Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-03
DOWNEY SMASHES
RECORDS TO HEAR
WOOLW|NE SPEAK
FrederickS' Actions in River Bed
Steal Held Up to Voters
by Guy Eddie
S. P. RINGS HAND IS SHOWN
Why Didn't District Attorney Act
to Prevent Graft, the
Speaker Shouts
5. P. RINGS HAND is SHOWN

Campaign records for Downey were
smashed last night when Manning's
hall was packed by voters anxious to
hear Thomas Lee Woolwine, Clarence
NJ. Taggart and Guy, Eddie discuss
issues to be decided by the voters next
Tuesday. The hail was filed to over
flowing and many were unable to gain
admittance. No such crowd has turned
out in Downey at any other rally dur
ing the campaign.
Mr.. woolwine reviewed for the bene-
fit of his hearers the charges he has
made against John d. F'redericks, and
called attention to the failure of his
opponent to effectually refute any Of
them.
Mr.. Taggart discussed good govern
ment in its various phases, taxation
and the Importance of the campaign
to the voters Of the county. He SAID
that machine politics should be elm
mated from county offices, as 1t has
been from municipal affairs.
Guy Eddie scored Fredericks, ar
raigning him for his inactivity while
the corporations and their tools were
at >ppting the notorious river bed
ste, \ He charged that tho district at
torn J had been a party to an attempt
to defame and discredit him, which
was exposed when an investigation
, was ordered. -
GUY EDDT'S SPEECH
Mr. Eddie said in part:
'"The exposures which have been
made regarding the mismanagement of
the district attorneys office dring tho
incumbency of Mr.. Fredericks demon
strate beyond the margin of a doubt
that the liberties of the hundreds Of
thousands OF people of this county are
in unsafe hands; in hands that do not
respect the sacredness of our freedom
or the inviolabillty of property. Where
should there be an officer. trustee of
the people, from whom more eXacting
scrupulousness, more unswerving prtn-
ciple, more unfaltering courage, than
in the district attorneys office? The
candidate for whom speak is the man
whose scrupulousness, whose integrity,
whose courage, have been tested under
conditions which would have proved
weakness had there been the least par
ticle of 1t In him.
"You all know OF the strenuous times
during the exposure of the scandals of
the Harpr administration. You heard
of Tom Woolwine then, but you didn't
hear enough of him; you should have
been close to him; you should have
seen and heard him. And l dare say,
If you had, only those would be op
posed to him in this campaign whom
he fought in those horrible days.
II saw avalanche after avalanche Of
the most powerful influence which
could be gathered in the city of Los
Angeles hurled against him, trying to
swerve him from the path of rectitude
as he saw It, I saw him threatened;
I saw his path so dogged by detectives
and ruffians that he could not go into
his own Office without having to pass
through their midst at his door But
there was no faltering In that mans
fafootsteps.
ONLY FOUGHT HARDER
"He leaned further forward with each
onslaught and fought harder and hard
err and, ladies and gentlemen, he did
this when the public was inert, when
the voters were slumbering in quiet
contentment with their condition, and
when every evidence pointed to the
certain conclusion that when the fight
was ended he would go forth into total
oblivion, lost politically lost socially
His friends told him to save himself
while he could, but Tom Woolwine was
not thinking of himself. He saw cor
ruption in public life; he knew he was
a public officer, sworn to enforce the
law no matter what the effect on HIM
SELF and with the might of right be-
hind him he would not stop. This man
rings true; this man Is proved; this
man would be a true trustee.
Permit me now to review some Of
the evidence against the incumbent
First, let me direct your attention to
the infamous and widely heralded river
bed franchise steal. The city council
of Los Angeles, when under the do
minion of the corrupt political machine
that was so entrenched in power here
until few months back, sought to per-
petrate one of the vilest breaches Of
trust that public officers could be
guilty of. They sought to transfer
from public ownership to the private
ownership of one of the utility COM
panies of Los Angeles that helped to
constitute part of the corrupt ma
chine, over $1,000,000 worth of the city's
property, the Los Angeles riverbed
that would now be worth to any rail-
cSroad corporation over $40, 900 as the
most splendid entry for railroad line
into the city of Los Angeles.
FREDERICKs DIDN'T ACT
"That act of treason by the city
council brought forth volcano of in
furiation from the citizens of Los An
geles. They packed the city council
chamber until their numbers extended
out upon the streets. The newspapers
were shouting treason and hurling de-
fiance in the loudest terms at those
public trustees. Everywhere cries of
corruption could be heard. No one
could d~escape the awful uproar that was
raging all about, but within 300 yards
of that chamber of inequity, within the
focal center of the hurricane OF wrath
that WeiS SWCOpii6 opOutt sat luS us
trict attorney, deaf and motionless.
"Why didn't he act? Why didn't he
discharge the duties of his trust? Why
didn't he summon grand jury to in
vestigate that horrible mess? We're
there chains upon him? Was it be-
cause the same political machine that
was perpetrating this deed was the one
which had put him into office? Some
thing was Weighing him down; some
thing was keeping him from doing his
duty. The peoples trustees should
have acted He says now that he
didn't have any evidence of wrong
In (Continued on Page TwO)