how unjustifiable are the principal statements 
 and inferences therein made or suggested. First, — 
 
 " 'Boston affords a curious illustration of the increase of cost of teaching in 
 her scliools.' 
 
 ' ' The illustration consists in a contrast drawn between the expendi- 
 tures for the financial year 1853-54 (not 1854-55, as stated in the 
 
address) and the expenditures for 1874-75, twenty-one years later. 
 The contrast in tabular form is as follows : — 
 
 Financial year Financial year 
 1S53-54. 1S:4-TJ. 
 
 Total number scholars .... 22,528 40,404 
 
 Salaries of teachers and officers . . $198,225 00 $1,249,498 00 
 
 Net rate per scholar 10 94 3G 54 
 
 Total expenditure 274,847 00 2,081,043 00 
 
 "These figures are taken from the city auditor's report. Every 
 year is found in that report a table showing the ' annual expenditures 
 for the public schools of Boston for the last twenty-nine financial 
 years.' (The same table is found this year in school document 
 No. 6, 1882, p. 23.) , 
 
 " Now, the whole table shows some other facts, which may well be 
 taken into consideration in connection with the ' illustration ' above 
 given. It appears that the year selected for one term of the 
 contrast, the year 1874-75, was the j^ear in which the expendi- 
 tures reached the very highest point they have ever reached, both 
 in the gross amount expended and in the net rate per scholar. 
 This was the last entire financial year before the re-organization of 
 the school board. Why the management of the last seven j'ears 
 should not have received the credit rightfully belonging to it for 
 reducing expenditures, does not appear. For the very same table 
 which ' affords a curious illustration of the increase in cost of teach- 
 ing,' affords also an illustration of the decrease in the cost of 
 teaching in her schools. 
 
 "To tell the whole truth, therefore, there should have been pre- 
 sented, side by side with the contrast above given, another contrast 
 between the financial year 1874-75, when expenditures reached the 
 highest point, and the year 1881-82, the last year for which figures 
 were obtainable. Thus : — 
 
 Financial year Financial year 
 1874-75. 1881-82. 
 
 Total number scholars .... 46,464 55.638 
 
 Salaries of teachers and officers . . $1,249,498 00 $1,165,629 00 
 
 Net rate per scholar 36 54 20 98 
 
 Total expenditure 2,081,043 00 1.710,105 00 
 
 " Notwithstanding a large increase in the number of scholars, 
 there has been a large decrease in the total expenditures. Tlie net 
 rate per scholar has been steadily going down for the last seven years, 
 and is now lower than in any year since 1866-67." 
 
THE SCHOOL FOR IDIOTIC AND FEEBLE-MINDED 
 
 YOUTH. 
 
 Of this institution Gov. Butler says, — 
 
 "When the State shall have sufficiently educated every bright child 
 within its borders, it will be time enough to undertake the education 
 of the idiotic and feeble-minded. I submit that this attempt to 
 reverse the irrevocable decree as to " the survival of the fittest ' ' is 
 not even kindness to the poor creatures who are in this school. 
 Give them an asj4um, with good and kind treatment, but not a 
 school. The report from that school shows that none of its pupils 
 have been made self-supporting by its teachings. The report further 
 shows that those in whom some spark of intelligence has been 
 awakened have become so ashamed of their school that, when they 
 write to their parents, they beg for paper and envelopes which have 
 not its card upon it. That is, they have been educated simply 
 enough to know of their deficiencies and be ashamed of themselves 
 and their surroundings. We do not contribute to their happiness by 
 giving them that degree of knowledge. A ivell-fed, well-cared-for 
 idiot is a happy creature. An idiot awakened to his condition is a 
 miserable one." 
 
 In other words Gov. Butler would have every feeble-minded 
 child strangled in its cradle, or at least would have no effort 
 made to prolong its existence, or an endeavor used to kindle 
 into a flame the little spark of reason and intelligence existing 
 in its enfeebled brain. He believes in " a survival of the fittest.''^ 
 
 The " Commercial Gazette," of Cincinnati thus comments 
 upon this extraordinary proposition : — 
 
 "While Gov. Butler favors an asylum for the feeble-minded and 
 idiotic youth of Massachusetts, he does not approve of a school for 
 their intellectual development, until the State shall have sufficiently 
 educated every bright-minded child within its bordei'S. The proposi- 
 tion is a novel one. If happiness is to be found in a state of idiocy, 
 in which consciousness of moral and rational responsibility is lost, 
 ought the State to do any thing to diminish the increase of idiocy, or 
 to awaken reason in those who have, as is commonly assumed, the 
 misfortune to be born idiots, when the happiness which is ' our being's 
 end and aim ' will be thereby lost to them forever? " 
 
8 
 
 The principal objections urged by the govornor against this 
 school — that none of the pupils have been made self-supporting, 
 and that those in whom some spark of intelligence has been 
 awakened have become ashamed of their condition — are too 
 frivolous for comment. The school fulfils a noble purpose, 
 and no one can for an instant doubt that the lives of these poor 
 creatures are made happier while under its care. The people 
 of Massachusetts do not begrudge the §22,500 spent for its 
 support. 
 
 THE TEWKSBURY ALMSHOUSE. 
 In regard to this institution, the charges of the governor were 
 as follows : — 
 
 "Have there not been scandals, public and well known, for years 
 in that institution? "Was it not charged, and never denied, that, for 
 years, of the infants born in or sent to that institution, more than 90 
 per cent died as such ? All of these did not fill an infant pauper's 
 grave, even ; for it can be shown that from 150 to 250 infant corpses 
 were annually sold as merchandise to a single medical institution in 
 the State, for from $3 to S5 each. Many, if not all, came from 
 thence, beside large numbers of bodies of pauper adults, furnished 
 for other medical purposes, and sold as merchandise for very consid- 
 erable sums ; and that done secretly, and not under and in accord- 
 ance with the pi'ovisious of the law, which, under certain safeguards, 
 permit almshouses to furnish the unclaimed bodies of deceased paupers 
 for dissecting purposes to surgeons and medical schools, according to 
 the decent and humane provision of the statute. "Was this not in 
 testimony before a grand jury? Has it not been publicl}" known ? 
 What record has the State of these dead infant children, to whom it 
 took the place of parent? AVhat account, even, has ever been 
 returned of the price of this merchandise of the ghouls? What 
 record of birth or death or burial-place, by which such bodies could 
 be identified or classified ? ' ' 
 
 Another charge was that one of the trustees had said that he 
 made enough out of the commissions on what was bought for 
 the institution to pay him for his time. Another was that the 
 salaries of the penal and charitable institutions were 70 per 
 cent of the appropriations. 
 
1. The first count of his Excellency's indictment was this, — 
 
 " Have there not been scandals, public and well known, for years 
 in that institution? " 
 
 The answer is : Yes, as there always may be in any institu- 
 tion of this kind ; and, further, that most of these scandals, 
 after investigation, were found to be groundless ; and, when 
 abuses were found, they were corrected at once. 
 
 2. The second count was this, — 
 
 "Was it not charged, and never denied, that, for years, of the 
 infants born in or sent to that institution, more than 90 per cent died 
 as such? " 
 
 The facts as to infant mortality in former years at Tewks- 
 bury are not in dispute. The evidence is overwhelming that 
 the infant foundlings sent to Tewksbury were those whose 
 chances of life were very small. The most of them came from 
 Boston, and the Chardon-street Home was the central reser- 
 voir from which they were distributed. The attempt of the 
 governor to compare the poorhouse at Lowell with the State 
 almshouse as a place for keeping infants is grossly unfair. It 
 has already appeared that those at Tewksbury were sorted out 
 in Boston as unpromising ; while those at Lowell are born there, 
 and are very few in number. His reference to the record of 
 babies from the Chardon-street home is also a gross perversion 
 of fact. The record-book there kept was not made up by a 
 physician. We shall be justified in quoting from the testimony 
 of Phebe B. Spear, matron of Chardon-street Home (pp. 1697, 
 1698, Report Tewksbury Investigating Committee). 
 
 Q. Now, following those instructions, tell me what children out 
 of those received at the Chardon-street Home you sent to Tewksbury. 
 
 A. The most miserable ones. Those tliat I felt were not suitable 
 for adoption, and that they were not willing to take in other institu- 
 tions. 
 
 Q. Those that were not suitable for adoption, or which other 
 institutions were not willing to take ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
10 
 
 Q. "Was the Massachusetts Infant Asylum one of the institutions 
 that came there to take children? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. During those three years? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. "Well, they did more or less all the time. 
 
 Gov. Butler. I don't hear you. 
 
 The "Witness. They took them from there all the time, whenever 
 we had good, healthy children. 
 
 Q. Now, I open this record, vol. i., p. 139, date Nov. 9, 1872. 
 Is that your handwriting? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Now we go on with that until we come to May 29, 1876 : 
 "Sent to State almshouse at Tewksbury, Jessie Holgl'ave, doubt- 
 ful." I notice on this register you use the terms "doubtful," 
 "feeble," "fair," and "good." I want you to tell me who made 
 that classiflcation of children as they came in there. 
 
 A. I did. 
 
 Q. And have you ever been educated as a physician? 
 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Now I want to know, Mrs. Spear, in selecting children for 
 Tewksbur}', what children did you send out of all that were received 
 at tlie Chardou-street Home during all those years? 
 
 A. The poorest ; those that I felt I could not provide a home for 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The Governor. "Won't you repeat that? 
 
 The "Witness. Those that were feeble and miserable, and that I 
 felt I could not provide a home for. 
 
 Miss Crockett, connected with that institution, testified 
 (p. 1642) : " We alwaj's keep the best, and send the poorest to 
 Tewkshiiryr Another former matron of this institution more 
 than corroborated this statement. The testimony of Dr. Lath- 
 rop, Dr. Putney, Dr. Folsom, and others was that Tewksbury 
 was not a suitable place for so many infants, and that mortality 
 could not be prevented without an entire change of system, 
 which was finally brought about ; no one being more urgent in 
 accomplishing the result than Cajjtain Marsh, the superinten- 
 dent. His official reports for many years furnish cumulative 
 evidence of this fact. 
 
11 
 
 3. We now come to the third and gravest charge in the in- 
 dictment, — 
 
 "All of these [the 90 per cent] did not fill infant paupers' graves 
 even, for it can be shown that from 150 to 250 infant corpses were 
 annually sold as merchandise to a single medical institution in the 
 State for from $3 to $5 each. Many, if not all, came from thence, 
 beside large numbers of bodies of pauper adults, furnished for other 
 medical purposes, and sold as merchandise for considerable sums ; 
 and that done secretl}', and not under and in accordance with the 
 provisions of the law, which, under certain safeguards, permit alms- 
 houses to furnish the unclaimed bodies of deceased paupers for dis- 
 secting purposes to surgeons and medical schools, according to the 
 decent and humane provision of the statute. Was this not in testi- 
 mony before a grand jury? Has it not been publicly known? What 
 record has the State of these dead infant children, to whom it took 
 the place of parent? What account, even, has ever been returned 
 of the price of this merchandise of the ghouls? What record of 
 bhth or death or burial-place, by which such bodies could be identi- 
 fied or classified ? ' ' 
 
 For proof of this charge "the governor relied upon the un- 
 supported evidence of Dr. John Dixwell, who graduated from 
 the Harvard Medical School in 1873. 
 
 DR. DIXWELL's testimony. 
 
 Q. Had you occasion while you were in that medical school to 
 dissect any bodies ? 
 
 A. I had. 
 
 Q. How many students were there connected with the hospital at 
 that time ? 
 
 A. There were a larger number than since, because there was no 
 examination for admission. I should think there were 200 or 300, 
 all told ; a large number from Canada, etc. 
 
 Q. You were there three years. During those three years how 
 many bodies of infants do you think you saw and knew of in connec- 
 tion with that school ? 
 
 A. Bodies of infants? 
 
 Q. Yes, sir ; young persons. 
 
 A. Well, I saw several hundred a year, certainly. 
 
12 
 
 Q. Of what ages? 
 
 A. All infants ; all under a year. 
 
 Q. At what price? 
 
 A. "Well, it varied with the supply. The demand was always 
 good, but the supply was sometimes short. They paid from S3 to 
 ^5, and sometimes from $2 to S5, a part. 
 
 Q. Sometimes §3 and sometimes $5 ? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. During the time how many of those babies do you think you 
 dissected yourself? 
 
 A. In the three years? ' 
 
 Q. Yes. 
 
 A. Well, I had several every week — two or three every week. I 
 suppose I had 50 or GO a year, certainly. I was very desirous of dis- 
 secting, and perhaps I dissected more tlian my mates ; but I certainly 
 dissected several a week. 
 
 So much for the testimony of Dr. Dixwell. The reports of 
 deatlis in the Tewksbury almshouse which were made to the 
 State board having the institution under its supervision show 
 that 44 infants died in 1870, 30 in 1871, and 66 in 1872, — a 
 total of 149 in the three years. Thus it appears, if Dr. Dixwell 
 had 50 or 60 infants a year to dissect, he had at the lowest 
 figure 150 in the three years, — or one more than the whole 
 number that died. If he had 50 from Tewksbur}^ in 1871, he 
 must have had 11 more than died during the entire year; mak- 
 ing it necessary for him to get from that institution 11 living 
 infants to gratify his thirst for anatomical knbwledge. Again, 
 Dr. Dixwell testified that there were between 200 and 300 stu- 
 dents attending the Medical School while he was there : call 
 the number 250. In his testimony he says, "perhaps I did 
 more than my mates." Admitting that he did, it is but fair to 
 assume that his " mates " dissected the bodies of half as many 
 infants as did Dr. Dixwell, or twenty-five a year. On the basis 
 of an attendance of 250 "mates," this would give 6,250 as the 
 number of infants dissected in a single year, or 18,750 during 
 the three years ! 
 
13 
 
 Let any candid, fair man take the entire evidence of Dr. 
 Dixwell as it appears in the report of the investigating com- 
 mittee, and even admitting it to be true that bodies of infants 
 were received at the Harvard Medical School for dissection, we 
 submit that there is not a single word in his testimony tending 
 to prove that an infant corpse ever went to that school from 
 Tewksbury. 
 
 In contradiction of Dr. Dixwell's evidence, Dr. Stephen C. 
 Martix, a classmate of Dr. Dixwell's, testified " that he never 
 saw but one baby in the dissecting-room during the time he was 
 at the Harvard Medical School, and that was brought in from 
 outside hy one of the students^ 
 
 Dr. WiLLiA]vi L. Richardson, a professor in the Harvard 
 Medical School, testified "that he never saw an infant's body 
 in the dissecting-room for the purposes of dissection." 
 
 Dr. Richard M. Hodges had official connection with the 
 Harvard Medical School up to 1872. He testified "that during 
 1870-72 there were no babies, to his knowledge, brought to the 
 school for purposes of dissection." 
 
 Dr. John Foster Bush testified to the same effect; as did 
 also Drs. Charles B. Porter, William A. Dunn, Edward H. 
 Bradford, Frederic C. Shattuck, Charles F. Folsom, Charles H. 
 Williams, and others. 
 
 All of these gentlemen are physicians of the highest reputa- 
 tion, and well-known citizens : many of them were classmates 
 of Dr. Dixwell; and they all testified that Dr. Dixwell was 
 extremely eccentric and given to extravagant statements, and 
 that his reputation for truth and veracity was bad. 
 
 " Was not this in testimony before a grand jury? [says his Excel- 
 lency] and has it not been publicly known? " 
 
 And yet on page 48 of the report of the investigating com- 
 mittee, Gov. Butler denies that there was any accusation of the 
 kind made before the grand jury. 
 
 The other charges we pass over, and content ourselves by 
 citing the report of a majority of the investigating committee, — 
 a report of seven honorable, fair-minded men. They report 
 as follows : — • • 
 
14 
 
 "We have visited Tewksbury, many of us several times, and 
 examined the institution in all its parts. We have seen and tasted 
 the food of the inmates, and had before us the men who have cooked 
 it and served it for many years. We liave had before us one of the 
 late trustees, the superintendent, the clerk, the physician, matrons, 
 the nurses, and attendants. AVe have examined the official reports of 
 the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, which by agreement 
 are made part of the case. Further, we have had before us Father 
 Gigault of Lowell, the Catholic priest whose presence is such a bene- 
 diction at the almshouse ; also the official report of Mrs. Clara T. 
 Leonard, one of the efficient members of the State board ; also Dr. 
 George A. Tucker, the eminent expert from Australia ; and Dr. 
 Charles F. Folsom. And, after hearing all the evidenbe in the pro- 
 tracted hearing, we declare the present condition of the State alms- 
 house at Tewksbury to be good, and, with one single exception, 
 entirely worthy the State. That one exception is that the appropria- 
 tions have been too small. The evidence is cumulative that there 
 should be more and better attendants, and better food for the sick 
 and infirm, more amusement and recreation for the hopeless insane, 
 and other things as recommended by Mrs. Leonard in her official 
 report. 
 
 " We pronounce the main charges of his Excellency the Governor 
 groundless and cruel. The question of infant mortality was an old 
 one, well settled, as everybody knew. The delivery of dead bodies 
 under the law was under the control of the trustees and superinten- 
 dent, and any irregularity should have been remedied by them without 
 publicity, if proof thereof had been furnished ; and the people of this 
 proud Commonwealth would have been saved from the shame and 
 humiliation so recklessly and needlessly brought upon them. Surely 
 the truth should have been ascertained before making sucli awful 
 charges. 
 
 " Our order was to investigate the other institutions ; but we have 
 heard no cause of complaint, and have had no time to devote to them. 
 We made the ordinary tour of inspection, and found them in good 
 condition. 
 
 " AVe commend to the Legislature, and to the people, all our public 
 charitable institutions, as still worthy this ancient Commonwealth ; 
 although, in the language of one of his Excellency's distinguished 
 predecessors, the}' are constantly requiring changes to meet the recur- 
 ring exigencies and the demands of a progressive philanthropy. 
 
15 
 
 "Your committee desires to place upon the record their strong dis- 
 approbation of some things said and done by the governor during tlie 
 course of this hearing. We pass by the insults to the committee'' and 
 to the chairman, who presided at this hearing by invitation of the 
 regular chairman, with coHsent of the committee ; also the reference 
 in the argument to ' clearing out this State House ' by his veteran 
 comrades ; and consider graver things. His Excellency announced on 
 the first evening of the hearing, that he had not come into the case 
 with a blacking-brush. But when, in cross-examining a young lady 
 witness [p. 1839], in order to ascertain whether, in a certain cam- 
 paign, a distinguished citizen of this State tarried over night at the 
 State almshouse, he said, ' / don't know what you knew by sleep- 
 ing idth him;' when he spoke of a matron who had been a witness 
 as ' that little chit, who could do no good among old men excejyt to 
 excite their passions;' when he insinuated that the father of Char- 
 lotte Anderson's child was the aged superintendent of the almshouse ; 
 when he tried in vain to make Thomas Kelliher, one of his witnesses, 
 admit that he took money, and suffered imprisonment, for being the 
 father of a bastard child on solicitation of the assistant superinten- 
 dent ; when he suggested that another respectable lady witness em- 
 ployed at Tewksbury belonged to ' the harem; ' when he spoke of the 
 State almshouse as a 'hell upon earth,' and the home for discharged 
 females, at Dedham, as a ' den; ' when he spoke of the eminent phy- 
 sicians who controverted Dixwell's testimony as the 'refuse,' and 
 again as the ' emptyings,' of Harvard Medical School, and again as 
 'rascals' and ' runts,' —your committee thought the blacking-brush 
 had been brought into requisition. When he, in his argument, related 
 his own disgusting description of the operation of craniotomy ; when 
 he brandished what he called a woman's skin, and pointed to the audi- 
 ence the nipple of the woman ; when, to defend the New- York wit- 
 ness, Eva Bowen, he averred, that, under God, her seduction and fall 
 are due to the school-system of Massachusetts; when we see him 
 flourish a piece of human skin, which had not been put into the case, 
 with an alleged crucifix tattooed upon it ; when he alluded to old and 
 young men whose jaded passions are to he excited by tcearing slij^iJers 
 made from a woman's breast,— yom committee blushed for the Com- 
 monwealth, and turned away in amazement. But worse than these 
 was his portentous reference to the French Revolution. Can it be pos- 
 sible that the people of this Commonwealth are slumbering upon such 
 a volcano as burst upon the people of France in 1789, whose fires are 
 
16 
 
 to be kiudled because four reckless medical students have caused to 
 be tanued, for their own purposes, a few pieces of human skin? Is 
 this what his Excellency means when he says we must see that the 
 wheel don't go round once again? 
 
 " We have examined the 3,000 proofs of the testimony in this case 
 with solicitude to be just : just to the management of the Tewksbury 
 almshouse : just to his Excellency the Governor, who made the 
 charges and conducted the prosecution ; and, above all, just to the 
 Commonwealth, whose servants we are." 
 
 THE GOVERNOR'S INSULT TO THE WOMEN OP 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. i 
 
 Referring to his Excellency's deliberate insult of a young 
 woman who had been a matron at the almshouse, we cannot do 
 better than quote a letter on the subject, written by a distin- 
 guished lady in this Commonwealth. 
 
 To THE Editor of the Republican. 
 
 " There are too many mouths of officers, too many officers that do nothing:, 
 too many matrons just out of school and only fit to ride out with Charles Marsh 
 or with Tom in the afternoon. Call that little chit a matron ! and pay her 
 from the State Treasury as a matron! She is hardly out of her leading-strings, 
 only a few months out of school when she was appointed. Give us ladies ad- 
 vanced in life! You want them to look after this little critter, who can do no 
 good among all the old men, except to excite their passions." — Gov. Butler's 
 Tewkshurij Ai-gument. 
 
 The young lady (for she is one in the true sense) of whom these 
 vile words were spoken, and who was so unfortunate as to be obliged 
 to appear as a witness where the prosecuting oftlcer had no sense 
 of decency, — as well as no regard for truth, — has given no reason 
 for such treatment. Her only fault is that she is young and a pretty 
 woman. She has been an attendant (she is not even called a matron 
 in the annual report of the State almshouse) for four years, in which 
 she has done faithful and efficient service in the care of tlie female 
 insane. She has assisted a middle-aged married woman in her depart- 
 ment, giving satisfaction, and conducting herself with entire pro- 
 priety. She is old enough to do her work properly, which is merely 
 to overlook the dressing, undressing, feeding, bathing, and employ- 
 ment of demented women. Many such young women may be found 
 doing like service in the lunatic-hospitals, primary-school, women's 
 
17 
 
 prison, and other institutions, with entire satisfaction. If the governor 
 had struck her a blow with his fist, during the hearing before the 
 committee, pi'obably even such men as applauded his remarks would 
 have been outraged ; perhaps even some one might have been found 
 with sufficient spirit to knock down the miscreant. A blow with the 
 fist to a pure woman is a less offence than such a spoken libel as this, 
 which makes every woman a partaker in the insult to the sex. May 
 not a woman be useful, even when young and comely, and are we 
 sunk so low in our Commonwealth that such woi'ds as these shall go 
 uurebuked ? 
 
 This outraged woman is of Irish parentage, and we presume a 
 Catholic. When, at the instance of Father Gigault of Lowell, two 
 young Catholic women were hired as attendants on the insane, they 
 consulted this lady as to the nature and severity of her duties. Prob- 
 ably if they had then realized to what she was exposed in the public 
 service from the ribald tongue of the " chief executive magistrate," 
 they would have shrunk from the encounter. How long will Irishmen 
 continue to lick the hand which smites them in so many directions ? — 
 starvation prices for care of their Irish poor ; insults to unoffending 
 women ; and removing from office their distinguished countryman, 
 that able lawyer, devout Catholic, and benefactor of the poor, C. F. 
 Donnelly, merely because he did not vote for Gen. Butler. Miss 
 Hannah O'Connell, the attendant above referred to, was not the only 
 sufferer at the hands of Gov. Butler in unprovoked insult. He said 
 at one hearing that " not one of the matrons were fit to take care of 
 a hog ! " It is unfortunate that the voters of the State cannot know 
 what class of women are serving as matrons and attendants at Tewks- 
 bury. They are respectable women, every one of them, fit to be 
 received on equal terms in any private family. Forced by necessity 
 to earn their living, and performing daily the most disagreeable duties 
 for sick and insane persons, — many with loathsome diseases, — they 
 have lately been subjected not only to these grossly abusive words 
 spoken of them, but to cross-examination, where questions were 
 asked which implied things most rcA^olting to a pure woman. If 
 Butler's administration is to be extended over another year, — which 
 God forbid ! — it will be hard for decent men to take office, and well- 
 nigh impossible for decent women to serve the State. X. 
 
 Springfield, July 14, 18S3. 
 
 These charges against the Tewksbury almshouse, made m a 
 
18 
 
 spirit of mere wantonness, have served only to besmear the fair 
 fame of Massachusetts. Other States have gloated over what 
 they deem the fall of the proud old Commonwealth. News- 
 papers outside the State have fattened on the highly colored 
 assertions of prejudiced witnesses, and have accepted misstate- 
 ments and half-truths as undeniable verities. 
 
 Mrs. Clara T. Leonard of Springfield, a member of the Board 
 of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, has given an honest, unpre- 
 judiced statement as to the real condition of the State alms- 
 house. She says, — 
 
 "It is easy, when it is sought to produce a certam impression 
 rather than to know the truth, to take exceptional instances as gen- 
 eral conditions, to show all the evils and none of the good, to base 
 falsehoods upon a slender foundation of truth. This is the most dan- 
 gerous form of slander, and this is what has been done at Tewksbury. 
 And probably many good people to-day believe that people with foul 
 diseases bathe in the same water as others, which is utterly false ; 
 that nurses beat and ill treat sick women ; that people have short 
 allowance of bad food, when food is abundant and good, though 
 too coarse for the sick and feeble for the most part. Tender hearts 
 ache to think of the suffering there, when, in their own towns, the 
 paupers never were half so comfortable or well eared for as people 
 have been for the past few years at the State almshouse." 
 
 And in regard to the governor's proposal to run the alms- 
 house at a reduction of $20,000 per annum, she continues, — 
 
 " I never expected to be ashamed of Massachusetts, but I am now 
 ashamed. This rich and prosperous State year after year cries out, 
 ' Cut down pauper expense ; ' and persons are found who point to some 
 of the poorest-kept almshouses in the State as a model for Tewks- 
 bury. The taxes are paid in chief by the rich. The poorer class do 
 not pay in taxes even the proportionate cost of the protection by 
 police of their persons and property. For the purpose apparently 
 of justifying this parsimouy, gross misstatements are spread upon the 
 columns of every paper in the land ; and the proud old Commonwealth 
 receives insult and cries of shame from States like New York and 
 Ohio, when I read in their own recent reports of insane in county 
 almshouses chained naked in outhouses, wallowing in their own excre- 
 
19 
 
 ment, sexes mingling and bearing fruits of shame and neglect time 
 and again. 
 
 "Most of all, Irish citizens of Massachusetts, legislators and vot- 
 ers, grudge to their own countrymen, — and nearly every inmate of 
 Tewksbury is of foreign birth or parentage, largely Irish, — grudge 
 to these, I say, the poor sum of $109 per annum per capita^ when 
 sick or crippled or feeble or infant or insane. Political feeling should 
 never enter into questions of charity ; but, if one party asks for a 
 just and fair expenditure, and another calls for a meagre and inade- 
 quate one in a spirit of niggardly and selfish greed, the God who 
 hears the cry of the poor shall avenge their cause as he did the 
 wrongs of the slave, and the party who goes for the wrong shall 
 surely fall. 
 
 " I cannot see where to reduce expenses, but I can see very plainly 
 where they ought to be increased very materially. The clothing of 
 all in the hospital is of very cheap material, but decent and sufficient 
 except for children and infants. The excessive economy practised 
 does not allow as much soft flannel as these should have, nor proper 
 outside garments for these little ones to get full benefit of the fresh 
 air in cool weather. 
 
 "A great want for the sick at Tewksbury is a sick-kitchen for 
 each of the two hospitals, male and female, such as is in use at the 
 Sherborn prison and at Monson, with a special cook ; where food is 
 prepared more suitable than in the great common kitchen. But the 
 appropriation is too scanty to admit of this. It is evident that 
 §108.68 per annum is a small sum for the support of an able-bodied 
 man or woman. It will provide bare necessaries of life, — food, cloth- 
 ing, warmth, and shelter. Yet this is what was the cost per capita at 
 Tewksbury last year. But these people are not able-bodied. Three- 
 fourths are sick or insane, or little children in arms, or old, feeble, or 
 crippled. The}' must not only be warmed, fed, and clothed, but have 
 bodily care, be washed, dressed, fed, and, many of them, have medi- 
 cal attendance, nursing, medicine. It is only in large aggregates 
 that the expense can be brought so low. Where shall we cut it down ? 
 In attendance, when there are only nine nurses to 211 adults, and 40 
 infants under three years, or one nurse to 28 persons ? Shall we give 
 them less food ? Cheaper it can hardly be, unless we cut off milk 
 and butter and tea." 
 
 Let every voter procure and read Mrs. Leonard's full report 
 upon the condition of the Tewksbury almshouse. 
 
20 
 
 A perusal of it will convince even the most prejudiced of the 
 falsity of the governor's charges. 
 
 NEGLECT OF PUBLIC DUTIES. 
 
 "It is both my pleasure and duty to give one year of the best 
 energies of my life to the service of the Common-wealth." — Inaugu- 
 ral Message B. F. Butler. 
 
 "I think that to attend to the business of such a Commonwealth 
 will demand every hotir, everj' thought, every energy, every exertion, 
 every quality of mind, that I possess, to bring her to that high plane 
 which is the ideal of us all. Ai^d I say to you that she ,shall have it 
 as far as I am concerned." — B. F. Bctler, at North Easton, Nov. 
 14, 1882. 
 
 These are truly noble sentiments. Let us see how well the 
 governor has lived up to them. 
 
 In the month of January, after his inauguration, he was 
 absent in Washington for one iveek on private business ; and 
 during the same month he appeared before the Supreme Court 
 at Providence as counsel in a private case. 
 
 In February, private business again called him to Washing- 
 ton for several days. He departed, leaving important appropri- 
 ation bills unsigned ; one of which became a law without his 
 signature, and another was signed by Lieut.-Gov. Ames. His 
 absence at this time gave rise to the long and expensive contro- 
 versy over the veto of the bill incorporating the Union Safety- 
 Deposit Vaults. 
 
 In INIarch, he appeared before the United-States Circuit 
 Court, and was engaged several days in behalf of an accused 
 distiller, whose case he had previously attempted to compromise 
 with the Government. Before the conclusion of the trial, 
 private business again demanded liis presence in Washington. 
 In requesting a postponement of the case, he said, '■'■ I can take 
 care of my public duties. The night is long enough to make up 
 for what is lost in the day ; and I can answer to those who have 
 trusted me with these duties, that I give an equal amount of my 
 oivn time to those duties that I take of theirs for other duties." 
 
21 
 
 He then went to Washington, and was absent for some days, 
 attending to the case of tlie Washington Market Company. 
 
 This company is mainly owned by a New-Hampshire com- 
 bination, including Secretary Chandler, Senator Rollins, and 
 Gov. Ordway of Dakota. They were granted valuable Gov- 
 ernment land, upon which the market is erected. No charge 
 was made for this property, except that they were to give a 
 yearly sum to be expended by the city for the support of its 
 poor. This they did for two or three years, then stopped, and 
 never resumed. Meantime the quarterly five per cent divi- 
 dends have been declared, while the poor have suffered. The 
 District sued to compel the payment of their defaulted obli- 
 gations, amounting to over a hundred thousand dollars; and 
 Gov. Butler appeared to defend the company in their attempt 
 to escape paying this obligation. 
 
 In April, important whiskey cases required him to be in 
 Washington for several days, and law cases in Boston also 
 demanded his attention. 
 
 In May, private legal business called him to Rhode Island. 
 
 During June and July, the Tewksbury investigation was 
 delayed ttvelve days by sundry adjournments made for the ac- 
 commodation of his Excellency. 
 
 In this report the committee say, — 
 
 "Frequent adjournments were made toward the close of the hear- 
 ing, to suit the convenience of the governor, the committee holding 
 in two weeks only four hearings. All the delays of the hearing have 
 been caused by his Excellency, except in two instances." 
 
 These repeated absences from the Commonwealth gave rise 
 to severe comments upon the governor's course. 
 
 " That Gen. Butler is setting a very bad example to the officials at 
 the State House, by devoting a week while the Legislature is in session 
 to private business in Washington, will be admitted. Imagine what a 
 condition we should be in if all the senators and representatives should 
 find that private business called tliem to other parts some fine morn- 
 ing. The force of example is very strong." 
 
 " In previous years, a citizen of Massachusetts, when he got up in 
 
22 
 
 the morning, was tolerably certain who was governor. This year he 
 can only guess." 
 
 "If some Republican governor were earning big fees in his private 
 law practice, to the neglect of his executive duties, and Gov. Butler 
 were opposing him on the stump, the great ' reformer * would, no 
 doubt, make good use of the suggestion of one of our correspondents, 
 — that the salaried servant of the people turn his earnings into the 
 treasury." 
 
 " Gen. Butler's pay for being governor is about $76.92 per week. 
 There is no deduction on account of absence." 
 
 "It is no doubt true that some of our governors have devoted 
 more or less of their unoccupied time to their private business. But 
 that was during the recess of the Legislature, when publico business is 
 slack. AVhen, before 1883, did a governor of Massachusetts leave 
 the State on his own business, for even a -single day, when the 
 General Court was in session?" 
 
 Chapter II., Section 1, Article XIII., of the Constitution of 
 Massachusetts reads as follows : — 
 
 "As the public good requires that the governor should not be 
 under the undue influence of anj' of the members of the General 
 Court by a dependence on them for his support, that he should in 
 all cases act with freedom for the benefit of the public, that he should 
 not have his attention necessarily diverted from that object to his 
 private concerns, and that he should maintain the dignity of the 
 Commonwealth in the character of its chief magistrate, it is necessary 
 that he should have an honorable stated salary, of a fixed and per- 
 manent value, amply sufficient for those purposes, and established by 
 standing laws ; and it shall be among the first acts of the General 
 Court, after tlie commencement of this constitution, to establish such 
 salary by law accordingly. 
 
 "Permanent and honorable salaries shall also be established by 
 law for the justices of the supreme judicial court. 
 
 "And if it shall be found that any of the salaries aforesaid, so 
 established, are insufficient, they shall, from time to time, be en- 
 larged, as the General Court shall judge proper." 
 
 It has become evident that the salary established by law for 
 the jrovernor of the Commonwealth is insufficient to secure 
 what the fathers thought was necessary for the chief magistrate. 
 
23 
 
 His attention has been constantly diverted from the public 
 good to Ms private concerns. 
 
 GOV. BUTLER AS A CIVIL - SERVICE REFORMER. 
 
 " I congratulate the Commonwealth that one branch of what is 
 known in political circles as civil-service reform is, and has been, 
 since 1879, in most full, efficient, and thorough operation in the Com- 
 monwealth." — Inaugural Message. 
 
 " I contend that the use of federal patronage to reward personal 
 friends or party favorites, and punish personal or political enemies in 
 payment for rendering partisan or personal service, or in punishment 
 for failure or refusal to render such service, is one of the most de- 
 bauching influences of the period. It robs the people of that efficient 
 and honest service which is their due, because they pay for it ; cor- 
 rupt politics and statesmanship alike in all their spheres of action, 
 from the ward-room of the caucus to the chamber of the Senate and 
 the council-room of the Cabinet. It is a standing menace to the 
 personal independence of the one hundred thousand citizens in federal 
 employ, and unless speedily stopped will undermine our institutions, 
 and sap the very foundations of popular government. 
 
 "Fitness, not favor, should be the passport to public service. 
 There should be no removals of Government employees before the 
 expiration of their term of service, except for cause ; and no assess- 
 ments on their salaries, paid to them by the whole people, should be 
 levied for the perpetuation of the party in power. AYhat we need, 
 and must have, is a system of civil service, consistent and harmonious 
 with the nature of American government, established and protected 
 by law ; that, like government itself, it may be the agent of law and 
 not of men, to the end that it may be kept free of all corrupting 
 dependence upon political favor and patronage. Personally, I favor 
 the principles of the Pendleton bill in regard to appointments in the 
 civil service, and the Willes bill in regard to assessment of federal 
 office-holders." — Benjamin F. Butler. 
 
 The utter insincerity of these professions is shown in Gov. 
 Butler's course regarding appointments since he has been in 
 office. 
 
 The first opportunity Gov. Butler had to make an appoint- 
 ment of any considerable importance was in the case of the 
 
24 
 
 insurance commission. The position of insurance commis- 
 sioner is one in which unfitness may work to the serious damage, 
 and even ruin, of thousands of innocent people. It is one in 
 which partisan zeal might, if permitted to override strict integ- 
 rity, accomplish the double iniquity of adding another slough 
 of corrupting patronage to politics, and of destroying the pub- 
 lic faith in Government supervision of insurance. The fate of 
 companies with millions of capital is in the almost absolute 
 control of the commissioner. He can, knowing them to be 
 strong and solvent, excite public suspicion against them ; and 
 he can, knowing them to be unsound, gain for them a confi- 
 dence which they do not deserve. He can employ men of his 
 own clioosing to examine their assets at the expense of the 
 companies, an opportunity which a well-known political com- 
 missioner in New York did not fail to avail himself of for the 
 benefit of his henchmen. 
 
 To this position of responsibility, Gov. Butler nominated N. 
 A. Plympton, a man who, if trustworthy reports may be cred- 
 ited, is only less conspicuous for his failures in every sort of 
 business he has ever attempted than he is for his one great suc- 
 cess of political manipulation in the interest of the person who 
 nominated him. It is said that he led the early-morning 
 attack on IMechanics' Hall, Worcester, by which Butler's sup- 
 porters won possession of the hall, and thereby of the organiza- 
 tion and action of the Democratic Convention which nominated 
 Butler a few years ago. Those who ought to know claim that 
 the same person proved himself, in the campaign which elected 
 Butler, the most adroit and capable of Butlers managers. Does 
 it look as though the " fitness " which the Democratic platform 
 commended was the motive of this nomination ? Or was it due 
 to the " political favor and patronage " from whose " corrupting 
 influence " the platform declared the Government should be 
 kept free, that a politician, with a record of business incapacity, 
 should take charge of an important State office in Massachu- 
 setts, to which all the other States of the Union have been 
 accustomed to look for information and guidance with a confi- 
 dence which was perhaps accorded to no other similar office ? 
 
25 
 
 In removing Julius L. Clarke, the former insurance commis- 
 sioner, or rather in forcing him to resign. Gov. Butler displaced 
 a man against whom no complaint had ever been made, — a 
 man who stood high in the community, respected and honored 
 by all who knew him. Failing in securing the confirmation of 
 the nomination of Mr. Plympton, the governor finally nomi- 
 nated John K. Tarbox, an out-and-out Butler man ; and Mr. 
 Plympton was later rewarded by a good salaried office in con- 
 nection with the insurance commissioner's department. 
 
 To fill a vacancy of the bench of the municipal court of the 
 city of Boston, Gov. Butler was forced to go to Worcester before 
 he could find a suitable candidate ; and Mr. JMcCafferty of that 
 city, a staunch friend and hard worker for Butler, was appointed 
 to fill the position. McCafferty, as well as Plympton, had fig- 
 ured in the attack on Mechanics' Hall in Butler's interests. 
 
 Davtd Eakle, the warden of the State prison, was summarily 
 removed ; not the shghtest reason, or any allegation of unfitness 
 for the position, being given by the governor. To fill his place 
 Roland G. Usher, an intimate friend and a true Butler man^ 
 was appointed. 
 
 Mr. William Endicott, Jun., one of Boston's honored and 
 most popular citizens, was removed by the governor from the 
 Board of Trustees of the INIassachusetts General Hospital ; his 
 only offence being the fact that he had been the author of 
 certain campaign documents against Butler. 
 
 Mr. Chakles F. Donnelly's term on the Board of Health, 
 Charity, and Lunacy expired in June. An able and efficient 
 officer, and a man representing by far the largest element com- 
 posing the household at Tewksbury, it would have been only 
 a fitting recognition of that class (Irish Catholics) to have re- 
 nominated him for the position. 
 
 To fill this vacancy the governor nominated, first, Mr. Edward 
 Hamilton, one of his political adherents^ but whose reputation 
 was so notoriously bad that the council refused to confirm him. 
 
 The next nominee for the position was Dr. Benjamin A. 
 Sawyer, a devoted ally of Butler's. The reputation of this man 
 also would not bear investigation; for the record shows that 
 
26 
 
 Dr. Sawyer, while deputy-collector of internal revenue at Ha- 
 verhill, was charged with embezzlement on four counts, was 
 indicted, pleaded nolo contendere, but, before sentence was im- 
 posed, received a pardon. This nomination the governor was 
 forced to withdraw. 
 
 Finally the name of Dr. Edgar Dean, another adherent of, 
 and hard worker for, Butler, was sent to the council, and con- 
 firmed. 
 
 His Excellency summarily removed Mr. William A. Crafts, 
 clerk of the board of railroad commissioners, and ap^jointed Mr. 
 Charles H. Litchman of Marblehead in his place. Mr. Crafts 
 was appointed July 6, 1869, by Gov. Claflin, and has held the 
 place continuously ever since. Mr. Litchman was a member of 
 the Legislature from Marblehead in 1879, and has been one 
 of the prominent Greenbackers of the State. He was chair- 
 man of the Greenback state convention last year which nom- 
 inated Gen. Butler for governor. No reason was given for Mr. 
 Crafts's removal. 
 
 THE EEASON FOR IT. 
 
 A prominent railroad ofiScial writes, — 
 
 " I think the removal of Crafts is an outrage, unless there is some 
 reason for it which doesn't appear ; and if I was a newspaper-man I 
 
 would give Butler for doing it, aud especially for the sake of 
 
 appointing such a man as his successor." 
 
 The writer is evidently ignorant respecting Butler methods. 
 Of course, if a railroad president should cause an efficient sub- 
 ordinate to be removed simply to make room for a favorite who 
 had no experience, the stockholders and business men generally 
 might regard it as an outrage ; but in this case it is dillerent. 
 Gov. Butler regards all offices as places into which to put those 
 who are his friends or have been useful to him. Experience or 
 efficiency has nothing more to do with it than has the man in 
 the moon. An office is a place where a needy aud useful helper 
 can be put and made self-supporting. The newly appointed 
 clerk is one of the best of the Butler men, pure and simple. 
 True, he labors under the delusion that Government paper is as 
 
27 
 
 good as gold ; and in his paper he is sometimes hostile to capi- 
 talists, mistaking them for monopolists. Of his capacity for the 
 position, we cannot speak ; but Mr. Crafts was one man in a 
 thousand for the post. He was faithful and intelligent, but 
 these qualities are of no account when compared with his want 
 of sufficient discretion to be a pronounced Butler man. 
 
 Mr. George C. Pratt of Abington was summarily removed 
 from a position on the district police. The governor appointed, 
 as his successor, Thomas Drohan of Brockton. Mr. Drohan was 
 born in Brockton, of which he has been a resident all his life, 
 is a shoemaker by trade, and thirty-five years old. In 1879 he 
 was chosen as a constable of Brockton, and served on the police 
 force until this year, when Mayor Packard refused to appoint 
 him. Mr. Drohan is a Democrat and a Butler man. 
 
 The removal of Mr. Pratt was against the protest of the 
 district-attorney of the south-eastern district, and in direct 
 violation of a promise made him by the governor. 
 
 To a vacancy on the bench of the municipal court, Charles- 
 town District, the governor nominated Mr. J. H. Cotton. 
 
 This nomination is arousing a violent opposition' in the 
 Charlestown District. Very serious charges are made against 
 Mr. Cotton, and very emphatic words are spoken about his 
 qualifications for the place. He is now about fifty years of 
 age, and came to Charlestown about eighteen years ago. In 
 those times he drove a pedler's wagon, but after a time he 
 picked up a knowledge of law from a few books, and was made 
 a trial-justice. So far as known, he never studied regularly in a 
 lawyer's office. He is now associate-justice along with Henry 
 W. Bragg, a gentleman thoroughly fitted for the position. 
 Mr. Cotton has made himself useful in politics to a certain 
 class of politicians, who rely largely upon the manipulation 
 of the machine in navy-yards and custom-houses for their 
 strength. He has been heretofore a Republican ; but he made 
 a vigorous effort to secure for his son last fall the Democratic 
 nomination for senator, and is now known as a " Butler Repub- 
 lican." The opposition to him is said to be very strong among 
 the better class of people in the Charlestown District, and they 
 are bestirring themselves actively to defeat him. 
 
28 
 
 Mr. Cotton's connection with the case of M. Frank Paige, in 
 1878 and 1879, excited considerable remark at the time, and is 
 now recalled against him. Major E. J. Jones, master in chan- 
 cery, had heard an application that Paige be released from jail 
 on taking oath that he did not intend to leave the State. Major 
 Jones decided that Paige did intend to leave the State, and 
 refused to order his release. ]\Ir. Paige's counsel announced 
 that he should try the same question before the dozen or more 
 masters in chancery in Boston, until one was found favorable to 
 his client. Application was made to Gen. W. W. Blaekmar, 
 to J. B. Richardson, and a number of others ; but they refused 
 to have any thing to do with the matter. The coVinsel for the 
 creditors soon after received a notice from Mr. Cotton to attend 
 a hearing on Paige's application. The notice was very sliort ; 
 but the counsel were on hand, and the hearing began. Mr. 
 Cotton's rulings were strongly in favor of Paige ; and, before 
 the case had proceeded far, one of the creditors whispered to 
 his counsel, " I can tell you what the verdict is going to be. 
 "We are sold out. This man is going to decide against us." 
 Before Mr. Cotton could make his decision, however, a writ of 
 prohibition was secured which kept Mr. Cotton from proceed- 
 ing until the Supreme Court could decide the question. In a 
 few days Judge Endicott decided that Mr. Cotton had no juris- 
 diction in the case, as it was res adjudicata ; and this ruling 
 was sustained by the full bench of the Supreme Court. In 
 the decision of the court, reported in vol. 127, Massachusetts 
 Reports, p. 63, this judgment is passed upon Mr. Cotton's 
 action : — 
 
 " It follows that the respondent in assuming to entertain the defend- 
 ant's application to take the oath that he did not intend to leave the 
 State, after a similar application had once been heard and refused, 
 exceeded the authority conferred upon him by statute." 
 
 Mr. Cotton was a vigorous worker last fall for the election 
 of Mayor Palmer ; and it is said that the mayor was strongly 
 urged to appoint him a member of the police commission, but 
 refused to do so on the ground that the nomination would 
 
29 
 
 expose him to attacks which he could not successfully repel. 
 There is no probability that Mr. Cotton will be confirmed as 
 judge of the Charlestown court by the executive council. The 
 facts of his career, and other statements, stronger than any 
 here given, are being laid before them by the excited citizens of 
 the district. It is said that even Mr. Maguire, the Democratic 
 councillor, who, so far as known, has voted for every nomina- 
 tion the governor has made, will oppose this one. Indeed, it is 
 suggested that the governor made the nomination confident 
 that it would not be confirmed, and intending merely to pay as 
 cheaply as possible one of his political debts. (Since the above 
 was written, the governor has been forced, by the array of 
 damaging facts against the nominee, and the determined op- 
 position to his confirmation, to withdraw Mr. Cotton's name.) 
 
 Other nominations made by the governor all show the same 
 disposition to reward personal and political services. 
 
 SWEPT OUT. 
 
 COIVIMISSIOXER TARBOX TURNS TWO MEN OUT OF OFFICE. 
 
 Insurance-Commissioner John K. Tarbox is shortly to make 
 a change in the ^personnel of his department, which will sweep 
 out of office two old, faithful, and trustworthy clerks, who have 
 gained the respect and confidence of Boston and Massachusetts 
 insurance-men. This is done, it is said, not for retrenchment, 
 hut in order to make room for political friends of Gov. Butler. 
 The commissioner has just notified Mr. James G. Bovey, second 
 clerk of the department, that, " in order to employ in the 
 administration of the department a gentleman whose services 
 as an official assistant I very much desire," he is obliged to 
 make a change in the clerkship Oct. 1. Mr. Herbert Moris- 
 son, third clerk, also received a similar notice ; his duties to 
 cease, however, Sept. 15. This sudden action of the com- 
 missioner is likely to create considerable dissatisfaction among 
 insurance-men, as Messrs. Bovey and Morisson are extremely 
 popular with them. Mr. Bovey has been connected as agency 
 clerk with the department for twelve years, at a salary of 
 $1,500, and has proved himself to be a faithful servant. He 
 
30 
 
 obtained his position through his war record, — a very honorable 
 one. He served three years in the 14th Massachusetts regi- 
 ment, enlisting in 1862, and was captured June 22, 1864, in 
 front of Petersburg, and confined in the Florence, Libby, and 
 Andersonville prisons. In the latter his ill-treatment was so 
 severe, and the exposure so great, that his health was entirely 
 broken down. He has never recovered from the effects of his 
 imprisonment, and to-day is physically unable to do other than 
 light clerical work. Mr. Bovey feels his removal keenly, as it 
 is entirely without cause. Mr. Morisson has been with the 
 department about ten years, having charge of the general cor- 
 respondence. The following excerpt from Commissioner Tar- 
 box's late report is directed to his attention : " While I remain 
 in its administration, the department will have no relations with 
 partisan or personal politics." 
 
 A FEW OP GOV. BUTLER'S GENTLEMANLY 
 REMARKS. 
 
 As a " gentleman in politics," our governor has not his 
 equal. Witness a few remarks made by him : — 
 
 " Now, gentlemen of the board, all this is simply not true." (In 
 other words, you are all liars.) — Letter to Board of Health, Lunacy, 
 etc.. May 9, 1883. 
 
 " This again is not true." — Letter, May 5. 
 
 " Above all, I am not to be questioned as to what information the 
 executive department has or has not. . . . This is a piece of imperti- 
 nence which I should not permit in any person over whom I had any 
 control." — Letter, Feb. 4. 
 
 " Your letter is as utterly useless as it is uncalled for. 
 
 "I beg leave to inform you, to save further trouble, that, when I 
 want any information from your office, I will send for it." — Letter 
 (May 1) to F. B. Sanborn, Secretary State Board of Health, Lu- 
 nacy, and Charity. 
 
 " You will pardon me for saying, that such question, or any argu- 
 
31 
 
 ment upon my action, is simply impertinent, as the reason for it la 
 absolutely none of your business." — Letter^ June 9. 
 
 " They stole like the devil." — Tewksbury Investigation. 
 
 " I won't call an officer ; but I will raise my hand, and I will say, 
 ' My old comrades, soldiers, come here and defend your old com- 
 mander ; ' and they will clear out this State House so quick your heads 
 luill sivim." — Teioksbury Investigation. 
 
 ' ' What the devil were you here the other day for ? " — Butler 
 to Teicksbury Investigating Committee. 
 
 A SCENE FROM THE TEWKSBURY INVESTIGATION. 
 After remarks by Mr. Brown : — 
 Gov. Butler, Another proclamation ! 
 Mr. Brown. Well, it is an original one. 
 Gov. Butler. Undoubtedly, because it is a lying one. 
 Mr. Brown. Thank you for the compliment. 
 Gov. Butler. Quite welcome. 
 (p. 1742.) 
 
 " I hope the Legislature will reconsider this bill, if it has ever con- 
 sidered it." — Veto Somerville and '[Vliarf Improvement Co. Bill. 
 
 Regarding this insinuation of the governor's, the committee 
 to whom the veto was referred reported as follows : — 
 
 " Your committee deem it their duty, in the first instance, to call 
 the attention of the Senate to the language of the governor, wherein 
 he insinuates very clearly that the Legislature has been careless and 
 negligent in allowing this bill, without due consideration, to pass 
 through its several stages to be enacted. It is probably the only 
 instance in modern times where the chief executive of a civilized 
 state or nation has addressed a message in like language to either 
 branch of a legislative body ; and your committee would recommend 
 that the Senate express its sense of the undignified and unbecoming 
 manner in which his Excellency has seen fit to address it, in some 
 appropriate manner, to the end that the same may be spread upon its 
 journal, and thus become a part of its permanent records." 
 
 And j-et, a man who could descend to such remarks as the 
 foregoing, could sit down and write the following proclama- 
 tion : — 
 
82 
 
 FAST DAY. 
 Proclamation by Gov. Butler ArroixTiXG April 5. 
 
 COMMOXWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 By his Excellency Benjamin F. Butler, Governor and Commander- 
 in-chief : a Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and 
 Prayer. 
 
 In conformity with the invariable usage of this Commonwealth, -and 
 with*a sense of our absolute dependence upon the beneficent Parent 
 of mankind, and of our numerous and aggravated offences against his 
 holy will and commandments, I have thought fit to appoint, and, by 
 and with the advice and consent of the Council, I do appbint, Thurs- 
 day, the fifth day of April next, as a day of public humiliation, fast- 
 ing, and prayer in this Commonwealth. And I request the ministers 
 and people of every religious denomination througliout the same to as- 
 semble on that day in their several places of worship, that we may 
 unitedly humble ourselves in the presence of Almighty God, and 
 acknowledge, with deep contrition, our manifold sins and transgres- 
 sions ; that we may devoutly deprecate his judgments, and implore 
 his merciful forgiveness through the merits of our blessed Lord and 
 Redeemer. 
 
 While we thus bow in humble adoration before the Most lligh, let 
 us render him our unfeigned thanks for the numerous instances of his 
 continual bounty toward us and our fathers, whom he planted in this 
 fruitful soil ; and, in an especial manner, that he endow them with 
 wisdom to render this a land of piety, freedom, and order. And in- 
 asmuch as we have disregarded their example, and neglected those 
 principles by which they obtained and transmitted to us the inestima- 
 ble blessings of the Christian religion, of law, and of liberty, let us 
 earnestly beseech him to heal our backslidings, and to restore us to 
 that temper and conduct by which alone we can hope to be happy in 
 this world and in that'whicli is to come. 
 
 At the same time that we look with all humility to his grace for 
 the remission of our sins, let us, with one mind and one voice, suppli- 
 cate his lilessings for us and our beloved country ; thnt he would 
 alike preserve us from the pestilence that walkcth in darkness, and 
 the destruction that wasteth at noonday ; that he would graciously 
 smile on the labors of the husbandmen, and cause the earth to bring 
 
33 
 
 forth her increase in due season ; that he would relieve our commerce 
 from the embarrassments with which it is burdeued, and grant that 
 prosperity may again distinguish our navigation and fisheries, so that 
 they who "go down to the sea in ships," and do business in great 
 waters, may have abundant reason to praise his holy name. 
 
 That he would afford success to our manufactures, and prosper all 
 the work of our hands. 
 
 That he would graciously condescend to direct the Government of 
 the United States, and give them wisdom to discern, and firmness to 
 pursue, the true interests of the country ; that he would preserve us 
 from war, and from all connections that lead to dishonor and adver- 
 sitjf ; that he would dispel the clouds that encompass us about, and 
 continue to us the enjoyments of peace, liberty, and religion ; that he 
 would influence the governors of the several States to do every thing 
 within their respective spheres to preserve the union, order, tranquil- 
 lity and independence of the United States ; that he would protect us 
 from the assaults of open enemies and from the snares of insidious 
 friends ; that he would suffer no weapon formed against us to prosper, 
 but would set at nought the counsels of those who devise mischief 
 against us. 
 
 That he would vouchsafe his blessings on our university, our col- 
 leges and seminaries of learning ; that he would bless all means used 
 for propagating true religion, and promote the pious purposes of those 
 who endeavor to disseminate a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, that 
 all may learn his will and obey his commandments. 
 
 And it is recommended that all unnecessary labor and recreation be 
 suspended upon that day ; and I do specially exhort the ministers of 
 the gospel on that day to feed their flocks %vith the divine word, and 
 not discourse upon political and other secular topics which may divert 
 the serious thoughts of the people from humble worship of the Fa- 
 ther. 
 
 Given at the Council Chamber in Boston this fourteenth day of Feb- 
 ruary, in the year of our Lord 1883, and in the one hundred and 
 seventh year of the independence of the United States of America. 
 
 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 By his Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council. 
 
 Hexky B. Peirce, Secretary. 
 God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts I 
 
84 
 
 Commenting upon this proclamation, a leading newspaper 
 remarks as follows : — 
 
 " It is not pleasant to contemplate the possibility that Gov. Butler's 
 Fast-Day proclamation was considered by himself as merely a good 
 joke. Its extremely ' pious ' flavor astonished all who knew him, 
 friends or foes ; but it was not necessary to suppose that there was a 
 horrid wiuk behind it. This conclusion is forced upon us, however, 
 by the toue of his remarks at the dinner of the Saturday Night Club 
 in New York, where, not having the Massachusetts voter in either of 
 his eyes, and probably not expecting to be reported, he let himself 
 out with the utmost freedom. In his proclamation he said, — 
 
 "'And inasmuch as we have disregarded their [the fathers'] example, and 
 neglected those principles by which they obtained and transmitted to us the 
 inestimable blessings of the Christian religion, of law, and of liberty, let us 
 earnestly beseech Him to heal our backslidings, and to restore us to that temper 
 and conduct by which alone we can hope to be happy in this world and in that 
 which is to come.' 
 
 "This sounds very 'pious,' and would become the most conserv- 
 ative orthodox deacon. It almost indicates a nasal twang at the end. 
 It means, if any thing, that our Puritan fathers were right in all their 
 doings, and that we have risked damnation by departing from their 
 example. But like some people who are ' teetotalers ' at home, and 
 who indulge in strange drinks when they are out of the State, the 
 governor forgot his piety in New York. There he said, — 
 
 " ' Yes, it is true that we have departed from the old customs; but we have 
 advanced, and not retrograded. The world has changed, but it has changed 
 for the better. It is growing better every day, and don't let anybody forget it.' 
 
 "Our readers will overlook the governor's slang. It was merely 
 used to emphasize the fact that the piety of his Fast-Day proclamation 
 was a sham." 
 
 Fur furtlier specimens of the governor's polite and elegant 
 language, we beg the reader to turn back to the extract from 
 the report of the Tewksbury Investigating Committee. 
 
 GOV. BUTLER IN THE r6lE OF "PEEPING TOM." 
 "I heard a talking here; and as I could not make out what the 
 meaning of it all was, and one is naturally anxious to know, you 
 know, I just took the liberty to put my ear to the keyhole : then I 
 put my eye." — " Paul Puy." 
 
35 
 
 " Tis pleasant through the loopholes of retreat to peep." — Cowper. 
 " The man who will stoop to peep through a keyhole will stoop to 
 any thing. ' ' — Anon. 
 
 Among the incidents at the State House during the present 
 administration is the following : — 
 
 His Excellency deemed it a fine piece of strategy to set a 
 detective to watch a certain gentleman employed in the Chari- 
 table Department ; and, by direction of the supreme Executive 
 Magistrate, a hole was bored through the wall of each of the 
 two rooms occupied by that officer in such a way that a person 
 in the adjoining apartment could see what was going on within. 
 
 To comment upon such an act as that is altogether superflu- 
 ous. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR TRIES TO STEAL A RIDE. 
 
 Passengers on one of the afternoon trains from Providence, 
 in the month of May, enjoyed a little fun at the expense of his 
 Excellency the governor, who had been in Providence on law 
 business. When the conductor asked for a ticket from the 
 governor, the latter replied that he had a pass. The conductor 
 requested him to show it, for punching purposes. The gov- 
 ernor searched high and low for it, but finally admitted that he 
 could not find it. Then the conductor informed his Excellency 
 that, according to the rules of the company, he must have either 
 pass, ticket, or money. As the governor could find neither of 
 the former two, he was obliged to pay his fare, with the addi- 
 tional penalty for those who have not provided themselves with 
 tickets, and also a ticket which, according to the law recently 
 passed by the Legislature, entitled him to recover back the 
 excess of fare. It is said that the governor was in a rage about 
 the whole affair, though the conductor explained that according 
 to the rules governing him he had no choice in the matter. 
 
 We learn from officers of the railroad, that although Gov. 
 Butler has before assumed to have a pass, and on that assump- 
 tion has travelled free over the Boston and Providence Rail- 
 road, the fact is that his Excellency is mistaken, and that he has 
 not and never had a pass over that road. 
 
36 
 
 THOSE LOST BILLS. 
 
 During the session of the Legislature, two bills, sent to the 
 governor for his consideration, in some way mysteriously 
 disappeared. The governor felt it his duty to communicate 
 the following to the Legislature : — 
 
 COMMONWBALTH OP MASSACHUSETTS, EXECUTITE DEPARTMENT, 
 
 Boston, June 7, 1883. 
 To the Honorable the House of Representatives. 
 
 I believe it my duty to make a more formal communication to your 
 honorably body than was informally made by me to the honorable 
 speaker of the House about the loss of the bill in regard to the 
 Plymouth-county house of correction. I find it necessary so to do 
 because I now find that another bill is missing from my table. 
 
 The custom was, when I came into the executive office, to have 
 the engrossed parchmeut-rolls containing the bills brought and laid 
 upon my desk, without any record of their receipt, so far as I knew. 
 I requested that they should be laid on the desk of my private 
 secretary, so that he might make a memorandum of their reception ; 
 and he then lays them upon my table. After examination they are 
 returued to him to be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State, 
 if they are signed. If they are allowed to pass into laws by absence 
 of my signature, they are retained until the five days have elapsed. 
 In case of bills to which I make objections, they are left upon my 
 table, to l)e returned, with the message of my objections, to the 
 ]proper house. 
 
 In the case of the Plymouth bill, it was lying on my table, and was 
 examined by me, aud the message prepared ; and it was lying there 
 while the message was being copied. On the next day, when the 
 message was to be sent in, it was looked for among the bills on my 
 table, and could not be found. Every inquiry was made for it ; and it 
 could not then, and has not since, been found. 
 
 "When the several appropriation-bills came, among them was a bill 
 relating to the appropriation for the Tewksbury almshouse. They 
 lay on my table together until I signed certain of them ; and certain 
 of them I gave to my private secretary, to be by hira retained until 
 the five days had expired, then to be sent to the office of the Secre- 
 tary of State, as laws without my signature. I retained upon my 
 table the bill in regard to the Tewksbury almshouse untill could pre- 
 
37 
 
 pare a message to the House, which I sent to them, stating the fact 
 that I had come to the conclusion to allow it to become a law. When 
 that message was prepared and sent in, I looked for it among the 
 bills on m}^ table, and could not find it. I then inquired of my pri- 
 vate secretary whether he had it or had returned it to the Secretary 
 of State, and was informed by him that he had not ; and search was 
 then made, and that bill could not.be found. 
 
 It is difficult to see what object any one could have in taking away 
 that bill, except pure mischief. 
 
 Meanwhile, I have lost some small articles from the drawers 
 of my desk, which I either kept unlocked, or locked and the key 
 deposited for convenience in another drawer. That has happened 
 more than once. 
 
 I should feel myself responsible for these mischances and losses, 
 were it not that there are several duplicate keys to the executive 
 offices, by which they can be entered at any time by others than my 
 secretaries and messengers ; and I understand that I have no control 
 of any of the offices in the building. I suppose those keys are kept 
 for the purpose of inspection of the executive offices, watching 
 against fire, and for the convenience of access of officers of the 
 several departments when any thing may be needed in the Executive 
 Department. 
 
 I neither desire so to do, nor can I make any charges against any- 
 body of wrong doing, but simply make this statement of facts for 
 the information of the House, that they may take such action as may 
 be advised in regard to remedying such losses of bills. There is no 
 safe or other place of deposit in the executive offices in which these 
 bills could have been any more protected than where they were. 
 
 BENJ. F. BUTLER. 
 
 It will be seen that the governor insinuates that the bills 
 must have been taken by some one having access to his rooms 
 by means of duplicate ke^^s. 
 
 On the 11th of June the governor communicated with the 
 speaker of the House of Representatives as follows : — 
 
 COJIMONWEALTH OP MASSACHUSETTS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, 
 
 Boston, Juue 11, 18S3. 
 
 Sin, — T send herewith the enrolled bill relating to the Plymouth 
 house of correction, which was not in my office at the time I sent in 
 the message. I have placed in the hands of the Secretary of State 
 
38 
 
 the bill making appropriations for the support of the Tewkshury 
 almshouse. Both of those bills came to me from outside of the State 
 House, being found in this city. I do not at the present time feel at 
 liberty to give any further information as to when, how, and where 
 found, because I am causing an inquiry to be made, in an endeavor 
 to trace the loss or taking ; and any disclosure might interfere with 
 the progress of that inquiry. I feel certain, so far as I have gone, 
 that they were in some wa}' taken from the executive office ; but by 
 whom, how, and when, I cannot possibly tell. The latter bill I find, 
 upon reliable evidence, was outside of the State House on June 1. 
 How much earlier than that I do not know. 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, i 
 
 BEXJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 To the Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
 
 In this letter a profound ignorance as to the manner in which 
 the bills disappeared is asserted, and an endeavor to throw the 
 responsibility on some outside party is apparent. Now the real 
 facts in the case are these : — 
 
 Early in June, when Mr. Henry C. Austin was one evening 
 at work on the books of Messrs. Hall & Son, in the firm's office 
 in Boston, a boy employed in the establishment came in with a 
 bunch of official-appearing documents. Mr. Austin asked, — 
 
 " What have you got there, Billy ? " 
 
 "Oh, some papers I found; I don't know what they are." 
 
 " Let me see them : they may be valuable. Where did you 
 find them ? " 
 
 " Oh, I guess not ; I found 'em in a wagon up to Maynard's." 
 
 " I guess you had better let me take them home, and look 
 them over," and the matter was dropped. 
 
 Mr. Austin, on examining the papers, did not imagine that 
 one of them was an original bill, but supposed they were copies 
 of legislative documents, perhaps of no value. They remained 
 unnoticed in his room for a week, when the newspapers first 
 made mention of the fact that the Plymouth and the Tewks- 
 bury appropriation bills were missing. He looked at the pa- 
 pers again, and became convinced that he had one of the bills 
 
39 
 
 in question ; and Billy had told him that he had another some- 
 where. The next morning, Mr. Austin sent a note to the 
 governor, stating that he knew where the missing bills could 
 be found. In an hour or two he received a request to call at 
 the State House ; and before going he sent for Billy, telling him 
 to find the other paper, as he believed it was the other missing 
 bill. The boy said he didn't believe the papers were of any 
 consequence, but promised to bring it the next day. Mr. Aus- 
 tin went from the shop to the Executive Chamber, explained 
 the situation to the governor, — who treated him very cordially, 
 — and agreed to bring the bills to the State House on the follow- 
 ing morning ; but, on inquiring of the boy for the other lull, the 
 next morning, the youngster told Mr. Austin that he had got 
 scared, and had taken the bill to the governor, at the Revere 
 House, the previous evening. Being unable to leave his work 
 that forenoon, Mr. Austin received anotlier urgent message 
 from the State House requesting him to bring up that bill. 
 He returned word that he would be unable to come until 
 the following morning, when he delivered the bill to Gov. 
 Butler. 
 
 The truth about the recovery of the bills is, that they were 
 found by a carriage cleaner in the governor's carriage, at i\Iay- 
 nard's stable, where his Excellency had left them on leaving 
 the vehicle, after riding down from the State House to the Re- 
 vere House. All the facts about the finding of the bills were 
 made known to the governor when they were returned to him ; 
 and it was, therefore, in full knowledge of his own responsibil- 
 ity that he penned the mysterious message, above quoted, to the 
 Speaker of the House. It is obviously unnecessary further to 
 explain why the result of the gubernatorial " inquiry " there 
 referred to has never been made public. 
 
 Mr. Austin received no recompense for his services in the 
 matter ; indeed, he expected none. But friends and relatives 
 of Billy have endeavored to turn his connection with the case 
 to good account. The governor has been appealed to to do 
 something handsome for the lad. It was represented to his 
 Excellency that the boy was fatherless and dependent on his 
 
40 
 
 own exertions for a living, and a worthy object of a little be- 
 nevolent help. But the governor's heart has been hardened 
 thus far, and he has turned a deaf ear to all appeals. 
 
 The young man " Billy " who figured prominently in connec- 
 tion Mith the finding and return of those missing bills came 
 forwaid to give, more in detail, the facts as he knew them. 
 His name is William H. Pinkham, and he appears to be an 
 honest, straightforward young man. He was naturally anxious 
 to remove one or two impressions that Mr. Austin's communi- 
 cation would be likely to create, and to that end frankly told 
 all he knew about the matter. In substance, he denied that 
 he had told conflicting stories, and said that both versipns given 
 in his first statement were correct, — that he did find the 
 papers in his wagon at Maynard's stable, and that a cleaner 
 had previously found them in the governor's carriage, where his 
 Excellency had left them. 
 
 The horse and wagon used by Messrs. Hall & Son are kept 
 at JNIaynard's stable, in Bowdoin Square, and Billy has charge 
 of them. He is a favorite with the employees of the stable, and 
 it was through those pleasant relations that he came into pos- 
 session of the precious documents. On going to the stable one 
 morning, early in June, — he does not remember the exact day, 
 — Billy found two bunches of papers in the rear of his wagon. 
 He asked one of the washers where they came from. 
 
 " I threw 'em in there for you : they're no good." 
 
 " Well, what are they ? " 
 
 " Oh, State papers of some sort ; thought you might like 'em. 
 I found them in the governor's carriage, but West [the gover- 
 nor's colored driver] said they were no good, and told me to 
 ' pitch 'em to h— 1.' " 
 
 Billy accordingly took possession of them as curiosities, and 
 carried them under his wagon-seat for two or three days, show- 
 ing them to several persons. Finall}-, he showed them to Mr. 
 Austin, who was interested in them, and a division was made. 
 Mr. Austin took the Plymouth bill and one or two other papers, 
 and Billy retained the Tewksbury appropriation bill and a few 
 unimportant documents which were in the same bundle with 
 
41 
 
 it. Some days afterward the newspapers began to mention the 
 misusing bills, and Mr. Austin told Billy that he had been sent 
 for, to go to the Executive Department. He asked the young 
 man to bring the other bill with him to the shop the next day. 
 As soon as he became convinced that the papers were of im- 
 portance, Billy says he concluded that the best way would be 
 to return them to the proper person at once ; and, as the gov- 
 ernor lived close by at the Revere House, he carried the bill in 
 to him that evening. The governor was very glad to see him, 
 and talked with him very kindly. He asked all about the cir- 
 cumstances of the finding of the papers ; and Billy told in full 
 detail how the washer found them in the carriage, and gave 
 them to him, after the governor's man had said that they were 
 of no consequence. 
 
 But at the shop the next morning Billy says Mv. Austin was 
 very angry that the bill should have been returned in the way 
 it was, instead of through him as had been arranged. Billy 
 further avers that Mr. Austin told several in the shop, that, at 
 his first interview with the governor, his Excellency had said 
 that the papers were worth one thousand dollars to him ; but 
 the young man himself did not hear Mr. Austin repeat any 
 such conversation with the governor. 
 
 The circumstances of the finding of the papers, as above 
 given by Billy, are fully substantiated by the employees of 
 Maynard's stable, and others to whom the story was told, before 
 it was known that any valuable papers were missing, or that 
 any significance attached to the incident. There is no doubt 
 of the correctness of the facts as thus outlined, and no guber- 
 natorial or other investigation will change any essential detail. 
 Billy further says that he has made no application to the gov- 
 ernor for a reward, but he has just learned that it has been 
 done in his behalf and without his knowledge. 
 
 Knowing all these facts, the governor says to the Legisla- 
 ture, — 
 
 " /do 7iot at inesent feel at liberty to give any further information 
 as to ichen, ichere., and hoiv found, because I am causing an inquiry to 
 be made in an endeavor to trace the loss or taking." 
 
42 
 
 Instead of manfully acknowledging that the bills had been 
 lost through his own carelessness, he insinuated that they were 
 taken by parties wliom he was endeavoring to trace. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that the Legislature was never 
 informed by his Excellency as to how, when, and where they 
 were found. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR'S INSINCERITY. 
 
 The bill extending the charter of the Somerville Wharf and 
 Improvement Company, and the bill incorporating the Brock- 
 ton Real Estate Company, were both promptly vetoed by his 
 Excellency. When, however, an Act to incorporate the Essex 
 County Land and Building Company was presented to him, it 
 at once received his approval. 
 
 THE BILLS COIMPAEED. 
 
 VETOED. 
 
 An Act to incorporate the Newton 
 
 Associates. 
 
 Section 1. Edwin "W. Gay, 
 Lewis E. Coffin, Henry B. Wells, 
 James W. French, Frank A. Ware, 
 William S. Phelps, George W. 
 Morse, James C. Bayley, George 
 A. Valentine, Eugene P. Nute, 
 John C. Potter, Howard M. Ste- 
 phens, Franklin B. White, John 
 T. Wells, jun., A. R. Mitchell, 
 Frank Fuller, Charles R. Pope, 
 E. J. Howe, their associates and 
 successors, are hereby made a 
 corporation by the name of the 
 Newton Associates, for the pur- 
 pose of purchasing, holding, and 
 possessing, in fee simple or other- 
 wise, selling, mortgaging, leasing, 
 and improving the real estate in 
 the city of Boston, now held by 
 James C. Bayley, Edwin W. Gay, 
 
 NOT VETOED. 
 
 An Act to incorporate the Essex 
 County [Land and] Building 
 Company. 
 
 Section 1. S. Endicott Pea- 
 body, Benjamin W. Russell, and 
 Francis Peabody, jun., their asso- 
 ciates and successors, are made a 
 corporation for the term of 50 years 
 from the date of the passage of 
 this Act, by the name of the Essex 
 County [Land and] Building Com- 
 pany; aiid for this j^urpose said 
 corporation shall be subject to 
 the provisions of chap. 105 and 
 chap. 106 of the Public Statutes, 
 and to all general corporation laws, 
 which are now or hereafter may be 
 in force, and shall have the powers, 
 and be subject to the liabilities and 
 restrictions, prescribed therein, and 
 shall have power to purchase 
 and hold, in fee simple or other- 
 
43 
 
 and George A. Valentine, as trus- 
 tees of the Newton Associates, 
 and fully described in deeds sev- 
 erally recorded in Suffolk County 
 Registry of Deeds, book 1500, p. 
 615, and book 1571, p. 381, and 
 uo other, and performing such 
 other legal acts as may he neces- 
 sary in accomplishing such objects, 
 with all the powers and privileges 
 set forth in the General Laws, con- 
 tained in the Public Statutes, of 
 which may hereafter be in force 
 applicable to such corporations. 
 
 Sect. 2. The capital stock of 
 said corporation shall be ^40,000, 
 divided into shares of $100 each. 
 
 Sect. 3. Said corporation may 
 increase its capital stock from 
 time to time, but not to exceed 
 $100,000. 
 
 Sect. 4. This Act shall take 
 effect upon its passage. 
 
 wise, all or any part of any lands 
 in Salem, in Essex County, now 
 owned by S. Endicott Peabody of 
 said Salem, and such other un- 
 improved lands in said Salem as 
 said corporation may purchase 
 from time to time, not exceeding 
 three acres in all, including the 
 lands now owned by said S. Endi- 
 cott Peabody. 
 
 Sect. 2. The said corporation 
 shall have power to sell, lease, 
 mortgage, and otherwise dispose 
 of its corporate property, and 
 any parts thereof, and to improve 
 the same, to erect buildings, dwell- 
 ing-houses, and other structures 
 thereon, and otherwise improve 
 the same as may be deemed expe- 
 dient. 
 
 Sect. 3. The capital stock of 
 the said corporation shall not ex- 
 ceed $250,000, divided into shares 
 of $100 each. 
 
 Sect. 4. This Act shall take 
 effect upon its passage. 
 
 When the governor transmitted to the Legislature a veto of 
 the Brockton Real-Estate and Improvement Company bill, lie 
 said, — 
 
 " My objections to the bill becoming a law, so far as its scope and 
 action are concerned, have been set out already in my message to 
 the Legislature concerning the bill to incorporate the Newton Associ- 
 ates." 
 
 In the concluding portion of his veto of the Newton bill, he 
 said, — 
 
 " I desire to do all that I may to hinder and prevent the establish- 
 ment of land-companies in this Commonwealth ; and, believing most 
 
44 
 
 fully that there is no exigency for this company, for the reasons be 
 fore stated, I am constrained to interpose these my objections." 
 
 In view of all this, the Newton Associates are inquiring, — 
 
 " Why was our bill vetoed, and the Essex bill, granting ample 
 powers, approved ? ' ' 
 
 That the governor's action in vetoing tlie bill extending 
 the charter of the Somerville Wharf and Improvement Com- 
 pany, and the bill incorporating the Newton Associates, was 
 not based upon any principle, but was a manifestation of per- 
 sonal spite, for which the reasons are not far to seek, appears 
 from the fact that he has allowed, a bill of precisely similar 
 character, incorporating the Essex County Land and Building 
 Company, to become a law. The bill gives certain parties in 
 Salem the same rights in respect of three acres of land that the 
 Newton Associates bill gave Newton parties in respect to two 
 parcels of land, which together do not exceed one-eighth of an 
 acre (what a dreadful land monopoly I), and besides gives the 
 right to lay out streets and passageways, against which the 
 governor, in vetoing the Somerville bill, raged furiously. 
 
 Moreover, the same members of the committee on mercantile 
 affairs who reported adversely on the Newton bill, and one 
 other member, reported adversely on the Salem bill, saying in 
 their report on the latter bill, — 
 
 "A minority of your committee have already submitted their views 
 in connection with a bill reported to incorporate the Newton Associ- 
 ates, a somewhat similar association. For the reasons given in that 
 report, and above, the undersigned report that the petitioners [the 
 Salem party] have leave to withdraw." 
 
 The governor adopted this report concerning the Newton 
 Associates, and made it a part of his veto message, with an 
 impertinent intimation that the Legislature had not given its 
 weighty argument proper consideration ; but he had no use for 
 it when the Salem bill came before him. 
 
 Thus again it is demonstrated that his public acts are not 
 governed by honorable motives, but by mean ones, and that he 
 is faithless to right and to his own boasted maxim of equality 
 
45 
 
 of rights, burdens, and privileges. He consents to grant one 
 set of men the rights and privileges which he withholds from 
 others, with an arbitrariness savoring of favoritism in the one 
 case and malice in the other. 
 
 It is perhaps needless to add that Gov. Butler is a resident 
 of Essex County. It makes a difference whose ox is gored. 
 
 Voters of Massachusetts, in preparing this pamphlet for your 
 reading, we have alluded only to some of the most prominent 
 acts and deeds of our present governor. His course since he 
 assumed the gubernatorial chair has been entirely consistent 
 with his past record. A series of unfounded charges and base- 
 less statements has marked his career. He has posed before the 
 public merely for political effect. We have faith to believe, 
 that, if you will fairly and dispassionately consider his acts. 
 Gen. B. F. Butler will once again (as when in command of the 
 Department of Virginia and North Carolina) be ordered to 
 " report at his residence at Lowell." In closing, we cannot do 
 better than to quote from Gov. Butler's letter to the colored 
 men of the South. He writes to them under date of April 24, 
 1883, as follows : — 
 
 "Vote for the best men, whose life and conduct you know well, and 
 who have shown thereby their desire that equal justice and equal 
 rights shall come to all men under the law. No matter what promises 
 are made by political orators, or what inducements are held out to 
 obtain your votes, look to ivhat men have done and been, and not to 
 what they say they ivill do or will be. In a word, vote for all good, 
 honest, and true men, who are now your friends ; and vote against 
 all men who, by their conduct, have not shown themselves your 
 friends, however loud or persistent their promises may be. Re- 
 member that the Holy Scriptures say, ' By their fruits ye shall know 
 them.' " 
 
 Follow out this advice to the letter ; and, when the sun rises 
 on the morn succeeding the next election-day, it will be found 
 that the people of Massachusetts have spurned with indigna- 
 tion a man who has done naught save to bring disgrace and 
 shame upon the fair name of our beloved Commonwealth. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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