Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-03-21
Kearney and the Montana.

kearney and the Montana.
Immediately following our inter
view with Denis Kearney, we sen
a letter to Mr.. f. Mac Crellish, ed
itor of the AIta, calling for a verl
fication of the story which we hat
copied from that paper of May 28th
1878, in regard to Kearney's cow
ardice on the Montana. In oul
conversation with Kearney We'd
nesday, in the office of Wells, Fargo
& Co.'S Express, we stated that we
intended to ask the Alta to verify
or retract the story. There were
two significant circumstances to u:
then apparent. First, although
the story was published in the
HERALD, on the morning of the
evening on which Mr.. Denis Kear-
ney referred to Father Lynch of the
HERALD, he did not, in the whole
course of his speech, deny or in any
way tackle the charge. Secondly,
when, in the course of our conver.
sation with Kearney, we held ouI
letter to Mr.. Mac Ctellish in ouI
hand, and said we were about to
mail it, informing him that we
called upon the editor of the Alta
for proof or retraction of the charge,
Kearney said that no notice would
be taken of our communication.
This was evidently mistake on
Kearney's part, as the following
dispatch from Mr.. Mac Crellish,
promptly succeeding the receipt OF
our letter. shows:
SAN FRANCISCO, March Goth.
MIR. J. d. LYNCH:-Mr. johnson,
our reporter, has sent you to-day q
statement on Kearney and his con-
duct on the steamer Montana.
Read it and print 1t. Nearly a
year has elapsed since this publica-
ton, and Kearney has not vet
brought any libel suit.
l. . h AS
We observed Kearney keenly
during our conversation, and no.
ticed that he did not enjoy the sub
ject, Notwithstanding that he had
introduced it himself, after we an
nounced our purpose to probe it to
the bottom and give him the bene-
fit of the cold facts, however they
might bear. The full statement
will probably arrive to-day.
Since writing the foregoing we
have received the following state
ment, by telegraph from Mr.. John
son, the reporter of the Alta, who
originally received the facts from
the lips Of Capt. Carroll:
J. D. LYNCH, EDITOR HERALD:
Since 1872, to the present time,
have been local reporter of the
Alta. About one month previous
to May, 1873, l had an interview
with Capt. Carroll at his house, on
Minna street, and took very CO.
pious notes, which served me as the
basis of an article on Dennis Kear-
ney, reproduction of which was
lately circulated In your city. After
having written the article 1t was
set up and I, personally, submitted
proof to Capt. Carroll, who read it,
and, in the presence of his wife,
stated that the facts therein related
were substantially correct. 1 held
the article back for three weeks,
consulting other parties in this
city, who were more or less &C.
quainted with the facts related. II
leaked out that the article was to
appear and the Alta was threatened
with o libel suit if the article did
appear. At the date designated and
on the following Sunday the Alta
was denounced on the sand lots but
the libel suit was never brought. ]
would send you new statement
from Captain Carroll, but he is
now absent as Master of the Great
Republic. But it will reach here
on Sunday from Portland and
may advise you further.
J. g. JOHNSON,
Reporter Alta.
In his whole conversation with
us Kearney's manner was not such
as to indicate his belief that he was
sincere in the statement that he
had acted q mans part in the oc.
currence in controversy. From the
present aspect of the story we have
no doubt that Kearney is not proud
of that particular incident of his
history, and does not seek to have
it minutely investigated. 1t must
be borne in mind that no Angelefio
has said that the thing did not oc-
cur, but their statements stop at
the fact that they did not witness
1t. 1t is only reasonable to suppose
that, in time of critical suspense
on O vessel, the Captain, in order
not to unduly alarm the passengers,
would select private section OF
the vessel for stormy interview
with his subordinate. Kearney
undoubtedly seems to have acted
the poltroon on critical occasion,
upon which the lives of both the
passengers and crew, of q vessel OF
which he was an officer, were in
peril. We have fully acquitted
ourselves of our duty of fair play.
Our verdict is against Kearney.