New-York tribune., 1876-12-25
CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY.
MP urMITTs MAIL,

Mr. HEWITT'S NAIL
HIS STATEMENT BEyoRE TIE CONGRESSIONAL CON-
MIrrEE III THIS CirY-TEsTIMoSY OF POSI-
OFF CE OFFICIALS. s.V
The Hon. Abram 8. Hewitt went before the
Congressional committee OF 1--WE at the ST. Nicholas Hole
on Saturday and made statement In regsra 70 'ne
alleged tainpering with his letters he said that nc mao
no knowledge that any HIS letters rad boon norcrec
with I'm the New York PostOfce, and he had maze ho
abatement to that effect; the statement he ava maze was
that yhe letters that had passed through tue Ne"i
Post-)hice had been tampered with
Just prior 10 the election he received an ahony NOUS
letter from postofce clerk stating that "slades tea
vttl was at work on his letters This induced him to
examine his letters more closely and he noticed thM
somo had an excess OF mucilage. and the maps "ero
wriuked He hen supposed that these had Deen
before be had received them, and persons 10 Who Ho
showed them agreed with him. one letter Wheh NC TO
ceyed at the Everett House he gave to ParEe God"ih
with the understanding that Mr.. Goodwin wouid eau
Postmaster Jamess attention to the matter WHO III
Ncyryork his letters were sent TO four plaees-the
Everett House. No. so Liberty-st, the once VI
Cooncr 4 Hewitt in Burllng-slip, ana his reSi
dence Letters received by him IN WaShhs
ton presented the same suspicious appearance
more of those coming from NewYork bearing evidence
Of having been tampered with than those from oth'r
nleces In the House he tossed couple OF his letters
to Afr Hale who suggested that Mr.. Hewitt should can
tho attention OF the House TO the matter MI hewitt
od no dos,rovod all OF the suspicious letters, not tnh
na OF bringing matter with the excepuoh OF t"o
which still remained unopened ana wich ne pesehVe''
IN the committee for examination. ono OF tnese WAS
fro,r Jacksonyle H. and from Clarksvilc, Tenn
e mad no thought of bringing the matter up before ho
Houae until Gen Garfield alluded to the nyloabiy OF
tho mais Mr. Hewitt claimed that the RESOLUTION OF
fered by Mr. Plat, calling for an Investigation uu NOT
quote his language at all The most Curious thhg VI ~
all he said was that day following the niroduc
ton OF the resolution the envelopes OF MS mai u no'
present this corrugated appearance.
In the crossexaminaton conducted by Mr.. MacDeugal
and Mr. Wells Mr. Hewitt said that he had destroyed all
O! his mail an fast lac could because 1t was 30 enormous
e had not made complaint TO anybody mat ms nii
had tamperod with he had been too busy to gave
1t time and attention, did he do anything TO conhrn
his glSpicionH lie acknowledged that he had no eyE
dnce f any kind In his possession sustain his charge
Int he had received u letter from gentler an Snnhs
that he could furnish cew to the lamperlng he lo
obtaining perlnissiOn rs The letter was prlNse Vn'
Mr. Hewitt became angry M WIZ Wc 5 lad no HIGHT to ask
be asserted that Il asked for the purpose Gi Jahg
reform how is it tha yoG suffered your mail
he tlnpeed with for weeks without inaInS my coii
rt;ned any disrrrnancy between tie dates when the
letters were mailed and the dates when they were 10
superintendcnt Gayle-, who was formerly Special
Agent OF the PoatOice Department, and was ackoNl-
edged to be Of the most able detectives OF pd
with the mails, was examined at the request oi fo,t
master James. He Inspected the letters presented by
Mr. Hewitt and expressed the opinion that there was
nothing suspicious about them. The excess OF miollago
and fhP daps corrugated furnished evidence ih be
erven,,cs had bccn tarpercd with lie could show the
committed thousands of letters which were distributed
eyeiy day and which presented tho same appearance
MIR Hewitt Admitted that It was very probable that the
letters might been tampercd with after ALL ana
that the appearance OF the envelope mght nave peth
dne IN be 6ndcrc or 10 the fact that the sender OF
the letter applied additional muciagc, as was requehuJ
the case. - =, 81 ~.
mcnt testified that matte tlmp Rug with the nas
in the New-YOrk PosOncc Was uttrriy Impossible Win
OUT prompt aetcctou. The investigation adjourned
uptil tomorrow AZ 10 o'clock, In the POst-Ofice