Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-12

the possession OF All the lacJs IN this case
since July last; and men will be curious to
know why. If his zeal was honest, he did
not make them known then"
"Fuss, Fury and Fustian.
Quoting from the presidents message to
the house on January & in which he said
he had no charges of corruption against
congress nor against any member Of the
present house, Mr.. Tillman said.
ut follows that he found no grounds for
indicting me in the courts. which no doubt
would have rejoiced him overmuch and all
this fuss. fury and fustian about the seri-
BUSINESS of the case and the gravity OF the
offense with, which he charges me can be
attributed to personal malice alone"
Mr.. Tillman said he did not deny the
authenticity of the letter or the telegram
of which photographs were made and he
presumed the letter from William f. Lee
was also a correct copy. but he was not
aware Of It's existence until Il was brought
to his attention by the presidents state
ment and added that he was not In any way
responsible for Mr.. Lees ideas expressed
in 1t. Taking up the presidents statement
concerning Dorr, a land agent, making his
filings through Reeder and watkins OF
Marshfield, Ore. Mr.. Tillman said: -
Says Dorr Was swindIer,
ut will be noted that I accused Dorr in
the senate of being a swindler, and asked
the Postoffice department to issue a fraud
against him. Dorr declared in his circu-
lar: 80 sure is Senator Tillman OF our
success that he has subscribed and paid
the necessary fees for a quarter section
for himself and ten other sections for ten
Of his nearest relatives" 1t was this bold
and outrageous falsehood mainly that
caused me to denounce Dorr as a swindler
as well, and to declare in the senate that
he had no warrant for the assertion. The
sleuths whom the president put upon my
tracks have made their report and a perusal
Of it will show to any fair mind that so far
from any endeavor to justify the fraud
order against Dorr, they were really put
to work to investigate me and endeavor IL
possible to discover something to my dis.
credit, while the president directed the in
vestigation. I say this because it is hardly
possible that a postoffice inspector would
set about getting Photographic copies OF
the letters of a United States senator and
trying to convict him of lying, If the orders
did not come from a high source.
Accuses DOrr of Lying.
Let us suppose for a moment that /
was guilty of a falsehood in declaring that
L a ibl ullutIdheu 10 puTCndSe any land.
What did that have to do with DORIS
transparent and open use of the malls to
induce men to send him money to pur-
chase land? DORIS declaring that had
paid the fees is an absolute falsehood, and
the postoffice inspectors, while they
searched the records for entries at CO.
guile, noted that Reeder and Watkins
had filed several hundred applications,
but nowhere mentioned that any had been
filed in my name or for me. Therefore
the falsehood is proven on Dorr, and yet
the president declared the assault which
Senator Tillman made on Mr.. Dorr was,
according to the report of the inspectors, a
Wanton assault made to cover up Senator
Tillman's own transactions.
NO such statement was made by the
inspector. In fact. so earnestly intent on
cohvicting Senator Tillman is the presi-
dent he actually commits himself to this
proposition, towit: Tillman voluntarily and
without any cOmpulsion from any source
and with nothing to conceal, brought up
a matter in the senate which he need not
have DONE, to cover up transactions which
were absolutely unknown to anyone except
himself and his correspondents. Reeder and
watkins, and were entirely honorable and
clean. Much exposure closed out the swind-
iNiS' DOli' WHeu MS mali was not de-
livered, retired from the land business and
became a fruit grower, as reported by
the inspectors. The swindlers had secured
a good many thousands Of dollars before
the exposure in the senate stopped people
from being duped, and yet Theodore Roose-
welt poses as the only remaining honest
man in public life, in the face of these
facts has felt called upon to attack the
character Of a man whose integrity has
never before been questioned and whose
Official position is second only to his own
Admits Considering Land Purchase,
In doing this he makes a false declara-
ton, for the inspectors nowhere saw anv
such thing as above quoted, which can be
proven by an examination of their report.
Now, about the lying. My letter Of Febru-
airy 10, of which the president has secured
a Photographic copy, antedated by four
days my statement in the senate that 1 had
not bought any and or undertaken to buy
any,, and the president considered this
positive proof Of %falsehood. l did not say
l had not considered the purchase OF land:
l did not say l had not contemplated the
purchase Of land, because l had done both.
In my conversation with the attorney
general in regard to the resolution which
l introduced and which he himself pre-
pared after we had talked over the whole
land situation 1 distinctly remember telling
him that my interest in the matter had
been first aroused by my desire to pur-
chase some of the timber land and that my
coming to him was due to the fact that
discovered upon investigation that l could
not buy through any agency whatsoever
that l could not buy 1t even by lawsuits
because / was advised by very able law,
yers in the west, among them Hon George
Turner of Washington, that in attackinl
the holders Of those land grants no one
would have any standing in court except
the grantor, the government itself.
Meaning of Word 'U~ndertakes.'
II was perhaps dIsingenous, but a mo.
ment's thought will convince any honest
minded mar that. as l had not signed any
papers had not paid any money, haC
taken nobody's receipt, the usual process
by which one undertakes to buy land.
was speaking accurately and not falsely
Everything hinges on the meaning OF tn,
word undertakes and my use OF it. DID