340 FUE-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



tigation open, or any reason that appeals to the committee for contin- 

 uing it longer. I know of no reason why it should be longer keptoi)en. 



Mr. Felton. I am quite with the chair in that respect. 



The Chairman. Now, Mr. Tingle has, by some newspaper paragraph, 

 bad his attention called to one statement of Mr. Gavitt's testimony to 

 which he did not reply in his evidence the other day, and he desires 

 now to make a single statement in regard to that. 



Now you can make that statement, sir. 



TESTIMONY OF GEORGE R. TINGLE (continued). 



George E. Tingle, recalled. 



The witness said : 



Mr. Chairman. I find under date of December 19 a dispatch from 

 Washington that Gavitt presented a letter from me, but 1 will read it 

 as it is here : 



The witness (Gavitt) presented a letter from the Treasury Agent Tingle which he 

 regarded as a piece of black-mail intended to discount his published statement. 



I desire to explain how I came to write that letter to Mr. Gavitt. 



The Chairman. Well, sir, you may do so. 



The Witness. Having made investigation upon the island of all the 

 charges that Mr. Gavitt brought against the people there, I became sat- 

 isfied that Mr. Gavitt was not at all times responsible for what he was 

 doing; he had wrought himself into quite a fever with his imaginary 

 grievances, and my treatment towards him was in pursuance of that 

 feeling and belief. I advised him constantly to keep cool and suppress 

 his wrath. He said he had quite a voluminous manuscript which he 

 proposed to make public when he came down. I advised him against 

 that course, and he told me he would accept and act upon my advice; that 

 he thought it was good. 



Coming down on the vessel the subject was renewed again, and I said, 

 "Gavitt, in view of your troubles on the island and the record which 

 you have left behind you, you can not go back there again as a Treasury 

 agent. That is impossible. My advice to you is to go home, rest up 

 and keep quiet until after the election, and not publish any of your griev- 

 ances to the public. It is unnecessary, and it will be contradicted. You 

 would only force me to publish all the affidavits and evidence that I 

 have in my possession as a refutation entirely of all your statements that 

 you would make in the papers; you would be placed in a very unen- 

 viable position before your people." He promised me he would not jiub- 

 lish anything. I said I disliked very mucb for anybody to read this 

 stuff'^even his wife and others there — his wife is a very estimable lady, 

 innocent and unsuspecting. He said, "I will take your advice; I will 

 do as you say. I will present my resignation after the election." The 

 next thing I saw of Mr. Gavitt was the publication after he had made 

 a visit to Indianapolis and conferred with T. F. Ryan, a former Treas- 

 ury agent — his predecessor — who had been dismissed from the island by 

 the Secretary of the Treasury at mj^ request and on the showing of 

 others that he was an improper man for the position. Then I wrote 

 Mr. Gavitt the letter, which I am glad the committee have to print with 

 their report, as it furnishes a complete refutation of the construction 

 Gavitt ])ut on it. 



The Chairman. The letter he read here ? 



The Witness. The letter which he placed on file. I have read it in 

 Gavitt's evidence, and it is the same. I identified it as my letter to him 



