Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-03-11
HOUSE INVESTIGATION
On the Abstraction of Papers from the
State Department.
WASHINGTON. March 10.

WASHINGTON. March 10.
The committee on foreign AFFAIRS VINO art
charged with the investigation of the Chlil-
Peruvian correspondence with the view OF
afixing the responsibility of abstracting GER
tain state papers from the files OF the stare
department, resumed the examination OF VIII
nesses this afternoon
Francis o. ST. Clair. chief of the consular
bureau. at the state department, was ques-
Toned nv the chairman in regard to the dis
position of letters and correspondence COM
ing through the mails. The witness has
charge of all the letters from the consuls and
of all letters addressed to the consuls and
would recognize the right of the chief clerk
or secretary to the withdrawal of any papers
from his custody. but not of other persons
The witness remembered indexing one let
ter from Shipherd in May. about the 10th
some time after the witness was made chief
of the bureau. Probably about the 10Th OF
August a call was made for certain letters of
the Shipherd correspondence. | made search
for a certain letter which had been indeXed
in nv handwriting l could not ind 1t ana
asked Walker Blaine if the secretary had it.
He said he did not know, but would see if 1t
was at his house. After this did not hear
any more about it.
The witness was under the impression that
either Prescott or Secretary Blaine called
for the letters. and up to the time when it
was found they were lost he had no recollec-
ton of their being called for by any one else
The witne SIS remembered having seen several
of these letters upon his desk long after their
date but did not know who might have had
them in the meantime. The witness contin-
ned. In August the discovery was made that
several of these letters were missing. | said
l would try to find them the one had in
dexed but would not be responsible for those
that / had not indexed. l failed to find
any of them. | never said any thing to the
secretary on the subject, and never heard
anything further from Walker Blaine.
Prescott frequently called for the papers,
and we used to let him have them without an
order from the secretary. l understood that
Prescott was in the employ of the depart
ment AS counsel No original papers are
permitted to be taken from the department
Prescott was investigating the Chilli Peruvian
matter. and my impression is that he called
for them. No other persons than those known
TO be in the employ of the department, are
allowed in the index department.
The witness said: 1t is my impression
that Prescott was assigned the duty of pre-
pairing drafts of the letters on the Chil-Pe-
ruvian affair, and had room in the depart
ment but | don't know of nv own knowledge
that he held any official position in the de-
partment; he appeared to act in a cOnfiden
tial relation with the secretary. presumed
that the letters were found at that time in
August, and it is my impression that they
will be found now at Trescotts house in this
city. do not believe that they have been
distracted from the department to be sup
pressed or destroyed. 1t is not an unusual
thing for papers to be lost for months. and
subsequently found in the department; or, in
other words. they are misplaced for the time
being.
His (St. Clair's) ground for thinking that
the missing papers may be in Trescott's pos
session or at his house, is, that from the ma
ture of Trescott's relations to the depart
ment in this Chili-Peruvian matter, he would
naturally examine these papers. 1t is
expected that Shipherd will testify before the
committee tomorrow