The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-06-15
MR. KNOX FAILS TO CLEAR UP
 THE DAY PORTRAIT MYSTERY
CONTINUED FROM FACE n


 chief of the consul bureau. brought the voucher and papers to hin. saving tloy had been found on the floor of Disbuisins Clerk Morrisons office.
 id you make inquiry to find, out hnw they got there?', asked Chairman Haniin.
 T aid said Sc ,-c.ary Knox. aud could earn nothing. All I know about tie V oie case $ embodied in this voucher and the papers attached to it."
 1t this point Secretary Knox adoed a new element to the mystery.
 You will be interested in another receipt from MT. Rosenthal that is at tachedeto the papers," he said to the committed. Tt was signed January 16, 1901. and is for sT90, with a nota- tion that $60 for the frame of Secre- tary Days picture had been paid to a Washington picture dealer.'
 Mir. Hamlin grabbed the papers.
 Where did this second receipt come |from?p he dema anded.
 T found 1t with the papers; that is all I know of it, said Secretary Knox. The members of the committee upon examination found that it was not actu- Received January IS, 1904, the sum of s790," with an explanation of the pur- pose.
 MT. Hamlinl declared he believed there was something wrong about the receipt He intimated that he believed it had been fixed up at least as to the explanation written in ink across the bottom after the present investigation began. -t3 4s ( s'Do you mean that you suspect some one in the state department Is guilty of committing purjury?" demanded Sec rstary Knox with heat. rit
 s"There is no intention to reflect on you personally, MT. Secretary re- turned the chairma n, ''but I am strong ly of the opinion that this was prepared after this inquiry began"
 s'Then you think that MT. Rosenthal has written at least part of this receipt since the time indicated in it?' asked MT. Knox.
 MT. Hamlin replied he thought 1t was curious receipt and that he intended to probe the circumstances to the bot tom 4q s;
 s'I will welcome such an investiga- tion,v said Secretary Knox, "and if you can corroborate your theory and can show that any one of the state de- partment was cognizant of such an act there will be some vacancies in the de- partment."
 Howard Sangston the messenger in disbursing Clerk Morrison's office who found the envelope containing the voucher on the floor of the disbursing office after the whole department had been ransacked for it, was then put on the stand.
 Messenger Testifies
 He said he found the. envelope among lc; of crumpled ones by MT. Nor rison's waste basket about AZ feet from the latter's desk. He said MT. Nor rison always threw the crumpled enve- lopes on the floor and that in picking them up at the close of the day he found the heavy envelopes among them.
 q laid it on MT. Morrison's desk" said Sangston, land he said: Why, Howard, where did you get this? This is the voucher that has been causing all Ghe trouble.'
 envelope there and had no idea how 1t got there. He said he didn't know it contained the missing papers, save for tho fact that MT. Morrison had said 1t did when he opened it.
 Secretary Knox introduced the letter Secretary Root had written to w. H. Mi chaels, now consul general at Calcutta and former chief clerk, when the Rosen- thai matter first came up in 1906 and the explanations the state department has, says Secretary Knox. The Root letter called Michaels attention to the fact that the voucher had been found without any bill or memorandum attached and that the amount was much in excess of the sum usually paid for portraits of former secretaries.
 As this amount is greatly in excess the sum paid by the department for other similar portraits,'' said Senator Root in his letter to Michaels. "As it also seems la, ef a xuhi ,fo fot is accustomed to receive for his work. the department would be forced to the conclu- sion that the voucher signed by Rosenthal was actually made out to cover num- Der of emergency payments of which the portrait was only one were 1t not that the voucher for the whole sum was signed by Rosenthal alone"
 MT. Mchaels' reply from Calcutta said the payment had been agreed upon by Justice Day and MT. Rosenthal.
 ''I was directed by Secretary Hay" read the Michaels reply, ito write to Judge Day and ascertain whether the portrait was entirely satisfactory to him and the price agreed. In reply to my letter Judge Day said the portrait was satisfactory 10 him and stated the price to be paid. This letter I handed to Secretary Hay. He took a memorandum out of his portfolio and after looking at it directed me to make out a voucher for certain amount, do not now recall the amount, to pay for the portrait and to hand him the baa- ance, which he desired to apply on other emergency accounts
 .IIe did not say what the accounts were and the only impression I got was that they related in some way to MT. Rock hill in connection with Chinese affairs. The amount of the voucher. whatever 1t was, was delivered to mo by some one in the bureau of accounts, according to my recollection. The price of the portrait was taken out of the envelope containing tho money in the presence of Secretary Hay. who retained the balance.
 Explaining that if Rossnthal signed a voucher instead of a receipt 1t was through error, MT. Michael continued:
 ssWhatever was done in the premises was done by direction of Secretary Hay. as nothing could have been done other wise, and if there is anything in the trans- action open to criticism 1t is the error of sending to the artist a voucher which was not intended for his signature at all and which he should not have signed HAITIAN CONDITIONS