Los Angeles herald., 1892-08-13
A Court House Affair That
Smells to Heaven.
Naturalization Records Found
to Be Mutilated.
A Well Known Business Man Con-
cerned in the Case.
Documents Changed in Way Which
Under the Statute, Amounts to
FeIony-The Case of Mr..
Taylor's Citizenship.

piece of rasoality that has been attempted
to be carried out in the Los Angeles
county court house in many long day
The. detailsof this latest attempt are alb
solutely shocking. They 60 to show that
there are employed in the Office of the
county clerk of this county, which posi-.
ton is now filled by Trowbridge H.
Ward, some men for whom the hospita-
BILE doors OF San Quentin are certainly
yawning. They also connect with a
shameless and indefensible piece of bust
ness the name of well-known Los An
geles business man who has always stood
very high in the community, and who has
been regarded as the soul of honor and
probity personi6ed.
The naturalization records OF this
county, in the custody of the county
clerk, upon page 40, volume 8, have
been altered and the dates, in SO far as
they appertain to the fret papers of r.
A. Taylor, have been changed to suit
the pleasure of the Republican bosses.
This offense is felony under the laws
of California. 1t was done in the office
of the county clerk, and he was suppos-
dUly COkulZduU VI thO C1ipbSCe Ou dSk
what the motive was? 1t was to make
one more Republican voter out OF a
foreign born person, who had not been
resident OF the United States for the
required five years.
The details of this attempt to make q
voter by criminal mutilation of the
records are long, but they are not tire
some. In fact, they form most inter-
esting chapter in the long record of
scandal that has characterized Repub-
lican rule in this county.
r. A. Taylor is an itinerant typewriter.
He has been doing work in number of
law Offices about the city, including
those of W. A. Ryan, Esq, R. ]. Ad-
cock and Reymert & Orfila. Taylor is a
foreign-born resident. He had not se-
cured his final naturalization papers
until short time ago. He desired to
vote this fall, and his final papers were
necessary.
One day, not long ago, he asked Mr.
Ryan concerning the matter. Mr.. Ryan
asked him to show him his declaration
of intention. This Taylor had, and
produced for the inspection Of Lawyer
Ryan. This declaration of intention, as
exhibited by Taylor to Mr.. Ryan, stated
that he had landed at Philadelphia on
June /, 1888, and the certificate was of the
date OF May 16, 1890, issued in this
county.
The law prescribes that a man shall
be five years resident before he is
eligible for citizenship. Taylor had
only been in the country four years and
little over. He was not eligible for
naturalization in time to vote this fall.
Mr.. Ryan 80 informed him. He told
him that he could not vote, and that he
could not get his final papers this year.
Then Mr.. Ryan dismissed the matter
entirely.
But Taylor was not satified with Mr..
Ryan's opinion. He was rather i'm
pulsive fellow, and was very anxious to
vote in November. He consulted Mr..
Adcock, and also Reymert & Orfila. To
them he exhibited his first papers, and
was informed that he had not been in
this country. long enough to become a
citizen.
Taylor applied also at the Democratic
naturalization bureau for assistance. As
soon az his first papers were examined,
he was again informed that he was not
yet eligible for citizenship. ~ sn5
The next move that Taylor made, &C.
cording to the story that he told to
Messrs. Ryan and Adcock, was more
successful.
He lives in Vernon. One day during
the latter part of July he was asked by
John A. Pirtle of Vernon. who is also a
candidate for the Republican nomina-
tivn for supervisor in the Fourth super
$ visoral district, whether he was going to
support him (Pirtle) or not.
To this Taylor claims that he stated
that he could support no, one, as he
could not vote. Mr.. Pirtle inquired
how that was, and then Taylor .ex-
planned the reason. Upon being shown
Taylor's declaration ofintention, he said
that he could arrange the document all
right. and Taylor asserts that he took
it from him.
When the papers were returned to
Taylor, the date which Taylor came to
the United States had been changed.
Instead of reading June l, 1888, the doc
ument read June /, 1887. 1t was plainly
evident that it had been altered.
Taylor was then taken before Judge
B. N. Smith, superior judge, presiding
in department one, and John A. Pirtle
swore that he had known the said
Taylor for five years as a resident of the
United States. Judge Smith declared
him eligible and he became citizen
and Republican voter.
Now let it be understood that all OF
this story is the story of Taylor related
to Mr.. Ryan and Mr.. Adcoek and others
after he became citizen by mutiation
Of the records and false swearing.
The poor deluded typewriter imagined
that he bad accomplished clever
coup d'etat. He boasted OF it among
his acquaintances and told Mr.. Ryan
and Mr.. Adcock that he had succeeded
in getting naturalized anyway.
AS matter of course those gentlemen
were very much surprised to learn that
Taylor had become naturalized under
the circumstances. They asked how it
had been done. He told them in the
same boasting manner as above related.
But when he wes informed by Messrs.
Ryan and Adcock that he had placed
himself in position where be was very
liable to fill peuitentiary cell, and they
had explained to him what he had done,
he became frightened to death. 1t was
simply pitiful to observe the manner in
which he demeaned himself.
Mr.. Ryan told him that If he would
quietly 60 to work he could perhaps un-
do his share of the rascally job that had
been carried out. Sympathizing with him
and believing that he had in ignorance
Found,
At the drug store, a valuable package,
worth its weight in gold. My hair has
stopped falling and sll dandruff has dis