The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-06
DENOUNCED BY FOSTER
The Attorney ArrniEns Witnesses
Against senator Clark.


fore the Committee on Privileges and
Elections Of the Senate. When the argu-
meut was suspended on Tuesday 4. \
| Birney, associate counsel fer the memo
| rialists against Senator Clark had con-
stunned three of the six hours allotted to
that side. Mr.. Birney spoke from 10 to
! II O'Clock yesterday morning. and was fol-
| lowed by Roger Foster d New York. as
sociate counsel for Senator Clark, who
| consumed two hours Of the six allotted to
the defence. When the committee ad-
! journed at 1 O'Clock to meet again at 20
/ o'clock this morning. Mr. Foster had not
concluded. He will probably speak for
! enc hour today. and will be followed by
/ former Senator Faulkner. counsel in-chief
/ for the junior Senator from Montana.
Mr. Birney continued his presentation
| OF the case. reviewing the evidence on
| which he based his contention that Senator
Clark resorted to bribery to be elected to
| the Senate He was listened to by all the
members OF the committee with marked
( attention.
! Mr. Foster was extremely bitter in his
/ denuuciation Of the witnesses who APP
/ peared against the accused. He said in
/ part:
The story of the petitioners is one that
! il true would make every lover OF this
! country. every friend of a republican form
/ Of government. hang his head in shame.
/ It asserts a condition of political cOrrup-
! tioH more degraded than any the world has
/ ever seen. The lowest days of the Roman
/ Republic. and England. during the admin
istTation Of Sir Robert Nalpoie, seem pure
/ when compared with the picture that these
| men draw of their own State. Not Only
does their narrative shock the conscience,
/ but to believe it strains the capacity OF
/ the most credulous OF mankind. Fifty
J four members OF the Legislature Ia ma
/ jO-ity OF its NUMBER, a majority OF the
/ representatives of both political parties,
/ all but four OF the Republicans, bought
! like cattle at a country fair Ten thou
| sand dollars paid TO each Democrat and
! 5000 to each Republican. An unreason-
I able discrimination, Thousand dollar bills
! handed out as freely as cards at afternoon
/ receptions. No attempt at economy.
! Denounced by Mr.. Foster.
! "A member of Congress who gl0ries in
/ the fact that he has committed an Offence
/ which men of honor where it is net for
/ hidden by law, regard as worse than
! crime the reading OF a private letter,
.
I punishable BY Imprisonment, that he has
/ bribed the letter carrier to aid him n
( stealing it. thus making himself II not in
/ law a thief. at least the receiver Ct stu en-
goods, which by the same code Is punish
( able by imprisonment for Ave more years;
I who has written a letter asking his agent
/ TO corrupt a grand jury; who has betrayed
his political friends for salary Of S5,0e0
a year; who has been proved by several
0 vn-ffr Of aFFlqgt n
/ perjury, and whose own perjury was ain
! to all OF you.
An Attorney General who cOnfssses on
the witness stand that he has betrayed the
secrets OF the grand jury. and who has
been proved by his own Witnesses, to have
falsihed his report Of them; who has en-
fessed that he has committed felony pun
ishable by ten years imprisonment by ad-
visiug the State Treasurer to pay the state
funds Of the Commonwealth without law
full authority, in violation of the state
constitution and her penal code Who has
been proved by two witnesses TO have bsen
guilty of subornatlon Of perjury, who in
( your presence exposed his own perjury by
his repeated contradictions OF himself;
who yet would have you believe that he
might have had his own price, which he
fixed at 100000 in return for abandoning
a case, and that he Indignantly spurned
the bribe.
"A Supreme Court which allows its clerk
to desert his ofice and travel about the
State looking up evidence in a case then
pending before it. the papers in which
are in his custody. a Supreme Court, the
members Of which admit that the reputs-
ton Of one al least OF them is so low that
a jury OF the city where he lives would
not have believed him under oath; and
that it was common rumor that attempts
would be made to bride him. All OF them
receive with equanimity a direct offer
Of a bride by one. And he after coyly
declining the cher twice repeated, at
the invitation OF his tempter calls upon
him alone, and thus by his conduct in
vites a renewal OF the proposition. Yet
neither he nor the court resent it. But
one OF them would have you believe that
S, 100000 was ready for them had they
deserted Days cause. Such debasCment
and such prodlgality in that community,
why Aladdin with his lamp was not so
eXtTavagant as they would have you be-
lieye was he who according TO their story
had not the reputation Of being a liberal
payer the junior Senator from Mon
taEa. These volumes Of testimony read
like "a tale OF the Count of Monte Cristo
dealing with the Inhabitants Of Inferno.
Il is as the dream Of an opium smoker.
a tale told by an idiot full Of sound and
fury and signfyins nothing.
A Defence Of Montana.
NO. Senators. Montana is not like
Sodom and Comorrah nor is her capitol
a tabernacle Of bribers. All Speakers of
her Assembly are not as ycnal as Sun
All her legislators have not been as de-
based as Whitesidc All her Attorneys
General have not been as impudent law
breakers as Nolan. All her judges have
not been as much despised by their fellow
citizens as Hunt All her Congressman
have not been as shameless as Campbell
The high character Of the gentleman who
is my clients colleague your daily walk
and conversation with him and with those
who were his predecessors must have
convinced you that the state is not so
vile as she has been represented here 10
be. for otherwise men CT their reputation
would not hitherto have been uniformly
chosen to represent her in The Senate.
There was no scandal about Montana at
the National Capital until Campbell was
elected there to Congress.
"Out of eli this war of conflicting evil
deuce there is one thing, however. upon
the proof Of which We can ali. ! think.
readily agree: that is the truth Of the old
adage: Foul is the bird that fouls its own
nest Never hitherto has 4 court OF jus
tice listened to a set OF witnesses so de
graded by their own admissions as those
who have testified in support OF the Sian
ders against their own State. Bride offer
crs ike Whiteside who pleaded as il he
had been his brother TO induce ByWater
TO sell his soul in order that he might be-
tray him. Obtainers Of money under false
pretences. such as Whiteslde. Clark. and
Meyers Unsuccessful solicitors Of uribes.
as Stiff sullivan, and Normoyle. Would