The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-07-23
BRISTOW'S STATEMENT.
Tho following is the official statement Just
made public to-day b. Fourth Assistant
Postmaster General RristoN.

postmaster General Bristow:
Charts r, HEDGES was to-day removed from tn.
Il Ing his diary and Ioan!ng his travelling
SION. He represente4 himself at various PAGES
those places on the dates mentioned. hut else
tant on October = 1909. he states under oath
II his diary that he was at Joplin No. on ,'ex-
he was in Mansfield. o. attending the 4 funeral
OF former Secretary John Sherman.
San Antonio. Tex. investigating carriers ssrv-
Ice while. in fact. he was in Mexico exanin-
In the month OF October. 1870 A w Machen
Superintendent OF Free Delivery. was sick with
acting as superintendent. In his diary he states
under oath: that he was at var:oqs places name
Camden. y. j.. ard elsewhere. actually en-
sGged in travelling on the business OF the free
Assistant superintendents Of free delivery are
penses for each day easased actually travelling
on the business of the department Hedges
DAYS Were manitestly for the purpose Of collect
ing per diem TO which he was not entitled.
saIsifcaton. The facts submitted TO the
/ o.tmaSter General some days since. who d.,
q; forth
DISCOVERED BY ACCIDENT.
The case was worked up by Post-Office
Inspector George Sutton, assisted by In
Spectors Bennett and Jones. There were
several charges on file against Mr.. Hedges.
out none of these constituted the basis of
MS dismissal The acts which led to his
.-emoval Were discovered by the Inspectors
IL the course of their general investigation
II the records of the free-delivery office
The case has been under investigation for
everal weeks Mr. Bristow summoned NJ.
Hedges shortly before the close of business
hours this afternoon and notified him of his
dismissal Mr.. Hedges reiterated his con-
IGNITION that his dismissal was not war
ranted.
Mr. Hedges was appointed to the postal
service from the Tenth Congressional Dis
trict of Texas on July l. 1895, and was APP
pointed Superintendent of Free Delivery
July l, 1901. His salary was $500 a year. He
had charge of the delivery service in the
cities. the rural free-delivery service being
under another Superintendent, and both be-
ing under the general supervision of Au-
gust W. Machen
HEDGES'S DEFENSE
In a statement tonight Mr.. Hedges said:
While I assistant superintendent of free
delivery, with headquarters at New York. I was
called to Washington to take charge of the n
tire service while Mr.. Nachen was Ill with
typhoid fever: While 50 acting got 5000 sal
Machen received $500; 1t was necessary for me
10 get the Per diem allowance to make the serv-
ices and the compensation equal.
1t is CHARGED that the per diem accounts chow
" speaking. under the law. was not entitled to
per diem when at headquarters This mas never
ben the practice OF the office. for the party tax
ing the place If the head OF the service TO claim
Supervising the Eastern division. while offcia-
ting General Superintendent here.
Herbert ". Valentine. now in the New York
Post Office and formerly stenoEraphsr there un-
der me, surrendered private letters and notes to
the Inspectors which gave them this informa-
ton. 1 used to drop HIM line when l was
travelling to Keep him posted of my where
abouts. Valentine is the who used this
Iost-oificA commission. Il was used with the
knowledge OF General Superintendent Mach.n
AMI Of First Assistant Postmaster General john
son. Valentine anxious to go out on field
work Mr.. BTistow refused to allow the issuance
Of L commission for Valentine the ground
that he Il clerk and not officer. Mr..
Machen however. held that Valentine was en-
gagged On the work Of the office, his Of the
commission was not Illegal.
As to the san Antonio reference. l was in
Mexico hut not examining mining property.
did not see this mining property. In making
my reports I never put DOWN towns that l had
not visited nor did / nut down all the towns
visited, as was permitted to do. Thus omitted
mentioning the Mansfield visit because / had no
official work there, and Joplin vas the last
place whore I had had official work. 1 simply
prolonged the time the list.