Omaha daily bee., 1889-08-31
pin THE posrMAsre r. ERRa
James Fairfield Charges that Gala
nher Hna MalIpnch Him

OMAHA, August 2S.-To tho Editor Of THE
Bee: l ask THE BEE to aid me IN defending
my character among my friends in this city,
In 1886 was appointed letter.carrier by
the Hon. c. X Coutant, then postmaster.
1 continued under the administration of
Postmaster Gallagher until October, 1885,
when he peremptorily discharged me. A
short time previous he had spoken to me re.
garding an alleged debt of mine, which l
paid in full and held receipt for four years
before entered the postal service l offered
TO produce witnesses TO prove this. Post
master Gallagher then informed me that l
certainly should not pay IL twice, and that
need pay no further attention to it. One week
thereafter, however, he addressed me a let
ter stating that l would have to pay 1t,
or he would discharge me. have
not done so 1 believed at the time that he
was driving pegs on which TO bang alleged
charges against me- Further than this,
calls had been made upon me from the ma
tional democratic committee of New York
for contributions, TO which did not respond,
being republican.
Soon after this time was discharged. 1t
was few days after Turtle was arrested for
purloinlng a letter containing money. My
friends residing on the route which l COW
cred, unknown to me, got up petition to
the civil service committee on my behalf
1t was signed by six to eight hundred of the
affiiation. This petition was handed to MIR.
Gallagher by prominent business
man, who was one of my bondsmen and had a
right to inquire into my dismissal. Gallagher
publication, that it WAS none Of his business,
and that he (Gallagher) could attend to post
office affairs without his help.
called on Gallagher aud demanded an in
vestigation, but he told me to keep quiet or
he would put me in the "pen." Just before
forwarded
he, or some Of his tools at his dictation con-
cocted a most damnabe plan of connecting
me with the Turtle robbery. hold an affa-
davit from the detective who discovered
Turtles thievery, to the effect that even
though was shadowed for a considerable
time nothing was found that could give rise
to the slightest suspicion of dishonest con-
duct on my part. This was forwarded to
the department at Washington, together with
full history of the case and with a
request for charges that had been made
against me to the department by Gallagher
Imagine my surprise and indignation when
found that Gallagher had written the depart
ment concerning me as follows: "He was
removed because he was strongly suspected
of completely with Turtle, who was convicted
for robbing the mails" But my attorney
has received a letter from the postoffice de-
partment stating that the officials there are
fully satisfied that / am innocent of the
charges. This letter directed me to call on
Postmaster Gallagher with my attorney and
ask for reinstatement, which did. MIR. Gal
lagher then told me not to be in a hurry, that
he would reintate me Sept. l. At this time
he informed my attorney that he had nothing
against me, and that gave satisfaction as a
carrier. Mr.. Gallagher remarked that he
had made no charges against me, as above
stated, and asked my attorney to bring any
letters from the department, which the latter
had in his possession.
After reading this correspondence, which
of course referred to the charge Of
completely, Gallagher admitted that he had
written such a letter containing the infamous
charge against me. My attorney then at
tempted to present the case fully but was
impatiently stopped by MIR. Gallagher, who
said that he did not wish to hear any more,
and that he would not reinstate or appoint
me under any circumstances, and that he
wanted me and my friends to understand
that once and forever.
l have suffered greatly from the stigma
which Gallagher's charge has placed upon
me. don't ask reinstatement for the sake
of getting position, but 1 want it as vim
dication of my character.
JAMES FAIRFIELD.