In 1878, the House Select Committee on Alleged Frauds in the Late Presidential Election investigated charges of election-fixing. The committee was chaired by Representative Clarkson Potter and met in one of the oldest parts of the Capitol. Newspapers described the scene in the small room as crowded and noisy. In this image from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, reporters elbow for room in the foreground, while at the committee table beyond, future Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed (recognizable by his pale, moon-shaped face) questions a witness.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Washington, D.C. - The Potter Investigation Committee in Session in the Basement of the Old Capitol,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2011/2011-089-004/ (June 26, 2022)
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