The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-01-12

1t was this bold and outrageous false
hood mainly that caused me TO de-
nOunce DOTT as a sWindleT as well as
to declare in the senate that be had
no warrant for the assertion The
SleuthS which the president put upon
my trail have made their report and a
peTuSal of it shows to any fair mind
ed man that SO far from endeaVOring
to Justify the fraud order against
Dorr, they were really put to Work
to investigate me and endeavor, if
possible, to discover something to my
discredit, while the president direct
ed the investigation. l say this be-
cause 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.
Let us suppose for a moment that
/ was guilty of falsehood in declar-
ing that 1 had not undertaken to pur-
chase any land. What did that have to
do with DORIS transparent and open
use of the mails to induce men to
send him money to purchase land?
DORIS declaration that | had paid the
fees is an absolute falsehoOd and the
postoffice inspectors, while they
searched the records for entries at
Touuille. noted that ReedeT & Wat
kinS had filed several hundred appli-
cations nowhere mentioned that any
had been filed in my name or for me.
Therefore, the falsehood is proven on
DoTr and yet the president declared
the assault which Senator TilIman
made on Dorr, was according to the
report of the inspector, a WantOn as
Sault made to cover up Senator Till
mans own transactions
mo such statement was made by
the inspector. In fact, so earnestly
intent on cOnyiCting Senator Tillman
is the president, he actually commits
himself to this proposition. tO-wit:
Tillman voluntarily and without any
compulsion from any source and with
nothing to conceal brought up a mat
ter in the senate which he need not
have done to cover up transactions
which were absolutely unknown to
any one except himself and his cor
respondents, Reeder & Watkins, and
were entirely honorable and clean.
Much exposure closed out the SWind-
Ter, DoTr, retired from the land bust
ness and became a fruit grower, as
reported by the inspectors. The
swindlers had secured a good many
thousands of dollars before the eX-
from being dUped, and yet Theodore
Roosevelt, who poses as the only re
naming honest man in public life, in
the face of these facts, has felt call
ed upon to attack the character of
man whose integrity has never before
been questioned, and whose official
position is second only to his own. IE
doing this, he makes a false declara-
ton, for the inspectors nowhere say
any such thing as above quoted,
which can be proven by an examin-
alton of their report.
The Lying.
Now about the lying: My letter of
February Is, of which the president
has secured a Photographic copy
antedated by four days my statement
in the senate that ] had not bought
any land or undertaken to buy any,
and the president considers this posi-
tive proof of falsehOOd. l did not
say I had not considered the purchase
of land; I did not say had not con-
templated the purchase of land, be-
cause I had done both.
In my conversation with the attOT-
ney-general, in regard to the resolu-
ton which | introduced, and which he
himself prepared after we had talked
over the whole land situation, 1 dis
tinCtly remember telling him that my
interest in the matter had been first
aroused by my desire TO purchase
some of the timber land. and that my
coming to him was due to the fact
that had discovered, upon investiga-
ton, that I could not buy it through
any agency whatsoever, that | could
not buy it even by lawsuit, because
was advised by very able lawyers in
the west, among them Hon. George
Turner, of Washington, that in attack
ing the holders of those land grants,
no one would have any standing in
court, except the granter, The govern
ment itself. ] was, perhaps, disingen-
nous, but a moments thought will
convince any honest minded man that
as l had not signed any papers, had
not paid any money, had taken no
bOdy'S receipt, the usual processes by
which one undertakes to buy land, [
was speaking accurately, and not
falsely Everything hinges on the
meaning of the word undertaken and
my use of it Did / mean to conceal
the fact that l was anxious to buy
some of the land; not at all. Did
mean to attack Dorr as a swindIer
honest and dishonorabIe transaction?
That is what the president would
have people believe. Can ] be justly
charged with falsehOod when, if l had
told the senate of the entire transac-
ton il would have made no difference
whatever, while ] would have been
charged with intTuding my private af-
fairs into a public discussion. JUST
what law did l bTeak2 What wrong
did I do or contemplate?
According to the report of the at