The Plot to Sink a Public Servant
A Deputy Collector of Customs faces criminal charges, but claims he is the victim of a 'job' to ruin his reputation.
Charles McLennan, deputy collector of customs, underwent a preliminary examination before U.S. Commissioner Emery. He was charged by Thomas M. Fisher, immigration inspector, with receiving $50 for his own use which he was not authorized to accept and which he failed to account for. A dispatch from Lewiston claimed that the evidence indicates McLennan is the victim of a conspiracy to blast his name and reputation, suggesting the criminal charges were a 'job' to send him to the penitentiary.
“There is positive evidence that McLennan has not received a cent of government money which he did not properly account for, and the criminal charges are the result of a 'job' to blast his reputation.”
The rhetoric of 'political jobs' and conspiratorial framing against public officials in the 1890s echoes the intensely polarized and often suspicious nature of political accountability today. It is a reminder that bureaucratic and administrative misconduct charges have long been used as weapons in local civic turf wars.
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