The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-12-14
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P A @ f O N f
CAN THEY WHITEWASH
THIS ONE?

have just received copy of Mr.
Gales coal bill. Ii seems all that
katalla interests could possibly
wish. In fact, | think it was draft
ed by Judge Mckenzie, who, with
associates, have acquired large
holdings there. 1t seems to open
the whole proposition for corporate
holding. The papers say that ex,
Commissioner BaIlineer urged be.
fore the committee same bill;
whether this lis true) or not don't
know.
mckenzie, like his namesake
and prototype in the placer story,
Is weIi-known Washington lobby
list and an old-time political sup
porter of Senator Piles of Wash
inuton, Ballinger's friend. He is
one Of. the beneficiaries of town.
site of two thousand acres on Cor
dova bay, Alaska, the terminus of
the Gugsenheim railroad. This
towasite was granted, through the
efforts of Senator Piles of Wash
lngton, by the Sixtieth congress, to
Mckenzie and two others, one of
whom is Ex-Governor John II. Nc
Graw of Washington, former poIiti-
cal manager for Senator Piles, and
'ne of the committee Of the Seattle
chamber of commerce, which re-
Gently, in answer to Claws article
In this paper, gave BalIinger a
glowing certificate of character and
spoke of him as "a scrupuIousIy
honest man.
BaIlinger and Hepburn.
Clarence Cunningham lived at
Wallace, Idaho. at the time he first
became interested in the Cunning
ham claims. Wallace is the chief
town of the Occur d'Alene mining
region. BY sort Of financial ma
nipuiation. not here necessary to
explain, the -Guggenheims control
the lead output of the Occur
S'Alenes. Wallace is the residence
Of Senator W. B. Hepburn of Idaho.
Cunningham and Hepburn are, and
have been for years, friends. In
his affidavit, presented by Balm.
ger to Garfield, Cunningham says
that certain of the claimants failed
TO come forward win their sub
scriptions and that these expenses
We're advanced by A. B. Campbell
another Cunningham claimant and
prominent Occur d'Alene mine
owner, who was subsequently reim-
bursed. John A. Finch, Campbell's
mining partner, is also claimant.
Another is Charles Sweeney, Occur
d'Alene mine owner, who floated
some Occur d'Alene mines and sold
them to Standard Oil interests.
Standard Oil, indeed, may get deep
er into this story at some later
date. For the present, it may inter
est the reader to know that court
records in Seattle show that Bal
fingers law firm represented the
Standard Oil Company in three diff
ferent suits.
Senator Hepburn was, at the
time of his election to the United
States senate, the leading attorney
atsWatlace for some of the large
Occur d'Aiene mine interests. At
ter the hearing on the Gale bill,
Senator Hepburn, on April %, 1908,
Introduced In the senate another
bill which would have lesaIlzed the
Cunningham claims, and which
would have passed but for the in.
terventon of Secretary Garfield. In
Washington Hepburn and Ballineer
appear to have acted in concert. In
our issue of August % last, we
made reference to a sort of political
partnership between Hepburn and
6aliinger in certain land matters.
II 10 unlawful for a United States
senator to act as attorney for per.
sons interested in urging claims be-
fore the departments at Washing.
ton. II was for this offensc that
Senator Burton OF Kansas and Sen.
ator Mitchell Of Oregon were tried
and convicted. Hepburn was elect.
ed Senator from Idaho January 49,
1908. In cunninghsm's books, un.
der date OF September, 1908, nine
months after Heyburn's election as
senator, there Is an entry which
reads ~ follows: "Have agreed
with w. 3. Hepburn, in considera
tion for his services as attorney, to
carry him for one claim of one hun.
bred and sixty acres In the COAL
free Of cost to him, and he agrees
20 do all our legal work in procur-
Ing. titips, etc., free of expense to
u.s."