To Mr. King:

THOMAS B. ARNETT called and sworn.

I reside in Fort Scott, and have resided there from before the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. I am pretty well acquainted with the bounds of the sixth district as laid off by Governor Reeder. On the 30th of March, 1855, I was acquainted with a great many of the voters of that district. There was quite a flood of emigration of bona fide settlers coming into the district after the taking of the census up to the day of election. It was nearly a daily occurrence to have more or less come into the district. My opinion is that there were some 90, perhaps more, emigrants came in during that time. I kept a public house at Fort Scott, and had a good opportunity of seeing the emigrants who came in. I was present at the 30th of March election. I saw men parading around through the streets, but saw none about the polls. I saw nothing like an emigration of armed men. I saw no usurpation of the right of voting. There were men who came in from Missouri to vote, and the judges did not allow it. It was supposed that there were two hundred men who came in to vote, and were not allowed to vote-were expelled from voting. were expelled from voting. I know of no illegal voting. It was supposed that some two hundred voters came there who were not considered legal voters and were not allowed to vote. The prevailing understanding was, that a fair vote of the Territory should be taken. I know of no citizen of the district that was prevented from voting, and I know of no attempt of the kind. I do not know of any one who did not vote from any expressed apprehension. of fear or violence in any way. The polls were opened by the judges, and kept open for every legal voter and citizen of the Territory to come and vote on his own will and pleasure. There were more freesoil votes given than I anticipated were in our district, there being some thirty-odd in all given. The polls were kept open for them as well as for the pro-slavery party, and their votes were as amicably and justly received as from the pro-slavery party. The vote of the proslavery party was about as I anticipated it would be; not higher than I anticipated. My own opinion was that the pro-slavery party in that district was even higher than the vote showed they were on the day of election. I considered the majority at least five to one. I heard no complaints from free-State men on that day, that they had been prevented from voting, either free-State voters or candidates.

Cross-examined by Mr. Sherman:

The election was held in the hospital building at Fort Scott, in a room prepared for that purpose. I was engaged in my public house part of the day, and part of the day I was out mixing among the people. I was immediately at the polls some one or two dozen times during the day, though I did not make it my business to watch the polls. I do not think I heard the vote of any individual challenged that day. I do not recollect of it now. I do not think I heard the judges announce their opinion upon any question before them. I was not directly at the window, as it was pretty crowded. I was only about the polls a short time at any time I was up there. I understood from the non

residents themselves that they did not vote. They were encamped down on the creek. I do not know how many told me they did not vote, but such was the general talk among the non-residents. I understood from them that they were ineligible to vote, and that was the reason they did not vote. They came to vote, I suppose, and that was their intention. I only heard such a rumor from them. The reasonable presumption is, that the judges deterred them from voting, but I do not know that myself. I do not recollect that they told me why they did not vote. I think some of them said there were votes enough there without their votes, any how. I have some slight acquaintance in Weston, Missouri. The persons in the camp came from various parts in the western part of Missouri, from Cass, Johnson, Lafayette, Cooper, and Howard counties. I know a gentleman by the name of Oldham, but I do not recollect his first name. The one I knew lived in Jackson county. There is an Oldham in our district, now a settler. He had a claim in the district at the time of the election, but his family was not with him. He was then preparing for his family, and shortly afterwards brought them there. I knew a Mr. Zeal living at that time in Bates county, but he had an improvement in the Territory, with his family in Bates county, and now is merchandising in the Territory. I know some Mitchells who at that time lived in Vernon county, but they had claims in the Territory before the election, and were there themselves, but their families were not there. J. S. Mitchell and Carter Mitchell are now residents of Fort Scott. Carter Mitchell opened a claim and made improvements upon it, and sold it for $800. He is now in Fort Scott. Jos. C. Anderson came in our place first during the latter part of February or the first of March. He boarded with me while he was there. He left very shortly after the election, either the first or second day after. He was a young man, without a family. I did not see him at Fort Scott again until the barbacue in September. He remained there but a short time after General Whitfield's election, and I have not seen him there since. When he first came to Fort Scott he made a claim and entered it upon our squatter's record, and that will show he had a claim.

To Mr. King:

I heard some several of these Missourians who expressed themselves willing to submit the case to the people of the Territory, providing that the Emigrant Aid Society would not interfere. They said there was such a flood of these emigrants coming in, they thought they had as good a right to come in and defend the rights of the people of the Territory as those eastern emigrants had to come in.

To Mr. Sherman:

I saw none of these eastern emigrants in our district at that time, and never knew of any of these emigrants who were shipped here being in our district since.

To Mr. King:

It seemed to be the motto of most all of the Missourians, that see

ing none of the emigrant society voters there, who were not actual settlers of the country, they were disposed to stand off and take no part in the election.

WESTPORT, MISSOURI, June 2, 1856.

THOMAS B. ARNETT.

To Mr. King:

SAMUEL A. WILLIAMS called and sworn.

I reside now in Fort Scott, in Kansas Territory, in what was the 6th district, and have resided there since March 1, 1855. I was a candidate for representative to the legislature from that district. was elected. I have resided there since that time. Joseph C. Anderson was in the district before I was. I was in the district there before Mr. Hamilton, the free-State candidate, was, and he was living thereat the time of the election. I was considerably acquainted in that district. My opinion is that that election was a very fair one. I do not know of any illegal votes there that day. From the time I went into the district the emigration was very heavy from Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas, up to the time of the election, and settled on the Neosho and the streams in that neighborhood, and the district. At the time of that election I think the Pro-slavery party had a majority in that district. A good many free-State men were dissatisfied with their candidates, and many of them told me they voted for me and Mr. Anderson, and I wrote the tickets for some of them myself. SAML. A. WILLIAMS.

WESTPORT, MISSOURI, June 9, 1856.

TESTIMONY AS TO ELECTION OF MARCH 30, 1855, IN THE SEVENTH DISTRICT. I. B. TITUS called and sworn.

To Mr. Reeder:

I moved into the Territory, where I am now living, on the 1st day of October, in the year 1854, in the seventh district, and have resided. there ever since. I was at home on the 30th of March, 1855. There was a large camp across the creek from my house, which I estimated to contain between two and three hundred. I was not at home the day previous to the election, but arrived the night previous, and found the camp there. I went into the camp the next morning; I saw some three or four persons in the camp that I had seen in the district, and knew had claims there; the balance were all strangers to me. They were armed-I think, all of them-some with one kind of arms, and some with another. I saw no flags or music along with them. I don't know where they got their provisions and fodder, but supposed they brought them with them, as I knew of no other way of their getting them. Some had tents, and some slept in their wagons. I had some conversation with them; they said they were from Missouri, and had come out on purpose to vote. One man said they were disappointed, as they expected to find more Yankees there than there were, and allowed that they had more with them than was necessary to balance the vote. I do not recollect that I learned the names of any of those strangers. I saw a great many of them vote, and thought they all voted, as I was in or about the house all day. The election was held in my house. They went back east, on the Santa Fe road, in the direction of Missouri-some before the election was over, and the rest afterwards. I have seen none of those strangers in the district since, except a few passing through, freighting to the Grove. I have seen a few of them in Missouri since.

Cross-examined by Mr. Woodson:

In the conversation I had in camp, they intimated that a good many free-State people had come out to make Kansas a free State, and they came to overbalance that vote. That was the inducement they gave for coming. I came into the Territory from Iowa. I was well acquainted with the district at that time, as I was one of the first in it. I know the boundaries of the district, but do not recollect the number of miles across it. I think I knew all the residents at the time of election. There were not many came in there before the election, of actual settlers, though considerable came out some time before the election to look at the town site, and then returned before the election. The population was very sparse; and I should think there were about twenty-five resident voters there at the time of election. I know of none who came into the district and voted and then returned, but Missourians. I know of none others who returned immediately after the election. I did not trouble myself much about the candidates at that time, as I was pretty neutral in politics. I may have known them, but do not recollect them now. The "110" settlement

is about eight or nine miles from our settlement, and the Wakarusa settlement is ten miles off. There were no other settlements in the district at that time.

To Mr. Sherman:

My occupation is blacksmithing. There is no other blacksmithshop in the district, I think, but mine.

To Mr. Reeder:

There were about ten families in our settlement at the time of that election. There was but one family at "110," that I knew of then. The Wakarusa settlement was considerably smaller than ours then. The rest of the district, away from these three creeks, consisted mostly of high prairie, and was not then settled, and is not settled yet.

LAWRENCE, K. T., April 30, 1856.

I. B. TITUS.

To Mr. Reeder:

MARCUS H. ROSE called and sworn.

I came into the Territory about the 8th of November, 1854, from Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and settled about the 14th on Switzer creek, a branch of the Osage, in the seventh district, and have resided there ever since. I was at the election of the 30th of March, 1855, a short time. I did not intend to attend the election, seeing a company coming in on the day before. I saw, on the 29th, a large company coming in about ten o'clock in the morning. I was about starting for my cabin when they came in. My cabin is about three miles from there. I was then at Mr. Hoover's. I did not count them. They came in wagons and on horses and mules. I should suppose there were about fifty wagons, but do not know how many they contained. Some of the wagons had two horses and some four. I should judge there were from thirty to fifty horses and mules. They encamped a few rods from the house in which the election was to be held, in the timber on the claim of Mr. Prentiss. I passed on down home, after they had got into the timber and commenced chopping. I remained home until some time in the afternoon of the day of election. Mr. Stewart came after me. I declined coming up to the election, but went up with him when he stated that they intended controlling the election. When I reached the election-house there were quite a number around the house still voting. Others were going back the way they came. What I saw of these men were armed. I do not remember of seeing any flags. I was pretty well acquainted in my immediate vicinity, but not extensively in the district. I do not know how many voters there were in the district at that time. I do not know of any increase of settlers in the district between the taking of the census and the day of election, but rather a decrease, as some went away into other districts to work. Those men that came