Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-09-10
the afternoon, why that order of sus-
pension should be set aside.
Respectfully,
JOHN J. BLAINE, Governor.


JOHN J. BLAINE, Governor.
Lancaster, Wisconsin, Sept 5, 1924
Hon. John ]. Blaine,
Madison, Wisconsin,
Sir:
I am in receipt of your letter ad-
vising me that 1 may show cause be-
fore you on September 9th, why ]
should not be suspended from the Of
flee of district attorney of Grant
county, for failure to take proper &C
ton in connection with the Khan pa
rade and trouble arising therefrom at
Boscobel, on August 10th.
Replying | would say:
Some days before your first tele-
gram demanding action reached me,
I had started an investigation and had
come to the conclusion that the at
tempt of Mr.. Shields, the night watch,
to shoot one of the Klansmen (Which
undeniably occurred) was unjustifi-
able and called for prosecution on my
part. No complaint had then or ever
has been made to me by any faction
that there was mob violence at Bos-
cobel, or even disorder, except in
this single instance. Mr.. Shields and
his friends had called upon me and
urged that I should start the pros
ecutiOn which they knew I had con-
templated and which would involve a
full investigation, after which, if there
appeared to be any proof of unlawful
assembly or other violation of the
law, I could take appropriate action.
felt that 1 was better informed than
you were, and might use my indepen-
dent judgment, and had a warrant is
sued charging the night watch with
assault with intent to to great bodily
harm and a hearing was set for Sep
TENDER 10th, before Hon. E. B. Good
sell, county judge and ex-officio court
commissioner.
[ am not klansman, nor am I a
khan sympathiZer, as all my friends
and acquaintance we'll know I am,
however, district attorney of Grant
county, sworn to the faithful perfor-
nance of the duties of the office,
which, take it, certainly involves an
impartial attitude, and I could not
and would not deny justice, or what
appeared to be justice, to any man
because he was klansman, nor pros
titute my judgment and become cog
in political machine at executive
fiat. I have been four times elected
district attorney of Grant county by
the suffrage of those who know me
well and feel sure I shall have their
approval of my course as the only one
an honest official with any backbone
could pursue. My kilograms to you
were not, I admit, upon rereading,
very respectful; but upon perusal of
your own you will see, 1 trust, that
they are distinctly imperious and in
sulting in tone and content and cal
culated to stir the blood of an officer
who has the sanction of his own con-
science in disagreeable situation
And, after all, this is not ante-bellum
Russia or Prussia, but the State of
Wisconsin, where the trainers of our
constitution supposed public officials
would be answerable primarily at
least to the electors and protected
from interference and influence. If I
overstepped the bounds of propriety in
my answers to your kilograms, my
excuse must be the natural resent
ment I felt that you should assume to
substitute your judgment for my own
and thus become acting district at
torney of Grant county and that you
should implicitly accuse me of wilful-
ly neglecting a plain duty which lay
before me.
I regret that you should have set
this hearing for September 9th, which
is the day before the date which you
knew I had set for the Shields hear
ing, and which you obviously wish to
prevent. I shall appear in Madison on
the 9th. I do not expect justice at
your hands-the case is prejudged-
but I do expect to make a showing
upon which you will find difficulty in
justifying your predetermined course
even to your most faithful adherents.
Respectfully,
GEO. B. CLEMENTSON,
District Attorney, Grant County.