Arizona republican., 1899-12-04
A Clerk Charged With
 LeSe Majeste.
CRITICIZED PRESIDENT
He Wrote Some Letters to the Post master General Commenting on the Philippine Policy and Max ing Fun of President McKinley's Tour-An Abject Apology He's Sorry For.

Washington, Dec. 3.-Noble E. Daw- son is clerk in the war department. over whose head the official ax is hang ing. He expects to be discharged, and, in his own words, will be disappointed if he is not.
 MT. Dawson is a gray-bearded man, comes from Iowa, was appointed from the district, and for some years has been confidential clerk to Gen. Miles at the army headquarters His salary is SLIGO. His card reads as follows:
 N. E. DAWSON,
 Attorney at Law.
 Sometimes Confidential Secretary to
 Gen. Miles, Commander-i -in-chief of
 the Army. Director General Davis.
 of the Worlds Columbian Exposition.
 Associate Justice Miller, of the Stu
 preme Court, U. s. A.
 Gen. Dodge, Gen. Grant. Senator AL
 lison, and other men of affairs.
 The trouble with MT Dawson is that General last month, calling attention to inconsistencies in the matter of post age from Porto Rico, he added some rather sarcastic comments on the presi- dent. 'I trust" was one of the express sions, that when the wise and patri- Otic administration gets back from its swing-around campaign, having shown the bucolic voter that it was Mckinley who caused the bOuntiful crops to grow, salted the Klondike with a wealth of nuggets, and furnished employment Gin the Philippines) to our unoccupied needy, you will, undaunted by the spec tre so aptly limned by the autumnaI poet in his luminsus phrase. 'The Dewey -skirted clouds imbibe the sum- again tackle the colonial postage mat ter"
 For this unclerical flippancy togeth- CT with some more rather severe ex- pressions against the president. MT. Dawson was formally notified by letter to appear before the chief of the war department and explain his conduct. Inside of the forty-eight hours allowed him for this explanation he presented himself and acknowledged the author ship of his epistles. At the same time he wrote to the secretary, saying that he did not expect to be shown any quarter for his act. There the matter rested for awhile.
 While Gen. Miles was absent MT. Dawson wrote another letter to the sec retary of war, in which he said:
 The distressing situation at home, added to my own indignation, disqual- flies, and the importance of the work to be done for Gen. Miles in his ab- sence prohibits, me from undertaking to enumerate the overmastering provo cations which led to my injecting inn proper comments, borrowed almost en- tirely from the current press, into my official communications to the post master general. I therefore sorrowfully admit my fault, throw myself on your mercy, and plead eXtenuating circum- stances of an unusual character, or which permit me to mention just one. The fact that three of my four sons, as a result of the Spanish war; have been from first to last at the point of death, causing me great care, mental angulsh and expense. one of them being now very i'll in a relapse after we had thought him fully recovered. This makes four long, dreadful sieges of the Cuban fever. in my family; and four Of us were down there to help give liberty to Cuba and sustain the honor of our country"
 After this explanation MT. Dawson added that he had always entertained cordial feelings for the president up to the outbreak of the war with Spain and that he did not expect his unfriendly criticisms would be used to the presi- dents disadvantage.
 II have been extremely sorry ever since l wrote my pusillanimous apol- ogy,' said MT. Dawson, when the mat ter was brought to his attention yester- day. Tt was prompted by an appre- hension that the menace I received inn mediately after the departure of Gen. Miles for the far West was intended to injure him. 1 am a republican,, con- tinued MT. Dawson, but I am sincere in my convictions. l believe that con- gress ought on the very first day of its sitting sustain Aguinaldo in his faith in the honor and honesty of the Ameri- can people by protesting reverence for. and adherence to the principles enunci- ated in the Declaration of Independ- ence-principles by the observance of which we become a powerful nation"
 Gen. Miles returned to the city yes terday, and MT. Dawson is now await ing the result of the mater when it is brought to his attention