Report of the Joint select committee appointed to inquire into the condition of affairs in the late insurrectionary states, so far as regards the execution of laws, and the safety of the lives and property of the citizens of the United States and Testimony taken.

ALABAMA-SUB-COMMITTEE. 1815
By Mr. BLAIR:
Question. What was the character of the men who composed the convention that sat
in the State of Alabama and framed its constitntion?
Answer. So far as I am personally acquainted with them they were worthless vagabonds, homeless, houseless, drunken knaves.
Question. What was the character of the election at which they were returned?.Answer. As shameless a fraud as was ever perpetrated upon the face of the earth.
Question. Did any of the negroes declare that they wanted to get paid for their votes?
lAswver. Not to lme individually. When I speak of it as a fraud, I mean that it was
a fraud in this way: the men who were candidates for officers to be elected in the election were registrars of votes and superintendents of elections. They had the privilege
of admitting any man to vote whomn they saw fit, and excluding any man they saw fit,
while they tlhelselves were the candidates for whom the voting was going on. If that
is not a firaud, I do not know what a fraud is-a shameless one, an iniquitous one.
Question. Were any persons excluded by act of Congress froml suffrage from that
election?
Asweer. I think tlhere were some disfranchised men here.
Question. All were then disfranchised who are now under disabilities, were they not?
Anu!sr. I think so, sir.
Question. Who were the delegates sent from this county?
Airs' [. Thle illdividlul to whom I meant to apply that remark was a mnan here by
the nalme of Rolie, from New York. He was said to have had a famlily, or a wife and
chil(ren, livilng in New York. He camne here and took up with a negro Vwoman, and
left two or tllree children here by her. Iel was as worthless a fellow as tiere was in
this communllity. lis iame is not attached to the constitutiou as one of the frarneis,
because, I understand, that lie had got drunk alnd left the convention, and was too
much intoxicated to attend to his duties tlere, and, therefore, his name does 1ot appear
among- the signers; but he was elected and sent there from this county,. lenjamin
Rolfe wat s his 11namIe.
(Questtio. iAnother was named Yordy?
Aq (swer. Yes, sir.
Question. What was his character?
Alswier. I know nothing argainst Mr. Yordy personally, sir; only lie is not a citizen
of this county, mamid never has beeen. I do not think that lie has been within the limits
of the county for tihe last three years. lie holds an office in the Mobile custoni-house,
and pretends to be seiintor from tils conmity; but he never was a citizen of it. HIo
is not now, and never lias been.
Question. Was lie not the registrar of voters in an adjoining county when he was
elected here as senator?
Answi8er. I halve heard so, sir.
Question. Were the military officers, to any large extent, candidates for election?
Answer. There was a gentlemanl holding a, militiary commission in an'adjoining
coiiuty, at Demopolis, a Major Perce. le was fiequently over here; sontietinies with
his troops, and soiietimes not. H1:e was elected to Congress from tlis district while hli
held a conmmission in the Arnmy of the United States. If the geintleien of the commnittee will allow, I will endeavor, in a calm adll dispassionate llanner to state some
causes of the discontent or (lissatisfaction that prevaiiis here amoni(g our people.
Question. Well, sir, we should be very ninch obliged to yon to state it inl your own
way.
AIswver'. In that letter I alluded to a former letter I wrote to General WVilson upon that
subject. They were not political essays; they were friendly coiijmmunications. I could
not persuade myself that a iian of Seliator Wilson's high standing \would countenance
such infamtous lpractices as prevailed here. Now I will proceed to specifyt. There was
a vacancy in tle office of sheriff in this colllty. I took it upon myself to sluggest the
nanies of some four or five citizens, well knoxwn to myself as loyal nien, Union men, and
honest men: The suggestioni wats dtisregardaed entirely, and no attention whatever paid
to it; but one of the mlost corrupt men we liad in the county, one of the most offensive
of all the secessionist party we ever lad here, a dishonest knave, was selected and(
appointed to the office of sheriff of this county, whien there were four or five applicants
from iuembers of the Union party; a mnia so utterly worthless that he could not give
bond, and could not take the oath required. HIe was appointed by General Swayne,
and took the office without bond or oatll. He (did exercise the duties of the office, and
stole and pocketed all the proceeds of it that came to his hands.
Question. What was his name?
iAnswer. Beville. Now, it was because that had been done that I wrote to Senator
Wilson and told him of it, aind I asked him to show this letter to General Howalrd,
because I understood that General IHoward had the superintendence (t' the military
men in the State. It was slown to General Howard, and General Hovward sent a opl)y
of it here to General Swayne,, who was in comimand here. Instead of correcting the
fault, it made General Swayne, I am told, very angry. Well, then' there was a mani