The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-05-08

salary of $500 In September, 1898, he
was promoted to 81 900. and a few Gays
later made assistant superintendent of the
free delivery system.
Mr. Hill explained that he was put in
charge of the claims for overtime, and
subsequently, conducted much of the Post
office business as commissioner before
the Court of Claims. In the course or his
testimony Mr. Hill detailed the Inaugural
tion Of tie spy system, and told how these
appointments increased rapidly, from
total OF four to a total of fifty nine. all of
whom were appointed Mr.. Hill contended,
irrcgularly and without authority Of law.
The pay of these men, this witness stated,
was Increased from time to time, While
William NJ Bellman, the alleged chief OF
these special agents, received an average
of Sl7.75 a day. According to this wit
ness, Sixth Auditor Howard had refused
to pass upon these claims, but was sub
sequently reconciled to them. Why Mr..
Hill did not say, but he dropped the OBJ
servation that subsequently Mr.. Howard
was permitted to, and did, designate
certain inspectors of his own choosing
Mr. Hill also made the statement to the
commit ee that six OF these spies were
employed in the Fourteenth Congressional
district of New York, in which d great
many Iet;er-carriers resided, to do camp
paign work among the employees. The
addition If eighty carriers to the lhila-
delphia force in 1894, and the subsequent
reduction, within a very short tine, OF
100 clerks, was related by the witness, 10
show the apparent violations of the law.
Mr. Hill contended that the increase in
carriers was made in order that the right
men could he taken in, and the tight men
dismissed when the reductions were made.
OF the 100 then discharged, seventy-eieht
were at 81 900 year, and twenty two at
$500, thus indicating that they were old
aad experienced men, a 81 600 salary only
coming with three years service. Mr
Hill stated that the men discharged were
almost universally Republicans, and in many
cases old soldiers.
Returnngto the subject of special agents,
or spies" as Mr. Hill called them, lie
stated that in 1895 the sala ries of these
men wee paid by the postmastcrs of the
large cities in the district to which they
weredetailed The money was transmitted
to the depaTtmentin currency, 10y express,
add reSSed to a clerk, and opened, Mr..
Hill said. by Mr. Bellman, the so-cailed
chief of the special agents. A portion
OF this money was, he asserted, deposited in
the Ohio National Bank by Bellman TO his
own credit The Ohio campaign was on
at this time, witness said, and there was no
secret of the intention to assess these
special agents for campaign purposes, and
il was witnesses belief that their July
salary had been raised so that their
assessments might I've increased
On the subject of campaign assessments,
MIR. Hill submitted a letter to Bellman,
written 10y Joseph NJ. Gurdenheier, one
Of these agents, stationed at the time at
Monmouth. Ill In this letter Mr.. GuTden-
heier tells Of the receipt of a telegram from
ReIlmau, in which Bellman TepTimansled
the agent The writer Of the letter said
that before he knew he was expected TO
contribute to the Ohio campaign, he had
done so at home, and on this account his
funds, at the time he received the tele-
gram, were quite low.
In October, 1895, number of these
special agents, massed in Chicago, We're
called together for meeting to discuss
this subject of assessments, at hich
Supt. Machen was present and explained
the situation. Concerning the personnel
OF this force, Mr. Hill said members Of it
were frequently arrested for disorderly
conduct and other misdemeanors. When
be returned from Chicago he reminded the
then First Assistant Postmaster General,
Frank Jones, of Chicago, of the way the
thing was going, and said the work of
these agents was working aninJurl 10 the
department Mr. Jones told him TO keep
quiet and mind his own business, and
it would have been better for me, prob
ably, if had" Mr. Hill added
The reason for these assessments, wit
ness said. was Mr. Machen's anxiety to
help out his friend, Gov Campbell, who
was a candidate for reelection in Ohio.
First Assistant Postmaster General Jones
asked witness if be thought he had acted
honorahly toward the Postmaster General
by making such alleged exposures, after
he had been promoted to an important po-
sition in the department. Witness told
Mr. Jones that his higher duty was 10 :he
people If he ought not to remain in the
Postoffice Department after passing his
policy of disclosure, Hill said, he would re-
sign.
i shall not let you do that he said.
My only exhibition OF ingra titude,"
continued the witness, was in not keeping
my mouth shut"
Mr. Hill related an incident which will
be probed TO the bottom 10y the committee
and its truth or falsity ascertained One
Of these agents, Lorenz by name, according
to this witness, had his pay antcdated ORG
month, a sum amounting to something like
$500 Witness said he eongratulatedLorenz
upon receiving this money, when Lorenz told
him ne never saw either the check or the
money; that he did not get a dollar oft
The only way the money could be got,
if this were so, Hill said, was upon a forged
10y some one in the PpstOffice
Department. That check the committee
proposes to have put in evidence before
it,
When asked if superintendent of the
Free Delivery System Machen was in the
civil service. Hill replied
"Oh, yes; he's anchored
Further along in his testimony witness
said the spies who were emplo yed to spot
the letter carriers had instructions to Sc
cretly report the politics of all offenders.
A fter witness made the exposure to Con-
gresham overstreet year or more age he
was attacked and his personal record as
sailed When the effort was then made to
secure copy of his record upon which he
had been promoted, Mr. Hill said, it had
disappeared from the files of the Civil
Service Commission.
Civil Service Commissioner Proctor re-
minded the witness that at the time he
spoke Of the records were kept blythe local
boards and not by the commission, and
added that there had never been a case of