The log cabin Democrat., 1907-02-07

of the Democratic party ot this lu- dicial circuit; third, because the Hon. Jeff Davis injects politics in- to everything he touches, and pol itics can serve no useful purpose in the promotion of an investigation, whose only object should be to dis cover the truth and administer jus tice. The persistent effort to in- 1 feet politics into this investigation from its very inception to the pres ent time has done more to impede and embarass the investigation than any other thing; and, fourth, be- cause the Hon. Jeff Davis did ln the very beginning of this inves- tigation insist and at times even de- mand that I, as prosecuting attor- ney, should give immunity to M. i D. l.. Cook and T. l.. Cox if they would furnish testimony to indict one certain man, whether he could i be convicted or not, and he asked me to assure them that if, in fur nishing such testimony they should so far incriminate themselves as to render conviction of them impera- tive, that he, as governor, would pardon both of them before they could be incarcerated in the pen itentiary. And he was insisting upon this grant of immunity to these two confessed boodlers at the very time he was going over this state telling the people that he would have Cook and Cox in the penitentiary in sixty days. To the objection that to follow the course suggested by him would mean to turn the investigation into a polit- ical fight and thereby, probably, result in the ultimate escape of all guilty parties, came his reply that he was seeking votes more than the conviction of boodlers. l may be wrong, but I have an abiding conviction that any man who, for political purposes, would be will ing to grant immunity to men like Cook and Cox, cannot be sincere in an offer of his services in the in- vestigation of men charged with bribery. And, finally, l am nov ed to decline this offer because the Hon. Jeff Davis, once before, in January, 1905, volunteered his ser- vices to assist me in discovering those who were guilty of crime in high places, and then when l call ed upon him to do the very thing he had volunteered to do, he refus- ed to do so and assigned as his req son for refusing that he was afraid that if any of the members should discover that he was assisting, the legislature might attempt to inn peach him. And I am again of the opinion that any man who can l be deterred from doing his duty by the fear that he will lose his office or an opportunity to get an office can be of little service in the work that ought to be done in this invest igation. .
 I again assure you that I shall appreciate your service, or the ser vice of anybody actually selected by you, the governor or the legis- lature, but still respectfully decline to accept the service of this volun- teer. Very respectfully,
 LEWIS RHOTON,
 Prosecuting Attorney of the Sixth
 Judicial Circuit.
 To this letter we append the re- ply of Gov. Davis in so far as it at- tempts to refute the charges of MT. Rhoton:
 shall neither affirm nor deny the accusation which he makes that I am neither his personal nor political friend, but will respect fully refer the matter to my friends of his district, who picked him up, an obscure and almost unknown lawyer, scarcely with client, and elevated him to his present lofty position, from which he looks down with contempt upon all those who do not exactly come up to his high ideals of good public servant.
 I cannot let pass, however, the statement which he makes that l attempted to defeat him after he had received the nomination with Republican in the last general election. However much ] may have thought that he ought to have been defeated, my Democracy would not permit ms to raise my voice against him, but, to the con- psSsSS88*888888&
 e.