The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-05-23

II is practically impossible 10 probe
into the Fillmore, Utah, postofice scan
dal without finding additional evidence
of official crookedness, official conniv
ance, and apparently courageous appli-
cation Of the official whitewash brush.
New cases Of criminality develop with
each inquiry One case which we un-
derstand the postofice Inspector at
tempted 10 uncover during his visit TO
Fillmore last fall was the alleged theft
Of money from registered letter ad-
dressed TO Mrs. Eva Cummings.
Will Cummings, the husband. stated
to The Tribune that he placed in a
letter addressed to his wife q $50 bill
and $40 bin and registered it last
September at Ely, New. Cummings
claims that Sim Nichols and one of the
Farnsworth brothers of Ely are wit
nesses to the fact that he placed these
amounts of money in that letter. il
was registered under No. 6l6 and as
received Mt Fillmore September %
The delivery was made 10 Miss Pearl
Shields in the presence of Mrs. Eva
Cummings and Mrs Clara Shields, the
young Shields woman receiptiug there
for, Mrs. Eva Cummings, by Pearl
Shields.
This registered letter was immediate
" opened in the presence OF the three
women and was found to contain q
$40 bill. The envelope, il is claimed,
bore evidence Of having been tampered
with, The letter accompanying the
money had been written by Mr.. Cum
mings with lead pencil and in the
body Of the letter was the statement
that n certain sum Of money had been
enclosed. The figures, however. had
been erased apparently with n wet rub
Der eraser or by finger marks, and the
women were not certain the sum which
the writer had attempted TO convey to
them had been enclosed.
When the matter was called to the
attention of Will Cummings, the send
er, he mt once declared that he had en-
closed, as stated, SO bill and so
bill, He gives the names of witnesses
TO this fact. The women also declare
that but $40 was found. A claim was
fled with the Postoiiicc department for
the recovery of the $50 alleged To have
been extracted from the letter, but al
though this was several months ago no
settlement of this claim had been made /
when The Tribune investigated the |
case, The facts have been in the pos
session of the postoffcc inspector for |
several months.
Another Money Order Case.
On March il, 1906. Fred c. Copley |
purchased a money order for $50 NJ /
Darlington, Washington, and sent it
to his sister, Clara Nj, Swallow, at
Fillmore. The order was irrcgularly
drawn. in this, that the body of the
order called for $50 and the stub in
figures for $50. Frank +. Hanson, the
postmaster, very properly declined to
pay more than the twenty dollars,
which amount he did pay, and Mrs.
Swallow took the matter mp with her
brother at Darlington, After consid-
cradle correspondence, the fact was
established that the order had been
purchased for SO, and that the error
in drawing it was made by the Oar
riugton postmaster, but afterwards cor
rcctcd so that the Fillmore postmaster
could take credit III the payment of
the order for the original amount and
the proper amount. which was $25.
1t is alleged that when Mrs. Swal
low called on Frank f., Hanson to lay
before him the representations of the
postmaster, he claimed he
mad already paid $50 on this order
This claim was disputed 1t was found
hat the Fillmore postmaster, after cor.
'ecting the irregularity in the amount,
lad takcn credit for SO in his re-
port to the auditor Of the money order
division of the postotficc department.
He then offered TO pay to Mrs. Swal. ,
ow the 80 difference. saying that If ,
lie bad not paid her the $25 originally.
lc would then give her the amount of
he discrepancy, which was S.. She |
declared that she would not tnkc that
mount from him, ersonally-tbat # c
t was not right that he pay IL official. I
y she would not accept it personally. {