B. B. REDDING, being duly sworn, said:

I was Secretary of State at the date of April third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; (and "Exhibit B" being shown to the witness, he stated:) I got the property described in the exhibit, or a greater portion of it, and my recollection is, that prior to the adjournment of the Legislature, I instructed the Porter, George Whitlock, and a man named Clock, who had been in the employ of the Legislature, to go to the different Committee rooms and take a schedule of the property belonging to the State found in them; to have teams engaged, and directly after the Legislature adjourned, to bring the property to the Capitol. They did so, with the exception of one black walnut desk, which the Clerk of the Committee desired to retain until he got his papers out of it, and that desk was afterwards obtained; Mr. Moran might have paid for the use of the teams, but he did not deliver any furniture to me; I sent and got it; when Mr. Moran obtained the receipt, we had in the Capitol building all the furniture we could find in every Committee room.

In reply to the question, "Do you know of any other furniture or property belonging to the Committee rooms other than that which you obtained at the close of the session?" the witness replied: I believe I obtained all that was left in the Committee rooms at the time of the adjournment, and of my own knowledge, I know of none that I did not get, and I have not since that time seen any furniture or articles belonging to those rooms other than that which I obtained at the adjournment of the Legislature.

In reply to the question, "What has become of the property specified in Schedule B'?" the witness answered: The chairs, pitchers, washbowls, soap-dishes, spittoons, screw-chair, coal scuttles, dusters, penracks, stoves and pipe, tables, gas pipe, and desks, I turned over to my successor, and they are in use by the Legislature or its Committees at present; the carpets, some I sold and turned the proceeds over to my successor; a portion of the carpets and matting, with some of the stoves and wooden-bottom chairs, upon consultation with the Governor, I sent to the State Prison, where they now are in use; I have no recollection of receiving or seeing any window curtains, or window shades, or baskets.

In reply to the question, "Why did you send this property to the State Prison? and state what property was sent," the witness replied: We had sold what of the carpets would readily sell, and the moths were getting into the remainder; the Commissary's, Clerk's, and Guard's rooms at the prison had no carpets, and rather than that they should be destroyed or sold for less than they were worth, upon consultation with the Governor I sent them to the State Prison, where they are now in use; the exact quantity I don't recollect, but there were two large dry goods' boxes filled; and all the carpets and matting, except those which I sold, the receipts for which I turned over to my successor, were sent to the prison; no other part of this furniture or property was sold by me, except a portion of the carpets and matting, the proceeds for which were turned over to my successor, and an account of these sales can be given by Mr. Garrison, who was my clerk, and who made the sales and received the money.

Pending the taking of Mr. Redding's testimony, the Committee adjourned to meet again at the same place on to-morrow at two o'clock P. M.

JANUARY 15th, 1868.

The Committee met pursuant to adjournment.
All present.

Examination of B. B. REDDING, resumed.

In relation to turning over this property to my successor, when the teams came with the property the morning after the adjournment, all the property gathered from the various Committee rooms of the Senate and Assembly was piled up together in the vestibule of the Capitol building; it was there sorted out; stoves, and carpets, and matting were taken down into the basement of the building; all the other property was carried up stairs and placed in the room used as the lumber room, and the balance of it was placed in the room used at the last session by the Journal Clerk of the Assembly; there it remained until just prior to the meeting of this Legislature, when it was given to Boardman, with the furniture of the Senate and Assembly, to be revarnished and refitted for the use of the present Legislature. Not having a room in his shop to contain it, he hired the building on I street formerly occupied. by Gillig, Mott & Co., in which to repair and put it in order; that portion of it belonging to the Senate and Assembly was returned, and such other portion of it as could be conveniently stored in the Capitol building; all of it could not be stored back where it was taken from, as the room was wanted for the use of the Assembly Clerks; the balance of it remained in this building, by the consent of Boardman, subject to the order of Dr. Nichols, who has since taken possession of it.

In reply to the question, "Why did you send the property to the prison that was sent there?" the witness replied:

Because the carpets, which could not be sold, were getting to be motheaten; because I had no place to store the stoves, except in the basement of the Capitol, which was so damp that they were being destroyed by rust; because they needed chairs at the prison, and had the labor there to repair those that were damaged; because the property could be better cared for there than I could care for it; and because, as one of the State Prison Directors, I thought that that much property could be saved to the State that would otherwise go to waste. I stated my intention to the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, who concurred with me that this was the best disposition to make of this property; this property is still in existence, and, less the use made of it, can be returned in better condition than when it was sent to the prison.

(The witness here presented a receipt from his successor for one hundred and six dollars, proceeds of sales of carpets made by him belonging to the State.)

When officers belonging to the different State departments required. furniture, desks, or tables, or other office furniture, it was my duty under the law to procure such furniture and certify the account, payable out of the Stationery, Light, and Fuel Fund; when I could induce them. to do so, I gave them the Committee room furniture instead of purchasing new furniture.

Committee adjourned to January sixteenth, at three o'clock P. M.

Committee met pursuant to adjournment.
All present.

GEORGE C. GARRISON, being duly sworn, said:

JANUARY, 16th, 1868.

I was Clerk to the Secretary of State, April third, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; the instructions that Mr. Redding gave us was to have a certain number of teams and men ready for the purpose of securing the furniture of the various Committee rooms of the Senate and Assembly; this was complied with, and the furniture brought to the building, (that is, the Capitol building.) I have no means of knowing what particular furniture belonged to the Senate or Assembly, but simply received it as the property of the State.

(The witness was here shown a paper marked "Exhibit B," purporting to be a receipt from him to the Sergeant-at-Arms for furniture, etc., and he stated that the same was given by him to the Sergeant-at-Arms.) The witness then proceeded to state as follows: On April fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, I sold a piece of carpet, supposed to contain about forty-five yards, for forty dollars; April fourteenth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, I sold to McManus a piece of carpet that was in Journal Clerk's room, corner of Seventh and I streets, for twenty dollars; and about the same time sold a piece to William B. Hunt, of Sacramento, containing about forty-six yards, for which I received forty-six dollars.

Adjourned, subject to the call of the Chairman.

Committee re-assembled.

Present-Messrs. Murch and Hunter.
Absent-Mr. Tweed.

T. MAHONEY, being duly sworn, said:

JANUARY, 17th, 1868.

In my capacity as guard at the State Prison, I have accidentally seen shipments of furniture, consisting of window curtains, carpets, and stoves, which came from the Secretary of State; I recollect of having seen two stoves and a quantity of carpeting, and I saw some twenty chairs, which I always supposed came from the Secretary of State; also, I think this was about one year ago.

Committee adjourned, to meet at the call of the Chairman.

Committee re-assembled. All of the Committee

GEO. W. WHITLOCK, being duly sworn, said:

JANUARY 18th, 1868.

present.

During the last session of the Legislature, and up to the commencemence of the present, I occupied the position of Porter of the Secretary

of State's office; there was furniture delivered to the Secretary of State as coming from the Senate Committee rooms, by the expressman, but I don't know whether it was sent by Mr. Moran or not; I got the furniture from one room, under the direction of Mr. Redding; the rest of the furniture was received from the expressman as before stated; at the time I kept a list of the furniture delivered by myself and the expressman, but I have lost the list and can't find it; I did not furnish any copy of the list to the Secretary of State; I attended to the storing of the furniture, and the Committee room furniture of the Senate and Assembly was kept together, but separate from the furniture of the Senate and Assembly Chambers.

(The witness, on being shown "Exhibit B," said: I think that the articles herein contained were delivered to the Secretary of State at the time referred to.)

In answer to the question, "Do you know what became of that furniture?" the witness said: I do; two desks and chairs I sent to the State Prison; I think I sent five stoves; I sent all the carpets, with the exception of two carpets that were sold by the Secretary of State, and sent three or four sets of curtains to the prison, also, including those named in "Exhibit B;" a small portion of the Committee room matting was kept, to be used about the passages of the Capitol building, and the balance of it was sent to the prison; these articles were sent to the prison in two different lots, and at two different times; the carpets and some other articles were sent about one month or two after the adjournment of the last Legislature, the remainder of the articles were sent last summer; I know of the time of the sale of the carpet to Wm. B. Hunt, of Sacramento City, and of one carpet to A. B. Hunt, of Santa Clara; I know of no other carpets being sold, except those two; there is still some of the property from these Committee rooms in use at the Capitol, consisting of chairs and tables in the Senate chamber, and tables in the rooms of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate; I think that some of these chairs belonging to the Committee rooms have been sent to the office of the Attorney-General; they sent from the Adjutant-General's office for furniture; I took the messenger to the rooms where the furniture of the Committee rooms of Senate and Assembly was stored, and showed him the furniture; none of it was then taken, but I understood that portions of it was selected for the AdjutantGeneral's office and sent there; I don't know of the particular furniture that was sent there; there was also furniture sent to the SurveyorGeneral's office from these same rooms; I took a messenger to the rooms, showed him the furniture, and understood that portions of it was taken to that office, but was not present at its delivery; the State Printer also had a desk, but it was returned before the meeting of the present Legislature; I have never seen any of this property in the hands of private parties other than has been stated heretofore, except on one or two occasions when it has been loaned to festivals and returned; it has been the custom of the different State officers to send for furniture to the office of the Secretary of State, and whenever there has been furniture there not in use, such as they wanted, they were allowed to take it; I had charge of this property from the time of the adjournment of the last Legislature up to the meeting of the present one, as Porter of the Secretary of State's office; the property sent to the State Prison, and that delivered to the different State officers, was so sent and delivered by order of the Secretary of State.

JAMES J. GREEN, being duly sworn, said:

During the last session of the Legislature I was Acting Warden of the State Prison, and since that time and up to last November I have been Prison Commissary and Acting Warden; some time from a month to three months after the adjournment of the last Legislature, there was a large lot of carpeting, several window curtains and green shades, a large quantity of cocoa matting, about two dozen chairs, and perhaps some other articles sent to the State Prison; I am not sure that all of these articles were received at the same time; they might have been received at different times; the articles sent were generally such as were needed for use at the prison; a portion of the carpeting was used for carpeting the Commissary's and Clerk's offices and guard rooms.

In answer to the question, "How those articles came to be sent there?" witness said: It was at my suggestion to the Secretary of State and the Board of State Prison Directors, (all three being present,) that I thought it was necessary to have such articles as above named if they could be spared from the Capitol, as it would save the State the expense of purchasing the same; I gave no receipt for the articles named by me as being received from the Secretary of State, as that officer did not demand one; I only wrote to Whitlock, letting him know that the articles had arrived at the prison; I did not make nor keep a memorandum of the articles referred to.

WM. B. HUNT, being duly sworn, said:

I live at Sacramento, and keep a public house known as the Hotel de France.

Question-Have you obtained any carpeting or other property from the Secretary of State within the past two years, or since the adjournment of the last Legislature? if so, state what the property obtained was, and the terms upon which it was obtained.

Answer-I bought of B. B. Redding, late Secretary of State, a piece of carpeting containing about forty-six yards, in the summer of eighteen hundred and sixty-six; I paid him one dollar a yard for it; I have neither purchased nor obtained from said Redding any other article of property since the last session of the Legislature; I have obtained no other article of property since the last session of the Legislature that has come from the Capitol; I have not now, and have not had in my house within the last two years, any article of furniture or property except the carpet above named, that I know or have reason to believe was used in any of the Senate Committee rooms during the last session of the Legislature; I have not, during the last two years, seen any other article of furniture or property, either at my house or elsewhere, that I have reason to believe was used in the Senate Committee rooms during the last session of the Legislature.