Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-05
MAKING THINGS LIVELY.
A PITTsBuRe BANKER sTlRs UP AFFAIRS
IN KANSAS CITY.

Mr.. Mellon Furnishes the Statement He
Promised-It is in the Form of an AfH.
davit, and Contains Direct Charges OF
Attempted Leg-Pulling.
The sensational disclosures made by the
written statement of Thomas Mellon, ol
Pittsburg, touching the members of the
lower house of the Common Council oil
Kansas City, said to be corrupt, is the
almost universal theme of comment in that
city. 1t is generally said that no matter
what may be the result of the present inves-
tigation, the sworn statement submitted by
Mr.. Mellon presents charges so serious in
their nature that the grand jury must direct
its attention to the case.
When one interested party writes to an.
other interested party that "a wooden man
could catch the three chief ones-Ha yes,
Bowes and Foley'-and that "the man who
could not catch Grady, O'Sullivan and
Tobin could not make his salt on very
clear trail of crime" he is supposed to
know whereof he speaks. That is what
Attorney l.. G. Irvine is quoted as saying
in letter to Mr.. Mellon, and by the latter
gentleman returned to Kansas City with his
deposition.
The charges are of Doodle in connection
with the building of an iucline plane in the
Western city, and are very direct. For in
stance, Mr.. Mellon says:
Uniformed Mr.. HAYES thatit was BY the advice
OF Mr.; Irvine and other friends of the plant
that consulted him, and that we wanted his
opinion as to whether our plans would have the
desired effect. After some hesitation he re-
piled that he was IN favor of the plane
himself, and that, of course, lie did not
look for or expect any reward for favor
ing it, but some Councimen were in the
inrr rnna rrfnt md rrr
some compensation for their services in such
cases. and he did not beliele we could succeed
In any event without accedIng to their require
ments. He thought they bad tact and influ-
ence enough to defeat US unless we used q little
money on them.
1replied to this that apart from the moral
question involved neither the members of the
company nor the Councilmen could take the
risk of paying receiving money in such
case, as 1t constituted a criminal of.
tense. This was in reply to remark
OF his that such thing was customary,
and II the franchise was valuable it was a bet
ter business policy to comfy with the custom,
although wrong. He then went on to explain
that none of the parties he referred to took
money Tor their votes or aS bribe that they
only accepted it as a fair compensation for
their services and influence in canvassing with
otner members: that they never pledged their
own own vote one way Or the other, but
pleased. He seemed to think this course was
legitimate and avoided criminal responsibility
but in this we differed in opinion, and when 1
nnaily assured him that whatever might be the
consequence no money would be forced on him
he 1ntImated that such course might be strictly
right but would not be effective in getting a
franchise.
should say further that these opinions were
not peculiar to Mr.. Hayes. Similar opinions
were expressed to me by many other business
men who were not Councilmen. Short
ly after this interview (HayesD met with an
other Councilman and introduced the subject
to him, who, after listening to the merits of
the case Tor few moments. promptly offered
to use his influence in favor of the franchise if
we would pay him $500 for the service If my
memory serves me right this Councilman's
name was Foley. but MIR. McNall, who was
present at the time and knew him, can correct
me if wrong.
The charges are sworn to before Albert
A. Gettys, of Pittsburg.