Evening star., 1926-06-19
ARGUMENT CLOSED
IN FENNING CASE
Continued from First Page)

4
| Continued from First Page)
tees attention to the ruling that the
facts in the Fenning case would not
be taken from briefs, but only from
the sworn record. and expressing
willingness to argue the facts if the
committee needs anything more than
the record, counsel for Commissioner
Fenning will take no official notice OF
Representative Rankin's latest brief.
| The keen interest of the people of
| Washington, whose community has
| been as much slandered as has any In
dividual. and the unwarranted asser-
| ton of MIR. Rankin that there has been
unmasked the plunder bund of Wash
) ington' warrant some brief final pub
| lie comment on this latest attack
| Hits War Record.
obviously for the purpose of Great
| ing atmosphere, MIR. Rankin refers to
himself as an eX-soldier of the World
War and says that he is acting in
| this matter at the request of his com
radeS of the World War In view of
these references the public may be in
terested in Congressman Rankin's
! title to be called a veteran of the
! World War The war record of John
| II. FldilklU at Ine war
shows that he enlisted October %,
| 191S-twenty days before the armi-
stice; that he was discharged Novem.
| ber 90, 1918: that his entire service
was at Camp Zachary Taylor in Ken
| lucky, one month and seven days, as
a candidate in the 25th Casual Train
| ing Battery of the Field Artillery
Casual Officers Training School.
When the United States entered the
war in 1917 MIR. Rankin was 35 years
old, unmarried and practicing law. On
this heroic military career rests the
oftrepeated claim that he Is AN eX-
soldier of the World War now serving
his comrades in arms The gallant
and willing men who rendered real
service, and to whom we all owe an
undying debt of gratitude, we'll know
/ how to appraise military records such
as that.
Mr.. Rankin. initiating Mr.. Blan-
ton. assails DIR. William A. White. ig-
| noring the fact that on page 867 of
the record Of the Fenning case it is
shown that the chairman of the judi
ciary subcommittee announced that
there had been no evidence presented
connecting Dr. White with anything
improper so far as any connection
whatever between him and Mr.. Fen
/
man Dyer added: I think that is only
fair to DR.. White. and l think the
committee agrees with me- Another
member of the committee who spoke
stared his emphatic agreement with
the chairman. and all the other mem
bers of the committee clearly indicated
their acquiescence. The chairman or
the committee. as shown by the same
page of the record. also stated, as re-
CARDS DR.. White, that there is no eVl-
dance in the record that | have been
able TO hear or see that connects him
with any wrongdoing. so far as mis-
management of the hospital is con
cerned' When this statement was
made no dissent was voiced, and 1t
was perfectly apparent that what the
chairman said was cOncurred in by
every member of the committee VINO
had heard the evidence.
Audit of Cases Finished.
Again the intimation is made that
no one knows whether the estates or
Mr.. Jennings wards are intact. The
auditor of the Supreme Court of the
District Of Columbia has just com
pleted his annual check up of every
one of Mr.. Jennings cases. To this
court official we refer. confident that
he will say that the securities, APP
proximating 81 100000 in value to-
gether with the balances in every
| bank account. have been found abso-
| lutely intact. Repetition of an un-
truth has never made il true.
/ .'tOnce more Mr.. Rankin assails the
| integrity of Commissioner Rudolph
and accuses him of crime. The people
! of his community. among whom Mr.
Rudolph has lived his life whose in
te.ests he has served at great personal
sacrifice. have. | am sure, nothing
but contempt for any man, no mat
ter what his station, who attempts to
besmirch Cuno Rudolph's character.
There is repeated the feeble mind
ed contention that any Commissioners
who has signed any contract between
the District and Rudolph & West Co.
is party to the commission or a
crime; but with noticeable care, those
who make this contention limit the
role of 'accompiice' to Mr.. Fenning
and carefully avoid making the same
charge against Col. Bell the Engineer
Commissioner, whose connection with
such contracts is precisely the same
as Mr. Jennings. Not only that. but
as regards Rudolph & West Co. 8
contracts. other Commissioners have
done exactly what Mr.. Fenning has
done. TO refute completely the ridic-
ulous charge that our Commissioners
have been accomplices in crime, it is
only necessary to recall to Washing
ton people the fact that Mr.. Ru-
dolph's fellow Engineer Commission
ers have been Col. Charles w. Kutz,
Col. Charles Keller and Col. J. Frank
lin Bell, and his fellow civilian Com
missioner, preceding Mr.. Fenning,
was the lamented Capt. James F. Oys-
ter Does any right-thinking citizen
of this city of ours believe for a mo-
ment that these Commissioners have
been guilty of crime?i If not. what
basis is there for this charge against
Mr.. Fenning?
Attack on Sidd0ns.
MIR. Rankin covertly attacks JUS
tice Frederick l.. Siddons and openly
assails the courts opinion in the Ad-
ler case. 1t is almost amusing to re-
member that recently Mr.. Bianton
and Mr.. Rankin hailed a mere report
of the auditor of the court as a judi
cial holding that Mr.. Fenning had
been guilty of embezzlement, while
now the courts own clear-cut decision
that Mr.. Fenning was guilty of
neither crime, fraud nor negligence is
dismissed as unworthy of considera-
ton and as a mere expression of a
private opinion This new position
is devoid of merit. The law provides
for a forfeiture of 'all' commissions
bv ANY guardian who fraudulently or
wrongfully converts funds of his