Omaha daily bee., 1905-07-18
AN APPEAL ON BEHALF or MAHovEr.

a
ject i'm filing this charge was TO secure
vindication from the aspersion embodied
i'm letter written and published over
my name wherein Mr.. Mahoney was rep
resented as having appropriated money
collected for the great treasury embez-
zler, BARLEY, that should by rights have
been turned into the state treasury.
The action of Prosecuting Attorney
Slabaugh drew forthwith from Mr.. Ma
honey a virulent and vehement protest
through the mouth of William F. Gurley,
who intimated, II he did not make the
downright charge, that Judge Slabaugh
had taken this step at my instance in or
der TO shield me from the penalties of
the LAWN other words, TO keep me out
of the penitenhary, where Mr.. Mahoney
and Mr.. Gurley both would like to have
me spend the balance of my days, pre-
sumably so that the one may be vindi-
Gated and the other avenged, and both
be able to crafty their political ambi-
tons without being jolted by disagree
able reminders.
Let me assure both of these highly
gifted and eminent barristers that l
have neither directly nor indirectly at
any time since Mr.. Mahoney's effort to
set himself right before the people by
invoking the power of the criminal
courts requested or suggested dismissal
Of the proceedings by the prosecuting
attorney. On the contrary, have been
more anxious than Mr.. MahOney to prove
TO the people of Nebraska that the often
sive illusions to Mr. Mahoney were not
malicious invention, and 1 trust that
Judge Day will see his way clear to Civ
ing Mr.. Gurley another opportunity to
re-deliver the vitriolic arraignment made
by him during the Mercer campaign in
which he commanded me to return to
Bohemia clad in hobo garments and
wearing wooden shoes. l even feel
tempted to guarantee to the splenetic Mr..
Gurley that will carry out his wishes
just as soon as he shall have done some
thing visible toward the upbuilding Of
Omaha.
1t is in accord with the eternal fitness
of things that Mr.. Mahoney should avail
himself of the services Of the talented
criminal jurist, who figured conspicu-
ously as his antagonist the first time he
projected himself into the arena of poll
tics. If memory serves me right, and 1t
generally does, the criminal libel law
was enacted for my special benefit at the
instance of the most infamous corpora
ton lobby that ever infested the state
capital of Nebraska and Mr. Gurley was
member of that lobby, receiving 5000 a
month for manipulating members of the
legislature to prevent railway regulation
! legislation and especially to beat the
charter prepared by citizens of Omaha
that contained provisions authorizing the
taxation of railway terminals the same
as all other classes Of property for mu-
nicipal purposes. Up to 1887 the penalty
for criminal libel was moderate fine
or confinement in the county jail not ex-
ceeding one year, or both, at the dis
erection of the court. BY making Grim
inal libel a felony the corporation lobby
and legislative boodlers and grafters ex.
pected to gag every editor and publisher
who would not wear the brass collar.
To counterfeit the work of this corrupt
lobby detective was employed by me to
mlngle with the gang, but he had
scarcely entered upon his work when the
Omaha Herald came to the rescue of the
boodlers by the publication of an article
under the fiaring headline, "Rosewater's
Spy" in which the detective was mi.
nutely described as TO his personal ap-
pearance and dress, compelling me to re,
call him, to the great delight Of Mr. Cur.
ley and his associates, and the "yenal
vampires" as used to call them. sue.
ceeded in defeating the Omaha charter
and nearly every other good measure, ex.
cepting the one making gambling q
felony.
The year following, when Mr.. Gurley
secured his nomination as republican
candidate for county prosecutor, l op
/ posed his election and supported his com
petitor, Timothy ]. Mahoney, then an
obscure lawyer who had fair reputa
ton. My opposition to Mr. Gurley was
grounded on his graduation from the cor
poration lobby and his intimate relations
with the criminal classes. Mr.. Mahoney
was elected, and during his term ]
brought my first and only criminal libe
complaint against one Of the bOodler lob
byists that had fabricated and published
an outrageous charge against me- The
party was bound over from the police
court to the district court, but Mr.. Ma
honey fatty refused to prosecute the case
and had 1t dismissed Notwithstanding
that l had abundant material to secure
a conviction.
His recent grandstand play of indigna
ton over the action Of Judge Slabaugt
recalls forcibly those pictorial quack ad
vertisements labeled "just before tax
ing and lust after taking" In a nut
shell, hope Judge Day will reinstat,
Mahoney's complaint so that we maj
know whether money collected for al
embezzler can be legitimately appropri
ated and retained by a lawyer
f. ROSEWATER.
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