There does not appear to be any erasure or interlineation or anything else in that affidavit. Now, here is the other one:
Hon. Thomas J. Brady,
Second Assistant Postmaster-General:
Sir: The number of men and animals necessary to carry the mails on route 38134 on the present schedule, seven times a week, is two men and six animals. The number necessary on the schedule of ten hours, seven times a week, is six men and eighteen animals.
Respectfully,
JOHN W. DORSEY,
Subcontractor.
That is the second affidavit. The first was withdrawn. That is, they had permission to withdraw it, and in the second affidavit is the interlineation "seven times a week," isn't it? That is simply an interlineation, because there had been an omission to state the service that was then being performed or that was to be performed.
Mr. Crane (foreman of the jury). That has puzzled me a good deal, to understand the motive of those two affidavits.
Mr. Ingersoll. There certainly could not be any motive for putting in seven or three times a week, for this is simply to make it agree with the truth. If I give a note to a man for five hundred dollars and should happen to write in the word "hundred" and not the word "five," and then should take it back and write in the word "five" above it, that is not a sign of fraud.