Omaha daily bee., 1895-08-11
Charges Againstn Him by Winspear,
Saokett and Davis,
is BECAUSE He WOULD NOT BE BLtO
Conspiracy ofA9p. AS Against CIcrI,
1of the District Court--Dccided
in Council 125-
MOorcs' Statement.

typewriter matter. In the document it Is
charged that Frank e. Moores has been
guilty of official misconduct, misdemeanors in
office and corruption. These charges are
divided into forty-nine separate specifications,
some OF them alleging that Moores has
charged litigants greater fees than the law
allowed, while others alege that he has
charged fees for work that he never per-
| formed, and still others that he retained in
his possession money that should have been
| paid over to ltigants. without discussion
| the papers were referred to the commtte.
| on judiciary.
! The filing Of these charges had been an
| ticipated for some time, in fact for months,
| 1t being known that James Ruan went be-
| fore the last grand jury and attempted to
secure an indictment against Moores, bu'
| failed. AT that time County Clerk Sackett
| openly charged that there were Irregularities
| in connection with the affairs of the office
| of the clerk of the district court. The
| county commissioners made an investigation
| and satisfied themselves that there was no
| truth in the charges made by Sackett Fer
a time the matter was dropped, but as the
! approaching campaign commenced to warm
| up Winspear conceived that he saw good
| thing in sight and concluded to work it for
| all it was worth. He had two objects in
| view. one being to get his hand on portion
| of Moores' wealth and the other to crafty
an old grudge, which he had studiousy
nursed Tor three years.
HOW 1T BEGAN.
AS the story goes. in the fall of 1891 when
| Frank r.. Moores a candidate for clerk
| of the district court it was said that Winspear
| could deliver the votes of the members Of
! fifteen of the A. p. A. councils. In due time
| this information reached Moores, and being
| anxious for these votes, he commenced nego-
| tiations through middleman, Dan Angel.
| He was met and after some bartering Angel,
as the representative of Winspear, agreed to
| deliver the votes for the sum of 81 800 cash.
| This was just prior to the election, and after
| the votes had been counted and Moores
| elected Winspear called upon him at his
| office and demanded the money. Moores in
| sisted that he had ,liquidated the debt, while
Winspear declared that the money had never
| been paid a stormy scene ensued, and a
result Winspear was ordered out of the office.
| A few days later Angell admitted that Moores
| had paid him between $500 and $500. and that
| he had expended the greater portion Of 1t
| where it would do the most good in the way
| of getting votes in the A. p. A. camps. Since
| that time Winspear has carried a knife in
| his boot. to speak. and has been at all
| times ready to draw it and plunge it into
| Moores. fls..
In 1893 certain parties concluded to work
the good thing that proved so rich in 1891,
| and it is reputed that during the session Of
| the legislature in the winter of 1898 Moores
| was held up to the tune of $500 by the hon
| est legislative boodlers. who threatened to
| the office of clerk of the district court in and
! for Douglas county salaried Office One
! thing is certain, the bill. though drawn was
| not introduced. The same threat was made
| at the last session Of the legislature, but it
was never carried ont Just why is not
| known. but this Is certain. that the states
men from Douglas county changed front and
| left the old law alone
WHAT THE REASONS WERE.
| 1t is intmated that there were two reasons
art hntr thnt
| Colonel Akin and Fred j. Sackett had ambi-
| tions in the direction of the Office of the
| clerk of the district court and the other that
| Moores was bled the third time. Whatever
| the facts may have been, any number of
| plots were hatched to get the office out of the
| possession of MOores The underground
| schemes were worked industr.ousy night and
| day, and what is strikingly strange at this
time is the fact that Wnspear and his
| brethren. who three years ago were working
for Moores and his Doodle, are now out
! against him.
Something like four wesks ago James Ruan
| and Arthur C. Jollffe, the latter a deputy
assessor of the Third ward, commenced to
| rummage through the books in the Office OF
| the clerk of the district court under the guise
| of employees of the county commissioners,
| saying that they We're checking up some old
matters in which the county of Douglas had
| an interest. They examined books. files and
| papers, and a few days later 1t was given
out tnat MoOreS nau Deen guilty OF gross IT
| regularties in the conduct of his office; that
| the overcharges and witness fees held back
| would aggregate anywhere from $4,000 to
| SITE, 900 1t was intended that this report
| should reach the ears of Moores, and of course
| 1t did in the due course Of time. Shortly
| after this the mining was commenced. MOores
| was notified that he was short in his accounts
| and that the matter could be hushed up il he
| would contribute $4,000. Moores indig
| nant and ordered the men from the office,
| declaring that he had been bled before
and that he would not submit to ii again. He
was given the alternative of contributing the
money or having proceedings commenced
| against him. He chose the latter and told
| the backmailers to crack ahead and do Their
worst. A few days later the same parties
| visited him again and renewed their demand
| for hush money. Again Moores refused to
| pay, after which he was informed that the ir-
| regularties extended over a period Of several
years, that the sums were all small and that
| the plan II he did not settle was for one man
| to buy up all of the claims and then bring
suit in the United States court, where one of
his political opponents was in control
TOOK 1T TO THE ORDER.
In the meantime the Wnspear
followers were not idle. They took
| the matter into council 1875 of
| which A. b. Hunt is the recognized
head, and there they presented their plans
| for crushing Moores. The members of the
council voted like man to go on with the
killing, after which there was a casting
about to find men who would bring the
charges. Several Dfithe leaders were willing
to assume the responsibility, but at last II
was decided that Wnspear Sackett and
Davis were the proper men for the work. 1t
was argued that 1t would give Winspear a
chance to get even, and crafty the grudge
OF long standing;1it would give Sackett an
opportunity OF advancing himself in the race
for clerk of the district court and it would
help Davis may9raitY booin, in the event
that his friend, Clarence l.. Chaffee, should
fall by the .waysiate IN his efforts to secure
| the nomination.
1t was given out last night, and with some
degree of authority, that the plan even now
was to force Mooresi to contribute to the
A. p A. campaign fund, as he did when he
made the last rsEe for the office which he
now holds. II he would do this it was
Charges char "'S would t Be dropped " If III he Would would
Whereof Wis 'rs they teq that nsy Hs
charges would be pushed and held over
Moores until the close of the campaign, and
II he was defeated. then they would be
dropped, In the meantime, If he continued in
the fight, the plan was TO have him sus-
pended, and an A. p. A. put in the Office
to take charge until the right man could be
elected
Soon after the charges were filed yesterday
afternoon, Mr. Moores was seen at his resi-
dence, where he, is confined to his bed by
sickness, and informed of the course that
had been taken by Wlnspear, Sackett and
\