The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-18
|NN CASE AGAINST HIM
PnosHcUrroM OF Msru.xFE
 RRoBABLy BE AsAHDoHED. K
District Attorney Taggart is Said tt Have SatisAed Himself that Met
 calf is Innocent of Wrong

Washington, Aug u.-tspeciaL)-As 6 result of testir0ong ta9ken by Assistan, United 6tates District Attorney fagssrt, fhe Posteazee Department VIII, 1t is an- derstood abandon its. attempt to make . csae sgninsf James T. Metealf. formerly chief of tbe Money Order Division. who was suspected of being undtily interested in the letting of the contract for printing money order blanks. The case was turned over to Mir. Taggart some time ago for invesfi<stion. the 1Rostoffioes Inspectors having failed to secafe any evidence against Mir. Metcaif and 1t being thought Mr. Tasgart might be mora successful. to date has been that nothing has been found to indicate that Mr. Metcalf ever received any monetary or other consider ation bn the matter of ,Contract6 e1 any kind. , q < 3.A+- Et} hff
 The testimony secured by the inspectors and Mir. Tasgart is to the effect that Mir. Metca:fs son entered the employ of the Wynkoop-H ailenbeck- Crawford Company, after this concern had had the contract in question for eight years. Beginning as a bill clerk at q . week he worked hig way up until he became the head of q department and Is considered one of the flrm's most capable and responsible enn- ployes. He had little to do with the printing of the money order blanks which came under another department. Eyi- dence was also presented to show that MT Metcalf had never sought or obtained anx favors for himself or his son rom the Wynkoop- Halienheek-C -Crawlord Com- many. the extent of the courtesies ten- aered him by members of the company being limited to two noonday lunches in fourteen years. Testimony was given that Paul Herman. whom Metcaf was charged with attempting to unduly influence to withdraw his hid. was friend of years standing and had sought Metcaifs ad- vice on this subject as friend, It was found that after Herman left the enanloy of the Wynkoop-f alienheck- Crawford Co. he solicited and secured from MT. Meteah highly conuendatorv letter and utilized # in obtas.sng employment. which however. pr0vAd only temporary. After Herman haA bid on tfe contract and 1t was found hts bld was the lowest. he expressed to MeteaR his fear that he would be unable to execute It. ana askea his advice. Metcalf. according to the tes- timony. advised him as friend not to risk his little savings in attempting to carry out such iart~, .sSntretc when he was entirely without a pant or resources of hts own IL was brought out that MetcaIf wrote Herman's former employ CTS asking for a meeting for Herman at the iatter's request and the meeting wes afterwards held Hsrnen also asked Met calf what would happen to his lorfsit" bond of sS.0o0 if he sho~1a withdraw his bid and Metcaif informed hinn fstat t was customary for the postmaste~ GeDerai to cancel the bonds fin such cases and he had no doubt the precedent would be fol- lowed in this instance
 The evidence having clearly exoBerated Mir. MetcaIf. Mr. Tasgart will not. fl is understood. even present the cass co the grand jury.
 Tn view of these circumstances fs Is ex- peeted that the Postmaster General wifi grant Nr. Metcalf a hearing looking to- ward his reinstatement as he was sum-
 nariiy dismissed without such charges or hearing as the civil service law proyidee. The Postmaster General has oppressed himself as not considering the casa az clOsed and 1t is thought thst he wished to postpone the hearing until after the investigation was complete.