Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-28
LETTER BAG.
Set Themselves Right.

<@DAAORb 1AhRAADs AAtA4AAJ 6ANO 10
room in your paper for q correction
which is due from us, not only to Mr..
James McLachlan the Republican can
didate for district attorney, but to the
people Of the county generally. 1t has
been told US that Mr.. Dillon, the Peo-
ple's party candidate for district attor-
ney, has stated on the stump that our
firm, together with other attorneys, has
been employed as special council to as
sist Mr.. McLachlan in county litigation,
and that large sums of money have been
paid for that purpose. We also notice
that in printed speech of Mr.. Dillon's
contained in the Sunday HERALD of Oc-
tober 10th, he, after referring to the ex-
penditures of the district attorneys
Office for the year 1891, makes the fol-
lowing statement:
In the total for 1891, Mr.. McLachlan's
first year, there is $2054.46 paid out to
s. M. White, Silent, Houghton & Camp
bell and others for services rendered to
the county. Mr.. McLachlan denies
this, yet the item will be found on page
48 OF the auditors last printed report.
and the district attorneys own approval
is attached to some of the vouchers,
notably one for $3.50 paid to Mr.. White
for an opinion upon the court house
title.
The fact is that instead of $2054 46
having been paid for outside counsel
during the first year of his administra-
ton, l find upon subsequent examina-
ton that the real amount is $2478 96.
Here is the correct statement of that
matter, with the date, number of vouch-
er, to whom paid, the book and page of
the allowance and the several amounts:
January, No 8, A. E. Davis prop bill
January, ..as gZ,,Ss II. 81, H. s. &c.-cohn a7a os
January, No; as6. 4. B. Carpenter. ~
February. No. sl2, r. B. Carpenter,
February, w. No. os2, G. q. stephens, ' ~
Crawford vs. weyse. 1928 ..e..:.' LOO 90
March, No 1921, houghton,s. &C. ,oo
q. bonds, 1878 -. ...........:.... $50 90
June, : No: SonS sal R B. Carpenter in re ~.
December, No 9I2, Houghton, s. &
c., G. H. title, A-1S2. 500 90
Total. ........--.........-..... AIS 96
In all the instances mentioned by Mr..
Dillon concerning ua, we were employed
while Mr.. Kelly was district attorney,
and in most of them the services were
entirely completed before Mr.. McLach-
Ian assumed the duties of his Office, al
though payment was made later on.
Soon after Mr.. McLachlan came into
Office he indicated to US that he desired
to make record for himself, end that
he wished to conduct all the county liti-
cation without the aid of counsel. We
surrendered to him all the unfinished
matters previously intrusted to US, as
speedily as possible, except one case
in which our fee was fixed contingent up
on obtaining Judgment, and in which we
assisted him in obtaining judgment for.
the county for upwards Of $1,000; and
which is now pending on motion for
new trial. We later on presented our
claims to the county for the services rem
deIed, except as to the case still pend
ing, and in letter which we wrote to.
the board of supervisors, and which is
on file with them, we stated as follows:
"We understand that Mr.. McLachlan,
the present district attorney, considers
himself fully competent to attend to all
of the county litigation and to take care
of the county's interests in the questions
pertaining to the title to the new court
house site. We consider this most COM
mendable in him, and think that every
opportunity shonld be given him to
serve the county"
Our claim as above referred to was
submitted to Mr.. McLachlan, as district
attorney, and he indorsed upon it as
follows:
ITO the honorable Board of Supervisors.
"GENTLEMEN: Judge Campbell has
just informed me that his firm was en-
ployed by the board prior to my term of
Office to investigate the claim of one
Bell against the court house property,
and that they have done large amount
of work on that case under that en-
ployment. Under this state of facts it
is my opinion that their demand should
be paid. JAMES McLAcHLAN,
District Attorney"
These records and claims are part of
the public record and are accessible to
all. We have not been employed in any
manner in any county litigation or
county business since Mr.. McLachlan
has come into the district attorneys
Office.
Los Angeles, October ~, 1892.
HoUGHToN, SILENT & CAMPBELL,
Attorneys at Law.