Note 12 — JUST WHAT CHANDLER DID, AND HOW THE PLAN WAS LAID TO DEFEAT THE POPULAR CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT

"Under the Constitution three copies of the certificate of the Louisiana vote were necessary, one of which had to be forwarded to the president of the Senate by mail, another delivered to him by hand, and the third deposited with the United States district judge—all of which had to be accomplished within a certain number of days. When the Republican messenger—one T. C. Anderson—arrived in Washington and delivered the package containing one of those three certificates to Mr. Ferry, the president of the Senate, that gentleman called his attention to an irregularity in the form of the endorsement on the envelope and suggested that he consider its legal effect. Anderson therefore retained the package, and secretly opened it to ascertain if the error had been repeated in the certificate itself. To his consternation he discovered far more vital defects in the document, and flying back to New Orleans consulted with the party leaders, who agreed that the instrument must be redrawn, and the electors were hastily resumed. Then, to the managers' horror, it was discovered that two of the necessary officials were absent, and could not possibly be reached within the time limited by law for the delivery of the paper in Washington. 'Heroic' measures were therefore deemed essential, and after all the available signatures had been obtained the others were forged, and the doctored certificates, which, of course, were obviously different from the one previously forwarded by mail, were rushed back to Washington just in the nick of time. All these facts were subsequently unearthed, but those who actually committed the forgeries were never detected."—H. R. R., No. 140, 45th Cong., 3d Session, pp. 50-63 and 89-91.