Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-01-04
Mrs. Leases Removal.

interesting at this time.
On Thursday Governor Lewelling
removed Mrs. Lease from her position
as chairman Of the state board of
charities and appointed J. W. Freeman,
Mcpherson man, as her successor.
Mrs. Lease wrote the following open
letter In reply:
Dear Governor. sDisclaIming any In enuon
Of questioning your authority, the wisdom Of
your ucts. or the intcgrit Of your purpose !
! beg leave 10 remind YOU that you have rs chiei
executive Of thi, state. tried and 8. nienced me
! without according 20 me that whl,h the lawson
! our land accord 10 the yhcst criminal -'lhc
| right Of defense"
| Were an employee Of yours your right TO per
| potrate this act Of injustice might depend upon
| your inclination As II Is, recognize that
| am an ,mployc Of the state, accountable as
| such To he people Of this state Tor my uficial
| record ard for them as well M for myself de.
| mnnd "a statement and Investigation Of the
| charles preferred against me that may have
| an oppor unity 10 con ed" the manifest justice
| of our decree or defend myself from the i'm.
| putation of hirclinR polit clans
Most faithfully yours
MR4 LEASE,
y ~ dent Board state Trustees Of State char
tab, l"-t,tutinut
She has employed Eugene Hagan
aud Judge pOster as her attorneys AMI
will make fight for her place. To The
press she explains the situation thus:
"When | accepted the position" she
said, 81 tork my oath to do my duty.
Governor Lewelling saw was going to
do it regardless OF the wishes of the
administration, and he proceeded to
harass me through lis servile tools,
Householder and Waite. lie even
went 80 far as to dictate the policy Of
the board, and himself demanded the
removal of Carter at the deaf and dumb
school. did not think he had right
to interfere, as the people held us
responsible for the MANAGEMENT Of the
institutions. This WAS the beginning
Of the row. ! was out voted, and
Carriers resignation WAS asked for.
yesterday demanded of the
governor that J. II Kennedy of Wilson
county b. appointed to succeed Mr.
Voc, Republican on the board, whose
term expires in April. Governor
Lewellng refused with the ungracious
remark that he would not appoint
Kennedy to any posi- ion. This favor,
the first had asked Of The administra-
ton, wss not requrs'rd-it was de-
m,nded KNEW that, if refused, il
meant decapitation
Mrs. Lease was asked what effect
her removal would have on the party
in Kansas, but dee intd to answer.
She said, however, that sbn herself was
lighting for a PRINCIPE and not for q
mere crunb Of an ili.r. She said nlsj
that she had never denied the much
questioned interview uf a month ago,
Ia which she stated that the present
Popnlist adnlnis,ra' would be
turned down. Every charge preferred
then by me will be suh5tautiaJ,d 10y me-
at the pro3tr time. Any one who is in
the party for principle, a. 1 am, cannot
AND wi.,--.i--tal9Tats-tb corruption OF
the present administration, an admin
liltratiun more corrupt han any Repub
lean administration that ever disgraced
Kansas. fit Is renominattd, | viii
leave tue ) ate
! Mr. I~.se said that Governor
LawrIuug's M sion seemed tu he to
make appointments TO further his own
political ends regardless Of any con.
sequences that might ensu. Aud
when az Hppon'ee WAS l1utd who
refused to d. luo bidding, Pee was
iepused She pointed out u long u,tI
of blundera IT the governor, and said
that the app,intmsut OF such non as
Labor COMMISSIONS Todd was enough
TO bring any administration into dis
repute, This appointment WAS
senseless aud uupardouabir, she said, !
'and had not even responsibility
behind it. belong to the knights of
Labor into which Todd for some
reason or other unknown To Tie real
friends OF labor, las been admitted, |
aud want to say that his standing in
the order IL far below his st,ndiug
iu the Peoples Party ard that
is next to nothing. Why, the labor |
vote of our party has neatly been
wiped out by TINS one mln Ia l
Sedgwick county, In 1892 the popul s
State ticket was given l,lGO votes b.
the labor oganil ,.ions At the last
election 1t received oliy eleven votes
from them. To no one else than Todd |
is this falling of raced. But the GOV.
enor will not remove him. On NO. !
LeWelling will retain Todd in office
That is part Of the suicidal policy he
adopted when he FIST became governor,
md when politician starts out to
commit suicide he generally succeeds.
"a more corrupt crowd of polite ans
never di.graced the State ut Kansas,
the Republicans were not in IT. with !
the present administration. Now,
understand me, | don't mean that all
of the cth,rh1ijels are corrupt but
there are some that are getting pretty 4,
good things ont Of the office
THE trouble ia that Governor Lew.
cling and Dick Chase want to run the
Peoples Party, name all Of the appoint.
ments and have just such men in that
will vance the interests of these two