The record-union., 1897-01-23
TUE CuTpD C[ lpT
ILL Olllll UnIl'h'
liz IL UtIlSurpQ DV lne UOM-
H. D4

Again was the Assembly the center
of greatest interest yesterday All
signs had failed that pointed toward
sensation on Thursday, but it was be-
lieved by everyone that the House
could hardly adjourn until Monday
without having, in some way, dehned
its position upon it's household affairs,
with the details Of which the State has
been ringing for two weeks.
AT THE LAST MOMENT.
Tt was not. however, until the last
hour of the afternoon, not until flood
of light was turned upon the Assembly
chamber from the big electroliers that
make it brilliant when the day wanes-
that the time came for the denouement
of the first chapter Of the story.
During the morning, when, in the
regular order of business, the Chairmen
of committees all over the House We're
handing in reports, not a word came
from the Committee on Attaches, to
which had been referred the resolutions
calling for investigation. After the
noon hour a recess was taken until 3
o'clock, and the Speaker announced
Republican caucus to be held in the
interim. It was to this meeting OF the
caucus that Chief Clerk Duckworth
sent his reply to their demand for an
investigation.
DUCKWORTH TO THE CAUCUS.
and extent of your authority in the
matter of requesting my resignation as
Chief Clerk of the Assembly is, Of
course, not known to me. If, however,
it is within your province to entirely
direct the course of the proceedings; II
the authority to enforce my resignation
rests entirely with the committee who
waited upon me, then L address this
statement to YOU On the other hand,
if you are simply to report my answer
to some higher authority, l beg you to
do me the justice of transmitting the
reply to that authority.
1 am guilty of no offense.
/ have done nothing criminal in the
sight of God or man. And before you
impose upon me the penalty of a crime;
before you hold me up to public oppro
brium; before you dishonor and hunil-
late me before the people of the State,
I ask for that one sacred privilege this
country gives to every man before TAX
ing away his honor or his liberty-a
fair and impartial hearing.
Would you hold me responsible for
statements l never gave utterance to
and which I can prove to be false?
Would you make me the victim Of
rumors not founded on truth without
giving me the simple privilege of de-
NAL?
Would you compel me to bear the
stigma of self-confesSion Of guilt when
If the privilege is granted, 1 can prove
my innocence?
Am I to be denied even the crun. b
of extenuation?
Am l TO be branded in disgrace not
only as a coward, but as a guilty
coward?
Is my silence to be considered as a
mute acknowledgment of my shame
when as a matter of fact that silence
is forced upon me?
Do you want me to stand before the
bar of the House and the people of the
State with my lips closed and tacitly adj
init the truth of everything that has
been charged against me without one
single word Of official explanation or
defense?
do not believe that, upon second
thought, you viii be so unjust. l do
not believe you will deprive me of one
single utterance in my behalf.
Your communication to me. coming.
as it does with the sacred privileges and
txacting restraints Of my own party
caucus, leaves me with no champion or
defender from that source.
You have, through the check of the
caucus, brfdled the tongues of those of
my own party who might have come to
my aid in view of such conditions. 1
hereby most respectfully petition your
honorable caucus to grant me the fol-
lowing:
/ ask for the right OF counsel