Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-14
GEN. TYNER'S APPEAL
ASKS FOR JUSTICE AT THE PRESI-
DENTS HANDS.
Declares That the Latter Has Unwit-
tingly Done Him a Great
Wrong.

Wrong.
Mr. James M. Tyner, who was removed
from Office as assistant attorney general
for the Post Office Department during the
investigation of the department., and VINO
recently was tried and acquitted by jury,
has addressed the following letter to Presi-
dent Roosevelt:
1741 Kenesaw avenue northwest,
Washington, D. c., June IL, 1904.
The President.
Sir: In November, 1908, on the strength
of certain charges contained in report by
Mr. Bristow the fourth assistant postmas-
ter general, you gave to the press OF the
country a statement to the effect that
gross corruption in the case OF
Assistant Attorney General Tyner has gone
on for number of years" and after re-
ferring to me as 1.-The chief onender, you
say that in my case 1.-The corruption
took the form Of favOrtng get-r1ch-Qulck
concerns and similar schemes; In other
words the criminals whom 1t was (my)
sworn duty to prosecute, paid (me) LOT per.
mission to fleece the public unmolested
After giving your official opinion as chief
magistrate of the nation as to my guilt.
you referred to the fact that there were
three indictments pending against me, and
you called upon jury to do Its duty.
Effect Of Presidents Declaration.
No verdict of jury nor sentence Of judge
could possibly have had such far-reachng
or irremediable consequences for me as this
extraordinary official proclamation of guilt
by you; and the ordinary machinery OF
Justice is probably powerless fully to rec
tify the injustice done. Immediately upon
seeing your charges in the press address,
ed you a letter, protesting that on the mere
say-so of Mr.. Bristow you had no right,
without at least first giving me a chance
to be heard in my defense or without con-
fronting me with the charges of the evil
dence, thus prematurely and rashly to pre-
judge me, and perhaps forever blast the
good name and character which for nearly
eighty years I had endeavored to establish.
When wrote this letter 1 had little hope
that a merciful and just God would spare
my life long enough to enable me to face
jury of my peers, and l wished merely to
record what 1 believed to be a death-bed
protest against your unusual, unjust and
arbitrary action. Fortunately, l have now
had my day in court, and. according to the
law of the land, have established my in
nOcence of any crime or Of any misconduct
in Office. 1 instructed Messrs. Worthington
and Hershey, my attorneys, to lay fully be-
fore the court and jury every act of my
official and private career. and to take ad-
vantage of no legal technicalities. The
jury were asked by me, and by my counsel.
and by the court, to ignore my age and
physical condition.
The Jury's Verdict.
asked not for an acquittal, but for a
vindication; and. so far as possible, every
act of mine, referred to in Mr.. Bristow's
report, was placed before them fully and
exclusively. The jury, without a mo-
ment's hesitation, pronounced me Not
guilty on all the indictments. Their ver-
dict, l am advised and believe expresses
the unanimous sentiment of every member
of the bar and of the community who fol-
lowed the case. And l may add. that /
was not content to rest my vindication on
the governments failure to prove a crime,
but l insisted affirmatively proving my
innocence of any wrongdOing.
Such a verdict in a trial brought in good
faith would ordinarily be a sufficient vindi-
cation of an accused party, but unfortun-
ately in this case your official proclama-
ton of my assumed guilt has such weight,
and is entitled to have such weight that to
many it practically overrides the verdict of
the jury. notice that many of your friends
do not hesitate to say that your verdict
given before trial is more to be relied upon
than the verdict of court and jury given
after trial. Against such injustice l have
no recourse, except by appealing to your
sense of right and fair dealing.
Mr.. Bristow's Report.
l intimated briefly that your action was I'M
just and wrong. and that you would not
have taken the course you did If you had
not been misled and deceived by Mr.. Bris-
lows report. charged that his report sup
pressed the facts; garbled the evidence;
misguided the records; made untrue state
ments and was In every way calculated to
mislead and deceive you as well as the
public. l now reaff1rm these charges and
/ call your attention to the fact that 1t is
no longer merely my statement against
Mr. Bristows, but that witness after wit
ness on the stand for the government in
my trial denied the accuse lions In his re-
port. and document after document from
the government files disproved his charges.
l do not mean for moment to question the
good faith and entire sincerity of your proc
lamation; l wish merely to emphasize the
fact that you have been deceived and that
your laudable zeal for public and official
decency has been imposed upon.
You accuse me of gross corruption;" the
attorneys for the government constantly
disclaimed any such charge before the jury.
You charge that / was paid by criminals
not to prosecute them;'' not a scintilla of
evidence was offered to sustain such a
charge; nor was a single witness nor a
single document produced to show specal
favors to ''swindlng schemes or a single
violation of duty. Every charge in the
Bristow report in any wise rejecting on me
has been disproved by the recent trial-dis-
proved not by virtue of the verdict but by
the sworn evidence of the government s
own witnesses.
In my letter to you, l prayed that my
life and mental powers might be spared
until l had convinced the American public,
and you chief magistrate, that all my
acts have been honest, honorable and
straightforward in the sight of God and
man. My remaining hours are few, and
though my house Is In order and with clear
conscience await from day to day the tr-
revocable summons, nevertheless l cannot
close my eyes without first appealing to
you. Mr.. President, as my chief accuser to
endeavor in SO far you can, to right the
great wrong which you have unwittingly
done me.
I am sir Very respectfully
(Signed) JAMES M TYNER