The San Francisco call., 1897-02-11
DUCkWORTH NOT TO BLAME

mem Oefs nameu IN the report OF Mr..
| Waymire's com mittee, because those
mem bers had not been granted a trial. He
| asked for an opportunity TO defend him.
| self before the committee and before the
House, and he declared that until he had
been tried In that way he would deny the
right OF the committee or of the House TO
pass vote oil censure upon him. He ad-
mltted that he had procured the appoint
ment of very small boy as page, but he
had never met Mr.. DuckworIh and had
never known him until Mr.. Duckworth
had called the House TO order on the first
day of the session.
Judge Waymire. pale with suppressed
emotion, arose in his chair and with some
show OF Indignation announced that Mr..
Caminetti had been subpenaed. had ap-
peared before the com mittee, the com nit
tee had granted patient hearing to every
thing he had to say and he (CaminettD
had admitted the truth of all with which
he had been charged. He had had his
trial, and the assumption that he had not
been fairly treated was utterly without
foundation.
Bettman OF San Francisco, in a white
| heat and a scarlet necktie, denied the as
sertion in the report that those mem bers
who had previously served in the House
were more to blame than the new men,
bers. Then Mr.. Bettman struck a tragic
and defiant attitude and the crowd
| laughed.
DibbIe called attention to the fact that
his mama appeared In the committees re-
port of Gems ere. He bad procured the ap-
pointment of very little boy (smaller
than Caminetti's boy) as page, and he did
not believe that he or any OF the other
mem bers should be censured.
Bettman regretted that he had not been
successful in getting more appointments,
and Price ad dmitted having obtained two,
but he did not think he had done any
thing Grim minal.
Speaker Coombs declared himself OPP
posed TO the adoption OF the report. He
did not believe it to be the desire of the
committee TO censure innocent persons.
Caminetti explained that he had merely
received subpoena to testify before the
committee against the clerk at the desk.
He did not think at that time that he was
| there as a criminal on trial, and had never
been so informed.
One of the most manly and straightfor-
ward speeches of the debate was that of
Cross, a Republican member from Los
Angeles.
Every member within hearing of my
voice should be censured," he said, 'if for
nothing else than approving of the pay
roll. 1 am not charged with having
man on the payroll, but / did have one
and will stand under it. Every me mber
here had right to protest against the ap-
proval OF that payroll, and should have
! done it.
Among those who voted for the adop-
| ton of the report as amended was Guy of
! San Diego.
Several amendments to the report were
| offered. one by Mead to expunge from the
report the following:
The testimony shows that portion of the
attaches were appointed with the knowledge
and at the request of members, as follows, and
we think the members who requested ap-
! poin tments lent their names to justify
them are specially deserving of censure.
Another mendment was by Bridgeford,
absolving such mem bers as had requested
the chief clerk to make appointments for
them on the temporary roll without
knowing how many appointments were
to be made.
Another was by Malcolm, to expunge
certain lines in the report censuring the
mem bers.
Up to this time Jones of San Francisco
had not taken any part in the discussion,
out be saw an opportunity to take nand
N the scrim mage and he did so.
''lt seems to me-" he said, "that the
| gentlemen are trying to crawl out of
very small hole. l placed a man on this
roll myself. l have never done anything
dishonoraDle in my life. After 1 had
asked for this one man | expect there
were twenty others asked me tor the use
OF my name, and l said that they were
perfectly Tree to use my name If they
could get on the roll by so dong. do
not con slider that 1 did wrong. Stand up
like men and take your medicine and
don't crawl underneath the desk when the
bullets begin to fly"
After much discussion Waymire's reso-
lutloh requiring temporary attaches not
entitled thereto to refund the mileage paid
to them was carried. This was followed
by the Waymire resolutions calling for
the chief clerks dismissal from Office
h a mr. ID 2 hai n EriE
OF the resolution, and the motion was de-
feated By the following vote:
Ayes-Allen, Arner1ch, Bettman, Breiling,
Csnsvan, Clark, Gutter, Damon. Dennery
Dihble, Ennis. Fontana, Gately, Golf, Goodhue,
Guy, Harris, Henry, Hudson, Jones, Keables
Kelly, Kenyon, Leavitt, Mahoney, Mulcrevy,
McCandlish, McGrath, Pohlman, Sims, stan
sell, Strain-total 80.
Noes-Aldrich, Anderson, Austin, Beishaw,
Boone, Blidgeford, Burnett, Burnham, Cami,
! netti, Cartwright, Chynoweth, Cross, Dolan,
| Dryden, Elliott, Enmons, Foreman, Godfrey,
Hill, Houghton, Keegan, Lacy, Landsborough, h,
Lndenberger Malcolm, Mead, Melick, Nc
| Clellan, McLaurin. North or Alameda, North
of Yolo, Power of Placer, Power OF San Fran
ahan, Seward, Toland, Ireacy Valentine Vos-
burg, Waymire, Wright, Speaker Coombs-
otal 40.
After the announcement of the vote the
committee report was adopted and the
dramatic scene OF the day took place. Hill
OF Hum boldt moved that the Chief Clerk
be allowed to speak on the door of the AS
sembly in his own defense, but North of
Alameda objected.
Give him chance to be heard" cried
several mem bers.
II am opposed to gag law" shouted
Cross, rising from his chair and glanclng
fercely at North across the aisle
II will not vote upon the main ques-
tion," said Burnett, a fusionist from San
Luis Obispo.
II will vote" said Caminetti, when the
Chief Clerk and the men who smuggIed
those names on the roll are censured."
Much excitement prevailed at this time.
A dozen or more Assem- blvmen were on
their feet In different parts of the chamber.
Speaker COON bs suggested that the House
might give unanimous consent to allow
Mr.. Duckworth to speak, and North of
Alameda, after explaining that his objec-
ton arose because of his belief that such a
proceeding was without precedent, with
drew his objection.
AS Mr.. Duckworth came forward from
his desk and stood leaning on a heavy
| stick in the middle aisie in front of the
desks OF the newspaper correspondents,
the hubbub was hushed and deep silence
| fell upon the Assembly. The chief clerks
swarthy cheeks glowed and his dark eyes
blazed with the intensity OF his emotions.
Turning toward the Speaker and then
facing the house, he began:
| MT. Speaker and gentlemen OF the
Assem- ply: am here ready to answer any
| questions that may be propounded by any
| member of this House in connection with
any act of mine bearing directly or in
directly upon the appointment OF those