The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1914-05-08
CONSPIRACY OF
TWENTY-THREE
Chapter Five

III pToCeeulHS cnapLerS OF LnlS SLOT.
we purposely omitted some matter
which will be mentioned If practica
year after they happened. W.
asked the public in the beginning tt
withhold judgment until the atmos
phere cleared, and we acted upon thai
admonition ourselves. In whatever
is published hereafter we shall omit
all references which might need cen
soring by parents, and shall meet
only few of the most glaring mis-.
representations that have never beer
disputed.
In certain preliminary hearing
that was held year ago, when the
question was asked of the defendant
whether he wanted the case conduct.
ed behind closed doors or in open
court he promptly stated that he
wanted it in open court if there was
anybody who wanted to attend, and
there was crowd gathering.
A special edition of the Blackfoot
Optimist was published that evening
stating that the defense tried to have
1t behind closed doors but there was
such protest against that they
weakened and consented to let the
crowd in. The paper misquoted and
mis-stated the evidence and abused
the defendant as a brute, monster
without shame, exhibiting little en-
barrassment and presenting an at
tempted bravado. Current issues of
daily papers published in Idaho and
Utah carried Blackfoot dispatches of
the same tone and tenor, and one of
them, the Boise Statesman, carried
the false statement that the Trego
home had to be guarded to save Mr..
Trego from violence.
On Sunday evening, the day after
the hearing, j. M. Stevens and Mr..
Trego met, and Mr.. Stevens laugh
1ngly joked him about being stung.
He said he had tried so many of
that kind of cases he knew just about
now they were going to end if given
time enough. Most of them, he said,
ended by the defendant paying some
BODY few hundred dollars to quit.
He said 1t was the hardest kind of a
case to defend against, and that he,
. 'Irego, could be knocked out of the
Idaho Republican or knocked out
of the price of the Republican very
easily before it could be stopped.
The next evening Mrs. Trego re-
ceived a long distance telephone call
from Mrs. E. NJ. Holden at Idaho
Falls saying they had read of the
trouble aRd did not believe a word
OF it. That she and Mr.. Holden had
talked it over and he said, and she
agreed with him, that it was a put
up job and that friends would stand
by and the plot would all come out
sooner or later.
Il The same day some letters and tele-
grams were received at Sagehurst,
from friends over the state assuring
us of their friendship and loyalty.
One of them read, "You are being
s1obbed. Accept the advice of one
who has also been maligned, and
stand your ground and fight"
Il Another one from a business man
in Boise read, "Its a dirty frame up
TO down you for the good you are
doing. Since the Machold case, any
thing can be expected from the
powers that be, at Blackfoot."
There were a number of people in
2Blackfoot who possessed information
that would have cleared up the case,
but some of them had to keep still
TO protect themselves, and others
withheld what information they had
until after conviction, because they
were enjoying the huge joke and
wanted to see 1t completed. Between
these two elements most of the infor-
nation that would have been useful
ITO the defense, was sealed up.
N How People Acted
The writer has been asked scores
8of times what class of people If any,
were the more sensible in their at
titude toward him. What class as
ito religious or othere alignments,
working people, society folks, etc.