National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1882-03-11
WHO STOLE THEM g?
LOST STATE DEPARTMENT LETTERS.
The Congressional Investigation Into the Abstrac.
tion Of State Experimentation OF
Witncsses-tir. Trescops Ere.
qucnt Call for Papers.

inc Committee on Foreign Affairs, who ar
| charged by resolution ndopted by the IIOus
with the investigation of the Chill. Peruvian cor
rcspondcncc, with the view to fixing the response
bility for the abstraction Of certain state paper
from the files Of the State Department and also t
determine whether any diplomatic representative
Of the United States have involved themselves il
certain schemes, the success of which dcpendc,
upon the Intervention OF the United States con
sists of eleven ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Williams
OF wisconsin, chairman, and Representative
ORTIZ Kasson, Rice OF Massachusetts,, Dunnel
Lord, Walker Blount Wilson. Deuster and Bel
mont The committee having adopted resolu.
ton to conduct the investigation in public SEES
sionS, resumed the examination of witnesses n
two o'clock p. m. Friday. Francis o. st. Clair
chicfof the Consular Bureau of the State Depart
ment, was
THE FIRST WITNESS SWORN
He was questioned by the chairman in regard [,
! the reception and disposition Of letters aud cor
rcspondcncc coming through the mails Wtncs
has charge Of all letters from consuls, aud all let
ters addressed TO consus, and would recognize thu
right of the chief clerk or Secretary to withdraw
| any papers from his custody but no other persons
Previous to June, $751; witness had Charge of tn,
indcNing Of letters received at the Department
lie remembered indcxng one letter from Ship
herd in May, 1881, about the 2jth. In reply to q
| question witness said "Somc time aftcr witness
was made chief Of the bureau, probably about
| the 10th of August, n call was made for certain
letters the shiphcrd correspondence. made n
search for certain letter. which had been in-
dcxed in my handwriting.
COULD NOT FIND 1T,
and asked Walker Bnife ir the Secretary Ind t.
lie said he did not know but would see II IL was
at his house. After this did not hear moro about
IT," Questioned by Mr., Rice witness stated that he
was under the impression that either Mr.. Trcscot
or Secretary Blaine called for tho letters aud I'M
TO the time VIXEN Il was found that they were lost
he had no recollection Of their being called for by
any one else. Witness 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
Witness continued in reply: ain August the dis.
covery was made that several of these letters were
missing. said would try to find the one had
indcXcd, but would not be responsible for those
had not indexcd. l failed to find any of them
never sNid anything to the Secretary OH the sub
ject, and never heard anything further oil the sub
ject from Walker Blaine.
MR.. TREscor FREQUENTLY CALLED FOR PAPERS,
and we used to let him have them without an order
from the Secretary. understood he Crrescot)
was In the employ Of the Department rs counsel"
The first knowledge witness had that any papers
were missing was when they were sent for by the
conId nat Gu1 ,ton, T., ~, a. ~ t H''.l
said. "No ORIGINAL n,nor. or, a,i,,,, ~ 80
tnton from, the n,r1r,,o,,, ". r.s, ~, W Do
ycsticotin, ,ho ChIii pa.,,,t.i i'.a.o' We, i'
imnressio,, Il tlot no c,,I,I Ca. H., Wv" '' is
other thon those lnn,rr ,o o In ~, ,,'
D,noriincnt arc nlIo,yod H., ,Io ;no ,,,a,,',
IInnn nm ordcr Cro,, No., nic
we would without hcs,tation doi,,o. ~,
seuger Of tho Donor,n,ont ,,tnr ~ i Nv!
which migbt bc ordcr,d" T., ra,r,, ~ ~. d.,
mont tho wines soiJ an 20 e.,
Mr. Trcscot ,yos oss;,,,od , 49,. ps s''
drafts Of Icttors on ihe chill, @ VI pIp"'IIs
had room, In tbo nooon,ro,,t ,,,,' iio
of nv own knowIcdgn that he bnid H a N,,JM
nosiion In the nonsr,r,ont u" w.. V'.eiu,
in con6dontiol raIo,ior ,,th t,n S.t w "'y
nrnsu,nod tho io,,ors roro - ~, ,,'a.
Augustond II rrooi &c., III, ", -,
now at Mr.. Trescors house in this CITY. l do not
believe
THEY HAVE BEEN ABsrRAcrED
from the Department to be suppressed or de-
stroyed. 1t is not an unusual thing tor papers to
be lost for months. and subsequently found in the
Department; in other words, they are misplaced
for the time being" Witness stated that at one
time some papers relating to the fishery question
could not be found for some time, and Mr. Tres.
cot subsequently found them with other papers
at his house. His (St. Clairs) ground for thinking
the missing papers may be in Mr.. Trescot's posses
sion, or at his house, is that from the nature of
MIR. Trescots relations to the Department in this
Chilli Peruvian matter he would naturally exam.
inc these papers.
T. John Newton, employed in the index bureau