Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-11

your Austin correspondent. IN your Issue OF the
18th, after publishing Governor Ross ful ano
fair letter on this subject, this correspondent
says:
The fact OF the whole matter is that there was
hardly any effort made to obtain the claim till
Governor Ross stirred up State Agent rope. ana
then it was an uphill business. Pope, however,
drew his salary regularly.
The TACT is there is not O single tacC stateo IN
your correspondents little comment; II there
was any ''stirring up done It was done oy ex-
President Cleveland t'stirring up ms secretary
listen TO my opportunities TO examine our claim
and this came ABOUT by nv making dlIect com
plant to Mr.. Cleveland, which was lndorsed oy
our senators aud representatives In congress. as
to the treatment the claim was receiving at ar;
Endicott's hands. Both Governors lfeianG anu
Ross were active in their efforts about the claim,
and frequent v wrote me to hurry up the ttstl-
mony, but neither of them ever lntlmatei thst
was neglectful OF the states interests. never
drew any salary from the state, ana OF the varl-
Gus amounts appropriated for my EXPENSES
$500 is now in the state treasury untouched oy
housh have coee'ea a.. TOT ,b. Inc s,s sI aao
ResnectfuIIv' W. II. Pope,
Late state agent.
In relation to Mr. Pope's statement as
to the "stirring up'' business, the fol-
lowing copy of letter from Maj. Biddle
to Governor Ross is given verbatim as 1t
appears OIL file in the governor ofhce:
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE STATE AND TERRIToRiAL CLAMs'
To the Governor of the state OF Texas, Austin.
sIR-The examiners of the war claims OF the
state of Texas, appointed unaeF tne aet OF
August 4, 1886, respectfully invite your atten-
tion to the following facts:
For several wears the state OF Texas has been
endeavoring to obtain from the United States
reimbursement for expenses incurred ~ ths
state for defense against Mexican RAIDS ana
Indian hostilities. These claims amount 70
nearly s., 90, UOO A law passed June "a,
claims. The vouchers to support the claims
were received by the United States government
in July 1854. The act of June y, lss2. only au-
thorizes the payment for services OF troops
called out by the proper authori Ligs
Of the state. ana ,,;ra Only sayv;cs w Mn me
field. The department has been endeaVor-
ing for years to get evidence upon these points,
but thus far without avail. re presenl exam am.
liners began the examination of these claims last
De mber and several letters were written
during that month and since TO the agent OF the
state of Texas, Mr. w. II. Pope, asking for evil
dence to sustain the claims; but as yet no ma
terial evidence has been furnished by hr. rope,
after the lapse of nearly three months. winnie
there may be some delay about obtaining eVl-
dence as 10 the service of the troops III the held
the examiners are unable to see the cause OF
delay in Oh aiming copies OF the acts OF ne state
legislature organizing and calling out the troops
and fetal reports ought to be on hle at Austln.
AS the appropriation for the expenses OF the ex-
aminers of these claims Is limited, 1t has been
considered necessary to advise you of this con-
dition OF affairs and to call your attention 10
the harm that may result from unnecessary de-
lay in furnishing evidence and 1t Is respectfully
requested that such measures will be taken
will insure more prompt compliance with the
requests OF the examiners for evidence. Very re-
specially your obedient servant.
Major Sixth Cavalry United States Army, Senior
officer Examiners State and Territorial war
Claims.
Besides the above there are other COM
municutions oil file in the governors
office, of the same tenor as the
above, and decidedly more pointed in
relation to Mr.. Pope, but as they are
marked confidential. their contents,
while known 10 the correspondent, are
passed over.
Mr.. Pope says he received no salary.
He was appointed June 5, 1855, by the
stale auditorial board, which agreed TO
allow him $3.50 per month for his SER
vices. Besides. he was to be entitled 20
one hulf of per cent. on all collections
from the United States government.
The books in the office OF the state comp
troller show that Mr.. Pope was paid the
following amounts: From July 81,
1885, TO November 80, 1855, period OF
four months, $3.50. From January ID,
1856, 10 July / 1886, he was paid $3.50,
| or pretty regularly $3.50 each mouth
From A pril 2S, 1887, TO November II,
1887, the amount disbursed to him was
Sl2OO, and in 1889. $1,000, the last pay
meut being November of that year.
While MIR. Pope got oil the money
except small amount paid Hon. J p.
Newcomb for looking up evidence, he
does not deserve all the credit of secur-
ing the 81 200 900 indemnity claim for
Texas, not by O long shot. Messrs.
DeGress and Newcomb ,as Governor Ross
| SAYS, deserve much of it. New
comb especially did some hard
| work. CONGRESSMAN Savers engineered
! the thing through congress. Governor
Ross, with the cool, clear head for which
he is distinguished. quietly superintendent
| the job and did the ''stirrig up'' after
/ the receipt of Biddle's letter. And
| there were some clerks, notably Capt.
| Orsay of the adjutant-general's office,
who worked hard getting up the evil
| deuce.
The above facts, based on official doc
uments, are given simply to corroborate
| the correspondence statements alluded
to by Mr.. Pope, and which are here rent
Grated as absolutely true. Respect
fully, A. A. MCBRYDE,
Austin Correspondent GAZETTE.