The Fire Chief Who Ran for the Border

The statement to the Post-Intelligencer that A. B. Hunt, ex-chief of the Seattle fire department, was presumably on his way to his home in Ontario, Canada, was confirmed by the admission of Mayor Phelps that he had received a message from him, written at North Bend, British Columbia. This message was sent over the Postal Telegraph Company's wires and stated in brief that Hunt had received an urgent call home, and asked the mayor to either accept his resignation as chief of the Seattle fire department or grant him a thirty days' leave of absence. Hunt's friends say that the urgent business is the procuring of evidence to support the charges against Gardner Kellogg and T. J. Kelly, but his enemies consider that his sole purpose was to escape from the jurisdiction of the United States court and to avoid imprisonment for perjury.

The urgent call was unexplained, and Mayor Phelps was not inclined to grant the leave of absence requested, the result being the election and confirmation of Alexander Allen, Jr., as chief of the department. Mr. Allen will probably file his bond today and assume charge of the department in which he is now acting as assistant to J. J. Sullivan.

When Mayor Phelps was seen yesterday afternoon by a Post-Intelligencer reporter and asked about the message he had received from Hunt, he remained silent for a long time, then said: 'How did you know I had received word?' The reporter declined to give the source of his information, but said positively that it did not come from any employee of the telegraph company. The mayor finally admitted that he had received the telegram, but that, as it was private business, he did not care to have it mentioned. 'As to his reasons for leaving,' continued the mayor, 'I can offer no explanation. Perhaps the theory published in the Post-Intelligencer this morning was right. All I know is that Hunt left the fire department in first-class condition and that, while he was chief, he attended strictly to his own business and proved himself an efficient officer. Mr. Allen goes in as chief unhampered. He will be in full charge, and not pledged in any manner.' Yesterday evening Mr. Allen received a letter from A. J. Bruemmer, chief of the Tacoma fire department, congratulating him on his election and paying a tribute to Hunt's ability.

A STATEMENT OF FACTS. Editor Post-Intelligencer: The comedy entitled 'The Hunt Vindication Farce' is still on. The curtain is again rung up and discloses a man prominent in the affairs of the city as chief captain in the defense of the skipper chief. His appearance will surprise no one familiar with the case, for had it not been for the strenuous efforts made by men prominent in the affairs of the city to shield Hunt in his infamy the truths so plain to the reader would have been disclosed long ago and Hunt would either have been serving out his sentence or would have skipped to his native land. Hunt has not gone to Canada to secure evidence, he has gone to Canada because he could not stay and face what there is here, and has left his supporters, men prominent in the affairs of the city, in the slough of despond, in the quicksand, where every struggle to vindicate Hunt or themselves only sinks them deeper and deeper. The monument of the efficiency of the fire department as evidenced by the sixteen roasted victims of the West street line has ingloriously lied, leaving his friends, men prominent in the affairs of the city, to get out the best way they can. As to the alleged theft of the Petrolia fire department books, I and I only am responsible for their being here. I, and I only, had any hand in securing them. They were neither stolen nor smuggled. I have corresponded with different persons in Canada for the past two years. A traveling man in that portion of the country was my agent in getting information about Hunt. I was confident he was an impostor and determined to expose him. A detective was employed by me and secured evidence which alone would convince any unprejudiced man that he was an impostor. I then learned of the Petrolia fire department records being obtainable. These records were kept by Hurst, which shows he was elected a member May 11, 1882, and that April 1, 1889, he obtained leave of absence for one year. They contain Hunt's writing and Hunt's signature for every month and sometimes twice a month from July 13, 1882, to April 1, 1889. I had a copy of these records sent me, but they could not be used in court, so I wrote for the original, and I got them. Some months ago I was approached by a stranger whom I took to be an employee of Chief Hunt's. His intentions were to find if possible where the books were. I simply told him I had them, and if he wanted to see them if he would appear at Tacoma on the trial of Hunt he would be permitted to see them. There has never been a moment but when I was satisfied $1,000 would gladly have been paid by Hunt for possession of these books. When Hunt was willing to pay one single witness $400 to get that witness to run away and not testify against him in a trial pending against him, what would he not pay for books containing positive proof in his own handwriting that he was not in the United States during any of the time he swore before the court he was, and by reason of such oath his papers were granted him? The myth about the expressman and the man who worked in the express office and were spirited away is too idle to mention. The only man in Seattle that knows how, when or where I obtained these books is myself. There is no mystery about this concern, all efforts of the men prominent in the affairs of the city to surround it with such to the contrary notwithstanding. It is a simple case of a Canadian obtaining his citizenship papers fraudulently and better caught in his infamy. The only person persecuted in the matter is the writer, who has been persecuted and reviled by men prominent in the affairs of the city simply for performing an act which I consider a duty imperative to every good citizen. As I stated in a former issue of your paper, I am not a thief catcher, a public prosecutor or a private detective. I have for fifty-odd years been a law-abiding citizen, believing that a man knowing of and concealing a crime was as guilty as the man who perpetrated it. I have endeavored in every act of my life to be just, and have learned to be charitable in my opinions of men. I never had an opinion I was not willing to enunciate and stand by it, whether that opinion was popular or not. Now that the kidnapping of Hunt by his enemies or the knocking on the head theory is exploded, the public are entertained by threatening letters having been received by Hunt. It is all bosh. The plain, unvarnished fact remains that Chief Hunt, against his will, but at the earnest solicitations of false friends, by perjury and subornation of perjury, obtained papers of naturalization. He was arrested and bound over by the grand jury in the sum of $2,000 to appear at Tacoma last Saturday for trial. He knew the charge was true, and that there was no escape—either the penitentiary or an exposure of all the infamy of the whole case. He could stand neither. Now, while there may be and are extenuating circumstances, so far as Hunt's conduct is concerned he is more sinned against than sinning, and there are persons here in this city prominent in the last city administration whose guilt is greater than Hunt's. They are responsible for the unfortunate predicament Chief Hunt is in. GARDNER KELLOGG.