The San Francisco call., 1898-12-09

anu lHSIelOTS It IS not strange that great many people are not aware that he once held the high office of County Clerk of Yolo County, nor the circum- stances surrounding the relinquish- ment by him of that office. A brief reference was made to it about four years ago on the occasion of a mass meeting at Metropolitan Temple. Cap tain E. Blennerhassett was the speaker of the evening, and 1t was he that made public reference to this particular DOT tion of the record of the man who is now trying to slip up on the blind side of the Senatorial situation. This is what he had to say, and 1t will serve for the present to indicate to the reader the occasion of Colonel Burns leave taking of the taxpayers of Yolo County:
 In the seventies Burns dropped into YoIo County, a plausible fellow who would pat you on the shoulder and tell you that it was tall right" They elected him County Clerk. I will tell you what occurred. Dur ing his administration of the office of County Clerk, Burns of YolO be- came a defauIter to the amount of, I think, S25OO, and he was arrested and put in the jug and kept there until his bondsmen took him out. I can prove this assertion, and if MT. Burns desires to arrest me for libel he can do so. I am not afraid of him.
 To those members of the Legislature who desire to know something of the to them as candidates for the office of United States Senator articular at- tention is directed to the following DOT tions of the printed report of the State Controller, dated Sacramento, October 8, 1884:
 Hon. E. c. Marshall, Attorney Gen. eraI-Sir: I have the honor here with to transmit to you the result of an investigation of the office of Sec- retary of State during the incum- bency of D. NJ. Burns, from January 6, 1880, to January s, 1883. The ex- animation shows MT. Burns to be n defauIter to the State in the sum of S31,739 59.
 As will be seen from the annexed appendix, this work involved long, arduous and perp1exing labor, rem dered necessary by the large num- Der of books examined, and doubly so from the systematicany fraudu- lent manner in which they were kept.
 That the law was intentionally violated and that a belief was en- tertained that the violation would escape attention is most clearly evidenced by the fact that not one of the books in which were entered the daily transactions of the office can be found, and the fee and cash book which were left behind con- tained so many false and mystifyfng entries as to show that the deter minatiOn was to make detection all the more difficult. But through an inconcefvabIe oversight on the part of Burns office, yet most fortunately L. ters were left on file from parties fin this and other States, ordering work to be done, incIosing currency and money orders in some cases for the payment of the work, and in others requesting that it be sent c. o. ID.
 These letters furnished cIew which, when followed, developed s systematic embezzlement of the States money.
 isfed me that MT. Burns denial. participated directly in the embex- clement.
 This system of patent, unbIush- ing fraud, begun almost at the hour of his incumbency, reaches in un- broken line to the end of Reynolds deputyship and in less bold though scarcely less corrupt manner con- tiDues to the end of Burns' term The shameless mendacity of these enibezzlers Outstrips in cunning the harbOr and other public robbers discovered by this office. But wmie the -~nI of condemnation and pub- lie contempt should be stamped on this new edition of "steaIing made easy," yet in the desert of regard and sympathy for its originators an onsis of admiration intuitively arises from the fact that they per- mitted the people to believe tha, the law requiring the collection oi fees by the Secretary of State was not q dead letter, by magnanfmous. ly turning over to the State some of the money collected.
 In the interest of public justice n safeguard to the treasury and as warning to all others who might have an inclination to follow in their footsteps, it Is proper tha, the garb of a felon should be fitted to the back of each one of the thieves who participated in thf, robbery.
 The D. M. Burns mentioned in the