The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-04-29

| tio1, through his own unselfishness,
1 desire right here and now to assume
| the responsibility for that deed and
its final ending. (AppIause.)
81 believe it will be sustained if it
ever comes before a court. Let us
see how it has been sustained.
"Wm. B. Childress, one of New
Mexico's leading attorneys, gave it as
| mis- opinion that he could have gone
! into court and compelled the delivery
| of the deeds.
after this transaction and the Holt
& Bonham affair, other things having
happened il the territory that did not
suit the opposition, charges were filed
against Governor Hagerman, and let
| ters came from Washington saying
| that he was discriminating between
Andrews and his associates on the
/ one hand and Bonham and Holt and
| their associates on the other. Hager-
man and l prepared a letter, showing
| that the Andrews deal had been clos
! ed before Hagerman came into office
and that he was powerless to prevent
the delivery of the deeds in that case,
and that the Bolham-Holt deal was
! just started, and had not been counte-
nanced by the Department itself The
matter was referred at Washington to
the Interior Secretary Hitchcock, then
Secretary of the Interior, sent out Mr..
Holcomb a worthy attorney to investi
gate. Mr.. Holcomb was prejudiced
against Hagerman in the case before
coming to New Mexico. He admitted
coming to New Mexico. He came to
Santa Fe. / threw open my office to
him. 1 had little to do with him, let
ting him do his own investigating, it
being his desires to do SO. He was
there a week and 1 scarcely saw him.
n spite of his previously prejudiced
mind against Hagerman's side of the
case, he went back and reported that
not only had the Governor done no
wrong, but that he had done the only
thing he could do under the circum
stances.
While visiting recently in Roswell
the governor was summoned to Wash
ington by tle Secretary of the Inte-
rior, and while there had an inter
view with the President. While Mr..
Reid knew the details of that inter
view, he did not feel at liberty to
relate the conversation entire until
he should be authorized by the Gov
ernor to do so. Suffice to say that
the conversation ended with Goveror
Hagerman outside the door and the |
President still pounding the table and
talking to somebody else. The Presi- |
dent mad before him a report from |
Justice declaring the Pennsylvania |
land deal to be scandalous.
Mr.. Reid stated that the land trans |
action il which the Governor mad col |
lected the money due the Territory |
and delivered the deeds for land sold |
by the Otero administration was the |
entire reason given for requesting his |
resignation. Mr.. Reid believed that the |
attorney of the department who pre-
0rf fnI fror q
prejudiced standpoint
Major Llewellyn had stated while |
in Roswell a few days ago that he
knew six weeks ago that Mr.. Hager
man would be removed and that Cur
ry would be appointed. If Mr.. Level
lyn told the truth, then the Governor
had been tried aid convicted without
a hearing. He believed that the ad-
vocates of the famous square deal"
in New Mexico were justified in de-
manding that it should be applied in
the actions of the President as well
as in the actions of the humblest
citizen.
After the Governor left the Presi-
dents Office he went to the Interior
and got out the records
and went through them with the nign-
set legal officer of the department.
who declared that the man who pre-
pared the report had certainly mis-
the whole transaction. He
said that if the Governor acted hon.
estly as an administrative officer he
was not open even to serious criti
cism.
Mr. Reid said that ne did not be-
lieve President Roosevelt to be the
kind of man to take such action ag-
ainst the Governor as he had unless
he believed that he was right-but
that the Presidents mind had been
poisoned by prejudiced reports. He
lieved that If the proper expressions
could reach the President from the
people of New Mexico he would yet
rescind mis- action. Mr.. Reid referred
to the fact that such protests as this
represented were going in
from all parts of the Territory, sign
ed by commercial organizations, law
yers, merchants, ministers of the
Gospel. ladies' organizations, farm
ers and voters of all parties. A great
mass meeting had been held at Albu-
querque Wednesday night. and one
thousand people had signed a petition
to the President asking
him to further investigate before ac-
cepting the resignation of Governor
He had been skeptical as
to whether the protests had hereto
fore been allowed to reach the Presi-
dent at all, but arrangements had
now been made which he believed
would insure a hearing from the Pres
ident.
To sum up the whole matter so far
as land deals are concerned. the fight
aad been commenced against the II
Governor because he rejected an ap-
plication of Bonham & Holt, n
which no money had been pan and
no binding steps taken on the advice
Of the Interior department and the
General (Mr. Reid who was
himself willing to accept all the re-
sponsibility. On the other hand he
was attacked for delivering the deeds
held as collateral security for final
payment in a land deal completed by III
Governor Otero. in which the money III
already paid had been distributed and
spent by the Territory. the land mad III
been taken possession Of and used
by the Pennsylvania Development Co.
and all the valuable timber cut on III
long before the Governor came into II
once. Strangely President Roosevelt