The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-06-02
ROsEWATER's DEFENSE.

Editor Independent: My attention
has been directed to your reproduction
of letter, signed by my son, Victor,
to correct the report that he had any
thing to do with the appeal made on
behalf of one Morris, alias Shercliffe,
charged with the Pollock diamond
robbery. In giving publicity to this
correspondence you have seen fit to re-
print the following extract from an
other Des Moines paper:
II used the term fortune advisedly.
Tom Dennison is worth 100000 if he
is worth cent. He pays taxes on
realty worth $250,000 and he has thou
sands of fine diamonds !. | happen
to know that the editor of one of the
biggest dailies in Nebraska. un-
doubtedly the best known daily, owes
him $4,000 of borrowed money. Mr..
Dennison has been able to buy what
he could not command through his
ability to manipulate the Third ward
of Omaha. His support was equivalent
to the election of any candidate.
Mayor Moore, Chief White, the board
of fire and police commissioners, in
fact most of the city officials there fin
Omaha) and those of the county are
little better than his puppets"
The natural inference to be drawn
from this scrced is that | have. sold
myself soul and body to Tom Denni-
son, the notorious policy gambler, for
a loan OF $4,000 and the political sup
port he is able to give through his
kn mi ,o1 nj
ious classes of the Third ward. If you
had taken the trouble to ascertain
whom the Des Moines paper quoted as
its authority for this baseless libel
you would have discovered that it was
gambler who claimed to be talking
by the card about Dennison's politi-
cal pull in Omaha.
While | can seek no redress in the
courts because the reference to my
self is only by inuendo, feel sure that
you would not be party to the cir
culation OF the SANDER if you knew
that it was absolutely untrue. I never
borrowed dollar from Tom Dennison
in my life and could not have bor-
rowed $4,000 from MIN, had | been
disposed to accept loan and he will
ing to make it. 1t is doubtful whether
Dennison in all his life was ever worth
as much as $25 1000 in money real es-
tate and chattels. After diligent in
curry | find that he pays taxes in
Omaha on real estate assessed at full
value for $500 by the city and frac-
ticn over 81 300 by the county.
The article you have reproduced
credits Dennison with owning and
controlling not only the mayors and
chiefs of police of Omaha, but also the
various police commissions, forgetting
all the time that with one exception
all the police commissions of Omaha.
including the second board of commits
sioners appointed by Governor Hol-
comb. and the commissions appointed
by Governors Poynter and Savage,
continued under Mickey, have been
intensely hostile to me. Now, IL it
were true that Dennison controlled the
commissions and was my close ally,
he certainly could have manipulated
the commissions in my favor and
saved me from periodic bitter contro-
yersy. and costly appeals to the courts
to enforce my rights as publisher of
the Bee.
Possibly you may have forgotten
that | made the fight that brought
about the passage of the law making
gambling a felony, and again fought
the repeal of that law when it was
attempted in the legislature a few
years ago, just as you seem to have
been oblivious of the fact that / have
consistently fought for equitable rail-
road taxation through the Bee. before
the state board and the supreme court.
E. ROSEWATER.
Omaha, Neb.
(There is one thing that The lnde-
pendent has not forgotten. While
Mr.. Rosewater has assaulted the rail-
roads between elections, he has sup
ported the railroad ticket at the polls.
Mickey and the present board of equal
ization hold their Offices by the as
sistance OF Mr.. Rosewater and his pa
per, the Bee. The Independent can't
see what virtue there Is in fighting
the railroads for eleven months and
then rallying the people to vote for
them the other month. Mr.. Rosewater
knows that the last republican con-
vention was completely in the control