The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1904-10-06
THE BELL REPORT.

| The unanimous joint report given
out from t G committee Of investiga-
| tion entirely frees Mr.. Bell from the
faint of fraud, charged by o. H. Dav-
export, representing the Democratic
| State committee. Every one of the
| charges is proved to be absolutely an
true, and the man who made them
was compelled to admit, over his own
signature, hat they were wrong.
Every honest citizen of the State
must rejoice at the outcome of the in.
~vestigation. The Chief Executive
may now take the oath of office next
week with the people, without dis
tinction of politics, having full conf
dence in his integrity. To he sure,
none but superheated partisans have
thought, or believed, that Mr.. Bell
was guilty of fraud in the minutest
degree.
The statements made by Mr.. Daven-
port, if true, would make the incom-
ing Governor a CRATER" But. al
though those statements were made
with the apparent intent to have them
believed, and circulated with a view
to making them as public as possible,
it is probable that those who believed
them at all, or wanted to believe,
were a few extreme partisaus in the
Democratic party. Republicans had
| 1fNAIa qoith -, vuhat Mr. nauonnort WING
publishing, and we're sure the answer
would be found in some mistake-as
it was found.
1t is greatly to be regretted that on
the jury which passed upon the truth
Of the charges, as demonstrated by the
vouchers in the auditors office, was
the very manor the representative
of the men-who made the charges.
1t was, in effect, a trial of al issue Of
fact between Bell and Davenport,
And, still, although a party to the
action. Mr.. Davenport was allowed to
sit on the jury in his own case. He
had manliness enough to admit, when
beaten, that the charges were false.
That should have ended it all. That
was properly all the committee was to
investigate. But Mr.. Davenport was
anxious to show to the State some JUS
LITIGATION for his actions. Defeated
and proved at fault, instead of being
satisfied, he made a puerile attempt
to excuse himself by calling attention
to errors in the report Of the auditor
of accounts. The chief error is the
one which makes it appear at first
that Mr.. Bell over charged for days
of labor. 1t was apparent that there
was some mistake, but Mr.. Davenport
seized upon the figures and used them
as if they were absolutely correct.
He cannot Justify by such a fimsy ex-
cuse. He was too eager to find some
thing wrong.
Every one Of the points brought out
in the supplementary report is merely
from the only question in the case,
viz, the truth or untruth of the
charges against Mr.. Bell. These So
called discoveries which the supple
mentary report contains are unim-
portant; they are to be regretted, but
their use is mere attempt to throw
dust in the public eye. Every fair
minded Democrat in the State had in
his innermost soul doubts of the truth
of Mr.. Davenport's charges during the
campaign. Many of them will now
regret his weak attempt to Justify
himself.
Mr.. Bell has been libeled and SLAM
dered throughout the campaign, This
is DOW demonstrated, Should he feel
SO disposed, he might, perhaps, make
things interesting for Mr.. Davenport
in the courts. But every man in Yer
mont knows now that Mr.. Daven-
ports reputation, not MIR. Bells, ii
injured. Mr.. Davenport's prestige is
broken, the odor of sanctity that has
~pervaded the Democratic gospel Of re-
2 form is proved to be a smell of anoth.
er sort-and il is not Of 'Araby the
blest.p