Los Angeles herald., 1908-11-20
.WOOLWINE FILES
HIS ANSWERS TO
LIBEL ACTIONS
DENIES ALL INTENTION OF
lNJURlNG regulations
PLAINTIFFS DEMAND DAMAGES
AGGREGATlNG $4,000
Declares That Public and Grand Jury
Had Moral Right to Have the
Charges Investigated
by Himself


by Himself
Thomas Lee Woolwfhe, formerly city
prosecutor, whose outspoken charges
that vice is being protected in Los An
geles aroused public sentiment to the
highest point, resulting in q grand jury
investigation and the tearing from the
young attorneys shoulders of the man
tie of power as a deputy district at
torney, filed his answers yesterday in
the four libel suits brought against him.
These suits were filed by Mayor A. C.
Harper and three members of the police
commission, Edward B. Tufts, Harbert
w. Lewis and H. B. Woodill, each Of
whom took exception to interviews fur
nished by Mr. Woolwine and published
in a morning paper of Los Angeles.
The aggregate of the damages asked
by the plaintiffs is $4,000, and Mr..
Woolwine in his answers asks the court
to grant them nothing. He denies that
there was any intention on his part
of injuring these men in their reputa-
ton or bringing them into contempt,
either as officials or private citizens.
Much of the language referred to in the
complaints, he says, did not refer to the
mayor or the members Of the police
commission.
But the former city prosecutor does
not in the least retract his former
charges that there are conditions exist
ing in Los Angeles which should be
remedied. He reiterates his statement
that a call was made on the mayor and
police commission for aid in ferreting
out crime, and again declares that this
assistance was refused.
In addition to the answers filed by
Mr. Woolwine yesterday he made a
statement reciting his summary re-
moval from office by the district at
torney, after the grand jury had ex-
pressed it's desire of having him take
command of the investigation into the
charges he himself had made. which, by
reason of his knowledge, he was best
fitted to inquire into. In this state
ment Mr.. Woolwine said: -
Emphasizes His Removal
1.-THE main fact of this whole contro-
versy, which should disgust every law
abiding citizen who cares to see Justice
done, is that after having made the
charge that certain conditions existed
in the city that made it impossible for
any conscientious prosecuting attorney
to properly discharge the duties of his
office and after having complained
that q grand jury was necessary to
properly sift these charges, and the
responsibility therefor ascertained,
was twice summarily removed from
office, though the grand jury as body
was DESTROYS of having me remain in
charge of the investigation.
1.-THE people, as well as the grand
Jury, had a moral right to have these
charges investigated by the officer
who made them. 1t is obvious that II
the charges were unfounded and had
been allowed to proceed, the persons i'm
plicated would have been exonerated,
| and | would have been publicly dis
credited. If the charges made were
true and had been allowed to go ahead
the responsibility for the conditions
complained of would have been fixed.
AS the matter stands, a complete and
thorough investigation into the facts is
hardly possible"
The answers to the complaints
brought against Mr.. Woolwine by the
mayor and Commissioners Lewis and
WoodilI were filed in the county clerks
office Yesterday morning. The answer
in the Tufts case was filed late in the
afternoon In these documents the
young attorney not only makes reply
10 the charges contained in the libel
suits, but defends his actions on the
ground that he sought aid in Wipine
out evil conditions but received no en-
fragment from those whose duty il
was to furnish it.
At the time of the publication to
which the mayor and the commission
ers took exception, Mr.. Woolwine says
he was deputy city prosecutor AND
deputy district attorney and, as such
it was his duty to enforce the law
In his official capacity, he says, he
was absolutely dependent upon the
police department for the ferreting out
of crime and experimenting Violators OF
the law. That department, he declares
acting under orders from the mayor
and the police commission, failed and
refused to assist him in experimenting
or prosecuting certain lawbreakers, ano
also refused to assist in wiping out GER
tain forms of vice existing in this city
although he had often requested them
to do so.
Anxious to Do His Duty
During his incumbency in office, he
says, he was anxious to enforce the
laws and to do his full duty as an Of
ficer. and he endeavored in every rea-
sonable way, but without success, tc
force the mayor and the commission to
unfetter the police department and al
low it to assist him in his work.
In regard to the published interviews
which were made the basis for the libel
suits against him, Mr.. Woolwine says
it was not his purpose to injure the
plaintiffs, but that his whole purpose
was to acquaint the public with the ex-
listing conditions, so that the mayor
and police commission, in their official
capacity, might be forced by public
opinion or otherwise, to cooperate
with and assist him through the police
department in enforcing the laws, not
only of the city, but Of the state as
well.
The subject matter of the interview,
he contends, was of vital concern and
interest to the public. His statements
referred to the police commission as a
! commission and not to any member in
dividually, for the reason that he had
no means of knowing which of the COM
missioners, if any, dissented from the
general course of the entire body.
Mr.. Woolwine said yesterday he had
appealed to the mayor and police COM
mission once only in letter addressed
to them in August, which called to their
attention the facts which had come to
his knowledge This letter, he said,
was ignored, the mayor simply stating
that if he thought Woolwine's charges
of sufficient Importance he would take
the matter up with City Attorney