Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1914-10-31


find it necessary to reply to Mr.. Nj
Laughlin's article appearing in the
three county papers last week. But
it is SO manifestively unfair and un,
just and so at variance with the trutl
that | feel called upon to do so in com
mon justice to the voters of the
county as well as myself.
For outrageous, downright, wilful
mtsreprese NATION, AID unfairness be-
tween man and man the comparison
made by Mr.. Mclaughlin between h S
and my administration as county at
torney is the most brazen that has
ever been my misfortune to witness,
aid why any man, even the most de-
PRAYED, should make and publish in
the three papers in the county, such
misleading, false unfair and unjust
comparison is beyond me, unless it be
found in the fact that he was in hopes
that by springing it so late in the
campaign and publishing it in the
last issues of the three papers that
will be published in time to get into
the Northern part of the county be-
fore election, that there would be
many that would not know of it's falsi-
ty until after election and that he
would thereby gain some votes How
he is elected he doesn't seem to
care, but | don't want to be elected
unless it is on the square.
Mr.. Mclaughlin says he never lost
but one criminal case that he prose-
cuted. Ju t think Of that for a law
yer, who has been two terms prose-
cutting attorney. Only failed to get
a verdict of guilty in one instance,
and that was a case from Big CamaS
Prare. He docs not say why he
gives its coming from Big Camas as
an excuse for his failure in that in
stance, but he evidently finds salts
factory Justification for himself in
the fact that it came from there.
Most thinking people would be loath
to believe that an attorney could
have such phenomenal success but
the funny part in this case is that
his atement is about true, though
none the less malicious or misleading
when the balance of the truth is
withheld in his comparison. Here is
what he omitted telling you. He only
had twenty Height cases altogether n
his two terms of office. Fifteen of
these We're dismissed or not tried,
after the expense Of preliminary hear
ings and trials in lower courts;
nine were convicted, one of these
was afterWard reversed by the SUI
preme Court, and one forfeited his
bond, and three were acquitted. So
his record shows nine convictions out
OF twenty-eight cases.
My record stands up to date as
follows:
Total number of cases.. =. E. ..43
Convictions. =. E. :. E. e. =. 80
DiSmiSSals,.. E. :. =. =, :.
Acquittals, =.
Cases yet pending, =. :. E. :. l
OF these SO convictions two were
reversed by the Supreme Court. l
have had five more convictions than
he had criminal cases, and sent just
the same number of men to the
penitentiary that he has had cases
not counting the two convictions that
We're afterward reversed by the Su
preme Court.
l never made it practice of prose-
cutting a man, when | had the dead
cinch on him, just to make a record
for myself of always getting a con-
viction when | asked for it, (if the
case did not arise in Big Camas
Prairie), and putting the taxpayers
to the expense of a criminal trial,
with it's consequent long terms of
court and expensive juries, but when
ever possible, and according to my
record, it was frequently possible,
Immediately after the commission of
the crime gathered the evidence and
systematized it and presented it to
the defendant in such way as to
convince him that l had the goods on
him and almost without exception
they pleaded guilty. There were
cases where | was convinced that the
parties were guilty, but / was unable
to get the evidence before trial,
and in some cases the evidence did
not materialize as / had a right to ex-
pect it would. A lawyer that has
never been disappointed in his evil
dence has indeed had few cases, and
/ may have erred in judgment. am
not one of those that never make a
mistake, (unless it arose in Big Camas
Prairie) but the record will bear me
out in the flat statement that my
admins tration OF the county attorneys