The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-02-03
CAMPAIGN FOR
SENATOR WAS.
CLEAN ..MURF|N
Newberry's Election Was
Cuiltless of Fraud, Says
Leader for Defense =
Sketches it History.
WAS TO BEAT FORD
(By Associated Prcss)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich, Feb. )
Truman H. Newberry entered the
1918 senatorial campaign in Michi-
gan at the solicitation of others and
not in furtherance of a scheme to get
seat I'm the senate, said James O..
Murfin of Detroit. in outlining to the
jury in United States district court,
the attitude the defense will assume
toward the charges Of conspiracy and
fraud for which 1913 men are on trail.
Judge Murfin explained the de-
/ fense's view of the specific details of
the offense's charge in the six counts
of the indictment, emphasizing that
conspiracy is the essence of the
fcharges.
1t was pointed out that on the first
four counts ''the gist of the charge is
not fraud in the election, corruption
in the election or any thing of that
description, but that these respondents
! are charged with conspiring to aid,
abet. assist and encoura ge Truman H.
Newberry to commit an offense, to
wit: The offense of expending more
: of his money than the law allows.
Expenses are legal
1t was furt'ler argued that under
the Michigan law as long as expenses
FSOlut VIII tile IL cuuIltIdleu CldSSSS
in the statute, there is no limit as to
the amount of money committee of
"a candidates friends can spend in his
behalf"
1T is my purpose" Judge Murfin
told the jurors, ito point out to you in
exact detail everything that was done
by anybody connected with this cam
paign in order that you may under
stand it in it's infinite detail. The
campaign was unusually hot and in
analyzing and considering what these
respondents did the atmosphere under
which they did it should be considered.
Our country was at war; as the
campaign began to 1iven up we had
just passed our first year of participa-
tion and the situation was critical in
the extreme. The fate of the civilized
world was hanging in the balance with
the last German drive at it's height,
the channel ports threatened and the
German advance armies within 80
miles of Paris. .., ...-.-.. .
"The records will show that Mich
fgan sent to this war 100000 young
men in the army, navy and marine
corps; they left behind them fathers,
relatives and friends. Americanism
and patriotic excitement were at their
sNery crest.
while there had been runtors in
Michigan that Henry Ford would be a
candidate for the Senate, his can
tlidacy was actually announced on
June IA, 1918.
Ford Not the Right Man.
Rightly or wrongly-and this is
neither the time nor the place to dis
cuss it-there was a very general feel
ing that more Ford did not represent
the type of American who at that
critical juncture should represent his
state in the United States senate.
.On the other hand, Commander
Newberry had had an honorable record
in the Spanish-AmeriCan war, when in
the navy, he was under fire and
actively participated in overcoming a
superior force. He had been secretary
of the navy in the cabinet Of that
militant American, Theodore Roose.
welt
Within As hours after our country
threatened to enter the world war he
volunteered and in the spring of 1917
was commissioner a lieutenant com
mander and made aide to the com
mandant of the Third Naval district al
New York. His brother and his two
sons were also in military service.
Prompted by Americanism.
This combination of circumstances
reused many a man in Michigan to the
firm belief that it was his patriotic
duty to do all in his power to assure
the selection of Commander Newberry
and we expect to conclusively show
that they were prompted not by pay
tut by patriotism-that they were
actuated not by avarice, but by
Americanism.
1e Getting into this campaign was no
of the choosing of Commander New
berry and he entered with the utmos
reluctance and only after repeated
urging.
He stipulated that he could no
leave his duties; that he could not b'
active and that he could not contrib
ME one dollar to this movement. Thi
determination not to be active nor t
contribute one cent was religiousl,
adhered to by him from the beginnin,
to the end and the proof will positive
1y show that not one dollar Of hi
money was ever handled by anyone.
"The organization that was subse
cuentiv built up under the supervision
of Mr.. Paul H. King. was undoubtedl
The most perfect political organization
ever put together. With few con
spicuous executions every township
hamlet and city in the state was OF
ranized. The commander was runnini
7rainst the best advertised man il
America 1t was indispensably neces
sary in the judgment of those respond
ents in principal charge of the cam
paign that his qualifications be givel
the widest publicity.