The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-07
TIMER ATTACKS ROOSEVELT
BITTERLY RESENTS EXECUTIVE
 COMMENT ON HIS CASE.

Denounces 1t In a Letter as Unwarrant-
 ed and Dangerous-DemandsT That the
 Letter be Filed Among the President's
 Official Rseords-Fears He May Not
 Live to be Tried and Seeks Justice in
 This Way.
 Washington, Dec. 6.-Jemes N. Tyner, who was assistant attorney general for the postoffice department until deposed on account of matters connected with the postoffice investigation, has sent the following letter to President Roose- welt:
 All Kenesaw avenue, N. w.
 Washington, D. C., Dec. 3, 1903. The President:
 Sir: In your official statement as pres- ident of the United States, addressed to the American public, in connection with the report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General BristoW, on the al- legged postal frauds, you make certain statements concerning my supposed connection herewith, which I take the liberty of answering in order that l may properly go upon your official rec ords, ~:e
 T do not desire to question your good faith, or sincerity in accepting the conclusion of your subordinate, MT. Bristow, and in dignifying them with the weight of your high official posi- ton; but has it occurred to you that pending the trial of the three indict- lnents against me, based on the allega- tions of the report and without having heard one word from me in my defense, your premature and unwarranted an- nouncement of my assumed guilt and your call to the court and Jury to en- dorse the same, is, to say the least, ex- traordinary and dangerous. am not even asking that I should be presumed innocent or that before I am condemn ed by you or your department l should be confronted by proofs and witnesses or given an opportunity to be heard in my defense, or that in the trial which confronts me should have fair trial all I am asking is that in view of the uncertainty of my life and the fact that my lips at any moment may be forever sealed, this letter be filed among your official records of my case, together with my letter of July 27th, 1903 to MT. Bristow, copy of which I attach.
 1T desire again specifically to deny every one of the yelled charges made by Mr. Bristow in his report and to call your attention to the fact that not one direct or specific charge is made against me in the conduct of my high office, nor has, nor can one cent of gain be traced to me. If my life is spared ! shall fully refute all the surmises and insinuations of MT. Bristow and shall be able to show the reasons winch led him to withhold from you full data and to garble, misquote and falsify that which he did submit to you.
 T also desire to state that if any of the friends of Tyner' have, as you al- legged, advanced the theory that in this case, the chief offender was my nephew Barrett and that my alleged offenses were due to my failing men tai and bodily powers, they did so with out my knowledge or assent. It is true, that owing to two strokes of paralysis my bodily powers have failed me and may have to face a truer and sterner judge ere many days, but my mental powers, thank God, have never suffered, and I trust will not fail me until have convinced the American public and you, as chief executive, that my acts have been honest honorable and straightforward in the light of God and man. am confident that the relations of MT. Barrett with me and my department were as innocent and honorable as am sure were all my mo- tives and acts. -.+
 I also wish to deny your utterly un- warranted statement that the gross cor ruption in the case of Tyner has gone on for a number of years. You should know. and your subordinates do know, that no single act of corruption, gross or mild, has been discovered against me, and the United States government with Its forty inspectors and it's chief inquisi- tor, Mr. Bristow, will be unable to dis cover one. s
 T have tried by forty odd years of faithful service to my country to prove my zeal for faitTfuIness and honesty in the public service, and I now say to you, the president of the United States, my chief accuser, as if it were the last word shall ever utter, that in your well recognized and honorable zeal for the public good, you have allowed your self to be deceived and imposed upon; and while cannot hope for hearing at your hands, shall, at least, give myself the wretched solace of having denied these wrongs and of having de- manded that hearing which right and justice ought to accord me.
 ''Very respectfully,
 (Signed) James N. Tyner."
 The letter to MT. Bristow, which is re- ferred to in the letter to the president, is dated July 27, 1903. It is General Tyner's answer to an invitation from MT. Bristow to reply to certain points involved in the Investigation sub mitted to MT. Bristow. MT. Tyner says that as full reply to the "unwarrant- ed deductions' in MT. Bristow's letter may assist him in a fair and honest in vestigation of the generals office, he will return an answer at the same time calling attention to the fact that he has no access to the files of the department, but speaks only from his best recollec- ton. He then answers in great detail matters called to his attention by MT. Bristow, and closes as follows:
 Tt certainly must be evident to you