Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-01
JUDGE BANTER MAKES 4 REPLY.
Attack in the sunday World-HcraId
CmIIs for AnsMer.

.
Calls for an Answer.
Judge Irving f. Baxter makes the following
reply to a sensational attack published in the
Sunday World Herald:
OMAHA, Oct. Sl.-Glbert NJ Hitchcock,
Editor Omaha World Herald: Dear Sir
Upon reading the Omaha Word-Herald this
morning | was both surprised and panied
to find on the first page of your paper Il
vicious attack upon me in connection with
the estate of John MCNulty, deceased.
was surprised because some two weeks ago,
learning that some such article as you have
published, would probably appear in the
had a personal interview with you and in
the interview you assured me that such an
article would not be published un,il it had
been first referred to you and that ! should
be given an opportunity to be heard before
its publication, in order that | might give
you truthful statement of ,he events sur
rounding this estate. Notwithstanding this
assurance you have published without a
moments notice accusations against me
that are wholly false.
l am panied at the article because you
have seen fit TO publish it only forty-eight
hours before election. when you mus, be
aware 1t will go forth to the world as an
attack upon my honor and integrity, while
your readers will have little or no oppor-
tunity to read my denial
Your first insinuation against me is that
hold in my hands as county judge large
sums of money belonging to the. estates of
that the manner in which ] administer
these trust funds cannot be known until
after my term of office has expired. This
statement is unqualifedly false, as your
own court reporter must be aware. | keep
a complete set of books open to the public,
by which can be aSCertained within few
minutes what money | hold in my hands
and to whom same IS payable, and a refer
ence back to the case or estate from which
inspection of these books it viii necessitace
only the trouble of appearing at the county
court and making the request. | have
nothing whatever to conceal relative to my
money l may hold in trust.
Now. few words as to the estate of
administration were granted. to Mrs. Nc
Nuly on the same day on which her ,peti,,
and unusual procedure, for, under the cap
ton of "Hours Instead of Weeks" you
state that ''in ordinary. and usual routine
of the probate court before Judge Baxter's
first term of office began, and during his
two terms, except when the ignorance of
the law and her rights in the case on the
vantage of by the representative of a cor
poration or some such case, the proceed
ingS noted above would not have been COM
p!eted for a number OF days"
am amazed that an article protesting to
comment upon the. probate practice in this
state should contain such a statement 1t
is common practice, under law, to
grant letters of administration on the same
day on which the application is filed. a
of the administration of Judge Shields,
democratic county judge and an excellent
lawyer, fOr.y-three estates or deceased per-
sons were so commenced. This practice has
been fcllowed in some of the largest
estates in this county and has been adopted
by the best lawyers at the Douglas county
bar. Only n few weeks ago, under the di-
rection of Charles b. Keller, esq, a leading
member of the bar, letters of administra-
rion were granted in the NJ. e. Smith es-
tate on the same day on which the petit
tion was fled 1t was but few days ago
that ulis practice was followed in the
estate of the late William B. Sterling. Sim
liar practice was also followed in the
bert, Justus Sohl and large number of
other estates, This practice of issuing let
tiers the same day on which the petit
ton is filed is not only strictly and .ech-
nically legal but the practice has been fol-
lowed for many years The records in this
IS, you, Mr.. Hitchcock, filed a petition ask
ing to be appointed administrator Of the
estate of your father. Phineas w. Hitch
cock, deceased: that on the same day the
guardian of your brother, John G. Hitch
cock, filed n waiver of notice and you took
proved, letters of administration were is
sued to you and an order made directing
that notice be given TO creditors. All on
the same day, You certainly would not
like to admit that this was "A case of H.
norance of the law and your rights in the
fathers estate were hurried through in a
few hours and in an Illegal manner"
You further charge tnat | was present
after Office hours in the evening on the
day the petition was filed in the McNulty
estate and thai | approved the settlement
McNulty, This statement is unqualiedly
false ! left my office at > O'Clock on that
day and did not return to it until the fol
lowing Monday. Whatever was done out