People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-08-10
Topeka Letter.
TOPEKA, KAN, Aug. {, 81.
Iecnlar corresnondence

space 10 explain al Jnelr mlSSUaCe'
mentS, so this week we will devote
considerable space TO the nature and
abSurdity Of one OF two which we
trust will suffice TO show that no de-
pendenCe whatever can be put in any
thing the Republican papers say
about officials or those who belong to
the POpuliSt party.
For instance, here are few eX-
tracts from a column article which
appeared in the Chicago Herald July
IA, which is SO utterly untrue that
the Capital has not yet got up cour-
age to republish it.
TOPEKA, Kansas, July 1.-THE
story of the pardon of George ShOne-
walt from the Kansas penitentiary by
Gov. Lewelling, and the plot he laid
to secure executive clemency, is the
latest addition to the wealth of Kan
SaS campaign literature now being
thrust upon the weary and very
much oyerworked people. This is
not one of many cases where the in
fuential frienGs Of criminal have
induced the executive to issue a par
don. 1t is not one where the tears
Of heart-bFOken mother secured
the sympathy from the governor that
moved him to give her son freedom.
but according TO the story told by
Matt Semple, a discharged guard
from the Kansas penitentiary, it is a
case of reward in hidden treasure
which was to be delivered when
ShOnewalt was made free man."
Just before he returned to Mont
gOmery county, Kansas, he said, the
officers were pursuing the robbers so
closely that they feared arrest, and
having nearly 100000 with them
they decided to bury it in some Sc
cluded place in the Ozark mountains
in northern Arkansas. The second
night after the burial of this treas
ure, he said, the officers surrounded
them in camp, killed three of the
band and arrested two Others, ShOne-
walt being the only one who escaped.
The money is there yet he said,
and | can 60 to the very spot in Car
roll county, Arkansas, and lay my
hand on it,"
"A few days later Gov. Lewelling
went to the penitentiary and spent
Sunday, when, it is claimed, he and !
Warden Chase held a long conference
with ShOnewalt. All the circum-
stances 60 to prove these meetings,
for within ten DAYS an unconditional |
pardon was issued to ShOnewalt with
out going through the Formally of |
allowing the state board of pardOnS |
to pass upon the case"
whether the Governor and War
den found the buried money will |
probably never be known, but it is a
fact that ShOnewalt told them the
story and that he was thereupOn |
granted an unconditional pardon. |
Members Of the governors own pOlit-
lcal household insist that all the cir
cumstanCeS in the case are against /
him, and that his refusal to talk
about the matter only gives credence
to the story"
Now the facts of this case, which |
can be verified by the records and doc |
umentS on file, is that there is not |
even Semblance of truth in it. In
the first place, Matt Semple, the al
legged discharged emrlOye, who is
made to appear as authority for the !
story, is not now and never was a
guard at the pen or employed in any
other position there.
tn ere is on file in the board of Oar.
dons, documents, affidavlts, letters
and petitions too numerous to men,
tion in support of pardon for this
man, and there is the recommended
tiOn Of the board Of pardOns also, all |
OF which anyone who is DESTROYS of |
information upon this matter can see
at any time during business hours.
We would publish some of these but
they are too vOluminOuS; but what is
the use?
The Governor does not care to talk
about the matter because it is too
big falsehOod to cOuntenance. He
simply refers those who ask about it
to the records which are the best evil
dence that this is one of the blacklist
lies in the annals of history, and it is
a fair sample, too, of all the other
stories appearing in the republican
press against him and his appOinteeS.
Here is another one:
Robert Semple, the secretary of
the POpuliSt committee, is clerk in
the bank commissioners office. Dan
lei G. Zercher, the treasurer of the
same committee, is playing assistant
secretary of state, and at the last
meeting Of the POpuliSt executive
council an order was maize directing
the board of public works to finish up
the rooms in the basement of the
state house for the use of Mr.. Bried.
enthal and his PopuliSt state central
committee" .-EldOradO ReDublicnn
This liehas appeared in nearly all
the republican papers in the state.
Robert Semple is not a clerk in the
bank commissioners office. Lie num-
Der one. The two rooms referred to
were ordered fitted up for the office
of bank commissioner and not for
the POpulist state central COM
mittee. Lie number two. Dan
iel c. Zercher, assistant secretary of