Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-16
District ATTORNEY McLachlan's
Report to Judge Smith.
A Snap Shot Made at General Bou.
ton.
The Result OF the District Attorney
InvestigatiOn-Statem About
MT. Quinn and General Bou-
tOn-NO Fraud Found,

report. This report, it will be remem-
bered, was submitted to the grand Jury
by Mr.. Quinn, and soon afterward dis
appeared in mysterious manner.
The report is given below in full:
To the Honorable F. N. smith, Judge of the Su-
perior Court OF Los Angeles County, Cali
fOrnia, Department Two:
have carefully examined the report
of Mr.. Quinn on the Whittier reform
school, recently filed with your honor
and referred to me for further inyestiga-
ton.
regret that this matter was referred
to me, for the reason that have not the
power of the court to compel witnesses
to attend and testify in the absence of a
duly verified complaint or an indict-
ment charging crime. Neither have
the power to call grand jury for any
purpose, the court alone has these
powers. | have, however, done the
best could, under the circumstances,
to comply with the order, and submit
the following:
am unable to obtain any positive
proof as to who purloined the report
presented by Mr.. Quinn to the grand
jury, nor am able to discover any rea-
sonable motive on the part of anyone
for so doing, for the reason that the said
report contained statement of no ma
terial fact that is not to be found in the
public records of that institution, rec.
ords that are at all times accessible to
any citizen. From the investigation, it
seems to have been taken for the sole
purpose of creating public clamor and
giving it an unwarrantable notorietv. |
find Mr.. Guinn's report filed with your
tO ha nf oto fro
the public records pertaining to the
Whittier reform school, compiled &C.
cording to the notions of Mr.. Quinn, to-
gether with insinuations by the COM
piler tending to convey the impression
that grave crimes have been committed
by those having charge OF the manage
,ment of that institution.
l examined Mr.. Quinn with refer
ence to the insinuations contained in
his report, and he testifes that he
knows of no evidence or facts upon
which criminal complaint could be
made against anyone connected with
the management of that institution !;
that he could not swear to any such
complaint himself, and the only proof
to sustain en- insinuation OF criminal
conduct on the part of anyone, existed
only in his own imagination.
have also examined large number
of other witnesses with reference to
these same matters, and am compelled
to say that find no one who can swear
to complaint charging any one con-
nected with the Whittier reform school
with the commission 'of crime, and
find no one who is able to give me the
name of any one who can swear to such
complaint.
In this connection, l also sought to
examine Mr.. Blackman and Mr.. Bouton,
the two members of the last grand jury
who attempted to file with your honor
what they termed "a minority report"
The former submitted to partial ex-
animation, and testified that personally
he knew of no facts upon which he
would be willing to swear to complaint
charging any crime. General Bouton
refused to be sworn or testify in the
matter, but told me in an informal con-
versation that he knew of no facts him
self upon which complaint could be
predicated, and that he and Mr.. Black
man never would have attempted to file
a minority report in that matter if they
had not been urged to do so by another
party. ~
This report shows that nearly $780,.
600 have been received and expended
by the officials of that institution, and
it further says: Checking up the con-
troller's warrants against the treasurer's
receipts in the cash book, l find all
moneys reoeived from the state account
ed for; and checking up paid claims
against his disbursements, l find re-
ceipts for all expenditures. The treas.
urer's balance and secretary's agree.
Therefore, so far az the contents OF
this report are concerned, I can see
nothing for the district attorney to do
The law prescribes the only method of
prosecuting criminal offenses, to.wit,
upon complaint duly verified, or upon
an Indictment charging the commission
of a crime. Besides, the last grand
jury, composed OF at least seventeen as
honorable and fair men as ever sat on
any jury, unanimously reported that
there was no proof to sustain an indict-
ment against any one in this matter.
In my investigation of this matter, 1
learned of certain facts which deem it
my duty to call to the attention of the
court. find that the last grand jury
never adopted any report of Mr.. Quinn
on the Whittier reform school, and that
no report of his ever formed any part of
the grand jury's report to the court.
An experts report to the grand jury is in
the nature of expert testimony, and can
be treated only as other testimony given
before that body. 1t should be kept as
all other testimony is required by law
to be kept, and no one had right to
file it even with the court, or in any
way disclose it to the public, any more
than other testimony given before that
body.
also find that the secretary's min
utes of other testimony taken before the
grand jury were surreptitiously taken
from the files and the contents thereof
disclosed to outside parties. According
to the testimony given before me, the
file containing this testimony was last
seen in the hands of General Bouton
just prior to the time when it was dis
covered to be missing. Mr.. Blackman
testified that he made copies OF this tes-
timony and delivered them to General
Bouton, who afterward returned them
to him, and that he could and would
produce them to me forthwith. | i'm
mediately sent the sheriff to request
General Bouton to appear before me and
testify with reference to these matters.
He was found in consultation with Mr..
Blackman, whom had just examined,
and he informed the sheriff that he de-
clined to come and submit to an exami-
l-..- Ia y L.