Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-26

The two witnesses on whose testimony Mr..
Hatton and Mr.. Ewart had said they attached
so much importance turned out to be the
best sort Of witnesses for the defense. Mr..
Oberly's testimony was more strongly in defense
Of the commission than any other yet given,
and Mr.. W. ]. vickery said he knew
nothing OF the matter except by hearsay.
The committee assembled at 10 o'clock this
morning. Messrs. Lehlbach, Greenhalge and
Boatner Of the committee were present Messrs.
Hatton and Ewart, the prosecutors, sat side BY
side at the end Of the table, and the three COM
missioners were present. Later Mr.. Hopkins
and Mr.. Andrew, members Of the committee,
came in.
Mr.. Thompson made some unimportant cor
rections in the former testimony and then
called the attention Of the committee to the fact
that they had formerly decided to 60 on with
the investigation Of the present commission
first. but did not insist upon that course being
followed, though it would be more convenient
for the present commission.
Mr.. Roosevelt then asked for some Of the
general charges to be made more specifically.
The committee decided to let the prosecution
put its witnesses on the stand.
MR.. oBERLY EXAMINED.
Ex-Commissioner Oberly was the first wit
ness. He said he was civil service commits
sioner from April, 1886, to October, 1888.
maze
him that MIR. Campbell distracted papers from
the commission.
He was asked what his connection was with
the matter.
He said that in 1888 information reached him
that examination papers were being copied and
sold TO civil service coacher in this city. He
decided that the matter must be investigated
The person who gave him the information
told him that Mr.. Flynn of Ivy institute offere d
the papers to her for SIS to enable her to pass
an examination. Oberly told her to get the
questions and if she had to pay for
own pocket. After that she brought
him roll of manuscript. which she
said Mr.. Flynn had furnished her. saying that
they were the civil service questions, and that
he gave her to understand that they had come
from some one connected with the commission.
MIR. Oberly took the papers into Mr.. Edgerton's
room, the board then being in session, and laid
them on the table, telling what the charges
in the matter were and saying that there
should be an investigation.
WHAT MIR. EDGERToN SAID.
Mr. Edgerton very promptly said that he
would have nothing to do with such an investi-
cation; that he thought there was nothing in it.
got were that they should be returned and that
MIR. Flynn should not know that the commits
sion had them.
Mr.. Lyman took the position that there
should be an investigation and that if any one
was selling the questions Of the commission
that person should be dismissed There was
considerable discussion by the three members
OF the commission and Mr.. Doyle Mr..
Edgerton still maintaining that there ought to
be no investigation. 1t was evident that the
commission was not ready to go into the mat
ter yet Mr.. Oberly gave the papers to Mr.
Doyle to lock in the safe. They remained
there for some days, and no investigation was
yet made; it might have been that Mr. Edger-
ton had gone away. but for some reason the
investigation had not been begun.
INVESTIGATED IT HIMSELF.
Mr.. Oberly then decided quietly to make the
investigation himself. He asked Mr.. DOYLE to
get samples of the handwriting of all the en-
ployes. Mr.. Doyle did 30 and it was
discovered that the writing was that
of MIR. Campbell. Having satisfied himself
on this point. Mr.. Oberly had the letter book
with Campbelrs handwriting taken to Mr. Ly-
man with the papers. Soon afterward Mr.
Oberly went into Lyman's room and spoke to
him on the matter. Mr.. Lyman said that he
had examined the writing and that it was that
of Mr.. Campbell He had had MIR. Campbell
before him and he had confessed the whole
matter and had told all the circumstances Mr.
Lyman told witness that Mr. Campbell had said
that lady friend of his wanted to prepare
for an examination and she had asked him for
papers to show the scope Of such examinations
that she might coach herself. Mr. Campbell
persuaded that it was proper for him to do
this, had copied these questions after Office
hours, having at that time no printed copies
The understanding was that the papers were to
be destroyed.
STORIES TOLD BY CAMPBELL.
Mr.. Oberly examined Mr. Campbell and got
about the same story. He then sent for the
lady and with simulated anger questioned her
on the subject. He impressed her with the
idea that she and Campbell were to be promptly
and violently dismissed that she and Camp
bell were charged with copying and
she had been making a traffic in these
papers. He tried to frIghten her into a
full confession She got indignant at the char
acter OF the charges and they had wrangle
MIR. Oberly then said to her if the charges
were not true what was the truth?
She then told about the same story as Mr.
Campbell as to the method of getting the
papers. She said also that she had not sold
them to Flynn, but wanting coaching on math-
ematics had taken them to Flynn with the state
nent that they were sample questions and she
wanted coaching in that line. Far from being
paid for the papers, she had to pay Mr. Flynn
for the instruction she got.
OLD PAPERS,
Mr.. Oberly next made an investigation to learn
If the papers copied were such as had been
used after the copy had been made. He found
that they were old papers that had not again
been used. He found that no harm had been
done anybody or to the service in any
way. These being the facts he did not think that
any offense had been committed which called
for Mr. Campbelrs dismissal. He was aided to
this conclusion from the fact that Mr. Camp
bell held position in the commission which
required him to take charge of letters, asking
for blank applications and the like. People
wanting to take examinations wrote for appli-
cation papers and other information and these
letters were turned over to Mr.. Campbell to
give the information.
HIS BUSINESS TO GIVE INFoRMA TON.
1t was Mr.. Campbell's duty to give out speci-
men questions. He gave out these questions
in this way; it was his duty. They had no
printed questions on account Of some trouble
about printing at that time, but any one want
ing to take an examination could at that
time see the paper Of the last
examination, aud they could take copies if
they wanted to. Witness said he did not agree
with Mr.. Lyman that Mr.. Campbell had COM
nitted breach of discipline. Mr.. Campbell
had not committed any breach OF discipline.
He had simply done his duty. The only thing
was that it would not be proper for clerk to
take up the time of the commission to take such
copies, but in this case Mr.. Campbell had done
the work after office hours, and he had simply
done some gratuitous work for the lady.
Mr.. HOPKINS OBJECTED.
Mr.. Hopkins, q member Of the committee
who had come in during the examination, OBJ
jected that the witness was simplifying too
much. The prosecution, with whom Mr. Hon.