Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-10
SYPHER ASSAILED
What the Naval Committee Reports
Concerning Witness Before It.
SOME SINGULAR TRANSACTIONS
Motives for Inducing an lnvestiga-
tion of Contractors Premiums.


The report OF Mr.. Cummings. the chair
man Of the House naval committee, upon the
Holman resolution, which declared that the
premiums paid for speed of naval vessels
were excessive. and sought to restrain fur
ther payments on that score, has been COM
pleted- The report states that a patient
effort has been made to unearth facts to
warrant an investigation Mr. Holman had
introduced Mr.. ]. Hale Sypher as a gentle
man Of excellent reputation, who had fur
nished the facts upon which the charges
were based; but when the committee. ac-
ceptins Mr.. Holman's estimate OF the gen.
tleman, called for facts none were pre-
sented- The witness did not believe that
any naval officer had been a party to COR
rupt combination. but believed that the
premium law was unwise and that reckless
extravaganza had been shown.
Patriotic Motives.
The report says that Mr.. Sypher told the
committee he had appeared in this matter
purely out of patriotic motives and that he
denied any connection with the introduction
or the Blair resolution preceding the Hol
man resolution, and specifically denied that
he had prepared the Holman resolution.
Mr.. Holman afterward appeared before
the committee, says the report, "and tes-
tined that the preamble and resolutions
Were revised by him. but were written by
Mr.. Sypher. The evidence that Mr.. Sypher
did not incite the Introduction of the pre-
amble and resolutions from patriotic mo-
tives seems to be clear. On September %
he wrote Mr.. Cramp the letter, which GER
tainly bears no favorable construction.
Failing TO receive reply, he secured the
Introduction of the Blair resolution on Oc-
tober 4. AS this brought no reply from MIR.
CraIlp. he caused the Holman resolution to
be introduced The evidence shows that
he knew of Mr.. Cramps movements and
had him watched. Whatever his object, II
Is certain that he melted the Blair reSou-
ton, and the Holman resolutions for the
purpose of accomplishing it, using not only
the committee on naval affairs, but the
House of Representatives itself in his effort
TO further his design The last resolution
or the Holman proposition Is significant In
view Of the facts presented. 1t directs the
Secretary of tn Navy to withhold further
payments of any and all premiums for war
ships until further direction of Congress.
1t is enough to say that Mr.. Holman tes-
tiies that this resolution drawn up
by Mr.. Sypher and revised by himself. He
sought to secure prompt action upon 1t by
the House without reference to the COM
1nt-tee on naval affairs or the committee on
rules"
Gen. Sheridan's Opinion of Him.
The report also quotes a statement made
by Gen. Phil. Sheridan 20 Syphers char
acter The statement was made before the
committee on military affairs in the inves-
tigation of the Fort Brown military affair.
Gen. Sheridan said: Il will tell how it was
He was very anxious to have the bill pass
ed for this appropriation. and, as L suppos-
ed. for 100000. what 1 then thought the
heirs were willing to take; and when the
bill was passed ii was for s1GO.0O0. /
thought it was very strange that Congress
should give $600OO more than - people
were willing to take for the prOp~rty; and
some time afterward he came into the Of
fce.and L asked who got that thing through
for S1OO,OO0, when the heirs said they were
willing to take SlOO.UO. and he said.
did He said, 4 worked that thing
through for them After that ne said, L
am going to break it up now, and L want
you to help me, because you were not in
favor of giving s1GD,OOO for it, 1 asked
him why he was going TO break it up, and
he said they were not willing To, pay him.
lie further said that he had got this $780,
OOO more. One word brought ON another,
and L made him leave the office. OF course,
when he asked me TO help him in it L told
him l would not do So told him he was
blackmailer. and he should not stay in my
office Some pretty hard words passed, and
he left,and l thought he would never speak
to me again. but L saw him afterward, and
he was as pleasant as ever"
The report goes at some length into Mr..
Sypher's Louisiana record, and testimony
ed to show that he had sought to have a
bid for custom house work changed, so that
he might share in the profits
The Letter to the Cramps.
letter which Mr.. sypher wrote to the
Cramps and which is considered to have a
significant bearing upon the investigation
That letter is as follows:
]. Hale Sypher. attorney and counselor,
Washington, D. C.
September 2S, 1893
My Dear Sir: The inclosed may interest
You.
Upon inquiry 1 learn that action is con-
templated which will cut of all premiums
and. In fact. attempt to recover those al
ready paid A resolution has been prepared
In the House, directing the Navy Depart
ment and Attorney General to examine this
question and institute proceedings to re-
cover all premiums heretofore paid without
authority of law. 1t is held that premiums
paid for speed attained by exceeding the
boiler pressure were illegally paid. and can
be recovered; as, for instance, in the case
or the New York, your premium of $780,
90 was on account of speed attained at a
pressure of 175.7, when only 16O pounds
was allowed. / have important informa-
ton on this subject, which is at your SER
vice If the matter is of interest to you.
Very truly. yours. j. HALE SYPHER-
Mr.. Chas- II. Cramp,
Philadelphia, Pa
The testimony of the hearing shows
that when questioned by the committee
as to his motives for writing this letter
Mr.. Sypher gave evasive replies. and after
much cross-examination could only say
that he wanted to turn a search light on
Mr.. CFamp to smoke him OUT He ad-
nltted that he had no knowledge that the
Attorney General intended to take any steps
10 recover the 100000 paid the Cramps
Changing the Record.
The report says:
Mr. Syphers character is further shown
by his action after appearing before the
committee on naval affairs in regard to
the Holman resolution. Under cover of per-
mission to revise his statement he not
only carried away the official record of
his statement before any member of the
committee had seen it. but he sarbled and
mutilated 1t to such extent that 1t was
necessary TO prepare new record from the
notes Of the official stenographer.
worse than this. however he printed his
sAroled and mutilated statement without
the permission or knowledge of the COM
nlttee and circulated it, 1t purported to be
the ofncial record of the committee The
sarDied statement is printed in the ap-
pendix OF this report in parallel columns
with the official record
ne alterations are given in italics The
pasailel columns show that Mr. Sypher not
Ohiy cnaEged his own answers but changed
the questions prOpOunded to him and AT
times STRUCK out bIth questions and an
SNCrS- Indeed. in in he