The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-10-01
QVlI SERVICE SCANDAL,
A Relative Of a Commissioner
Sells Examination Papers
7oA wELL-KNOWN INSTITUTE
rb., DPrepares" Applicants for the
Civil sorylce-He is Promoted In'
stead of Being RounCed-Au
Appotn'eo of Cleveland
.,.,l ti,DaltA 10 M InlelltqmAu,

RribtHI ItFpdCN ~ wv AHtSNFfNfsNf
WAsnlSaToS, D. O., Sept, SO,-Therf
NJ, been considerable gossip here lately
,e0,rlinp tie crookedness alleged to er'
Stvithln the ClvilserviCe Commission
and when a morning newspaper came
mt with the charge that the CommiS'
.iopers have persistently violated the
law in various ways, 1t was no surprise
n those who are posted rs to the
Deculiar methods pursued by some
ollhe Commissioners, There are facts
,eoardlnp the conduct Of the office
oftbe Civil Service Commission which,
when they are made public, will eonsti'
tut. one Of the most sensational official
scandals that has ever come To light, and
will result in the retirement Of at least
one Of the members Of the Commission,
Your correspondent was to-day placed
IN possession OF the facts regarding one
incident, which will serve TO illustrate
hoV the commission has been worked
nr pro0t by one OF the clerks, The
,tory goes as follows, and is vouChed for
by responsible parties;
Recently a young lady who was deslr'
ouTof passiDg a civil service examina.
ion, made her application IN due form
Jbegan 10 prepare herself for the Or
JaoI In thn meantime ahe noticed an
siyertisement in q Washington paper
for a well known institute, which pro-
iesses TO prepare wOuld.be office holders
lar civil service examinations, and she
decided to avail herself OF the adyan.
taveV offered She appeared at tho col.
lppe, and was assured that she would be
Given course that would warrant her
In standing the civil service examina.
tlon with perfect confidence In the re.
suit, She agreed to take the course,
pald her fee and began the prescribed
studies. Alter completing the course,
she appeared before the Civil Service
Commission at the time designated in
her notice, and was ast0unded TO find
that the questions given her to answer
were the identical ones on which she
had been trained at the institute.
The young lady Immediately suspect.
ell that there was something wrong, and
the more she thought Of the Circum.
stance the more she became convinced
that there was q cOllusion somewhere
between the institute aud the Civil Ser.
vice Commission. She impaired her
suspicious TO some friends and the re.
suit was quiet investigation.
The matter finally came to the notice
oi Commissioner Oberly and he was not
long In lerretlng out the trouble and 10.
eating 1t. lie discovered that a young
man holding a position as messenger to
the commission and who was closely re.
lated by marriage to Commissioner
Lyman, was conducting lucrative
business by tratliCking In examination
papers. In other words he was selling
the papers Of the commission to the pro.
prietOr Of the institute referred To above,
and was making d good thing for him.
self. When Commissioner 0berly In.
formed Mr.. Lyman oi what he had learn.
ed the latter was terribly shocked and
asked twenty.iour hours In which TO de-
eide what to do in the matter, In the
meantime pledging Mr.. 0berly to say
nothing about II. 0berly was confident
that Mr. Lyman would avert a scandal
by dismiSdlng tho offending messenger
aud that everything might be hushed
up, but was unutterably aBtOnished when
q lew weeks afterwards, instead oi oiseeing
the messenger bounced he witnessed his
promotion to a $1,000 clerkship, and
that, too, without civil service exami.
nation. ...
OF course, this circumstance alone Is
sufficient to warrant an investigation by
Congress, and 1t Is said that Commits
Iioner 0berly stands ready To- tell all
he, knows whenever called upon. III
ylu have any doubts about the truth Of
tBe story | have Just related,n said my
Informant to-day, task 0berly."
II will be remembered that Layman Is
. Massachusetts, Mugwump Republican,
and vas appointed BY the great Demo.
cratic Reform President, Grover Cleve.
land, in the early days OF bis administra.
ton, when Mugwump RepubliCanism
was considered the embodiment OF true
Civil SeFyiCe Reform.