Omaha daily bee., 1883-10-26
VENGEFUL
What the Grand Army Officers ny
About His Threat.
San Francisco Call.

San francisco Call.
The remarkable threat of Paul Van.
d~ervoort, who was recently dismissed
from his position as railway mail clerk,
by Postmaster General Gresham, for
''shirking work and disobeying orders
viz: that if he was not Immediately rein
stated the Postmaster General would
feel the vengeance of the Grand Army of
the Republic" as stated by n Washing
ton correspondent and published in yes
terday' Call dispatches, was much re-
marked upon during the day and evening
by members and officers of the G. A. II.
in this city. Several of them were inter
viewed at the Custom House and Post
office with reference to the matter and
in response to the inquiries of The Call
reporter they all agreed that, albeit Van
dervoort was Past Commander of their
order, his threat was u very imprudent
and a very empty one. The general ser
timent seemed to be that the ex-mail
clerks effort TO bulldose the Postmaster
General into reinstating him by dragging
in the order III which he held an import
ant Office, was very reprehensible, and
that they were heartily glad that it had
failed utterly of its intended effect. But,
it order to get the bottom facts of Van
dervoort's case, the reporter was advised
to call upon a a high officer of the order,
and, in fact, the highest upon this coast,
who would give him the true inward
ness" of the whole matter. Accordingly
he proceeded to the place of business of
the high official named. He agreed with
his comrades in considering Wander
voort's threat an idle and %impudent one,
but added that it was quite con sistent
with the reputation he had won for him
self as an arbitrary, overbearing, con-
ceited and presumptuous man. He was
very unpopular with the officials under
him in the mail service on account nf
these traits inhis character. "But how
is it to be accounted for that such a man
as Vandervoort appearsto be 30 well select
ed as grand commander of your order7"
81 will explain that. Until the Grand
Encampment at Cincinnati, in 1880,
where Vandervoort appeared as n dele.
gate from Nebraska, he was little known.
He ran for the position of grand com
mander then, and was overwhelmingly
defeated. From that until the Grand
Encampment at Baltimore in 1882, he
was whining about his defeat, and strain
ing every nerve to get supporters with
some success. But he would not have
won at Baltimore had there not been GER
tain d~issentions among the order, which
it was impossible to reconcile fully; but
after four or five ballotings, the Gordian
knot was cut by Vandervoort's election.
He then went to POstmaster-G General
Howe, and through the influence of SEN
ator Logan and Others, succeeded in OBJ
tanning "a nine-months' leave of absence
with a pass to travel and build up the G..
A. R.-a leave which he was free to say
should never have been granted him.
He had ingratiated himself with tho rail
roads through the Union Pacific, and OBJ
tanned free passes on which he ~jeurneyed
here and there, junketing all over the
country. At the end of the nine months
he represented to Postmaster oneral
Gresham, who had succeeded Howe, that
he had not really finished his work for
the Grand Army, and asked for another
six weeks absence. 1t was granted,
without pay, on condition that the affairs
of the department should not be allowed
to suffer by his further absence for that
length of time. He exceeded his time
elgt teen days, making no report of him
self to the department. and it was for
this neglect OF duty and apparent indif-
ference TO the responsibilities of his posi-
ton that he was removed, as it seems to
me properly"
'Do you know why the Denver people