The Washington herald., 1911-04-16

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| accepting deposits at a time when in his
own knowledge the Walla Walla Savings
| Bank was insolvent. That case was
tried at Yakima. Six Scotchmeh got on
| the jury-an of my challenges having
been used previously. They stood by Ed
mission. thus hanging the jury. On the
third trial Of the case, also at Yakima,
there was a verdict OF guilty. Edmiston
was sentenced to the penitentiary for
two years While out on bond, he fed
the country. He has never returned to
Washington. l have heard that he is in
Egypt.
The case, fought as it was on both
! sides, gave me a great deal of publicity
| and widely extended my acquaintance.
Removing to Spokane soon after and be-
coming assistant prosecuting attorney
| there, I appeared in court very frequent
| ly. The bar was not altogether respect
able in those days. 1t is much better
| now; indeed, il is as free from reproach
| as any bar in the country. ] told a man
| the other day that We had no more ras-
| cals-some died. some were sent TO the
| penitentiary, and some moved to Alaska
| Soon after taking up my work in Spo-
| kane, a woman complained TO me that
/ w. A. Lewis, a lawyer with large prac-
| tice and many influential friends, had
collected s,4O0 for her and kept IL. An
other woman, a Swede, came and said
| that Lewis settled a boarding house
| partnership for her and refused to give
| her the proceeds, some 500. ! had Lewis
| indicted for both crimes. He employed
| the best criminal lawyer in Eastern
Washington. I was harshiy censured for
| disgracing a professional brother. Lewis
was found guilty and given a sentence OF
seven years in the penitentiary. The
law had been indicated and ! told the
| court l was willing to drop the case Of
| the Swedish complainant. Lewis and his
| lawyer hammered the table in angry
protest. They wouldn't tolerate such in
justice. They thought, you see, that I
] wasn't sure of my evidence. II cleared
at the second trial, Lewis meant to at
| tack his conviction in the other case.
Sends Lewis to Prison.
We'll. we proceeded to do business.
The Swedish woman spoke very bad Eng
| lish; she was toothless besides. and every
time she attempted to tell her troubles
she began to cry. The noises she made
were wholly unintelligible. 1 got her
! false teeth, up and down, for both jaws,
you understand, and exercised her so
that she wouldn't testify and weep stimuli
| taneously. The verdict was against
Lewis, and the judge gave him eight
years. Later, however. the court made
the sentences concurrent, and Lewis went
to prison for the longer period. instead of
! fifteen years, or the total OF both judy
ments. His bluffing and table-pounding
cost him an additional twelve months in
the penitentiary.
I'm both the Edmiston case and the
Lewis case the public Endorsed my &C
tivity. A crooked banker and a crooked
, lawyer had been disposed of effectively.
My name, naturally. became familiar all
over Eastern Washington. had been
elected to the bench. and after nearly
four years service as a Judge there was
no improperly in announcing my candi
dacy for Congress Upon resigning the
judgeship, 1 made an energetic campaign
for nomination against seven other can
didates. The district in area covers about
two thirds of Washington, and is larger
than Pennsylvania. 1 Travelled in trains.
in steamboats,. and by horse vehicles. OPP
posing Cannonism, so-called, or national
legislation by one man from Danville,
Ill, and advocating a better control of
large corporations.
THE State OF Washington has been in
the grip of two transportation companies
the Great Northern and the Northern
Pacific. both Hill properties. Spokane is
400 miles east of Seattle and Tacoma.
When merchants in Spokane bought
goods in New York or Chicago, they were
charged the full rate to Seattle or Ia
coma plus the local rate from Seattle or
Tacoma to Spokane.
In other words, a carload of sugar
from Chicago to Spokane would be
stopped and unloaded at Spokane, but
the merchant buying the sugar would
be compelled to pay freightage on the
500 miles from Spokane to Seattle or
Tacoma and back again. even though
the car had never been hauled an inch
of the distance. l made such monstrous
abuses of power the principal subject of
my speaking tour. 1 was nominated on
the issues 1 chose for argument and
was elected by a plurality of 1900
votes"
Barely in the House of Representa-
tives,' I said. you served notice that
you would be candidate o for the
Senator"
BY Constituents Request.
"As you put H." Mr.. Poindexter re-
piled. II do seem to have been rather
precipitate. but ! want to say that my
correspondence became enormous with
counsel and requests that / enter the
contest. Hundreds OF our best men told
me they were weary of the tyranny and
corruption of big business, of railroad
government. and railroad control of our
courts. One Of the supreme judges of
our State wrote out decision in an
important case, and before submitting
it to the other judges of the court sent
it to st. Paul, the headquarters of the
Hill railroads, for revision and sugges-
ton. II was edited and returned. There
Is no evidence that the other judges knew
of the shameful performance, but the
decision. as changed in st. Paul, became
the decision of our highest court
In modesty 1 can say that the men
who know me believe that 1 am not
afraid of dishonest bankers, dishonest
lawyers, or extortionate railroad mana
gers. Anyway, and 1t is more to the case,
l stood for the Senate. Geography was
against me- My election meant that
both Senators would cume from the coun-
try east of the Cascade Mouptains. The
former counsel of the Great Northern,
the former counsel OF the Northern Pa
cihc, millionaire editor. and a gentle
man of radical political opinions were
were spent. I am r-or and had to de-
pend on argument by WORD or mouth.
The editor withdrew, finally. / polled
2o000 more votes than the other three
candidates My term in the Senate be-
gan last March"
What is an insurgent Republican," I
asked.
"Snce November last, all original
standpatters. / might say. have become
insurgents and all insurgents have be-
come regulars The rebel who succeeds
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