Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-25
COMPERS OFFERED
BOGUS CORNERSTONE
More Sensations Sprung To-
day by Labor Chief.
TALKS OF "BRANDENBURG"
Says Latter Charged Him With Lead
ing Immoral Life
TALKS OF "BRANDENBURG"
DEMANDED HE SIGN A PAPER
President Van Cleave Denies Com
pers' Allegations of Shadowing
and Attempted Bribery.

Today's developments in the
labor contempt hearing, in which
President Gompers, Vice Presi-
dent Mitchell and Secretary Nor
rison of the American Federation
OF Labor are defendants, brought
out charges by Mr.. Gompers that
he was importuned to sign an
apostasy to labor, making him
say he confessed "the error Of his
ways in view of his then serious
illness: that the Manufacturers
Association sought financial sup
port in the case, and that the pro-
ceeding, purposely postponed un-
til after the democratic national
convention, was designed to i'm
poverish the labor federation Off
Cials.
Mr.. Gompers' c-oss-examna-
ton was concluded after a sharp
verbal encounter with Attorney
Davenport.
As an echo of the bomb exploded by
President Gompers of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor in the hearing of the
contempt case before Examiner Harper
Mr.. Gompers today placed before the ex-
ariner.a q large bundle of original letters
bearing upon the alleged attempt at
bribery by one Brandenburg, said to be
2n agent of President James w. Van
clcave Cf the National Association of
Manufacturers.
one of the papers is a purported death
bed confession of Mr.. Gompers. Mr.. Com
rers stated that during an interview be-
tween himself and Brandenburg in New
\ "rk about year ago. the latter said TO
the president of the labor organizations:
L am in charge of certain bureau
OF a department organized for the Ma
tional Manufacturers Association. The
purpose of it is to expose the immortality
and dishonesty of the leaders in the la
Dor movement. We have gone into the
records of every prominent man of the
A. F. l.. and We have affidavits of a
number of men, executive officers Of ma
tional unions, who impicate you and
others. showing the immoral lives you
and they have lived. All this is gath
cred and most of 1t in sworn statements
Wanted Gompers to Sign.
The time that you were i'll at Little
Rock Ark, in 1895. the nature of your
Illness is known, and it was reported to
Us that. expecting TO die, you had made
a statement. which was a sort of con-
fession. My object in coming to YOU is
to say that l want to save you. / want
you 10 make a statement, something that
would appear as if you had written it at
that time. which in no way would have
cast any blame upon yourself but would
show spirit of broad kindiness to 9TH
ers whom you desire to save a sort of a
'Thanatopsis'
Mr.. Gompers said Brandenburg then
handed him "a paper for his signature
After reading it, Gompers declares, he
could hardly contain himself, and clinch-
ed his fist digging his finger nails into
his flesh to restrain his feelings How
ever. for the purpose of disarming any
suspicion that he resented his state
ment. and to lead Brandenburg on, Mr.
Gompers says that he replied
Wen. 1 do not pretend to have been
an angel"
Here Is the Bogus Confession.
Here Is copy of the alleged bogus
deathbed confession, or sort of 'Thana-
topsis. that President Gompers SAYS he
was requested to sign:
SO by devious WAYS I have corne in
view of the end of the period. Not far
mortal That 1 know; but the mystery of
the sustention of other things immortal
must yet be made clear Soon I shall
stand where l shall see with unblnded
eyes. and to that point must come every
one. no matter by what path. and the
realization of that fact palliates the bit
terness with which l should contemplate
my own course. were 1t not true
For l have struggled with the hum
biest on a plane of equality and l have
walked and talked with the mighty ones
OF the earth and have lent them my DOW
er The poor cigarmaker's apprentice las
lived TO become the master of a million
minds and lived a little longer to be what
he is today-not even master of himself
Justice Is Elusive.
There is nothing of the whine in this
HptItu DToktn as am, L nave not H.
ing 10 ask. Nothing 1 might achieve
would matter in a little WHILE and this
that | write is after ALI nothing more
than my retrospective thoughts expressed
through the accustomed medium of nv
pen.
Wisdom is cumulative and out of my
abundance | might endow posterity. Ven
geance by the law of compensation over
reaches the grave. and might undo more
men score OF times than will regret
my passing. Justice is exquisitely elusive
and l might. with truth told here and
there. palliate many grave miscarriage
But why? Why should l have driven on
to my own aims leave my now disabled
chariot TO retrace the hippodromec
Each man, in his way be IL great or
small. exists in an attitude toward the
world al large, In a second attitude toward
his immediate associates and in third