The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1880-10-28

THE CHAMPION MEAN MAN.
How English Was Kicked Ont Of the Treasu
ry Department Three Days Before His Tim.
Expired.

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Oct. I6-When Secretary
Marcy called on William H. English for an eI-
PLANTATION of his illegally drawing pension due
his deceased grandmother, and then withholding
it from her heirs, Mr.. English undertook to save
himself by securing the intervention of the
Democratic members of Congress from Indiana.
The Secretary of the Treasury had notified him
that he must resign, when English appeared
before President Polk with the following letter:
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Jan. o. 1919.
james h. Polk, President Of the United States:
SIE:-The undersigned have heard, with some
surprise, that effort is about to be made to
remove from Office William II. English, Esq, a
clerk in the office of the Second Auditor. Mr..
English is a of the Hon. Ely English, now
and for several years prominent member of the
State Senate of Indiana, and he is a young gen.
tleman of high character and responsibility, and
is held in high esteem by the Democracy Of our
State, useful and efficient member of the
Democratic party. As we have heard no reason
for his removal we respectfully ask that he may
be permitted to serve out the small remnant of
time which we have reason to believe is allotted
to all faithful Democratic ineumbents of public
Office. Very respectfully, your Obedient servants
THoMAJ j. HENDRICKS, JOHN l.. ROBINSON, W.
w. WICK, c. w. CATHART, J. ID. BRIGHT, Will
LIAM RoCKHIIL-
This letter, as will be seen, bears the same
date as Mr.. English's untrue explanation of the
matter to Secretary Marcy, heretofore printed
The latter having abundant evidence in the Off
cial papers before him that the explanation was
false, refused to accept it as satisfactory. The
matter had been previously called TO the atten-
ton of Robert J. Walker Secretary of the Treas
ury, and n letter had also been addressed to him.
asking. for the charges which were operating
against Mr.. English.
To this Secretary Walker replied that if the
writers would call on him he would inform them
privately. The result of it all was that Presi-
dent Polk declined to interfere to save Mr. Eng
lish and he was compelled TO leave the Treasury
on March 3, lSi9, three days before Secretary
Walker turned his portfolio over TO his success
or, William NJ. Meredith.
1t is easily seen that tine case against English
must have been regarded as a very bad one by
President Polk and the two members of his Cab
met who passed upon it, when they would not
grant him the few days which remained till the
new Secretary of the Treasury of the succeeding
Administration came in, even on the written re-
quest of one Senator and five Democratic Con-
gressmen from English's own State
The Hon. ThurlOw Weed, in a late card 10 the
New York Tribune, thus expresses himself in re-
gard to the English pension case which that
journal printed in full:
eff the exposures in this mornings Tribune had
been made against Republican candidate for
Viee-President, they would have awakened out
spoken indignation from the Republican press
and people. We have evidence of this in the
fact that former Vice-President of the United
States from Indiana, for offense yenial in
comparison with the double fraud perpetrated
by Mr.. English, was driven from public life.
We shall now see what reputable Democrats say
of their candidate for Vice-President who while
a clerk in the Treasury Department, fraudulent
ly obtained S, 900 from the Pension Fund, and
then cheated his own relatives out of their share
of it. Let it be remembered that the principal
witness against English is the late William NJ.
Marcy, formerly Governor of our State, as pro-
verbally upright and just citizen he was
eminent a statesman"
FoRNEY's PRoPHEsIEs.-Forney has some first
class prophesies of his own to fall back upon, to
reconcile him to Hancoek's defeat. On June l,
1868, in description of the Decoration Day OBJ
servance at Arlington, on the day previous,
written by him Washington correspondent
and published in the Press, he said: General
James A. Garfield, the orator of the day, was in
fine health and spirits. General W. Hancock,
handsome but naughty, not in the process
sion to the graves at all, evidently hating the
affair because it was not intended to honor the
rebels. Hancock is evidently beginning to dis
cover that he cannot be the Democratic candi
date for President without turning his back on
all those who stood by him. But what if, after
all, he should lose the prizep Hancock will
lose his prize, but Forney will take one for him
self as the champion absurdity of the canvass.