Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-22

E+'Ftt't'tttt''t
Folk very we'll, to call him Holy Joe"
merely en- passant, that.
THE trouble with most reformers,"
resumed Seymour, after a fresh light
Seymour ought to be subsidized by the
match trust. the way he uses EN-
"the trouble with most reformers is
that they try to do too much. They
scatter, is it were. They don't devote
their energies to the tasks plainly set
before them, but they go looking after
other fellows tasks. They are in
clined to be usybodies-profession
reformers l mean. Let them look clos
er to their own affairs.
Are Too Petty
"Take this municipal league outfit
here-they waste their time in such
petty fashion. Yes, they got after me,
same as they did after everyone else
oh, cause / don't run out the slot
machines and a few things like that.
Fancy Seymour stopping graft
trial to suppress a slot machine. He
has had bigger game in his short
term.
But don't care Cor that. Let 'em
go. I'm put here to be district attor-
ney; the office wasn't my seeking, and
I didn't pay any attention to 1T till
the day of the convention. It's the
| first office l ever held and | hope it'll
be the last. I'd like to be down the
river on the ranch right now-thats
what I want to do"
| The smile on Seymour's round face
hroadened as he thought of it.
Dodeing the Big Chance
"How about this proposition to have
you run for governor"
Hell! l wouldn't take the place II
off m q
silver platter!"
The strong fist shook the desk and
shower of ashes fell all around, from
the waving pope. The shot had gone
home. .,
began. .o,,,
ing, too. Nothing to it. / have no
ambitions that way-no political am
bitions at all"
But you don't mean to say you'd
refuse the nomination if it were ten, ten,
dered you? How'd you get out OF II
Seymour slowed down and into his
eyes came a faraway look.
mo one can read the future. I
wouldn't know what's ahead OF me IL
could. 1t isn't good for man-else
God would have made it possible. 1
believe in doing your duty day by day,
as YOU see it-doing it all. Had [
known what this office meant, never
would have taken it for the world.
Il believe I'm tender-hearted," ne
resumed after a pause. IT'S awtul
hard for me to convict man. ~
course | do it; that's my duty. But
feel mighty sorry for 'em, just the
same. | sometimes think we are too
hard on our fellow men, anyhow"
His Method of Procedure
"Yet you've been successful as
prosecutor"
worked along safe lines" always we
never "I'O 1--WE haven't tried cases that
we knew were flimsy or unlikely to re-
suit in conviction. We've worked our
evidence up and If it didn't look like
a good case, we've dismissed, rather
than risk a trial likely to result in
acquittal, and expense to the county
for nothing.
trials. an Indian, Chinaman,
jap and four white men. Do you know,
| hated to convict that Chinaman more
than all the rest? 1t was all on Chi
nese evidence, you see"
But you are known as relentless
prosecutor"
get filled with the excitement of it and
the determination to win, and / fight!
But even in the midst of it, I
sometimes stop and wonder if in my
zeal | am not going too far; if l am
not too relentless. and bitter We are
all human, you know and my SYM
pathies do go out to some of these
poor devils.
Bunkers and Emmons
"Yes, even to the grafters. Take
Bunkers, nova poor, uneducated
wretch. Why, do you know, 1 don't
believe he realized that he was COM
mitting a grave crime? He took that
money much as a waiter would a tip
extra rakeoff for duty he was paid
to perform. OF course, he was guilty
of the crime; he confessed 1t. But
mean that his moral sense was just
on a par with that of the waiter who,
though doing only what his wages are
for, holds you up for pittance. That's
graft, as much as anything else is
graft. But we've made it so COM
mon and natural a part of our daily
life that the waiter no longer realizes
that he is a CRATER.
1T was that same way with Bunkers.
He was asked to do certain things:
he saw a chance to get his bit out of
it, and he did it.
with Emmons, it was different; he
had more moral sense and training.
Emmons realized what he was doing
and merely took chances on being
caught.
so / say, my sympathy rather went
out to Bunkers; 1 felt sorry for him
even when 1 prosecuted him. We had
him; we were bound to win. We had