The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-21

TOOL.
whiteside told OF several members who
had been bribed. The amounts paid or
placed In escrow for each member were
from 5000 to $1,000. There seemed to be
no end to the supply of money said
Whitesdc before the committee. II think
they expected to use nearly million dol
lars. Welcome said that w. A. Clark had
instructed them to go In and win, no
matter what 1t cost. They generally paid
$500 or $1,000 down. and the remainder was
placed In the hands of third party to be
paid to the member after he had given
his support TO w. A. Clark for United
Statrs senator"
whitesde said he acted upon his own
responsibility entirely. He wanted, he
said. to catch every man who was con-
cerned In such work, and "endeayor to
break up the band of boodlers that has so
long infested this state" Senator Clark,
of Madison county, and Senator Myers, Of
Ravaili county. helped him. he said, for the
sole purpose of making the exposure.
Whiteside testified that he did not think
Clark knew all the details. but knew In a
general way what was being done by Well
come and others. In talking over the SIT
uation with whiteside Clark spoke OF SEN
ator Anderson Of Meagher county. and
told Whiteside he did not think Anderson
could be influenced with money like some
Senator Anderson who afterwards testified
before the supreme court In the Welcome
disbarment proceedings that he had been
offered $4,000 for his vote by one Of Clark's
agents. He has since died. There was
other corroborating evidence, direct and
circumstantial. Indicating the truthfulness
of Whitesides story. The report of the
committee was made. containing the evil
dence of witnesses of standing and repute
vlyt1n hnv uivv t1I hair fest frrnn
to the supreme court in the Welcome dis
barment matter. Thirty thousand dollars
In thousand dollar bills were turned over
by Whiteside to the committee and placed
In the hands Of the state treasurer
Investigated by the Grand Jury.
The legislative assembly by resolution
called for grand jury investigation. A
grand jury was called. Clark's supporters
had been claiming Clark's election on the
first joint ballot. insisting that he would
have ffty-seven votes. Before the first
joint ballot was taken. the investigating
committee reported. and Immediately after.
the vote being taken, Clark had altogether
seven votes in both houses. After the
grand jury was called, rumors In Helena
were rife to the effect that the grand jury
was being tempered with But the feel
ing In Helena, even after the exposure,
was so intense for Clark that 1t would
have required men OF nerve. even in the
face OF the evidence, to have indicted
Clark or his agents. Helena stood unfiinch-
ingly by Clark. IL only Clark could be VIC
torious and Daily Inundated. Helena was
willing to forget and forgive the peccadil-
loes of politics. Clark must be elected
now, they said. at all hazards. and Clark
was made to realize this. There was no
direct denial of the charges, but the cry
OF conspiracy was raised, and echoed all
over the capital city. Dispatches went
over the wires from Helena to the press
of the country which were colored In
Clarks favor. and represented Daily as
rival candidate for the senatorship. al
though DAILY was in New York. The gov
ernor OF the state, the speaker of the
house, and nearly all the state officials
denounced the bribery. and expressed be-
lief in the existence of wholesale corrup-
ton of the Legislature 1t was sought to
keep the attorney general from the grand
jury room. and it was necessary to pro-
cure an order of court for his admission.
The grand jury heard a great deal of evil
dence, and finally brought in report In
which they exonerated all parties. The
attorney general, when the, report was
brought in, in the presence Of the jury.
denounced its action in failing either to
indct Whiteside and others for conspir-
acy or Clark and his agents for bribery.
Then Clark's vote, which had remained
unchanged. began to increase two and
three votes daily, until the day on which
he was elected. when eleven out of the
fourteen Republicans in the legislature
went to Clark I'm a body.
Pointing Ont the Bribe-Takers.
The Republicans and Clark's supporters
together had majority in the senate.
After Whitesides exposure, contest
tn1 mat N
senate on the ground that he had not re-
ceived majority of the votes cast at the
election in Flathead county. Whiteside
was unseated, and John III. Geiger his
Republican opponent at the polls, given
the seat. Geiger Immediately cast his
vote for Clark But before Whiteside
went out, and when he had been told his
seat would be taken from him, he adj
dressed the joint assembly in one of the
most remarkable addresses ever heard in
a legislative body. Pointing his finger at
certain members. he named the amounts
they had received for their votes. the
place where the negotiation had taken
place and the time. These men sat I'm ST.
lence and did not deny the accusations of
the orator.
Clark was elected on the 25th of Janu-
airy. In March the Democrats held their
city convention in Butte, and elected
their candidate for mayor. The main
plank IN tne PLATFORM on WHICH tne TICKET
was elected denounced the legislative hrib-
cry and declared the belief that bribery
and corruption of the most fragrant and
criminal character were used to defeat
the free choice of the people of the state
in the election of Senator Clark" 1t COM
mended the action of the senator and
twelve representatives from Butte who
had refused to vote for their townsman
condemned the "unscrupulous and criminal
methods used in securing the election of
Clark, and urged that the fullest and
most searching investigation be made by
congress into the means whereby Clark
was elected.
Charges were then preferred by White
side before the supreme court looking to
Welcomes disbarment. suit was like
wise instituted by Whitesde against the
Butte Miner. and the Helena Independent
Clark's newspapers. for libel These pa
pers had denounced Whiteside's act as
the result of a conspiracy against Clark