The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-12-24
MYTHICAL DROvES OF HOGS.

paper yesterday Collector Wise was made
to declare war upon the Office Of the United
States District Attorney Garter and was
also made to father certain statements
about Assistant United States District At
rorney Witter and Official Interpreter Huff,
the apparent falSity OF which made them
absurd.
While it Is true that the relations be-
tween Collector Wise and Assistant United
States District Attorney Witter have been
somewhat strained of late and the two Off
Gals have even had angry words, the Col
lectOr Of the Port absolutely denies that
he has ever called MIR. Witter thief or
authorized any such statement. What he
did say about him was that he considered
Witter to have been derelict in his duty in
many instances and particularly in regard
TO the eviction of tenants occupying houses
on the new postoffice site.
When seen yesterday about the matter
Mr.. Witter said: 1.-The article charges me
with having accumulated property since |
have been in the service Uf the Govern
ment which | could not have accumulated
honestly. the inference being that have
used my position TO obtain money or prOp-
erty dishonesty. A careful reading of the
article will convince any reasonable man
truth or If he did certainly made no effort
to inform himself in regard to the matters
of which he treats. For instance. the arti-
Gle states that | own Roberts Island aud
that it is stocked with thousands of hogs
Roberts Island contains about 20, 600 acres,
valued at nearly 100000. and is owned
by upward of 500 people. | am president
Of the California and Nevada Land In
provement Company, which owns 1000
acres on the island. My stock was given
me in payment for legal services. Inter-
ested In the company are Senator John P.
Jones, Nj. NJ. EStee, Samuel l.. Jones'
Evan Williams, A. {. Hamilton and w. 3.
Pless. / Dever paid one cent nor did any
one pay cent for me, in gaining my in
Jerest in the unreclaimed lands. In addi-
tlon, L own a small tract Of unrecaimed
land in company with two other gentle
men which is not paid for, but which was
bought before [ entered the Government
service. AS TO owning Roberts Island |
only wish l did, and as to the rest of it,
do not own single hog on earth, and
never did.
Another statement is that | own
ands ONE residence in San Mateo bought
or built since L entered the Government
service. This is as utterly false as the
Rob erts Island story. The residence be-
longs TO my wife; was built by her with
money received from her fathers estate;
was built before entered tie Government
service, and l do not OWE splinter in it,
AS to my large bank account, If Collector
Wise or the writer of the attack will locate
it and identify me | shall be very thank
full.
Now. there is only one other specific
charge, and that is that | allowed Voss
and SvensOn, two smugglers, to escape by
reducing their bail from $1,000 TO $780,
That is absolutely false, the records show
il TO be so, and / refer you To Mr.. Garter
as to the rest Of it. As to the other charges
they are merely innuendoes that cannot be
answered other than by general denial"
United States District Attorney Garter
readily consented to be interviewed. "In
the Voss and Syenson case" he said,
"WitIer was 20 more TO blame than you
are. If there is any blame it should rest
on me. The statement that Special Agent
Phoenix notified US Of the men being snug
glers, etc., is incorrect. Here is the whole
case:
''In the latter part of October Mr. Bying-
ton, Collector of Internal Revenue at Sac
ramento. sent a dispatch to me, stating
that he had under arrest and in jail at Sac
Tament0 man by the name Of Voss and a
man named SvensOn on charges of having
In their possession unStamped opium and
requested me- TO send a Deputy United
States Marshal with warrants for the men.
The telegram came so late that it was not
delivered to me until the next day in court
AS soon as court adjourned | repaired TO
my Office to comply with Mr.. Byington's
request. On looking up the law / found
that no such offense as having unstamped
opium in possession was prescribed by the
United States laws.
I'm order to procure a warrant for the
arrest of VOss and Svenson il was neces-
sary to first procure and file a complaint
stating the facts and circumstances of
the offense alleged. the affidavit to be made
by some person cogniZant of the facts. No
facts were known TO any person in San
Francisco. The internal revenue laws.
however, do make it an offense for any
person to remove opium from factory 10
the United States before being stamped
as required by law. AS Mr. Byington is
an internal revenue officer, and IN order
that justice might not be tbwarted, the
United States Marshal lodged complaint
on information and belief against the
parties.
"a warrant was issued, and a United
States Deputy Marshal went to Sacra-
mento. The men were brought to The
Com missioners office and time set for
the examination. In the meantime l had
received information from private sources
that Voss and SveDson were connected
with large smuggling RUG, which it
was necessary to investigate with the
utmost caution and secrecy. l did moi
disclose the facts to any one connected
with my Office. They were, however, dis
closed to certain Government officers con-
nected with the Custom-house. The ex-
animation of Voss and Svenson was de-
layed from time to time for few days in
order that the publicity of the proceedings
in their cases should not give alarm to
other persons connected with the ring
Meantime, Mr.. Witter. without any knowl-
edge of these facts, when application was
made for bail. went before the commits
sioner and had the bail fixed at $500 cash.
which was a usual bail for the offense
charged. This was done without consult
ing me. but in the way usual in my Office,
when / was not present When the time
came for the examination. l b ad q com