The Placer herald., 1859-05-07
The Defamers Of the Hon. Joseph Walkup.
Who Are They?

Cauley prererred what they call sPeclhc
charges" against "Chief Warden Walkup
and the Managers Of the Prison." and to
make way for preferring them, in a commu-
nication directed to Messrs. Hines, Tully and
Laspeyre, Assembly Committee, they say
that "they did, in conversations with mem
bers of the Legislature, make statements on
the authority of others, which if true re-
fleet severely upon some of the officers OF
the Prison" 1t will thus appear that these
men take upon themselves, the responsibility
Of giving publicity to these rumors of a
slanderous nature, the investigation Of which
by committees from the Senate and Assembly
has cost the State, perhaps, thousands of
dollars. Before we give implicit confidence
to charges made against men whose reputa-
tons have stood fair for years among their
most intimate neighbors, it would be we'll to
see who their defamers are, and who are the
ready tools they find in the Legislature to
reiterate their poisonous venom.
John F. McCauley, is the sub-lessee of
Gen James NJ Estel, deceased, in the State
Prison contract. His God is the American
eagle, when stamped upon the coin Of the
United States, and his greatest ambition in
life is, to possess as many of these craven
images as it is possible for him, by hook or
by crook, to gather to his own proper pocket
Without laying himself criminaIly liable,
he has never been distinguished for scruples
of conscience, in these devotions. BY virtue
of his position. (before being ousted by the
State authorities) he was enabled at the ex-
pense of much human suffering, (see report
of State Prison Committee, ninth session.
to make great deal of money. Taking
the prison and profits thereof from him,
made him as mad and venomous as an adder
"a disease that has assumed in him
chronic form. lie therefore snaps and in
serts his fangs into every creature that he
imagines has, or will, oppose his avaricious
designs upon the State Treasury. He thinks
also, that by detrarting from the merit of
the management of the Prison, under the
Governor, Secretary of State, and the Lieu
tenant Governor, that his own meanness and
infamous conduct whilst in charge of that
institution, will appear, by comparison, less
mean and infamous Whilst in charge him
self of those poor creatures confined in that
place, he enriched himself, to some extent,
by approprating to himself the watches,
iewery, money, and The valuabes, which
they might be possessed of when they came
to his hands. Charges by such a man have
but little moral force.
Major James S. Graham-this gentlemans
title was not obtained in the army of the
United Sates-he is attached to, and has
lone good service, in veteran corps of
obby-bummers that have infested the Leg
stature of California for the past ten years.
He has had much to do with State Prison
affairs, and claims to be interested to the
amount of many thousand dollars, in the
,laims of McCauley, Este & Co. lie has
never regarded the interests of the State
even when a sworn officer thereof, but the
greatest feat of patriotic ledgerdemain of
his moral giant, is one he tells himself-and
therefore ii muSt By true. 1t was in the year
lS53, when the virtuous Bigler held sway
4 bill had passed the Legislature relating
% the water front Of the city of Benicia.
The Governor was said to be opposed to it,
and our Major was employed as the 60
to arrange matters. This our skill
'ul diplomats: effected for the sum Of two
thousand dollars. Armed with forty fifty
lollar pieces, and the bill in question: he
made his appearance before Honest John.
The bill was signed, and placing the same
n his pocket, he gathered suddenly upon
.wenty of the said slugs, and with a rough
augh at old Johns violent protestations,
:aptured to his own proper use one thousand
lollars.
As much as one might fear this mans
hatred, his friendship is yet more dangerous
it is like the coil of the anaconda crush
NO the victim-hs flattery the beslobbering
Of the same serpent by which he is enabled
to swallow you whole. Let public men be-
rare of him. We fear the Major and Mr..
McCauey in failing to sustain by testimony
the charges made against Gov Walkup, have
subjected themselves to the charge of max
ing unfounded and reckless assertions"-we
do greatly fear it.
Mr. Uwin, a statesman from the county of
Yolo, seems to have been one of the 'assem
bed wisdom" whose gullability was sufli<-
ciently wrought upon by lobby influence, to
be induced to repeat upon the floor of the
Assembly, the slanders of McCauley and
Graham. He must have been wofuly
wrought upon, for he speaks of those wor-
thies as Irresponsible men," Mr.. Tully was
a member of the investigating committee.
From all accounts he has been an outsider
all his life, and is now much more distin
guished for a long, ragg ged beard, dirty face,
and hang dog expression of countenance,
than any qualities Of statesman. We
understand his part of the committee duty,
was to wait upon the clerk Of the same,
light his pipe, and such like labor Of love-