Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-06-14

| cry act of my official ana private ca
reer, and to take advantage of no
! legal teehnicalities. The jury We're
asked by me and by my counsel and
| by the court to, ignore my physical
condition. / asked not for an acquittal
but for a vindicaton, and SO far as
possible, every act of mine, referred to
| in Mr.. Bristow's report was placed be-
| fore them fully and exhaustively. The
jury without a moments hesitation,
pronounced me not guilty on all of
! the indictments. Their verdict, | am
advised, and believe, expresses the
unanimous sentiment of every member
of the bar and of the community who
followed the case. And / may add
that ] was not content to rest my vim
dicatiou on the governments failure
to prove crime but l insisted on af-
Tentatively proving my Innocence of
any wrong doing.
such verdict I'm trial brought
In good faith would ordinarily be n
sufficient yindication of an accused
party, but unfortunately in this case
your official proclamation of my as
sumed guilt has such weight and its
many it practically ovelriaes the YER
diet of the jury. / notice that many
of your friends do not hesitate to say
that your verdict given before the trial
is more to be relied upon than the
verdict of court and jury, given after
trial. Against such injustice have no
recourse except by appealing to your
sense of right and fair dealing.
Considers Action Unjust.
In my letter to you of December 2,
1903, l intimated briefly that your ac-
ton was unjust and wrong, and that
you would not have taken the course
you did If you had not been misled and
deceived by Mr.. BristoW's report |
charged that his report suppressed the
facts; garbled the evidence, misquoted
the records; made untrue statements,
and was in every way calculated To
mislead and deceive you as well as the
public. / now reaffirm these charges,
and ] call your attent on to the fact
that 1t is no longer merely my state
ment against Mr. Brrstow. but tina.
Witness after witness on the stand for
the government in my trial. denied the
accusations in his report and docu-
ment files disproved his charges do
not mean for moment to question the
good faith and entire sincerity of your
proclamation; wish merely to en-
phasize the fact that you have been
deceived and that your laudable zeal
for public and official deceney has been
imposed upon. You accuse me Of
gross corruption;' the attorneys for
the government constantly disclaimed
any such charge before the jury. You
charge that ] was paid by criminals
not to prosecute them, not a scintilla
of evidence was offered to sustain such
a charge; nor was single witness nor
a single document produced to show
special favors to 'swindiing schemes
or single violation of duty. Every
charge I'm the Bristow report in any
wise rejecting on me. has been dis
proved, not by virtue of the verdict.
but by sworn evidence of the govern
ment's own witnesses.
I'm my letter to you, / prayed that
my life and mental powers might be
spared until had convinced the Amer
lean public, and you as chief magis-
trate that all my acts have been hon
est, honorable and straightforward. in
the sight Of God and man. My re-
hours are fese, and though my
house is in order and with clear CON
science await from day TO day the
summons. nevertheless l
cannot close my eyes without first APP
pealing, TO you, Mr.. PRESIDENT. as nv
chief accuser, TO erdeavor in so far as
you can, TO right the great wrong