Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1906-10-19
A LEBF FROW THE PATS.
Amador Ledger, Oct 81, 1906


AZ a reply to the expose in last
week IS Ledger of the official action in
the case of w. II. Lester, and also of
the charge of non recollection of licenses
from the Morrell show company last
month, U. S. Gregory, as shreif and
license collector has issued circular,
and scattered the same broadcast over
the county. Wequote the circular in
tull, so far as the explanation of these
transactions is concerned:
In the Lester cattle stealing case
the burden of the Ledger's soDg-one
of Aliens cattle was butchered in Ell
Dorado county and as the owner of
the COW lives in Amador county and
helps to pay my salary, and fearing
the rascal might escape before the Ell
Dorado sheriff could reach the scene,
| went over into Ell Dorado county
and arrested tie thief. After his
arrest, Il discovered that part of the
beef had been brought into Amador
county and sold. The law provides
that where theft has been committed
i'll one county and any part of the
stolen property has been brought into
another county and disposed u, the
oifense is triable ia either county.
The man begged TO be given chance
to plead guilty in this county, pro-
baby knowing the feeling against
cattle thieves in Ell Dorado, and fear
ing a more severe sentence there; out
of mercy for the poor unfortunate
fellow, consented. The district
attorney and superior judge knew all
the circumstances in conpection with
the matter, and the man was given a
fair and legal trial and sent TO San
Quentin, where he paid the penalty
for his crime aud is now at large.
The editor Of the Ledger knows
perfectly we'll that the right of habeas
corpus Is still in vogue, and if there
was any irregularity the convicted
man could have availed himself of his
rights and have been released from
prison at any time. The editor of the
Ledger admits that the man who
wrote the letter In connection with
the case is an entire stranger to him,
and still is willing to besmirch the
character of a public officer on such
testimony. l could have informed
him that the fellow is an iIrespons
ible, worthless vagabond, if he had
taken the pains to ask me, and | do
not think that any honorable, upright
man would charge an officer with
wrong doing upon such information
from such source.
As to the charge that no license was
collected from the Morrell Show Com
pany, 1t is a most unjustitiabIe mis-
statement. The company did not
leave the county until the 4th of
October and settled with me at that
time. Had the editor of the Ledger
been fair and honorable he would
have ascertained the truth by coming
to my Office and seeing the stub for
the license which was paid after my
settlement which was made on the LIST
of October, and which will be paid
into the county treasury in my next
quarterly settlement. The fact that
since my assumption of the duties of
license collector that have collected
and paid into the treasury of AmadoT
county more than double as much as
any other license collector ever did
in a like period of time, should be
complete answer to this malicious
faIsehood. U. S. GREGORY.
We give place to the above, notEat
the request of Mr. Gregory, but of our
own free motion, and for the purpose
of showing the holIoWness of the ex ?
PLANTATION. 1t is not explanation at
all; indeed, it brings into stronger
relief if possible, the damaging facts
of the Lester case, as set forth in the
Ledger last week by our correspond
ent. Let it be admitted that the law
provides that where personal proper ty
is stolen IL one county, and after
wards removed, in whole or in part
into another county, the case may he
tried in either county. Mr. Gregory
says that he discovered that paIt of
the 5beef was brought into Amador
county and sold. That fact is not
alleged in the complaint, nor is it
proven OF stated in any manner in the
records OF the case. Why was this
fact kept in the background? Who
bought the stolen property? Why was
he, too, not prosecuted as party to
the criminal transaction? Section 496
of the penal code reads:
Every person who for his own gain,
or to prevent the owner from again
possessing his property. buys or re-
celyes any personal property, knowing
the same TO have been stolen, is pun
ishabie 10y Imprisonment in the state
the county Jail not exceeding six
months.
Now, one of the main points in our
correspondent letter was that the
railroadlng of Lester to state prison
III the nncermonious fashion adopted,
was the means of allowing an accom-
plice in crime in AmadoI county to
go UNPUBLISHED. Not a syllable is
| Fa1 in, - 10
vital point. How came it that the
one in Amador county was not modest
ed, but the FL Dorado man yanked
into AmadoT county, and sent to state
prison at 2.40 gait. "The mau
begged to be given a chance to plead
guilty in this county," and. so COM
passion came to the rescue of the
poor unfortunate, and he got two
years for a crime without any ex-
tenuating circumstances that we can
see, the punishment tor which is
from one to ten years. 1t is admitted
that he would probably have got a
much heavier sentence in FL Dorado
county. That is the way the cattle
men of Amador county, who help to
pay the sheriff's salary, are protect
cd, and why the Ell Dorado authori-
ties we're not allowed to attend to
the case. The culprit gets almost a
minimum of punishment, and the
cost and odium of crime that pro-
perly belongs to FL Dorado, are thrown
upon Amador county.
But again, the record shows that D.
S. Gregory was the only witness in
this remarkable case He made the
complaint, he took the stand, and the
man WAS held to answer ON his bare