Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-12-24
The ROOT CHARGES
Are To BE COVERED UP. SAYS
The TACOMA FORUM.
An Apparent Effort by Powerful In.
tit &. Said to be Seeking the Re.
placement of Judge Root on the
Supreme Bench. Inve stigatiOn to
be a Farce.

dispatch in the Tacoma Ledger
bearing an Olympia date of the 18th
inst, indicates beyond reasonable
doubt that an effort is to be made by
the powers that be to put Judge
Loot back on the bench. In this eff
fort he is to be assisted apparently
by the smelling committee of the Bar
Association. There must be a leak
some place in this committee or else
how could a newspaper correspondent
forecast the findings of committee
that has not yet reported. 1t says
that it is not believed that the
committee of the Bar Association
will find anything seriously against
Judge Root except indiscretion.
With Judge Gordon absent from the
state and no power can bring him
on the carpet, it is likely that
liberal amount of whitewash will be
used by this committee. The main
been called, and the defenders of
Root are now saying that Judge
Robinson is crazy.
This case will drag along similar
to others that have been started
when higher ups" have been in
volved. Mr.. Louis Hill, the presi-
dent of the Great Northern, who
also controls the Northern Pacific
and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy,
Is reported to have said that his
company would do everything in its
power to clear the atmosphere and
bl ing the guilty ones to justice, or
words to that effect. These are high
sounding platitudes, but in the light
of Mr.. Hills actions can be treated
only as so much flub-dub.
If Mr.. Hill is honest and anxious
to assist in this matter he might with
seeming propriety ask for a grand
my in the counties of Spokane and
Thurston. Judge Gordon at one
time served Mr.. Hills corporation in
Spokane in the capacity of counsel;
he had unlimited powers, it is said,
in satisfying judgments against the
company. While acting in this po-
sition he has been charged with ap.
plying funds entrusted to him in
rr0fligate manner. 1t is supposed
that some of the money found its way
TO the itching palms of Judge Root.
If this be true, (and reputable news
papers have printed charges tanta-
mount to this) it is duty that Mr..
Hill owes to his corporation to see
that Judge Gordon is prosecuted to
the full extent of the law. Why has
this not been done? If Judge Cor
den is an embezzler, why has he been
permitted to ramble at will in de-
fiance of all laws of God or man?
There is lurking suspicion in the
minds Of the well-informed that some
of this money, supposed to have been
embeZzled, has found it's way to the
Golfers of certain poorly paid men,
Der of the Supreme bench. If this be
true, and it is said that Judge Cor
don can prove this, then it places the
Great Northern in the light of
bribe giver, and under our criminal
code giver Of bribes is as guilty
as the one who receives the same.
The arrest of Judge Gordon would
then act as two-edged sword-cut-
ting both ways.
This is why, perhaps, that Judge
Gordon has been enabled to seek
other climes without fear of further
molestation. This also further ex-
emplifies the fact that there is law
in this state as we'll as the nation a
law for the rich and another for the
poor. If Judge Root had favored
some poor devil by his decisions, is
there any one here so obtuse as to
believe that he would not have paid
the penalty for his indiscretions. If
the Great Northern or any other
gigantic corporation can write or
cause to be written opinions for our
Supreme Court to hand down, what's
the use Of tax commissions? The
Supreme Courts Of our land are sup
posed to be the courts of last re-
sort; 1t Is in these tribunals where
every litigant is supposed to receive
equal and exact justice. II. for ex-
ample. the alleged action Of Judge
Root is to be taken as a precedent,
what opportunity is given a penni-