Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

them, have got together and been consulting with Dr. Cogswell and have undoubtedly told him, "Doctor, your case is as black and as bad as it can be, and nothing you can say or do when you get up there can hide the truth; and therefore there is only one thing for you to do to sit down with us and let us prepare a whitewashing statement; and as soon as we get that worded so as to suit you, so as to cover your case, so as to cover up whatever abuses are charged against you, and to suit us, we will present it to the committee and insist that it be received; and as soon as we get the committee to receive it, it will be printed word for word, line for line, without even the omission of a punctuation mark in the newspaper, and everybody will read it, and that will be your defence. Is that the way to treat an investigation of this kind? Why, as full-grown men, don't you realize that there is only one way to discover the truth? It is not by reading compositions by the superintendent of Long Island or anybody else. It is by watching the witnesses as they come here, and listening to what is said, and watching the play of features of the witness as he says it; and then you, perhaps, can get the key to the truth, detect the falsehood, eliminate it from your memory, and cling to what is true. It has remained in my mind ever since Mr. Proctor said the other night in response to an objection by me: "No matter how much you object, we are going to get that statement in, line for line, and word for word." I wondered then, and I have wondered more since, by what authority he made that statement, or if he had had any understanding with you or with any of your fellows, or with all of your fellows, that it should go in. He seemed to speak with authority behind him. I won't quote his common, street phrase I won't say he was trying to bluff you; but I think he was attempting to laud it over you. Now, gentlemen, don't allow this investigation at this day, at this late hour, to become a farce. They have a man here, not a poor man, not an uneducated man, but a man the product of our schools and colleges,

for he himself said the other night that he began his education at a plain country school near the town of Haverhill a man many years in professional life, knowing as well as any man can the difference between right and wrong, knowing how to express himself orally as well as in writing; and are you going to indulge in this kind of child's play on the mere suggestion of counsel that this man should be allowed to present his testimony by way of a statement which he and they have prepared, because they cannot trust him? They cannot trust the opening of his lips to tell the truth, or to tell you what the facts are. Of course, the thing is absurd, and I am almost ashamed of myself for taking so much time in objecting to it; and I am still more ashamed of the full-grown men on the other side, unless they have something even more terrible than we think to conceal I am still ashamed of their conduct in attempting to impose a document like that, or a document at all, upon this committee when they have the witness, fullgrown and alive, before the committee, able and capable of speaking for himself.

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman, I do not propose to take up the

time of the committee in answering the unfounded insinuations of Brother Riley in regard to the counsel on this side or in regard to the defence. I will simply call attention to the printed proceedings, and then leave the matter in your hands. I will say first, however, that neither the defence nor the counsel for the defence are responsible for the course the proceedings have taken here. It was not the suggestion of anybody in any way connected with the defence that anything in writing should be presented here. Neither do the counsel for, the defence assume that Mrs. Lincoln was afraid or that her counsel was afraid to trust her here without a written statement; but the fact remains that at the first hearing Mrs. Lincoln appeared here and opened her testimony with this remark: "You have summoned me to appear before you as a witness, and I am told that I am at liberty to put my testimony in writing." Then she proceeded to read her testimony. No objection was raised by anybody, and that was the way this investigation began. In that written testimony which she read here were certain charges against Dr. Cogswell. Now Dr Cogswell appears here to reply to those charges. He presents his reply in writing; and he asks for the privilege which was granted to Mrs. Lincoln of reading that reply. He does that because after the testimony of Mrs. Lincoln the Chair stated that the defence, when ready to put in their testimony, will be granted the opportunity to put in all that they choose and at whatever times they choose. Now, we simply ask for the same treatment that was granted to the other side that is all.

Mr. BRANDeis. Mr. Chairman, after the very clear and forcible statement by Mr. Riley of the reasons against permitting that written statement prepared by this witness to be read here, it is hardly necessary for me to go into a detailed statement of the subject, because it is obviously a departure from all known methods of examining witnesses and hearing cases. It gives the witness an opportunity not only to state what he will, but to argue the case as he states it; and that, undoubtedly, he has done. It is suggested that this course is to be persued because Mrs. Lincoln, at the opening, read a short statement setting forth certain charges against the institution. That statement was not read by Mrs. Lincoln until counsel for the Commissioners had called for a written statement. You will see by examining the proceedings that I objected to any requirement that charges should be in writing; but Mrs. Lincoln stated that her charges were in writing, and thereupon Mr. Curtis stated on behalf of his clients that he was very glad to hear it and that he desired them read. That is all the written statements that have gone in from our side. Now, after Mrs. Lincoln read her charges, she was examined as a witness and cross-examined; and then followed a long line of witnesses who made charges, many of which were entirely different from and had not in any way been suggested by Mrs. Lincoln. Mr. McCaffrey, Dr. Parker, and the various witnesses who came and testified here, testified to things that were perfectly distinct from anything that Mrs. Lincoln had said, or anything that Mrs. Lincoln knew about. Now, the answer which Dr. Cogswell has

prepared so carefully, I dare say is not confined to specific charges, not confined to that which was in writing, but that it answers that which was in writing, and answers, or undertakes to answer, also, that which has been testified to by one witness after another. That is the condition of the case as you find it today. Mrs. Lincoln stated charges, and she stated them in writing in pursuance of Mrs. Curtis' request. All the other witnesses desired, and, of course, would have been compelled, to testify orally. Now, this change is proposed - this change in the method of procedure, which cannot be, I say, for a legitimate purpose. It must be desired for some purpose other than to aid you in getting at the truth and the facts now under investigation, because, as Mr. Reed says, if you don't allow it to be read, he will have the paper in his hands and will ask questions which will enable the doctor to answer from it. The doctor apparently has a great deal of matter there and Mr. Reed will probably want a paper to aid bim in asking the questions; and that is the proper way, and the only way, in which he should be allowed to proceed here. If the doctor is going to read any prepared statement, or to do anything other than that, we should be allowed to put in a statement at the same time. Even when it came to the final report, which was at the request of the Board, asked for from the visitors, you declined to allow that final report to go in without the answer to it. Why let tais statement goɔ in alone? I say that it will not aid you in getting at the truth. It will only aid in allowing facts to be misrepresented and to get them before you and before the public in a way which will conceal the truth.

Mr. REED. - Will you pardon me a single word, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps the remarks of Brother Brandeis and Brother Riley may create a false impression. It is not the fact that when Dr. Cogswell finishes reading his statement which he has prepared in reply to charges that have been made against him, that his direct testimony will stop. I propose to ask him a great many questions, just as Brother Brandeis asked Mrs. Lincoln a great inany questions before she was cross-examined; and then he can be cross-examined by the counsel on the other side. That is exactly in line

with the course already followed by this committee.

Mr. BRANDEIS. That matter of Mrs. Lincoln's written statement is constantly being referred to, and I should like to ask the committee to consider again the statement by Mr. Curtis on page 18: I understood that the witness at that time was not testifying, but that she did read charges that she proposed to make against the management of the institution at Long Island, which charges were to be the basis of the hearing on Long Island.

[ocr errors]

Mr. RILEY. If you will get the testimony of the witness White, Mr. Chairman, you will see that you excluded his statement would not allow him to hold it when he was testifying.

Mr. BRANDeis. You remember, also, that you would not allow the witness Brownell to give his own statement as to the condition of things in 1891. Under the objections of counsel, it was excluded, and he was obliged to give his oral testimony.

The CHAIRMAN. The purpose of the committee is to ascertain

all the facts in connection with the management of the institution, and it is not the intention of the committee to do anything which whuld rule out any of those facts or any knowledge. The Chair labors under some doubt as to the advisability of the witness reading the statement, from the fact that the Chair is unable to know what is in that statement; but the Chair would rule that the witness shall have the opportunity of reading the statement, providing that it all bears upon the subject under investigation.

Mr. REED. That is all we ask. That is all that is contended for by this side.

Ald. LOMASNEY. Mr. Chairman, I don't like to appeal from the decision of the Chair, but there is one thing that I want to call your attention to. That is that in this case there was some testimony as to a hearing held in the Board of Commissioners' office several years ago on some charges made by Mrs. Lincoln. There was a great deal of objection to allowing those documents to be produced until the answer to the charges were also seen by the committee. We then went into executive session; the charges were seen, and the answer to the charges; and the answer never has been made public. There is another matter, too, that I think we ought to consider, and that is that during the course of the prosecution on this matter, if we can call it such, Mr. Brandeis asked Dr. Cogswell to take the stand. They called him as a witness; and under the instructions of his counsel he declined to become a witness, and they stated that at the proper time and in the proper manner he would become a witness. Now, then, there can be only one purpose in that, as it appears now, and that was to do something that they have done. I certainly have faith in the intelligence and knowledge of Dr. Cogswell. I believe that he is competent to stand up here and tell the truth, and tell it without having a written statement in front of him. After his counsel who represent him say that they can examine him from the document, I cannot see what we are going to lose by allowing that thing to be done; and consequently, I want to be consistent and vote this time, as I think I have once before, against allowing this statement to come in in this way; and I want to be recorded as against that decision.

The CHAIRMAN. The clerk will make that record. Go on, Mr. witness.

Mr. RILEY. Will you let me see that statement, Mr. Chairman, before anybody reads it or anybody uses it? If you will turn to the testimony of Mr. White there you will see what your ruling was that you would not allow him to use the paper. Now, we demand that paper, in order that we may go over it carefully and find what is in it. There is no doubt that being in accordance with the rules of procedure, and that rule is based on

common sense.

The CHAIRMAN. You may go on, Mr. Witness.

Mr. RILEY. Do you rule that he shall read it before I am allowed to look at it at all?

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Witness, will you allow the counsel to look at that paper a minute before you read it?

Mr. REED. minute.

Mr. RILEY.

Mr. PROCTor.

No; don't give it to him just yet. Wait a

Oh! Then there is guilt here, is there?

Oh, no.

(The witness offered to let Mr. Riley see the paper, but would

not let it go out of his hands.)

Mr. RILEY.

what is in it.

Mr. PROCTOR.

No, no; I desire to look at this paper and see

Have you any matches with you?

Mr. RILEY. What?

Mr. PROCTOR. Have you any matches with you? We will give it to you when it is read in.

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask if the counsel is to be allowed to take that paper and keep it for an indefinite time ?

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair does not so understand it.

Mr. REED. I think the proper time to pass that paper to Mr. Riley is after the witness has read it. I do not wish to be captious about the matter, but I do not see why Brother Riley should take a paper from the witness and take it to his table; and I certainly object to any such proceeding.

Mr. RILEY. I do not wonder you do.

Mr. REED. After he is through reading the paper, then he can pass it to him if he desires to have it. It don't seem to me that Mr. Riley has any right to take that now.

Ald. LOMASNEY. Mr. Chairman, when we started into this investigation, wasn't it agreed that the counsel were to see all papers? Didn't the other side see the letter from Bridgewater Almshouse?

Mr. REED.

Mrs. Lincoln's statement was not handed to us until after she read it. After she read it it was handed to us, as it should be.

Mr. RILEY.

The CHAIRMAN.

Now, will you obey the committee, Mr. Witness. The witness may show the paper to Mr. Riley so that he may identify it when he comes to peruse it afterwards. No, no; let me have the paper, if you please. It is not right for the witness to allow the paper to go out of his hands just to satisfy Mr. Riley. He can look at the

Mr. RILEY.

Mr. REED.

paper without that.

Mr. RILEY. — Oh, no, I cannot look at it in that way.
-The witness may proceed.

The CHAIRMAN.
Ald. LOMASNEY. Now, Mr. Chairman, I think this matter
should be conducted in some decent sort of way, and certainly
Mr. PROCTOR. We do, too.

Ald. LOMASNEY. And certainly we should not depart from the usual practice followed in this investigation. There has been no evidence introduced here on either side but what, when the counsel on the other side requested that it should be shown to them, that they have not had it handed to them in a respectful manner and had all the time necessary to peruse it, and it certainly seems to me this is an entirely improper proceeding. I am only gratified that I went on record in the first place against allowing the evidence

« PreviousContinue »