No. 1.

1848.

REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON CONTESTED SEAT FOR CHIPPEWA COUNTY.

The Select Committee appointed to examine and report upon the claims of Andrew Harvie and Henry M. Dodge, severally, asserting the right to a seat in the present House of Representatives, as the member from the county of Chippewa, and invested with power to send for persons and papers, having proceeded to the investigation of the subject matters thus referred to them, in the presence of the respective claimants and their counsel, and having fully considered the evidence adduced, consisting of admissions by the claimants, documentary evidence, and the testimony of witnesses duly sworn before them, have instructed me, as their chairman, to report the following state of facts:

It is conceded that the county of Chippewa originally embraced the unorganized counties of Marquette, Houghton, Schoolcraft and Ontonagon, and that the township of St, Mary was co-extensive with the county of Chippewa. It also appears, by Act No. 64, of the Session Laws of 1847, that provision was made for the organization of a township in each of those new counties, and by section 12, of said Act, that the township of St. Mary was restricted to the territorial limits of Chippewa proper. It also appears, that a general election. was holden on the second day of November, 1847, for the township of St. Mary, at the Saut de Ste. Marie, and that the claimants, Andrew Harvie and Henry M. Dodge, were candidates for the office of Representative for Chippewa county.

By the admissions of the claimants, the following facts were established, viz: That Henry M. Dodge, was, at the time of said election, the Township Clerk of St. Mary; and as such, that he sat upon the Board of Inspectors of the election, and signed the Inspector's return produced before the committee, and marked Exhibit (A.) Also, that said Dodge was, at the time of said election, the County Clerk