The San Francisco call., 1910-10-27
ACCUSATIONS BY
Herring FALSE,
SAYS JOHNSON.
Candidate Declares He Never
Was in Any Way Interested
in Western Pacific
Campaign of Vilification Has
Begun, Declares Repub-
Iican Candidate

By GEORGE A. VAN SMITH
The story of Hiram w. johnson's al
legged ownership of Western Pacific
stock mas a part of the special IN
terests' great conspiracy TO maize
Theodore 4. Bell governor of Cal
jornid
Franz Herring of Indiana, Bells chief
oratorical supporter. kncw the story
TO be false when he hold ii at
Berkeley mass meeting.
The San Francisco Post. Kept organ OF
The graft interests. defender Of Cal
hour and Ruef and leading cham
pion of Bells candidacy. published
that story NTH knowledge Of its
falsitu.
These were the direct charges made
bv Hiram w. johnson, republican can
didate for governor, yesterday when ne
was told that Herring and the Post hao
attempted to make the people belleVe
that his opposition to the Southern "a
cific political bureau was actuated by
his personal financial interest in the
Western Pacific railroad and that he
had secured stock in the Western "a
cifc for the defense of Dalzell Brown
Johnson not only denied the story in
detail and as whole, but he de-
nounced it as part of the conspiracy
of defamation against which ne
warned the people of the state before
he started on his southern tour. He
declared that he never owned any such
stoc kand that the never was interested
in a. single share of the stock of that
railroad
JoHNSON'S STATEMENT
Herings Oakland speech and the
Posts attempt to make the pubic pc
lieve that Johnson was hghtlng the
Herrin machine for another railroad
was called to Johnson's attention by
telephone yesterday afternoon. From
Los Angeles he dictated this statement:
I never had L never owned ana
I never was interested in single
share of Western Pacific stock, nor
was 1 ever in any fashion connected
with the Western Pacific, neither as
attorney or otherwise. The story
is absolutely and unquallneoiy
false. known to be false, and pub
lished with the knowledge or It's
falsity It is simply part OF the
gross conspiracy that is row on IN
this state to win this election by
mendacity, slander and outrageous
Viliffcation 1t is exactly what l
warned the people about in my
interview last Sunday, and they
may know that more is to come;
johnson left no loophole for his de-
tractors to crawl through in that state
ment. He not only declared that ne
never owned any Western PACING STOCK
but he knocked the props out from
under any subsequent plea OF mistake
about ownership by first declaring that
he never had any Western Pacific stock
and that he was never interested In
single share of that stock much less
s55, 900 worth.
INDIRECT CHARGES
The western Pacific stock canard
was sprung at Berkeley Tuesday night
by Frank Herring of Indiana, imported
TO share with Bell the oratorical pur-
dens of the democratic campaign. Her
ing brought no direct charge against
Johnson. He cunningly worked up 10
an implied charge through a series OF
questions directed at the man who is
leading the fight against the crippled,
but squirming corporation octopus.
Herring told his audience that he was
an officer in fraternal society that
had lost $500 through the wrecklng
of the bank directed by Dalzell Brown
Because of his official relations with
that secret society, said Herring, he had
made an exhaustive examination into
the probable recovery of depositors
money. There his statements ended
and his questions began. They were
so blended as to leave the impression
that his Investigations had dlsclosed
the things he asked Johnson TO deny.
AS matter of legal fact he did not put
himself in that perilous situation lie
sneaked up and threw knife at John-
son and the cause Johnson represents
without exposing himself to the rlsks
consequent upon direct accusation
BY inference and by inference only
Herring suggested that johnson had re-
ceived S55, 900 in Western Pacific rail-
road stock for his legal services In the
defense. of Dalzel Brown
By inference and not by direct ac-
cusation Herring suggested that john
son knew that the mythical Western
Pacific stock was purchased with the
money of the depositors in the wrecked
bank and that in law it belonged to
those depositors.
FLARING HEADLINES
The Post, champion of Ruef and kept
no such legal precautions as those
thrown around his meal ticket by Her
ing of Indiana 1t announced fatty in
aaring headlines: with Western Pa
cific Stock in His Purse Johnson At
tacks S. p"
The Post and its keepers indulge
themselves in thin skinned notions
about keeping within the outermost
boundaries of the law. It is their busi-
ness to keep outside the pale of the
law and the penitentiary. They charged
that Johnson had helped Brown loot
the California safe deposit and trust
company and that his share of the loot
being Western Pacific stock, his oppo-
sitiori to Herrfn's control of the gov
ernment of California was based on
his desire to make his Western Pacific
stock more valuable.
Before the advent of Herring it had
not been suspected that even a state
that made vice presidential candidates
out of legal advisers for gambling es-
tablishments could spew up that sort
of politics. His Berkeley job may ex-
plain why he is campaigning in Cali
fornia for Bell and not in Indiana.