Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-09

ID IL - a LIEF
The Fort Worth GAZETTE intimates that GER
tain man in Texas was given SIS O0J by the rail-
roads to defeat railroad legislation in the last
! legislature. We think The GAZETTE simply lies
! assertion. Such malicious charges this is
what prevents the correction OF the libel law
| kaufman sun.
Hard words IRE not arguments. All
over this state men are glibly talking of
the slush fund to defeat railroad legisla-
ton that went into the pockets of lobby
lists, legislators and newspapers; Master
Campbell made report directly charg-
ing the railroads with using money 10 de-
feat railroad legislation. This report
was legal document, and answer to it
could only have been effectually made in
court room. A protest was filed to
this report, but before the case could
come TO trial the protest gas lrithdrG,on,
| thus clearly indicating that Master
! Campbell's charges could not be denied.
1t is very easy for the organs OF the
roads 10 denounce as go lIe'' that which
Is founded in an official report made to
| law court. But If it is ga lie," aohy
lcas the protest 10ithdragn before 1t could
be subjected to legal test? II it Is ga
lie, F." why do the railroads not go into
court and submit their denial to legal in
curry? II it ia "a lie,'' why did not
those who are charged in Master Camp
| BELLS official report with bribe-takng,
as well as those who are charged with
bribe-giving, go into the courtroom and
face the report before 1t became YER
dict?
If there had been no bribery, would
men charged with bribe-giving and
bribe-taking rest quiet without legal
protest under such infamous charge as
that embodied in Master Campbells re-
port? If il is Ha lie'' it would have been
easy to prove It SO. That no legal effort
was made to disprove the masters
charges is evidence that his charges were
not lies but truths. Discussing this
scandalous matter, the Fort Worth
Evening Mail of the 4th inst. well says:
the presence of q bribe-giver. And his
crime is no less than that of the guilty
wretch who touches his palm in the reach |
for gold. And then the Mail adds:
We have in mind several whose records arc |
not ont of harmony with snch mission, men |
whose avowed business it has been for years to
hover about and debauch le gislatures, whose
trance in legislative halls is always the signal
for sly glances and covert tests, who have minis
tered to the vi e passions of public servants and
served As presiding geniuses of secret ale and
gambling houses, that they might in the END
drive hard bargains for mems sous.
Or it may have been OF those thrifty
patriots who went to the Texas legislature twelve
or IF sen years ago and gambled with such re-
marks5le success, especially when the subjects
Of railway tax exemptions and donations were
up, that they came into speedy possession OF
princeiy fortunes, and row figure as capitalists,
whose chief concern ct this moment is fear
that the state will be captured by the commune.
Or il may have been some OF the smaller satel-
ties of those early Legislatures. who assisted in
petty thieveries on the percentage plan, forging
drafts against state funds, and converting the
state house into 4 den OF prostitution, where
their Delilahs snapped favors for votes.
so-ae one OF these otioiated at that bargain
and paid that money. Which one?
The report of Master Campbell touches
the honor of Texas, the honor of the
state IS representatives and of the states
The report of Master
Campbell affects the states interest and
its rights. If Texas law has found its
inspiration in railroad slush funds the
people OF Texas have a right to know all
he truth of the shameful story, and
somewhere there should arise O man
with honor and honesty and courage and
ability to disclose the infamy in all its
details. +