New-York tribune., 1916-07-10
Says Men High in Power
as Well as Tools Will
Be Prosecuted.
LEGAL STAFF HAS
MASS OF EVIDENCE
State Officials May Become In
vOIved in Case-Ex-Warden to
Resumes Duties Sunday.

10 follow those who engineered and ex-
ecuted the conspiracy against me to
the bitter end. Some of the men are in
high places, are men of intelligence and
power. Those are the men | am after.
Others, poor unfortunate devils, were
used as tools. Those men | am not
after, though they may in the course of
the fight be hurt"
Thus Thomas Mott Osborne yester-
day declared his position in the matter
of prosecuting those who, he and his
friends charge, were back of the con-
spiracy to drive him from the warden
ship of Sing Sing and public life.
It is his answer to the efforts made
from various quarters to induce him to
let the matter drop, now that he has
been vindicated.
There is nothing personal about
this" he went on. months before
there was any public whisper of the
charges later made against me | knew
that the conspiracy had been hatched
could have avoided all the trouble and
worry, all the expense and fighting, if
had then retired. That would have
been as cowardly as it might have been
expedient. | decided to stay and fight
and in fighting made the fight of every
honest official.
VIII Not Permit Repetition.
"To quit with personal vindicatior
and return to my position in Sing Sing
would be to leave the work undone
The crooks in and out of Office and in
and out of prison who planned to de
stroy me and my good name would b'
free 70 try the same dose on some other
official who might incur their i'll will
| do not propose TO permit that.
when we are through | can promise
that never again will this gang or its
members try such a game on public
official. As a citizen | would be rec
reant to my duty if, with the mass OF
evidence | have in hand. | should bt
smugly content to have emerged from
the conspiracy safe in person and rep
has supported me nobly in my fight
and to the honest men in Office to see
this thing through. Just what form th'
prosecution will take is not for me e
say at this time"
II is understood from one who ha
been high in the councils Of the Os
borne defence that the preliminary
steps have already been taken, an,
that for weeks members of the Os
borne legal staff, Val O'Farrell, who's
detective agency has been engaged fol
months. and close friends of the war
den have been busy pounding into
shape a mass of evidence.
Much of this evidence is in the form
of confessions. More is in documentary
form, some parts of state records which
lend corroboration 10 the confessions
This, it is stated, tends to show con
clusively that certain high state off.
cials. working with two notorious New
York convicts. planned to get Osborne
out of Sing Sing at any cost. In this
work the evidence tends TO show that
officials whose names have not been
publicly connected with the Osborne
prosecution lent their aid.
Money Used Is Charge.
There is also, it is understood, evi
dence tending to show that in some
cases money was used to buy evidence
against the warden, and that a large
sum of money was offered a widely
known New York woman to testify
falsely Included in the mass of mat
ter in the hands of the Osborne law
yers are retractions from practically
every convict and ex-convict who was
used as witness against him before
the Westchester County Grand Jury
Mr.. Osborne will be sworn in as
warden of Sing Sing at Albany or
Friday, and on Sunday go to the prison
70 take up his work where he left off
With the action of District Attorney
Weeks, in appealing from the decision
Of the Appellate Division, knocking out
the sixth count in the immortality in
dictment, he has no criticism, declar
ing that the Prosecutor only has per
feet right to take an appeal.