The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-19

and men who in both capacities were
friends OF mine, seeing the supposed in
Iimacy that was existing between us,
came repeatedly and warned ne against
MIN: learned that here he was known
as slippery Sam" and "Rubber-Footed
sam, another term that was applied to
MN, and began to see some justification
IN the claim in his future attitude. He
called me down to his office one night
me and told me
=. Mr.. Culver?
"A. Yes. He came down and said Mr.
Leake wanted to see me and went down
ter IS scared about his committee. He
seems 70 believe he is NOT going TO get
me Craftsmanship of the committee"
Well said l. what does he base 1t on?"
lie SAID, Some one" He did not say
who. He said, Some one in connection
with the Senatorial fights has said that he
committee said Mr.. Leake, I have
promised Mr.. Muenter the Craftsmanship
OF OF. the committee and he shall have it
without regard to the wishes of any Sen
you SJ and I have told my friends
} }6sra these committees, would be
EcooTI1ps93gEation, individual or Senatorial
.SS9ndidate and" I said, II intend to stick
., 20 that. We sat down in the corner
have Ne ' hot s sad T6n Nov n To Wgigh
The senatorship." l said: No, You
have not, and you had better not. i do
not want to talk with you about it"
well he said. now, in regard 20 Mr..
55urns candidacy-the coloners candi-
oacy, he said. You know, Mr.. Wright,
:SIhat ne Is man that l love. You know
.tAat l nave been fighting him here in my
.IeT spaper, but ! do not mean it. l have
aElrmed this not only to YOU" he said
<:.Dut have affirmed it to many people,"
a no II was only last Wednesday night, in
me presence of four gentlemen whom 1
San name, that he asserted that thing
again. And looked at him
1u+ -
= A. Will One of them was Mr. Lev
ings, his reporter; the other was Thomas
II. ~ llliams Jr,, who caustically reviewed
his course to his face, and the other was
q gentleman whose name 1 have forgot
ten but whose face ] remember, and my
sell. There were four of US standing
ara thought to myself, rs there truth in
the statements that these people have
peen bringing me that he is untrue to his
.1riends?1 And then said to him, Why
90 You fight Burns if you believe he is
The man you say he is and love him as
sou say you dO?" Simply l got instruc-
lions Hons from rom my -. paper to do it,
would dig postholes rather than take any
sucH position in regard TO my friend.
We'll. we ended the discussion by me say
ing 10 him this, that l was investigating
the candidacy of Colonel Burns, that
haq been put in possession of some facts
Stnce coming TO Sacramento that had
been unable to reach before, and l said
lone of the most active agents who is
setting forth his candidacy and who
comes from Yolo County, the county IN
which you charge him with being all sorts
OF criminals, your own brother, Mr; Ed
.L@afle, is one of the influences which have
been working uDon my mind.
e. Well, he shrugged his shoulders at that
aid: said, NO. l do not know whether
i: shall vote for Colonel Burns but"
Said 'WhOmeVer l shall vote for L shall
for no other reasons" l voted for Colonel
BURNS on Wednesday, l think, and imme-
.dtately The Call took up the Cudgels
against me and proceeded to vilify where,
four days before, it had been covering it
Self with fulsOme eulOgy, and began the
proceeding which ended d few days ago
when this charge that the committee is
now investigating was made by that paper
against me. had two conversations
with Mr.. Leake upon this very question.
told him the facts He said TO me,
my shoulder, whatever the paper says
against you, remember l am your friend"
i said, God save me from that kind of
friends. then. That is the kind of friend
you have been TO Colonel Burns, and I
CONT want that kind of friendship in my
HE He. | then told him what l had heard
about him and he said, We'll. l am not
ready to publish these things yet, and
may not. However, l have only one pur-
pose here, ana that is to destroy the can
qidacy Of L. S. Grant no matter how 1t is
done; no matter who is crucified; no mat
ter who is ruined to do it-and also TO
destroy the candidacy of d. N. Burns
and am going 10 do it," With that he
Mr.. Mellick-Wen. where was this, Mr.
Wright?
A. This was in the Golden Eagle Hotel
he and I alone.
Q. On Friday night?
A do not know whether it was Friday
night or Thursday. 1 forget.
Y. You see that article came out on
Sunday.
A. think it was Friday night, Mr.. Mel
lick.
. Mr. Mellick-we Just wanted to estab-
lish II. He said it was Friday night
The witness-Hes; my last conversation
with him was on Saturday night, when
Mr. Burke was talking with the Gov
ernor in the hall upstairs-when Mr..
Hugh Burke approached me and said:
Mr. Wright, l would like to see you just
Mr.: Leake has very frankly told me of
sour confession of bribery" l said,
w HAITI! in Arrangement. filled with indig-
marion, seeing, of course, that he was at
OF bribery, or to have confessed to have
received bride. SO l said: Mr.. Burke,
! shall have nothing whatever to say to
pa to me. I viii deal with him"
dr.Ieake came TO me then and said that
lac wished to see me in the back room and
81 object to this. (The witness referred
TO Mr. Richard Colver, reporter of he
e.aE, speaking in an undertOne to the
chairman Of the committee wnne he, the
witness. was teStifying)
: Mr.. ,Mellicl6-I do not think this is right.
Dick. If you have got anything to say
say II right on the stand. You interfere
with the witness.
I. MIR. Colver-Beg pardon, I am not.
;. The witness-Mr. Leake and l retired to
the back room, where he brought up this
matter again. Now" he said, Wright,
/ am going to publish these things" l
replied If you would ublish the truth
and publish the facts as you and | under
stand them ] have no objections to your
publication. whatever; but If you publish
them for the purpose Of crucifying me as
you said last night, for the purpose of
running me-for the purpose of running the
candidacy of these two gentlemen-thati is
another thing and the responsibility must
rest upon you"
=. Mr.. Devlin-Mr. Wright, you spoke
about publishing facts. I think you
Skipped something there. To what facts
are you referring?
! The witness-The facts as l have ad-
united them this evening.
e.. C. Was there any conversation as to
what was said between you and Mr..
Green?
{. ~: No, except as have said here.
-. The witness-And Mr.. Leake said: "Of
course, Howard, / have been through too
many Senatorial fights, and / know that
Sena torial candidates go all over the State
OF. California, all through the Assembly
districts, assisting the election of candi-
dates 10 the Legislature. If it be Demo-
cratic or if II be Republican" He said.
81 understand that" but. he said II am
going TO make this the opportunity of de-