Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-14
GRAFT IS CHARGED
FORMER loWAN, NOW MAYOR or
PORTLAND, OREGON, HAS
BEEN INDICTED.

Portland, Ore, Feb. 1s.- aGood
morning, have you been indicted?"
This is the fashionable salutation
among prominent citizens and officials
OF Portland this winter.
Two grand juries, the federal and
the county, have been in session for
several weeks and the result is q Sc.
ries Of indictments against people in
the seats Of the mighty, and people
whose records have hitherto been writ.
ten In the short and simple annals Of
the poor.
A regular epidemic Of indictments
has broken out, and the decoration is
passed out to United States senator
and to those unknown to fame indis
criminately.
Those indictments awarded by the
federal grand jury on account of the
land frauds have not been unexpected
locally. But the greatest surprise was
the indictment by the county grand
jury OF Mayor Williams, formerly Of
Keokuk, Iowa.
In Portland local politics Is but q
branch of state politics, part OF the
same machine" and the city hall has
been reeking with graft" in many de.
partments, according to the investigat.
ors. The recent construction Of the
Tanner creek" sewer brought about
the indictme nt Of City Engineer VIM
G. Elliott, ]. M. Caywood, inspector in
the city engineers Office, Henry Chan.
dler, surveyor, working in the city en-.
gineers office, and e. M. and R. w
Rfner, sewer contractors. It is al.
legged that these men "conspired to OBJ
tain money and property from the
city by false pretenses" by certifying
and accepting defective work.
But no talk to the discredit Of May.
OF Williams has ever been heard, and
no accusation Of graft rests at his
door. He was indicted on account Of
his refusal to close up gambling. Chief
OF Police G. H. Hunt was also indicted
on the same ground. Both the indict.
ments have been withdrawn and both
men completely exonerated.
Portland's aged and much loved
mayor, George Henry Williams, is one
LOT the most picturesque characters in
the northwest Now in his S2d year,
he has all the vim and vigor of a
young man. He has seen much of life
and occupied high places in the coun.
ellis of his party and the nation, hav.
ing been United States attorney gen.
eral during Grants administration, and
having been named by the hero OF APP
pomatox as chief justice of the federal
supreme court, an appointment which
the senate refused on partisan grounds
to confirm.
Mayor Williams was born in New
York in 1928. He was admitted to the
bar in 1874. He was Judge of the First
Iowa district from 1347 to 1852 He
was presidential elector in the latter
year. In 1853 he was appointed chief
justice of Oregon Territory, which he
held until 1867. He was a member of
the Oregon constitutional convention
In 1853 and senator from Ore.
gon 1865 to {. 1871. In the
later year he was member of the
joint commission which arranged the
Alabama claims and then entered
Grants cabinet.
Judge Williams has taken an active
part in the development of the north.
west, and has made his home in Port.
/ land since his first appointment to
the bench He has always been an
active worker in his party's ranks. He
was elected mayor in 1892.
Onawa will hold town meeting
February 20, to discuss the question OF
extending the water mains.