Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-24
SPEER ANSWERS
BITTER ATTACKS
Federal Judge in Georgia De-
CIares He Is Being
Prosecuted.
INVESTIGATOR REFUSED
TO HEAR FRIENDS, He SAYS
Jurist Asks for Chance to Appear
Before the House
Committee.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

SAVANNAH. Ca. August 23.-In a
communication to Chairman Henry Clay
ton or the judiciary committee Of the
House. asking for a copy of the charges
pending against him, and for permis-
sion to appear before the committee In
MS own defense, Judge Emory s. Speer
OF the southern federal Georgia district
makes general denial of the attack
on his personal and official career by
emissaries of the Department of Justice.
Judge Speer's communication is dated
at his summer home at Mount Airy, Ca,
and In it he asks that the date for his
appearance In Washington be set some
time in the fall calling attention to the
fact that he is a sufferer from hay
fever, and suggesting that a removal
to climate that is not immune at this
season might endanger his life Judge
Speer 1ntimates that he will be ready
to appear in Washington after the first
frost In the meantime, he proposes to
study and digest the charges.
Makes Specific Denia1s.
Judge Speer denies specifically the re-
ported charge of favoritism toward his
son-in-law. A. H. Hayward, jr., whom
ne Is said to have appointed to numer-
Gus federal Offices within the gift Of the
court, allowing him to charge exorbitant
ices for his services. and quotes his
partner Talley, as having stated that
hae. tne nrm OF Heywood Talley dissolved
because OF the restrictions placed on its
court business by Judge Speer.
Juoge Speer says that there will be
nttie proof that he is temperamentally
unr1t mt for the judicial station.
1t Is true" he says. that 1 insist ON
order and decorum in the courtroom.
This is easily maintained without the
slightest severity. and in the twenty
nine years that I have been upon the
bench can recall that have imposed
fines upon but two members of the bar.
One of these was for deliberate and
premeditated insult to the judge in open
court In written speech carefully pre-
pared by A. A. Lawrence of Savannah,
one of the counsel for the defense in the
Greene and Gaynor case
Source Of the Attacks.
Judge Speer says that the men who
have attempted to defame him in their
statements to r. Cotton Lewis, the exam
iner of the Department Of Justice, were In
nearly all instances counsel for defend
ants in great cases Of embezzlement, or
represented predatory combinations pros
ecuted by the predecessor of the Attorney
General, who the jurist says has been
sadly misinformed in the crescent instance.
Judge. Speer maintains that he has tried
hard to judicially aid the highest pur-
poses of the Department of Justice in
the enforcement of the criminal law
Judge Speer charges among other things
that Examiner Lewis not only declined to
examine all witnesses who might testify
favorably to Judge Speer, but when q
banker of Macon asked that such wit
nesses be called, acknowledged with a
laugh that he was not there to make an
examination upon the merits Of the case
Judge Speer charges that he Is being
made the victim Of cruel persecution
and suggests that the people Of the coun-
try will be amazed when they learn OF
the espionage to which he has been sub
tected and the cruel and unjust mis-
statements that have been alleged against
him.
Ready to Uphold Integrity.
Judge Speer cites a list Of nearly a
hundred OF the most prominent men and
organizations In this section whom he
says will testify not only to his personal
and judicial integrity, but for his fitness
for his high Office as well. These include
lawyers and other professional men,
chambers Of commerce and boards of
trade, unsolicited testimonials from re-
cent federal juries. These are the people
whom Judge Speer says Examiner Lewis
declined to interview, because he knew
their testimony might be favorable to
Judge Speer.
Judge Speer points out that the charges
of his temperamental unf1tness for judi
cial office would seem to be coming very
late in view of the fact that he already
has served twenty-nine years on the
bench and is now rapidly approaching
the age Of retirement He had hoped.
he says, to be able to round out his
career by honorable retirement when he
reached this age limit
Judge Speer maintains throughout that
he is being prosecuted unjustly, and
charges that he Is now being publicly
arraigned and his impeachment before
Congress threatened before he Is ever
given a chance to know the. exact nature
of the charges preferred or to say a word
in, hic our, 6afa