Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-29
EXPOSES METHODS
OF S. P. MACHINE
Good Government Association
CircuIates Accusing Affidavit
Made by Lelande


Clerk Harry Lelande, in which Mr.
T.elande exposes the methods of the
6 p "push" and gives the public
little inside information as to the Ia
nous riyerbed franchise grab, which
came near resulting in Los Angeles
losing one Of its most valuable possess
sions. 49,.
Mr. Lelande's affidavit has been
p11blisheed in circular form and VIII
he sent out over the city so that the
voters may decide whether they want
men like Healy and Houghton to rep
resent them in the city council,
These two men voted to give the
riverbed of Los Angeles to the cor
porations they made futile atttenpt
to get away with the deal While mayor
Alexander was away from the city, ana
had n not been for the suspicious OF
the city clerk they probably would
have succeeded.
Here is Mr.. Ielande's sworn state
ment Of the proceedings involved IN
that notorious scandal:
LELANDE's AFFIDAVIT
state of California, County of Los Angeles ss
" I Ielande, being first duly sworn, de-
poses and says:
The facts in relation to the attempted pas
sage Of what has become generally known as
the Gilmore river bed franchise are as
follows:
Late in the afternoon, about $50 O'CLOCK,
of the date when this franchise was mrs.
presentetd to the council, Mr.. Wilde, my chier
denutv. came into my private office and placed
this franchise on my desk before me, stating
that 1.-THE boys upstairs were in hurry 1or
fhis' and asked me to sign 1t. This franchlse
consisted of several typewritten pages MT
Wilde turned 1t over to the last page whlch
contained the space for the signatures OF the
mayor and myself, and asked me to sign II,
as 'the bows were upstairs waiting for It,
md asked what IT. was. Mr.. Wilde replied:
"a franchise for a spur track" told Mr.
wilde that would sign It in few minutes,
as 1 was busily engaged writing letter Mr'
wilde left my private office, and shortly eiter
his departure W. r. Hervey came INTO my
private office and asked If had signed the
ordinance that Mr.. Wilde brought in, ana
stated that had not; and he said that MI
Gilmore was going away that evening ana
would like to have me sign It at once as
thew wished to have It published in the MORN
ing After Mr.. Hervey had made this state
ment 1 looked at the document for the nrst
time. and then informed Mr.. Hervey that l
would wait and allow this to go through IN
the usual manner, as did not see any neces-
si+v for haste or words TO that effect. Mr.
Hervey urged me as a personal favor TO him
and TO Mr.. Gilmore to sign 1t at once. and l
again Informed him that I saw no necessity
10 hurry this matter, and he stated that ne
would see that signed 1t. and left the office
apparently angry. Very shortly atter MT
Hervev left the office Mr.. Gilmore came in
and said that he was going to leave town
that night and wanted to get this fixed up and
nublIshed in the morning, and pleaded with
me TO sign It at once. made the same reply
To Mr.. Gilmore that I made TO Mr.. Hervey,
that 1T would allow the ordinance TO take its
usual course" After I had made this state
1nent Mr.. Gilmore continued TO plead with me
to sign the ordinance, which refused to DO
GILMORE VISITS RESIDENCE
Inst before 1 startetd for home / was called
up on the telephone and informed that Mr..
Suumerland was waiting up stairs for me TO
bring that ordinance 1 answered "AH right
hut had no intention of bringing II up. took
NV hat and left for home. And shortly after
7 had finished my dinner Mr.. Gilmore called
at nv residence and again pleaded with me TO
sign the ordinance that night, and again said
that this was a matter of great Importance
to him and he was desirous Of having the
matter completed before he left the CITY, ana
offered me his political influence If would
sign IT. He made the statement that I would
never regret signing it. Then, shortly after
the departure of Mr.. Gilmore from my resi-
dence. I came back to the office and Mr.. w.
f. Parker called me up by phone that night
and wanted to know If I was going to be at
my office for q few minutes. stated that l
was, and he said he was coming over
Shortly after receiving the message MT Par
ler came to my office and asked to see the
ordinance. which I allowed him to do and he
made the statement that he didn't know who
It was for, and that he was glad I had not
signed g. and asked me not to sign II until
he had found out more about It, told MIN
that I had not intended to sign 1t until the
following day, anyway The minute clerk hao
prepared his minutes showing that the coun-
ell had adopted the ordinance by vote OF
six to one Summeriand being acting mayor
in McAleers absence, and Mr.. Smith being
absent. MY attention called to the fact
that Councilman Houghton had first voted
stno' and finally changed his vote to yes
other business having been transacted IN the
interim, and at the time that Councilman
1Iouehton changed his vote to yes the
chairman then announced that the ordinance
had been adopted; SO when the members OF
the council found that had, on Tuesday,
racorded the ordinance as having been lost
thew met again on the next day, Wednesday,
and passed the ordinance by vote or six 10
ona will furnish an exact copy of the
minutes showing the above statement to be
correct About o'clock on Wednesday the
dav the ordinance was passed, Mr.. Parker
called me UP by phone and asked me II l would
step down to his office I informed him that
7 was quite busy and would prefer having him
come to my office in the city clerks office.
He said he thought it was best for him not
to come there, but would meet me at the Hotel
Alexandria buffet. replied that would meet
him there at o'clock. I left the office about
o'clock and went to the Alexandria bufet
and there met Mr.. Parker in one OF the little
cushion places there. He opened the conver-
sation and said: "I suppose you know what
I want to see you about" answered that Il
believe DO" or words to that effect
PARKER ASKS PRICE
one Of the first questions asked by Parker
was. CHOW MUCH WILL YOU TAKE TO
SIGN THAT ORDINANCE RIGHT AWAY?"
or words to that effect. I remember this dis
tinctlv because was surprised that he would
make such statement. After which he said:
IT CAN GET YOU A THOUSAND DOLLARS
n yOIr SIGN THAT ORDINANCE TODAY
AND TAKE IT TO SUNDERLAND"
NV answer was that II did not want any
of that kind Of money"
He also made the statement that MONEY
WAS BEING SPENT AND MIGHT AS
WELL GET SOME OF IT. He said that my
power was not executive, that my duty was
simply ministerial and that I might as well
get the money and sign It and get 1t out Of
nv hands as quickly as possible said that
! was going TO hold It until Mayor McAleer
came back He said that 1t didn't make any
difference TO him; that I was overlooking
chance to get some OF the money OF words
to that effect, whereupon 1 returned to the
office.
At the time Parker and I had the conversa-
tion in the Alexandria buffet he told me that
he had found out that this was for Mr.. Hunt
ington. He made this last statement to
his having found out that It was for the Hunt
ington interests in connection with his state
o,e1t that money WAS being used. Various other