Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-05-31
METHODS OF THE GRAFT-HUNTERs

The indictments returned against the pub
Usher and managing editor of the Seattle Times
are another illustration of William j. Burns
methods of uesing grand juries to accomplish
ends he is paid to achieve. Burns was en-
ployed primarily to hunt up evidence that would
blacken the reputation of the mayor and the
chief of police Of Seattle and give grounds for
overturning the city politically. AS witnesses
again the personal and official integrity of Mayor
Gill and his subordinates Burns brought the
most depraved elements of society 1t was
the business of Burns to prove that Seattle was
politically rotten and he proved it by testimony
that III any other case would be regarded as
too rotten to be taken seriously The witnesses
come from the criminal class; their mode of
life IS an offense against public decency and
their methods OF gaining subsistence has been
regarded III all ages as an impeachment of their
yeraeity Nevertheless in the hands of Burns
they have become worthy citizens and reputable
Witnesses The alchemy of the professional
graft-hunter has washed away the reek and
vieness of their lives and calling and given
them certificates Of honor and good character
Burns was employed in the Seattle graft
crusade through the efforts of prominent pas
tor OF that city, and the foreman of the grand
jury is an elder in the church over which this
pastor presides. This completes a circle which
embraces the clerical crusader the graft hunter
employed by him and the class leader of his
for trial fully fair as the one given Ann
Hutchinson, who east out of the colony
OF Massachusetts Bay utterly corrupt, sin
ful and given over to the devil. 1t reminds one
of the machinery employed by Rev. Cotton
Mather to detect and punish witchcraft in the
early days of New England.
We do not wish to express any opinion as
to the guilt or innocence of the officials ac-
cused in Seattle but we do know that the
methods of William J. Burns are about as
crooked and culpable as well maybe They are
discredit to any cause, however worthy in
which they are enlisted. The inducement for
their enlistment is usually immunity from pun
lshment for admitted crime or financial reward
or both, and hence is discredtable as their
character. In the days of the witchcraft cru
SADIE in New England reformed witches were
the chief witnesses against persons accused of
commerce with the devil Their testimony was
supported by witnesses who were moral stencil
IN their respective communities
70 prove graft Burns brings forward wit
nesses who confess themselves to be grafters
and whose calling and reputation bear out
their assertions in this particular They tes-
tify under contracts of immunity and rewards
OF a more immediate and substantial character.
and their testimony quite naturally comedies
with the wishes and interests of their patron
and employer.
Burns is paid to furnish evidence of official
corruption and this is the kind of evidence
he furnishes. 1t is evidence that courts have
universally declared to be tainted and sus
spicous The method of procurement sma
strongly OF purchase; it is as bad morally as it
is evil in character 1t is under the sinister
suggestion of subornation, and in the trail of
subomation invariably lie perjury and conspir-
acy. Burns hunts big game with iackals and
poecats. Newspapers which refuse to sophsti-
cate the news at his bidding are put under
ban and are denounced on testimony raked
from the Sums and the stewS 1t is altogether
probable that the Seattle newspaper men were
indicted on testimony such as we have indicated.
1t is possible that the charges are true but the
Burns method and the Burns type of witnesses
give them the color of blackmail and conspir-
acy. The testimony of harlots and thieves is
not conclusive as against of good repute
and honorable calling