, 1881-12-18

THE pI.ACE-uuNTEi:S HARD AT WORK.
Special Dtsvatrh to The Chicago Tribune.
WASHINGTON, d. C., Dec. 17.-It has been
busy day with the applicants for the Chi
cago Collectorship. Daniel Shepard openly
admits that lie is candidate, and it is be-
coming more evident now daily that he is to
have the active support Of Senator Logan,
although that Is not yet officially ALL
nounced. Indeed, friends Of Logan say
that he has not yet declled on his
candidate. Various new attempts lave been
made to unite the Chicago delegation upon
Nixon, or to unite the three Congressmen
upon him against Logan. in the expectation
that, il Nixon could receive the support Of
the three Representatives, lie might have Il
better prospect of success. Shepard has
been visiting. the. different members during
the day to discover whether
ANY ARRANGEMENT OH COMPROMISE
can be made, but nothing dctint has as yet
been determined by the applicants, nor does
it appear at'all certain that All adjustment
can be made.
Representative DAVIS
S reported rs being very determined to Sc
cure the appointment of Il West Side 1nalA
and it is - not believed that the
Nixon forces have obtained any satisfac-
ton from their repeated efforts to win him
over to their cause. Meanwhile, none Of the
claimants pretend to know what the views of
President Arthur are upon the question, and
it is by no means certain they will know
until the President has made his decision.
II the Senator and the three Cong ngresslnen
are unable to come to any understanding, it is
by no means impossible that the President
will secure outside advice, and act upon it.
SHERMAN INVESTIGATION.
THE C0M3urTEE REFUSE TO ADMIT RE-
PoETErs.
Special Dispatch to The chseaao Tribune.
WAsu1NGT6S, u. c., Dec. 17.-The sub
committee Of the Senate Committee oil Ap-
preparations having in charge What is known
as "the Sherman investigation has de-
cided to make its inquiry with closed doors.
Two reasons are assigned by the members
of the committee for their refusal to admit
reporters to their seSsions-one being that
the presence 0f representatives OF the press
would rctard them in their business, and the
other that they are desfrOus Of keeping tile
witnesses who are called from a knowledge
Of what has been testified by those preccd,
ing them" Senator Cockereii, of Missouri,
who is one Of the members Of the committee,
said tonight that nothing had been developed
as yet by the inyesti cation. For his part he
would say however, that the investigation
would be thorough, and if there lad been
any rottenness it would be exposed. One
reason why he felt it would not be right to
make public any OF the testimony taken by
the committee just now was because lie did
not think it right to besmirch the character
of any man until he had been clearly proven
guilty of the otfenses with which lie was
charged. Just now the committee had uotll-
ing deinit.
SEVERAL WITNESSES
had been examined, but the committee had
not finished with any one of them, and the
testimony taken thus far was in an inconl-
plete state. The method OF procedure fol-
lowed by the committee was to call a wit
ness, examine him OH certain points, and
then dismiss him, subject to recall at dhy
time when the committee thought 1it,, In
this way they hoped to get at the bottom
facts. One thing was certain, according to the
Senator. The committee would go to tile bot
tom of the facts presented by tic report Of the
Meline committee. They would not be coll
tent with bare statement that several hull-
dred yards OF carpet, for instance, had been
illegally charged for. They would want to
know who was responsible for the Illegal
charge, and who benefited by it. They
would seek for the truth and wonld not
shield any one. Two Of the witnesses ex-
amined today during the p. -
FIVE HOURS SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE
were Messrs. Power aud Pltney, the former
Chief Clerk and the latter Custodian url-
der the Sherman administration. Pitney
was only on n: the stand for a
few minutes before the adjournment of
the committee, and they did not get very far
advanced with his examination. Power was
submitted to a lengthy examination, but is
liable to be recalled again. Powers testl-
mony was an amplifcation Of his general
letter on the subject sent to tho Senate last
session, and already published. He admitted
that the system was wrong. and that there
should have been al inventory; that p,lr-