The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-18
MURPHY CONTROLLED
ENTIRE ASSEMBLY

|
frontier days would have received a
squarer deal.
MURPHY CONTROLLED
ENTIRE ASSEMBLY
''Mr. Murphy controlled the assembly
and ordered the impeachment He con-
trolled most of the members of the court
| and dictated its procedure and wrote the
| judgment. He was the judge and the
jury, the prosecutor and the bailff
THE meetings of the court were in se-
cret and behind closed DOORS 1t was a
star chamber proceedings, where the enc
mics of the state could work for my con-
viction undiscovered.
"They called it the high court of i'm
peachment, but history will call it MUIR
phys high court of infamy The trial
| was a human shambles, libel on law, a
fragrant abuse of constitutional rights,
a disgrace to our civilization, and the YER
dict overturned the safeguards of lib
erty and the precedents of three centuries.
| The Judgment will not stand the test of
| time. The future historian will do me
| Justice, and posterity will reverse the
| findings of the court.
There is a higher court than MUIR
phy's-the court of public opinion. l ap-
peal from Murphy's court of political pas
sion to the calmer Judgment of the future
and the sober reflection of public opinion.
when declined to obey the orders OF
the boss about patronage; when l. re-
fused to call off Hennessy and prevent
further investigation of graft. and finally
when 1 set in motion the wheels of the
criminals to Justice and to st6I
the looting of the state; then
! and not until then did Mr.. Murphy threat
| en- me with degradation and with removal
from office. From that day to this all
that money. all that power. all that in
fluence can do to disgrace me and de-
| stroy me has been done. 1t is a long story
but it all will come out sooner or
| later.
"Mr. Murphy and the special interests
which l antagonized have won a tempo
| rary victory, but the fight for reform
| and for honest government will go on.
| The farce of my trial will have a good
effect in the end. 1t has opened the eyes
of the people to the graft of millions of
| dollars annually and 1t will hasten the
adoption of the Initiative and the referen-
DUN; bring about the recall of public
officials, including judges and judicial de-
j cisions and write upon the statute books
ether reforms, especially direct primary
law so that the voters instead of the
bosses will nominate as well as elect all
officials to public offices.
THE people now know that the power
to nominate public officials Is the power
to control these public officials; and that
we cannot have honest government In
the state of New York until the voters
nominate and control all public officials.
"As the governor I have been honest
and faithful to my trust. No influence
could control me in the performance of
my duty but the dictates of my con-
science. 1 have lost my office but I
have kept my self respect. would rather
lose the governorship than lose my soul;
and no governor can serve God and
Mammon; the state and the special in
terests; the people and the boss; the WIS.,
ibe and the invisible government.
Let us indulge the hope that my loss
of the governorship will be the peoples
gain. Misfortunes often are blessings in
disguise. If my undofng by an arrogant
and corrupt and desperate boss shall
be the humble means of forever destroy
ing 'bossism' in the state of New York,
shall be content and feel that have
not struggled in vain for better things
Il When the court determined to ex-
clude the evidence of Mr.. Hennessy and
thus prevented my establishing facts
which would discredit the testimony OF
Mr. Peck and show his motive for tell
ing an untruth, which would also dis
close what has been discovered in the
way of crime and corruption In the
various departments of the state gov
ernment and which were largely the in
ducing causes in bringing about my
impeachment In order to prevent fur
ther disclosures and prosecutions, |
became satifed that it was useless
to present myself as witness because
the defense that could make, which l
considered my best and most efficient
means OF clearing my name, would not
be permitted to be told by me in court.
WANTED TO TAKE
WITNESS STAND
Let me say here that I wanted TO
take the witness stand in my own be :
half--especially to tell the story of my
troubles with the boss and to DENY
the Peck Justification, the absurd story
of Allan Ryan and to explain the Nor
genthau testimony. But was finally
persuaded not to do so by those who
have in view the real welfare of the
state; and because under the ruling of
the court refusing to accept the testf-
mony of Mr.. Hennessy and other wit
nesses in my behalf. it was apparent
that my story of t>c reasons Murphy
ordered my impeachment would also be
ruled out as incompetent and inadmis-
sable. and 1 was further advised that
as no evidence against me had been
adduced of 'wilful and corrupt miscon
duct in office that therefore had
committed no impeachable offense as
the governor of the state, and hence
could not. on the evidence before the
court, be legally or justly removed from
office
Those familiar with the facts can
testify that Peck lied about me to save
his job; that Morgenthau was fooled
by the clever ruse of an interruptions
enemey; and that Allan Ryan was in
of astute counsel to aid the prosecutions
II had no deposit In the Ea r.,n -