The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-04-23
LAWYER COULDN' I
KEEP ROOSEVELT
IN TRACES
Colonel Cr0ss-Examined in Barns
Libel Suit
CAME THROUGH FEELING BULLY"
Turned Tables on Attorney and Gave
Short Lectures on Good
Citizenship.

Syracuse, n. Y, April 22-Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt underwent a
| fire of cross-examinatiop from vii
liam Twins in the Barnes-Rooseyelt
libel trial before Justice Andrews in
the Supreme Court here today and
came out of it feeling bully" 1t was
a mild ordeal for the Colonel, and II
did not seem to affect his spirits in
the least; in fact, it allowed him to
get before the jury representations
to the effect that he had never been
dominated by political boss and
that he had gone on record many
times as an exponent of what he call
ed the rule OF righteousness in pol
tics.
Mr.. Irvins attempted to show by
various allegations. that, while the
Colonel had set himself up as an ex-
ponent OF honesty in government and
hater of bosses and machines, he
had willingly taken nominations for
office from bosses as bad as he pic
tured William Barnes TO be; that he
had tried to evade paying his taxes;
that he had trampled on the State
Constitution by running for governor
when he was ineligible and that he
hobnobbed with the machine polite
ians whenever it suited his purpose
to do so The Colonel freely admit
ted some of the allegations made, but
contended that he had acted in the
cause of righteousness.
The sensation of the day was the
production by Mr. Barnes counsel of
a long letter which Lemuel e. Quigg
wrote to Colonel Roosevelt in 1898
when the Colonel was seeking the
Gubernatorial nomination. The let
ter barred the methods by which non.
nations were made by Republican
bosses and showed how Thomas c..
Platt, the easy boss" held the Re-
publican machine of the state in his
hand 1t also let new light in upon
the fight by the then Governor Black
to get the Gubernatorial election for
himself, but was prevented by Platt.
Mr.. lrvins apparently hoped to
take the Roosevelt forces off their
feet with the letter. as it seemed to
show that the Colonel was dickering
with Quigg for the nomination and
was willing to accept it from boss
greater in his time than Barnes. But
John NJ Bowers, counsel for Mr..
Roosevelt produced the Colonel's
letter, and it put the negotiations in
a somewhat different light. The Col
onel bluntly told Quigg that he want
ed it made clear that no effort had
been made to exact pledges from him
and that there had been no bargain
ing for the nomination.
Throughout most of the day Mr.. Ir-
wins sought to prove that Colonel
Roosevelt was a taXdodger and that
he was elected governor when he
was ineligible to hold such office, as
he has not lived continuously in the
state five years previous to his elect
ion. as the Constitution provides.
Both charges had been made before.
Mr.. Twins found it hard work to
keep the witness in hand. Time and
again. the Colonel, brushing aside all
restraint and ignoring Mr.. Twins OBJ
ieetions, delivered eXordiums to the
jury on the duty Of good citizenship
and told how he had ridden rough
shod over the bosses when they had
tried to bend him to their purposes.
The witness made his own rules for
presenting evidence as he went along
and after several mild tiffs with him
Mr.. Twins sat down and allowed the
witness to do largely as he pleased.
Time and again the courtroom was
in laughter.