The herald., 1897-11-19

was under obligations to him and did not
desire to have his name connected with
! the affair. He stated that his friend
had only done what he had out of
friendship for him and not from any
desire to get portion of the money.
From another source wholly relia BILE it
was learned that ]. S. Pitman was the
man who had collected the money from
Cooper. All parties who were seen last
night in regard to the matter agreed
that Pitman's connection with it was an
innocent one and that he was not party
to the extortion or bribery. Cooper was
! averse to talking about the matter at
all. Asked if he knew whether any other
persons had been approached and made
| to pay for their positions, he refused to
talk further, saying that his trouble was
enough. He, asserted his willingness to
swear to the foregoing statement before
any court.
KEPPEL'S TRIAL
! Prof, Mark Keppel of the Union ave-
nue. school. another intended victim of
the corruptionists, was seen at his home
on Wright street near Sixteenth last
night 1t had been reported that he, too,
had been made to pay for his position.
When he was asked for statement he
at first refused to talk at all, saying that
| he had told his story to the grand jury
and that he preferred to await their ac-
ton. Finally he consented to make
statement so that correct information
would be published.
| Before the close of the last school
year, when l was at the Harper school,"
said he, "AXtell came there and told me
that
IF 1 DESIRED TO RETAIN MY PO-
SITION I MUST PAY FOR IT
He suggested that if payment was
not made l might travel down the road
Our conversation was long one and be-
| fore it closed AXtell told me to go to
| see Adams about it. Before doing so 1
| went to see a friend and from him
learned later that I might as we'll ex-
| pect to pay under the circumstances. l
went to see Adams and asked him about
my position and he told me he thought
I would lose it. l asked him why, and
| he gave me an evasive answer but
finally appointed day on which he said
he would tell me all about it. later saw
Prof. Phillips and Prof. Bonebrake, the
latter Of the Hellman street school, and
| learned from them that they, too, had
| been approached and had been given to
understand that they We're expected to
pay one months salary in order to re-
tain their positions. We decided to get
all the information we could about the
matter before taking any action.
Adams failed to keep his appointment
with me, and few days later met him
in the school office and asked him about
the matter, reminding him of his agree
ment to let me know He then said
'AXtell has superior sources of informa-
ton. Go and see him.. That was on
| Tuesday or Wednesday before the Mon
day meeting Of the board held for the
purpose of electing teachers. 1 went to
see Axtell and was positively told by
him that
UNLESS / PAID ONE MONTHS
SALARY BEFORE THURSDAY AT 4
O'CLOCK l WOULD LOSE MY POSI-
TION.
4 questioned him closely and asked
him what would be the result if l defed
him and did not pay the money. He
informed me that if the payment was
not made there were others who might
be willing to pay for the place. and if
no one was so willing the place was to be
given to Mr.. Yoder Understand, now.
the latter had no connection with the af-
fair so far as ! know.
Il did not have $120 to pay for any such
purpose, but fearing some emergency I
secured 500 from my friends and added
$2o OF my own money and went to see
Messrs. Emery and Phillips. Both of
them had been approached, and after
we had talked the matter over we de-
cided not to pay a cent. saw Axtell on
Friday morning and asked him what
assurance he had, if l paid the money
he demanded, that / would get my po-
sition and asked him for his guarantee.
had no intention then of paying, but
wanted to know all about the matter.