The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-05
COLLECTOR W|SE'S TRIP.
The Collapse of the Recent
investigation of His Acts
the Cause.
HIS IMPEACHMENT POSSIBLE.
Lawyer Phillips, Attorney for Dis
charged Customs Officers,
Makes a Statement.

The cause of the sudden departure of
Collector of the Port John Fl. Wise for the
East is now generally admitted to be
fear of impeachment by the Treasury De-
partment at the instance of the Civil Ser
vice Commission. Wise is supposed to
have gone to Washington to save himself
from Impeachment and also, if possible, to
prevent the reinstatement of three Repub-
lican customs officers, who were recently
removed by him without cause. The farcl-
cal collapse of the recent investigation into
Collector Wise's acts has been the cause OF
all the trouble.
In explanation of the matter l.. E. Phil
lips, the attorney, said: "Wise's repeated
violations of the civil service laws have
been so frequently brought before the COM
mission at Washington that few months
ago it was decided to investigate his acts.
Postoffice Inspector Erwin was appointed
to conduct the investigation. In the first
case taken up | represented Patrick Lam
non. Lannon was an able dry-goods ex-
aminer, and he was discharged on purely
political grounds. Only a small part OF
the evidence in the case was taken, and
when it was going on Appraiser Tucker
stated that he would have to take an adj
iOurnment as he was going to get married.
He asked that the investigation in the
Lannon case be continued until March b.
Before March 6 Erwin had summarily
closed up the case and had sent the incom-
In explanation of his act he told me that
he had quit the investigation as he had too
much of his regular work to attend to.
"In the case ofICharles A. Mau and John
Shepston Jr., two night inspectors, re-
moved on October 6 on political grounds,
they being Republicans, the excuses given
| for their discharge were very frivolous.
The examination of the cases was begun
before Erwin, but was broken off suddenly
when the evidence against Wise became
| too black. Some of the witnesses were not
| allowed to sign their testimony and some
! had their testimony broken in half In this
| incomplete state the papers in the case
were forwarded to Washington and no at
! tempt has been made to reopen the case.
"WiIloughby B. Dobbs was sent out by
| the Civil Service Commission about two
weeks ago. All that he did was to have
one deposition taken. Dobbs is a Demo-
crat from Kentucky, and a friend of the
noted Blackburn of that State. Dobbs
merely made friendly call on Wise, Rud-
dell, English and Erwin. He made no at
tempt to complete the unfinished testi-
mony He stayed here only few days.
The whole so-called investigation was a
! farce. Wise's actions in the past in re-
gard to removing Republicans is matter
of record at the Treasury Department, as
Wise was compelled to reinstate Sharp,
Evans, Beban, Halpin and other Republi-
cans he removed without cause.
1.-The statements made to reporters by
Wise in the past show up his true nature,
and he feared the testimony in the present
! investigation would be SO strong against
him that he used great pull to have the
proceedings stopped. The action OF In
spector Erwin in failing to carry out his in
structions looks to me as if he had been
pulled down. In fact, the whole thing is
/ the most nonsensical farce ever perpe'
trated in the history of Government white.
wash investigations. | have just prepared
my statements in the cases mentioned, as
| do not believe the facts will otherwise
reach the Civil Service Commission. We
have several affidayits to prove that the re-
movals were all made. because the men
were Republicans. We have virtual con-
fessions from Collector Wise and Surveyor
English to this effect, so we are confident
! OF making out a strong case"