The Washington herald., 1915-02-15
LITTLE TAILOR
MADE BIG FUSS
He Wrote and Wrote to Bryan
About Bill He Said
Sullivan Owed.
WOES DUE TO BIG TITLE
Solomon Lear Probably Will Never
Again Trust an Envoy Extraor-
binary for Clothes.
WOES DUE TO BIG TITLE

| Kalter W. Wick. of New Jersey. whose
! charges AGAINST Minister james NJ. Sui
| Ivan are the subject of special inquiry
by Senator elect Phelan. OF California. is
not the only person in the United States
who has had trouble with the Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plcnipotcnti-
airy to Santo Domingo.
| Solomon Lear. a little tailor who had
a shop in New Haven. is coming to be
pretty well known as the individual who
| claims to have had a bill against the
aforesaid Envoy Extraordinary and Min
! lister Plenipotentiary- for clothes made
and delivered, and which were said by
Lear to have been worn out years ago
! without being paid for.
| The recent inquiry into the Wick
charges brought out the correspondence
which Lear had with the Department Of
| State. Lear wanted to get so which he
said Sullivan had owed him from Janu-
AIRY II. 1867, together with 500. which
he claimed as interest on the bill
Bryan Didn't Answer.
! Lear first wrote Secretary Bryan on
| February is. 1914. regarding the bill. On
March 4. 1914. not having received an
| answer. he wrote Secretary Bryan again.
| \ third letter was dated March u. Sand
wiched between the latter two is one on
record showing that Sullivan had his
secretary write to BoaZ Long. former
chief of the Latin American Affairs d.
vision. saying he would have his New
Haven attorney look into the claim. Lear
| says this lawyer never communicated
with him.
John f. Osborne. Assistant Secretary
OF State. wrote Lear on April . 1914. that
Mr.. sullivan said the bill would ne paid
II he Owed it. On April 4. 1914. Lear
wrote Osborne that he could not rely
upon Sullivan's word because he said.
Sullivan had avoided payment of the bill
several times upon one pretcXt or an
other Osborne answered this communica-
ton with an earnest request to Lear to
sign Mis- letters with pen and ink il he
wanted them to get any consideration in
the future. Lea hal been sending them
with the signatIr,. spelled out in type
written letters.
Lear waited from the time of his reply
To this april I'll until June -. when h.
wrote President Wilson asking for adj
vice as to how to collect his bill This
letter was not answered. he says. and
on July - Lear again wrote the Presi-
dent Third Assistant Secretary of State
William Phillips answered this one. Lear
wrote him on July IS. asking for aid in
the matter Of his bill as we'll as Ger
tain correspondence exhibits he had sent
to President Wilson. No reply to this
is shown to have been made by the
official index of the department.
Asked for the Exhibits.
On October IA. 1914. Lear again ad-
dressed Secretary Bryan. asking for
his exhibits and also that something
be done about his bill. This was ac-
knowledged by Sydney Y. Smith. chief
of the Diplomatic Bureau. who stated
that Mr.. Sullivan was somewhere in
Ireland on a visit and that the de-
partment could do nothing more than
bring his attention to the bill. Lear
then decided that he would have to
go to law in the matter and wrote
Counselor Robert Lansing asking for
his exhibits which were sent to Presi-
dent Wilson.
No more was heard from him until
the Presidents investigator got busy
on the Sullivan charges of Wick. Com
missioner Phelan had his attorney
write Lear for an affidavit explaining
his bill and Sullivan's alleged refusal
to pay. This was done. Whether or
not Lear has ever been paid the bal
ance on those three suits of clothes
he made. for Sullivan long before the
latter was made Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to Santo
Domingo. may never be told in the
files of the Stale Department records.