Sunday morning globe., 1901-09-22
A SHYSTER TRICK.
The Secretary of the Navy With
holds a Document
INTRUSTEO TO HIS OFFICE
BY a Contractor Who Has Strong Case
Against Tho Government for Damages BY
Reason Of tho Annulment Of His Contract
The Case Of SandOron and yelling in The
Navy Yard.

sible that Secretary Long would resort
to a trick not above the capacity of a
shyster lawyer But such is the fact,
If the chief clerk of his Office is to be
believed The circumstance which
brought about this position Of the Sec
retary and the chief clerk to either an
evasion Of the truth or a plain lie, is
as follows:
For years the late Mr. Sanderson
held contract for teaming at the
Navy Yard, his widow following the
business after his demise. AS is the
custom of all Government Depart
ments, the contract for this work is
let yearly. Mrs. SaDderson, the pres
ent year. was, as usual, awarded the
contract, and even had entered into
her part of its fulfllment The first
day Of the new contract, some time In
the afternoon she received notice
through the commandant of the Navy
Yard that her contract was annuled.
This was an extraordinary proceeding,
and the lady sent her son to inquire
the cause He visited the commandant
and that honest sailor frankly inform
ed him that orders had come from the
Secretary's Office to annul it, and that
a man named yelling had been given
the contract as the lowest bidder Mr.
Sanderson inquired on benalf Of his
mother If the rules or specifications
provided to let the contract to the low
est bidder. The naval officer, who, like
all the members Of his class and hon
est profession is incapable Of either
vasion or that species of diplomacy
which is founded on untruth, produced
a letter which has been on file in his
Office for the past three years, and
which specifically provided that the
contract must be let, not to the lowest
but the best bidder Armed with this
information, Mr. Sanderson sought the
Secretary Of the Navy, and laid the
matter before him. The Assistant Sec
retary, to whom the matter was refer
red, expressed surprise that such a let
ter existed. He did not seem to be
aware Of the fact that Mrs. Sanderson
had entered upon or had been let a
contract with all the due formality Of
these transactions. Ii was pointed out
to him that the notification Of the an
nulment of the contract, coming from
the Secretarys Office established two
things
pray what are these?' inquired AS
sistant Secretary Wells.
"ln the first place replied Mr. San
derson. 1T shows that a contract must
have existed or there would have been
no necessity to send a letter Of annul-
ment, and secondly, the fact that the
letter was sent from the Secretary's Of
fee shows that the Department was
aware that a contract existed and had
been let to the contractor, in this case,
my mother"
Mr. Sanderson was invited to incor-
porate the facts in a letter to the Sec
retary and attach the notification Of
annulment, which he accordingly did.
He was bowed out and instructed to
call again in a few days. when the mat.
ter would be investigated.
When Mr.. Sanderson next called he
was denied access to Secretary Longs
office. and Mr. Wells, when asked for
the letter and annulment, which was
left with the Secretary, referred Mr..
Sanderson to the chief clerk. This
official promptly handed Mr.. SandersOn
his letter The notice Of annulment
was not attached, and when the chief
clerks attention was called to the fact.
He unhesitatingly replied:
This letter is all that has come from
the Secretarys Office
well, the notice of annulment was
attached to it when I handed it in"
VERY sorry, but the notice you speak
of has never left the Secretary's office;
it is there yet. / have never received
1t here"
Further inquiry on the part of Mr..
Sanderson sure enough, developed the
fact that this important notice had
been retained by Secretary Long, In
any attempt of Mr.. Sanderson to en-
force the terms Of the contract. il can
be easily seen that this notice would
be the irrefutable proof that such a
contract was let and that the Govern
ment had violated its signed agree
ment for no assignable cause, thereby
leaving itself open to damages
The retention of the notice Of annul.
ment is as shyster a trick, by whomso-
ever retained, as is the manner in
which Truman yelling secured the
contract for his son. Mr., yelling is an
employe of the Navy Yard, being
"boss" Of the yards and docks He Sc
cured the confidence of Mr. Sanderson
and wormed out of him all the partic-
ulars of the contracts his father, and
subsequently his mother, had been en-
Toying for a number Of years, to the
satisfaction Of the authorities, who
we're we'll pleased with the perform
ance of the work. yelling also ascer-
tained the price at which Mrs. Sander
son was performing the work He
then slipped in a bid five cents on the
dollar less than Mrs. Sanderson, but
the commandant let the contract ac-
cording to the spirit Of the letter Of
instructions on file. viz, to the best
bidder and despite of Mr. Welling's
treachery, Mrs. SandersOn got the job.
Whereupon yelling wrote to Senator
McComas, and that gentleman, not un.
derstandng the condition Of affairs,
and only knowing that yelling was
the lowest bidder, called the attention
of Secretary Long to the matter. with
the result that Mrs Sanderson's con-
tract was annuled, as stated. II is evil
dent to The Globe that neither Secre-
t,r,. Z an o. nor gpnotor MoCon,oo trpoxv