The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-22
THE FRENCH INVESTIGATION
Another Delegation Of Witnesses for
The Prosecution Testify.
More Testimony Tending to Establish the
Fact that French Is Unjust and I'M
popular with His Clerks.

stand for a personal explanation. He said: /
understand that Mr.. H. G. Barlow Ia postal
clerk, residing at st. Jacobs, Madison county,
Illinois, who testified before the commission on
last Friday reflected on my record, charging
me with being an eX- confederate. l am here
for the purpose of asking that Mr.. Barlow be
recalled, and to make a disclaimer of what he
has said as q falsehood, utterly without founda-
ton in fact. l was not in the confederate army.
l was q teacher at Marshall University, Marshall,
Tex, and had that position when the war broke
out, teaching through the entire war.
Mr.. Spahr[ object to this statement coming
in at this time.
President 'Iones-This gentleman has come a
great distance to put himself right on the record,
and he must be heard.
Mr.. Washington-Will I be allowed to speak
on two p~oints-the favoritism of Mr.. French
and the statement that 1 was in the confederate
army?
President Jones-The specific charges that are
made against you, you have a right to be heard
upon.
Mr.. Washington-If 1 have ever been the re
cipient of any discriminating favors at the
hands of MI. French l do not know it. If it
can be proved that l was in the Confederate
States service l ought to go out of the postal
service, and if it cannot the man who made the
statement ought to go out. l was in neither
army; | have been a civilian all my life. The
witness then read a statement simplifying the
foregoing, and concluding with the words; "On
the record at Washington is an array of eminent
names, including those of Senators Logan and
Oglesby, with that of the Unified States consul
IN Npnaz1a1a and ofherS aoua11v bOnopa bIa To
be found on my original application. 1 have
been in the mail service ten years, and have not
a head clerkship yet" MI. Washington wished
it understood that he had no grievances against
Mr.. French, and looked so friendly that a few
more questions were asked him, drawing out the
fact that he had a day run from st. Louis to In
dianapolis, running every other week, and when
on duty had from 6 o'clock in the afternoon to I
A. NJ. the next day for refreshment and sleep.
The question whether he was not an applicant
for a head clerkship he declined to answer.
Ernest B. Cole recalled: Question: will ask
you what conversation took place between you
and the persons whose duty it was to weigh the
mails. concerning the weighing of wooden
boxesl
Answer-I cannot give the date. but it was the
last weighing VIZ had prior to my resignation in
July, 1882. l think it was in the spring of 1882,
though it may have been in 1SS1-think it was
III 1881. In weighing the mail we have, under
the letter case, boxes to hold entire packages of
letters. Tn weighing, these boxes were taken
and weighed with the letters. Mr.. DeeIing was
one Of the men weighing the mails. He repre-
scented the governments: the other man was there
for the railroad. had supposed that the reduc-
ton was being made in the weighing for the
boxes. 1t was difficult to get the wooden boxes
out from under the cases, and as some of them
had few letters in them, | asked why they pulled
! them out. They said the boxes would not be
| weighed if thew did that said lyon don't
count those boxes as mail, do you2" and they
said. Certainly we do" l then insisted that the
weight of the boxes should be deducted. They
said it was instructions to weigh them. | said
they could not be weighed in my car, as I did
not consider it mail. They then said, 1--WE will
weigh them. and you can send in your obiec-
ton and that they weighed them in the other
cars. l said that | ran that car,
and they should not do it. Do
not remember whether 1 reported this
to Nh. French, but think not; but it was corrected
from that day SO far as my car was concerned.
| ordered them to take the mail out of the boxes
and weigh it in tie sacks. The boxes weighed about
ten pounds each. There were ten of them, l be-
lieve. | afterward heard on the part of the other
weigher that | was mentioned as the man who
did not allow the boxes to be weighed. In my
statement the other day in regard to the two
fines imposed against me, / was asked to give
dates. THE witness, referring to memoran-
da, then gave daUes. Witness wrote to Mr..
French. explaining in one case that the fine was
unjustly imposed, and explaining the matter.
He received from the department the reply that
the case had been fully investigated and witness
was clearly at fault. Witness said that after re
ceiving this reply he had made inquiry and each
clerk at the depot mad told him that no such in
vestigation was made. Messrs. Armstrong, Hol-
stein, Scott and Garfield, who were on the route
with witness and would be knowing to the facts,
each told witness that they had never been ques-
toned about the matter.
In answer to letter written by Mr.. Cole, com
plaing of a second unjust fine, he received the
following from the department:
WASHINGTON, I. c., Sept. OF, 1881.
MT. E. B. Cole, Head Clerk R. P. O., P%ittsburg, Pa:
Sir-An order has been issued reducing your pay as
head clerk on the cars between Pittsburg and St.
Louis, from $1,000 to $l.240 per annum, from Oct.
l to 81, 1881, inclusive. This reduction has been
sack on trip of Aug. %, whereby a package of seven
teen letters, made up at Dayton, o., for the State of
Wisconsin, was mlssent to St; Louis. Very respy,
w. b. Thompson, Gen1 Sup't.
Witness, continuing, said the clerk at st. Louis
did not know whether it came from the day line
or the night line. He WITNESS showed the de-
p%artment, conclusively, that the package came
from the night line, while he was on the day
line, and that the fault could not have been his.
! II hope, said witness, my testimony, as given
the other day, is not in your record as it is given
in the Times, which Is exactly what L did not
say"
President Jones-The official record will show
Just what you did say.
An affidavit, sworn to by John A. Coleseott, of
BrOOkville. was read, in which he complained
that he had been refused leave of absence when
his wife was lying at the point of death, and at
another time when his father was dangerously
i'll; that he had been u~njustly and wrongfully
fined; that French had once told him, when they
met on the street, never to address him on bust
ness except through the Office; that he was once
disabled by a wreck, and was fined 500 therefor,
besides having to pay a man $50 to run in his
stead; that he was compelled to run six months
without a lay-off, for a clerk who was
drunk in Cincinnati; that a sub
stitute was furnished for six months for
this same clerk, at the expense of the govern
ment, while he was suffering from "a loathsome
disease, and that during the time a substitute
was running for him he was drunk on three oc-
casions in Cincinnati. The witness denounced
French as a tyrant, and said every man in the