The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-28
Every One Charged Enters In
dignant DeniaIs.
NOT THE SECRETARY.
Man Whose Name Was Signed
Isn't Suspected.
Some Interviews with Those
Who "Didn't."

VINO wrote j. * BurrOWE piece
about Morton Albaugh?
That is the chief topic Of discussion
in state house circles al. present. It IS
the wonder of the week. No literary
effusion has been promulgated in To-
pelza for a long time which has receiv-
ed the thorough analysis as has that
which bore the signature Of the sec
retary OF state in this weeks papers
number Of people have been men
toned in connection with the author
ship of the invective, but up to the
present time nobody has accused Nc.
Burrow OF writing it. In fact. it has
been the universal comment Of people
at the state house that Mr.. Rurrow did
not write it.
Four persons have been mentioned as
the possible authors of the letter. They
are Assistant Attorney General John
Dawson. State Treasurer Kelly. T. z.
Dewey, supreme court reporter. and =.
L. Vandegrift.
Mr.. Dewey Indignantly denied the
charge when it was mentioned to him.
It was ascribed to him largely because
It was known that he is without doubt
the most literary parsonage about
the state house, but Mr.. Dewey point
ed out some gross errors in the Eng
lish used in the letter and his opinion
Of the wisdom Of promulgating was not
the highest
I want it distinctly understood" he
said, that I am not amanuensis to the
secretary of state. I fatter myself
that I could do a. better job than that
letter was"
The only reason for attributing It to
Mr.. Dawson is that he is known TO
have an excellent vocabulary and is
pretty handy in the use of the English
/ language. but Mr.. Dawson has few
votes as the author of Mr.. Burrows
/ invective-
More people are guessing r. L. Van
degrift than anyone else-that is. they
are guessing that some Of the prOduc-
! ton was either written by Mr.. Van
degrift or the author Of il borrowed
some of his expressions and ''uncon-
tsciously assimilated'' some of his
I ideas. Some portions Of the letter are
not up to what Mr.. VanderErift can
do, while other parts do credit to-ever
himself denies having written it. al
/ though it is well known that he hates
Albaugh and he is not secretive about
/ expressing his opinion orally
Anybody who knows me knows
/ that I did not write that for Burrow."
said Mr.. Vandegrfft. Il don't do
things that way When I want to say
anything about an individual don't
do Il over somebody else's shoulder.
Whoever wrote IL stole some Of the
/ ideas from John J ingalls,"
state Treasurer Kelly is not credited
so much with writing the letter as he
is with furnishing the material for it
/ He is credited chiefly with preparing
the alleged facts concerning Mr.. Al
baugh's record which are suggested I'm
the letter.
Some people believe that Mr.. Bur
row never saw the letter before it was
published and knew nothing about IL.
He left Topeka Saturday afternoon
for New York and Washington, and
the letter did not appear until Tues
day morning. It is reported that the
copies were given out for the morn
7 ing nanPTE from the ftanffal office
Monday.
It is improbable, however. that any
one would dare to sign Mr.. Burrows
name to an article of that character
without his consent The most plausi-
bic theiry is that it was a composite
piece of work, and it is a mistake to
think that Mr. Burrow did not write
any of it. He did write some of it. He
undoubtedly wrote the last-the last
eight letters.
1T is my theory" said one state
house official today, that Tom Kelly
was largely responsible for the piece.
/ He hates Albaugh and has been want
ing to make an attack on him for
long time. but his own record is toe
open to attack for him to do so per-
sonally. But he had the facts all gath
cred for it. and when this opportunity
came up for Burrow to say something
about Albaugh, Kelly furnished the
facts. got somebody else to write it,
and Burrow signed it."
The Lawrence Gazette comments as
follows on the Burrow piece"
u. r. Burrow, secretary of state and
I ex-officiO member of the state contest
board. was criticized for his decisions
/ by Mort Albaugh. Instead of trying
/ to defend himself for his decision, Tor
/ which there is no defense, BurroW
wrote a long piece abusing Albaugh.
/ BurrOw showed his wisdom in trying TO
/ attract attention from himself and his
/ actions by yelling Stop Thief at Al
/ baugh."
If Judge J. T. Dickerson is appoint
I ed to one of the new judgeshfps in the
Indian Territory. il viii relieve the
state election board of another en-
/ barrassing situatiOn-that Of being
! compelled to choose between
/ brother-fn-laW of E. ". HOch and
/ Judge Moore of Abilene, who has the
Burton crowd of the Eighth judicial
I district behind him. Reports from
4 Washington indicate that four of the
! eight congressman have endorsed
/ Dickerson They are Curtis, Miller.
/ Long has refused to make any en-
] dorsement until after the bill creating
the judges has been passed and be-
I comes a law
Judge Dickerson's appointment
/ would doubtless put an end to his
/ contest against the nomination OF
/ Judge Moore as the Republican nomi-
\ nee for Judge in the Eighth judicial
Il district and Moore's friends are
/ therefore just as anxious to have him
get the job as are Dickerson's.
i The reports from the Dickerson
primary election in the Eighth district
Tuesday are conflicting There seems
to be no doubt that a big vote was
pOlled in Marion county. and Of course