The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1898, Page 1

This F’a,)@r not 4 to be tak n from " VOLUME LXXXV.—NO. 25. SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY. DECEMBER 25, 1898—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENTS. COMMISSARY GENERAL ASKS | A RETRACTION Scandal Caused by Army Commander’s State- | ment as to Beef. The Whole Country Will Watch for Sensational Developments in This Interesting Con- troversy. tracts the s Supported, he declares, by the | the commissary general is based, reports of fifteen regimental com- | first, upon the high standing of derst ments w have made. fore, sh me gton d sends the following: s Major General Miles re- atements concerning t furnished the army, at-| Secretary of War denying every | buted to him by a Cinmma[i} their authentic- | rtial may follow"\\'hom I talked, the interest in the | for either himself or Commissary | controversy: between the com- paper, or denies i f Special Dispatch to The Cally and others, ood he has in course of preparation a paper which i tended to s he is EW YORK, Dec. 24.—The|say he feels there can be but one hi correspondent of | | General | ot at all likely to make | ond, upon the fact that the firms| retraction or denial, but it is| in- iate the state- reported to:E1gan'< friends, It is evident, there- | that the statements credited t a very serious c is has | been reached in the relations of the major general commanding the ge he frienc EITHER EAGAN OR MILES MAY BE COURT-MARTIALED outcome—trial by court-martial | of either himself or General| Miles, provided the latter fails to| make a signed statement to the word he is alleged to have said. | To quote a high officer with| manding general of the army and the officers involved, and, sec- | ACHRISTAAS GIFT FOR DEWEY... ; THOUGHTS SUGGESTED SAMS CHRISTMAS o o0 o | Mermy cHRISTRAS T BY THE GREAT CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY. V. ELECT GAGE REcrivES HIS CHRISTMAS GIET FRom THE, ProrLE® which supplied the army the beef| General Eagan gave out the which General Miles has so bit-| following statement " to-day in terly criticized supply half lhcj reference to his contemplated ac- country with meat. (%eneraliti"” on statements by General therefore, say|Miles concerning commissary to | supplies furnished the army: General Miles, if correct, are li-| “General Eagan has referred to belous, not only as against the|General Miles the published commissary general, but against | article, purporting to be an in and the commissary|the meat firms referred to, and|terview with General Miles ir s of Gene: Eagan | the question becomes a very se-|regard to thé military supplies, rious one for the whole country. |asking whether the statements | GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. TR attributed to him were made by him or any of them, or which of them, or to what extent the statements are correct. General | Eagan does not propose to dis- cuss this very serious matter in | the public press, but has asked, | first, if General Miles avows or | disavows this interview and has lalso asked the Investigation | Commission for a true copy of made by General Miles before it. “General Eagan has also asked | the Investigating Commission to | be called before it for the purpose lof rebutting and refuting the | statements alleged to have been | made by General Miles and pub- | lished in the' press; to answer these or any statements made by General Miles under oath, and, especially and particularly, to| the statement, not sworn to, but | meet the alleged charge of fur- nishing anything whatever under pretense of experiment. General Eagan is of the opinion that the proper place to discuss the merits of this matter is before the Inves- tigating Commission, and before the courts, civil and military, where the widest latitude, under oath, will be given to all con- cerned; where the conduct of General Miles and the conduct of General Eagan, under oath, will have the fullest, most exhaustive examination and analysis con- cerning any or all charges that | may be brought by either, to the end that justice shall be done. In view of this already inaugurated action, General Eagan deems it unmilitary and improper to make Continued on Second Pags. Commissary General Charics P. Eagan. AUTHOR OF FOUL AND ANONYMOUS LETTERS IS FOUND Railroad Employe Confesses That He Tried to Injure State Printer Johnston. SACRAMENTO, Dec. 24.—During the recent campaign typewritten copies of a letter of a most libelous character, reflecting upon the good name of the women employed at the State Printing Office, were secretly circulated in cer- tain parts of the State. The letters | were intended to injure the chances of | State Printer Johnston for re-election. | His opponent, E. 1. Woodman, how- | ever, publicly disclaimed any knowl- edge of the letter or its author, and some of Woodman's friends published | in San Francisco an offer of $500 re- | ward for the detection and arrest of ' the offender, but the latter remained | undiscovered. Agencies were kept at work by friends of State Printer Johnston In this city, however, and their efforts culminated to-day when William Jo- seph Husted, an employe of the rail- road shops, made a confession before District Attorney Ryan and others of having been the author of the foul at- | tacks on the character of the women | employed in the State Printing Office. | The detection -of Husted was due to | the cleverness of Detective Max P.| Fisher of this city, who, by a serles of decoy letters, succeeded in entrapping the offender. In his statement to the District At- torney to-day Husted said that about | the first of last October he became.ac- quainted with A. L. Henry secretary of the State Bureau of Highways, being introduced by Duncan McCallum, the stenographeg of the same office. Hus- ted said that he took to the office of the Bureau of Highways in the Capitol | two letters which he had written and which he turned over to Henry for his approval. Henry he said, ‘ook charge of the letters. Several days afterward, said Husted, a package containing a lot of mimeograph copies of the letters he had given to Henry was received, | but the sentiments were expressed in better language than he (Husted) could command. Continuing, Husted, after being shown the proofs in the posses- sion of the District Attorney, said: “While the circulars which you have shown me are net exactly true coples, ‘yet those are exactly the sentiments | which I expressed in the letters which I | gave to Mr. Henry. I don't want to| throw any blame upon any one whoi had nothing to do with the matter. I| have heard it said that E. I. Woodman, | who was Johnston's opponent, has been accused of sending out certain circu- lars, which I believe are the circulars referred to here. But I will say that Mr. Woodman knew nothing about the circulars nor did he have anything to do with them.” Husted says that at the time he wrote the letters and handed them to Henry he was not aware that he was commit- ting a_criminal libel, inasmuch as he believed the matters he was writing about were true. He said he thought that if Woodman were elected it would | be the means of securing a position. He was not given a positive promise that he would get a job, he said, but he was given to understand that he would be remembered in the distribu- tion of patronage. The letter, copies of which had been given circulation, was of a character which would not bear reproduction in & newspaper. A. L. Henry, secretary of the Bureau of Highways, said to-day with refer- ence to Husted's statement that his first knowledge of any circulars having been sent out came through E. S. Had- ley, Deputy State Printer. Hadley had called and asked him what he knew about any such circulars. He said that he then told Hadley and State Printer Johnston that he had nothing to do with the letters or circulars. Henry says that on two occasions Husted brought him rolls of manuscript, which he (Henry) turned over to MecCallum, the stecographer in the Bureau of Highways. He said that McCallum does private typewriting work. “I had nothing to do with the re- vision, preparation or typewriting of the circulars,” said Henry. “If Mr, McCallum did anything of the kind, it was an outside matter.” State Printer Johnston has been in consultation with District Attorney Ryan relative to bringing the gulilty party or parties to justice. The State Printer #8 of the bellef that others higher in authority than Husted had a hand in {t. MILITARY COUP PLANNED AT PARIS Fearing the Downfall of the Repub- lic, the Ccurt of Cassation Will Decide Against Dreyfus. LONDON, Dec. 24—The Paris ‘corre- spondent of the Weekly Sun asserts that he has knowledge of a military coup planned for Wednesday next, but does not give the names of those involved or details of the sloz. The Sunday Special’s correspondent in Paris hints at similar knowledge, adding that the Court of Cassation on Thursday will give judgment against Dreyfus. The Judges, the correspondent avers, vielding to the Government’s plan of raison d'etre do not dare to pronounce a decision which would result in the downfall of the republic.