Arizona republican., 1908-10-25
SMITH PAPERS ATTACK
 UPON RALPH CAMERON
The Bisbee Miner Deals With Some of the Falsehoods.

From the moment the idea got into the brain of the men and interests
 behind Mark Smiths campaign for delegate that Ralph Cameron was tearing down the bulwarks of pre- tense behind which they have been
 making their fights for twenty years they have been scheming day and
 night to stem the wave of popular condemnation which has been gather ing force daily for a republican tidal wave victory in Arizona in Novem- Der. The fight against the re-elec- tion of Mark Smith has been made in the open. No charges have been made against the mans private life It has never entered into the minds of the gentlemen managing Cam eron's campaign, or of Ralph Cam erOn himself at attack Mark Smiths personality, even though he might have been open to attack at a hun dred different angles.
 It was not long after Ralph Cam eron's nomination that innuendos be- gan to find their way into the col umns of the democratic papers, all evidently emanating from the same source, and limiting at transactions in Cameron's official career in Coco nino county which he and his packers would rather have kept in the dark
 Nothing is more contemptible than the man who hides behind a nom de plume in performing a cut throat act The anonymous attack is the most contemptible of all attacks. It is the act of a man who only spares frfr for. nc not murder because he fears the hangman's moose and makes a pre- tense of bravery in the presence of the weak. No reputable newspaper tolerates the presence in its columns of an anoymus attack.
 Going the rounds of the Kelly papers is a screed signed Hard Rock Miner" To any man with ordinary intelligence it is apparent that no Hard Rock Miner was ever guilty of such an unworthy act. It bears on its face all the earmarks Of q politician of Prescott who before Mark Smith gave up the political ghost and went east nightly sent out to the democratic papers of the ter ritory the stereotyped accounts of the tremendous enthusiasm" which was greeting the perennial candidate on his freezeout tour of the territory. This same politician generally wrote the accounts of Marks meeting hours in advance, and when Mark was scores or hundreds of miles away. Under the heading: Miner Wants to Know the Real Facts-WiH Cam eron Please Talk About His Own Rec ord for Awhile and Answer Few QuestiOns2" the Hard Rock Miner" makes none except inferential charges. No one open charge was made by this sneak
 If there was one charge to be made truthfully, the politician who con temptibly hides behind the honest nom de plume of Hard Rock Miner" would not hesitate to make it. If Ralph Cameron had been guilty of any dirty work as hinted at by the Prescott politician, he is not the man to be feared even by one guilty of the screed and with whom the Kelly trust goes into close partnership by lending its columns to his produc- ton.
 But while Ralph Cameron, strong in the consciousness of sterling nan hood and a life well spent. may feel that he can treat Hard Rock Miner" and all Of his filthy litter with the contempt they deserve, his friends feel that the time has come when his traducers should be compelled to come out in the open.
 Many sections of Arizona are isol- ated and voters are not conversant with conditions. except as they are conveyed to them through the Kelly and other papers controlled by the powers behind the Smith campaign for congress. To these must be car ried the whole truth about Ralph Cameron's public record during the time he was serving the people of Coconino county as sheriff and now as chairman of the board of super visors.
 While not made in the open in the Kelly papers, only by innuendo, the charge is being passed from mouth to mouth by the desperate democratic campaign managers whose political bread and butter depends upon keep ing Arizona in the rut, that Ralph Cameron, while sheriff of Coconino county was a defaulter at the end of his second term to the extent of about $2,50O.
 When Ralph Cameron, after serv- ing COcOninO four years as sheriff. re- fused to be a candidate for a third time, a dispute arose as to certain license fees which Cameron claimed as emoluments of his office Under an opinion rendered by F. s. Clark. now attorney general of the territory of Arizona, but then the district at torney of COconino county, and as such, advisor of the board of super visOrs. Cameron was not entitled to the fees. He went down into his pocket and settled with the county for s2,5OO.
 Subsequently suit was brought in another part of the territory to de- termine just the points raised in the Cameron case and the supreme court decided in favor of the official.
 Under that decision, as stated spe- in the letter from Clark. pub lished at the head of this article, Co., conino county is actually indebted to Ralph Cameron in the sum of about 5000
 Cameron cannot recover because he Is barred by the statute of limita- ton.