Witnesses gave their names in these two courts as Commodore Vanderbilt. as Chauncey Depew. and so on. men known perfectly well to the court. and yet no attention was paid to it. -Any quantity of false names were given. Thousands were admitted to American citizenship who never went into the court at all as applicants. Tammany at that time was provided with red slips. to be furnished to applicants of its own selection. which read: "You will naturalize the bearer." These. passed to the judges. commanded certificates. and the bills were charged to Tammany. and Tammany paid them. There were eight witnesses who testified that they themselves scattered 10.000 of those certificates amongst the people in New York to vote upon. and there had never been a single one of them iii the courts of that State for naturalization. I have been a member of one of these committees. and therefore it is familiar to me. There was one witness I remember perfectly well. Henry Lyle. who declared that he himself sold 600 certificates. all signed and all ready for delivery. except with the name of the citizen left in blank. He sold them for $5 apiece. and Tammany paid the actual cost back to him that the court would have charged for naturalizing these persons as American XXVI118 citizens. Superintendent Kennedy. of the police department. found 3.000 of these blank certificates in one liquor saloon. which had been left there. all signed and all ready for delivery.
Keywords matched
naturalization naturalize naturalizing