The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-04-13
MR.. BURKE STATES HIS CASE
Says Report Of State Committee
Meeting Was one-Slded

]. e. Burke of Burlington has sent
the following open letter to the Bur
lington Free Press:
To the Editor of the Free Press
In the interest Of justice and fair
play | ask for space in the columns
of your paper to reply to the report
that appeared in your paper of
meeting held in the large hall of the
New Sherwood on April 4, said meet
ing being nod afoer tn0 democratic
Stape committee had hsld meeting
for the purposs OF selecting a date
for the holding of the state conven.
ton. With reference 10 the said re-
port OF the meeting at which the char
ges made by me against I. II.
Browne and e. II. Harris were con-
sidered, will say that said report was
the most one-sided and distorted rep
resentation Of what actually did take
place that | ever read, and especially
so as the important facts as dlsclos-
ed by me in support of my charges
were not even mentioned. The fol
lowing are some of the most impor-
| tant ones:
First, the report did not state that
in order to account for the proper use
of the thousand dollars in question,
Mr.. Browne stated that he gave e.
H. Harris two hundred dollars, and
that in the local contest for repres-
entative with 7. w. Maloney as one
of the candidates during the contest
when three ballots had to be taken
before any person was elected, Peter
McManus came to him and said he
was broke and didn't have a cent and
Mr. Browne told him that he had two
hundred dollars left and to go on
and he would pay the bills which
when presented amounted to one
hundred and sixty dollars Having
information to the effect that Mr.
Browne would again make this state
ment, called up r. w. Moloney in
the forenoon and asked him over the
telephone II Browne had financed his
campaign Of four years ago to the
extent Of about two hundred dollars.
His reply was that he financed his
own campaign with the exception Of
4 not very large sum contributed in
small amounts in the customary way
Now the only evidence Mr.. Browne
had for the use of this money provid.
ed he spent 1t as stated was simply
a check book stub backed up with
Peters word, instead of a cancelled
check which II genuine would be
conclusive evidence and not subject
to question, and with reference to
, the other expenditures of this nature,
no cancelled checks were produced,
although Mr.. Browne stated that each
( member OF the state committee re-
ceived a portion of the fund and he
/ had their endorsement on the checks
and the checks themselves can be
3 found in the files of the Clement Nat
| onal bank OF Rutland, a statement
e which sounds a little queer as can
n celled checks are returned to the or
iginal sender and are generally sup
posed to be in his possession II moi
destroyed. The report did not state
that in Rutland, Bennington, st. AL
; bans and Fair Haven, where Mr.
Browne stated he sent five hundred
| anu lNn lNUitotuAlnh ONtl
!, one-half OF the funds in question,
! showed that there was a slump IN
? the vote as compared with Porter's
: vote four years previous OF n votes
4 IN st. Adams, 141 votes in Benning
(. ton, IS votes in Rutland and SO votes
! in Fair Haven, making a total sluml
!, OF 397 votes.
The report did not state that II
I four other places OF equal size anC
!. practically the same distance from
!, Burlington, and where no claim wa
!, or could be made that single dolla
J was furnished by Browne, very radi
: cal and different results were obtain
! ed, and were as follows: Bellows
: Falls gave me net gain over Porte
OF SO votes, and this was in Porter
own county, and he also had, proyid
ed II was properly used, the asss
4 lance OF five thousand dollar fun
from the national committee; 81
Johnsbury gave me a net gain owe
j Porter OF 1874 votes: Barre gave m
1 net gain Of 1853 votes; Fairfield CAV,
me a net gain of l22 votes; represent
Ing total net gain over Porter O
511 votes. The report did not stat
that these figures were taken iron
4 Walton's Register and the files of IN
4 Free Press. and that | emphasize,
the Importance of the results a
I shown In showing that had a RICH
\ to assume and do now claim tina
Browne and Harris have a very diff
Il cult problem to solve in satisfying
4 the party that they should not be 81
perseded by more competent leaders
In addition TO the above the repor
II did not say that in Burlington, Co
chester, Springfield Chelsea, Water
4 bury and a number OF places ais
4 received large net gains over Porter
| vote OF four years ago. The repoI
i did not state that | showed, of Oh
seventeen rallys held was Ion
l speaker at seven OF them. and tha
| my principal speaker at other place
| were Alexander Troup OF Connecticl
| George Fred Williams and Whitfield
4 Tuck OF Massachusetts,, and not or
= dollar OF their expenses was furnis
- ed by Browne and Harris. The r
port did not state that had inform
- ton OF reliable character plainly 4
"a dlcating that there should be r
Z organization OF the Vermont dem
. crazy as the national committee WEI
e getting tired OF trying to assist We
J. mont without getting satisfactory r
y suits. The report did not state tn
= before the vote was taken, owing
x the importance OF the charges, | /
4 sisted that they should be referred
y committee to investigate and 7
y port, but the meeting was staged Z
Z a different program. with the rest
y as reported, and II was strictly