Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-03-13
DENVER LETTER.
Denyer. March I

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space anything more than a bare out
. line OF the proceedings before tn,
, Joint convention of tne legislature to
: DAY. The whole day was occupied b,
the speech of Mr.. Thomas and In,
: concluding argument of Mr. waldron
: The session lasted till nearly {
O'Clock. unlikS previous days. this
one found the floor and galleries
crowded with n most appreciatiye au.
dience. and the interest manifested
was intense.
Mr.. Thomas began by saying that
the joint convention is sitting as A
judicial body: and quoted SOM. an.
thorities 10 support mis- view. He
owned that in the Kentucky case the
supreme court had decided by ma
jority vote that the office of govern
Oh was not property right. but he
said there had been dissenting
opimon--Justice Brewerst- and from
that ne read al length He comment
ed on President Roosevelt's declara.
ton for a square deal, and said that
was what he wanted at the hands o,
Republicans In this contest.
When the campaign began. he said
the conspiracy alleged was one be
tween the Democrats and Senator
Noicott and mis- friends, and that the
latter had been denounced by Pea
body and his friends. The speaker
invoked the name of wolcott TO helm
the Democrats in partisan contro.
versy.
1t was then said that in fairness.
on tne doctrine that a Judge shouII
not sit on his own case. the Denver
members really ought not to take
part In the decision of this case.
Ridicule and sarcasm were used
freely by Mr.. Thomas. He claimed
tina, If Waldron's "gnngrene" doctrine
were to prevail. every precinct in
Denver must be thrown out. He re-
ferred to Waldron as "the megaphone
Of the Denver bar" He said that the
Republican majority report smircaes
every Republican judge. clerk and
watcher in the city OF Denver.
Mr. Chappell came in for share
OF the scoring. Mr.. Thomas compar.
sd him with the Pnarisee who in pub |
lie made long prayers He referred |
in sneerine tones to the millionaire |
who sat in his office and said. Take |
the money. but don't tell me what |
You are going to do with it, don; |
want TO know belong to the
church"
He tnen went over the outside |
counties briefly, and finished with a |
discourse on the corruption of great |
Mr.. Waldron began his reply about
half-past three. He took UP the
speeches Of the attorneys on the oth-
er side seriatim. passing over the
first four somewhat briefly. and de
voting most of his time to Mr.. Thorn
as. He FIRST scored the Intentional
and deliberate misstatement and fal- |
sification of his original position
which had been made by the Pueblo
Chieftain and the yellow Denver pa.
Ders, and also by the opposing coun-
sci. They mad launched all their
batteries upon him for things he new
or said and never meant He mad
never said that the Republican mem.
bers should act altogether as parti-
sans. because II had been declared
that they are performing political
duty. He mad never said that it re
quired less evidence To seat govern
or than to determine the ownership
Of rick of nay. He went over all
his original statements one by one.
and stated what he had said and
what he had not said, so that 1t was
very clear wnen he got done Just
what his position was He did main
tain that the convention owed a duty
To the people of the state, that the
welfare of the people should be one
Of the considerations determining
their decision, that the people are a
party to this contest. with more real
interest in it tnan either contestant.
He pointed out 10 the Denver mem
bers that If ii had not been for the
action of the supreme court in throw
ing out five tainted precincts. not
one OF them would now be occupying
seats In tns body.
In regard to Huerfano county. the
evidence OF contestees own witness
showai Chat illiterats voters were
sworn, and so in many precincts. In
Conejos county, on the other hand,
they were run in in hordes, and voted
without any preliminaries whatever.
Mr.. Waldron closed with strong ap-
peal to the Republicans to stand to-
gether in face of the common enemy.
as tnat enemy surely would stand to-
gether II the positions were reversed.
II. p. B.
DENVER, March a-This morning
the joint assembly were to consider