The herald., 1893-02-06
HOT SHOT FIRED FROM CANNON.
Jackleg Lawyers and Their At
tempt to Sell Votes.
He Will Spurn the Gang Henceforth
AS So Many Lepers.
The Congressman-E Elect Replies to the
Recent Attacks Made Upon His
Character by Alleged
Conspfrators.

Hon. Marion Cannon, congressman
elect from the Sixth district, has issued
a circular 'reply to one of the most
cold-blooded attempts to assassinate the
character of an honest man." which is
as follows:
To the People of the State Of Califor-
MIA: The resolutions signed and sent
out by gang of conspirators against the
honor and integrity OF the Peoples
party OF this state demand OF me this
statement. The state committee has
made two attempts heretofore to destroy
my influence with the Peoples party.
First, by sending circular letter to my
self, John s. Dore and Jesse Pound
stone, threatening public attack upon
us through the press; this attack was
crushed by my answer to their letter.
Second, when Gen. Weaver came to
this state they advertised him to make
five and ten-minute speeches all day
Sunday through the San joaquin val
ley. earnestly opposed this programme
that would disgrace our candidate
in the eyes of all decent people, and
with sullen mutterings they abandoned
it. Seeing their total incompetence to
manage political campaign, wrote
them asking the privilege of managing
my own campaign. 1 did this out of
respect to their authority and they re-
luctantly granted my request. man.
aged my own campaign, which resulted,
as the reader knows, in q great victory.
This, it seems, they looked upon as a
rebuke to their efforts in San Francisco
and elsewhere. When the election was
over this gang determined to seize the
control of the party, which, up to this
time, was practically in the hands OF
the people outside OF San Francisco and
Oakland. For this purpose they called
q secret meeting of the executive COM
mittee in San Francisco and organized
machine more infamous, if possible,
than that of Buckley, or Crimmins
and Kelley, and passed resolutions
denouncing one of our presidential elec.
tors, and demanding that our assembly
men should vote first, last and all the
time for the man Ct. V. Cator) they
should select for senator, and this in the
face of the fact that five of our members
were nominated by the Democrats with
the pledge that they would vote for
White, whenever they saw no chance to
elect Populist. These pledges were
made in consideration of Democratic
votes, and the Democrats faithfully
carried out their part by casting two or
three times as many votes for these men
as did the Populists. denounced the
dishonesty of this course, insisted that
it was suicidal, that people would not
trust US if we repudiated our pledges
to them made before the election.
These pledges were open and notorious,
and at least one of them in
writing. begged j. s. Dore, E. M.
Warcell and others not to place our
yonng party in such q dishonest posi-
ton. l appealed TO them not to carry
out the California end OF the conspiracy
hatched by John Sherman and others
in Washington, to seize the senators OF
California, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming
and Montana. l exposed to them the
whole plan, and declared that would
defeat it in this state ii in my power;
that | would not permit our men to tie
up the legislature and let the governor
appoint De Young or Dan Burns to as
sst in stealing the senators from the
states named, and under no circum-
stances could our members (pledged as
they were) combine with the Repub-
licans without dishonor; that when it
became apparent we could not elect one
of our own men, we should then redeem
our pledges to the people who elected
them.
When I arrived in Sacramento 1
found that the machinery of our party
was in the hands of two jackleg lawyers
by the names of Chamberlain and Gator,
and tremendous pressure was brought to
bear upon our members to carry out the
programme agreed upon at the meeting
II, Sop Ero r hafa~a fhn5r
caucus and appealed to them that such
course was suicidal to the party, but /
never at any time advised them to vote
against Gator, while he had any chance
to be elected. No man, not an idiot,
ever believed he could be elected.
White lacked but one vote and five Peo-
ple's party men were pledged to him
when Gator WAS dropped, and one inde-
pendent stood ready to elect him when
he desired. In view of these facts, 10
days before the election, / telegraphed
to Topeka, Kan, 'Hold the fort;
White will come from California
and will help to seat our man in the
senate" Kansas took courage and
seated such men as had been counted
out and elected honest John Martin,
thus breaking the backbone of the con-
spiracy to defeat the will OF the people
ia five states. When White was elected
by Farmer Kearns, whom this gang
failed to bulldoze, their rage knew no
bounds, and Bretz, wild-eyed crank
from Alameda, stated that | had COR
rupted Kearns. / branded him as a
liar at the time, and committee was
appointed to investigate the charge.
That night these disgruntled and ratified
statesmen, tagether with their jackleg
lawyers, retired to their den, and one of
the lawyers drew up the resolutions
that were signed and telegTaphed all
over the country denouncing me as
traitor to our cause and advising that I
be "cut off from fellowehip in
the party" I will advise this
gang that SO far as they are con-
cerned my fellowship is cent off,"
80 much so, that 1 will never recognize
one of them in society or elsewhere, and
until due apologies are made / will
spurn them as Iwould 80 many lepers.
The resolutions signed by this dis
gruntled crew were based upon the
charges OF Bretz. These charges we're
investigated by committee composed
of Democrats, Republicans and Popu-
lists, and after hearing the evidence
they unanimously declared that the
charge "was false and untrue in every
respect, that the charge so made was
groundless and malicious, inasmuch as
from the evidence we find no probable
cause for the utterance of the words
used. We find that not the slightest
taint of corruption or wrong-doing in
any respect attaches to either Hon. Ma