TOLCME VII.
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NUMBF.R U.
LA GRANDE, UNION COCNTT, OREGON. MONDAY, JANt'ARY ST, 10.
VICE AfiD (ORRUPTIOfi Ifi BAKEIi (ITY LAID BARE BY P
1INISTERIAL BODY
I
EM)
BAKER CITY EXCITED OVER
' ATTACK OH ITS CITY
OFFIK
STINK POT OF
CORRUPTION IS
, MCHCE
following Anonymous Letter to
Ministerial Association Comes
Bitter Attack in Way of
Dodgers- Publicly Posted
. one-half minutes after the opening of
j the Harvey Brown memorial services.
I "That a prisoner In the county Jail
Recuses Judge Smith of being Intoxi
cated during the progress of his trial.
. "That boys and girls are allowed to
Baker City, Ore., Jan. 27. A sen
sation such as has not been enjoyed
in eastern Oregon since the assassin
ation of Harvey K. Brown, was sprung
late yesterday forenoon when a
dodger Issued by the Ministerial asso
ciation of this city was circulated,
fcltterly criticising officials . of this
city and county. .
The circular charges Baker City
with being a "stinkpot of corruption."
,'Jlmong the specific charges are these:
1 "That Judge Smith of the circuit
court, and Mayor Johns, were seen
wander about the city at all hours of
the night. -
"That the skating rinks are allowed
to open on Sundays.'
"That a member of the Civic Purl
ty league once found a policeman In
a gambling den, drinking and gam
bllng."
- Joints Doen't Deny.
Mayor Johns today refused to deny
that he had been seen drinking and
playing a slot machine in the Oelser
Grand hotel bar-room four and one
half minutes after the Harvey Brown
memorial service last October, as
charged by the circular;
Apparently the mayor Is not greatly
excited over the charge of the ,mlnls
ters. Judge Smith, who was accused
of being with the mayor In the bar
room at the time, is out of town.
The entire crusade against the city
and its officials was precipitated by
receipt of an anonymous letter ad
dressed to the Baptist minister of Ba
ker City. The letter follows:
"Pastor First Baptist Church, Baker
City, Oregon.
"My Very Dear Sir: t want to ask
you and all the other Baker minister!
a question: Who la being paid to look
after the morals of this town? Isn't
It the ministers? Are you doing It?
The question Is an open one. Every
one of you know there Is a state law
that. Baker Is the only open tows tti
the state you also know that by go
ing before the grand jury and laying
In a complaint you could have ' the
sheriff close gambling in mighty
short order.
"Why don't you do It? Why don't
some of you get Instead of stand and
whine from the pulpit? It Is because
you lack backbone you lack nerve.
Every minister In town Is responsible
lor the gambling and open saloons In
Baker City. That does not sound very
complimentary, does It? Too bad we
have not a minister or two like some
of those In Portland. See what they
accomplished In a city like that, and
in a little place like Baker the min
isters stand around afraid to speak
their minds If they have any! Some
times when I see' boys In the saloons
I think the ministers haven't any
minds or morals either.
"Please read this carefully and
pass to one or two other ministers for
you are all to blame. I, like a great
many others, am disgusted.
"Sincerely yours for morality."
Minister! Make Reply,
The Ministerial association then
rounded up a printer or two and af
ter compiling facts and figures that
would require two newspaper columns
to reprint In full, had posters printed
and scattered broadcast over the city
of Baker. Replying to the letter the
dodger says In part:
We publicly charge the writer of
this letter with being a liar and a
coward; a coward In that he dare not
sign his name to his letter; a liar, In
that he states lies from beginning to
end. This we will prove.
We also charge the special corres'
pondent of the Oregonlan with being
in the same class with the above
writer, for, ' In the Oregonlan of the
24th he states lies, and proves that
he dare not write the truth to his pa
per. This we will prove. Let us take
you Into our confidence.
First, at the Harvey Brown Memor-
BLOW AT CMOXS',
DlMcrimliuulng Act Declared I" noon -.
sUtutktnal by Supreme Court, :
Washington, D C, Jan. 27. Or
ganized labor lost a hard-fought bat
tle today when the supreme court de
cided that part of the Erdman act
prohibiting railroads engaged in Inter
state commerce, from discriminating
against employees belonging to labor
unions, was unconstitutional.
mm of mm
T
fast citifs
drinking before a saloon bar four and against gambling you also know
PORTLAND, ME., AND BAL
TIMORE BLAZES AGAIN.
YEARS TAKES CARBOLIC Ad
two men were Japanese spies.
During the fusilade of shots Satur
day one of the burglars' hat was shot
off.
Thieve ut BcllliiKlinnt.
Bellingham, Wash., Jan. 27.
Thieves entered the armory here Sun
day and stole lu worth of revolvers.
We never live, but we ever hope to
live. Pascal. . .,
Thrw Eire Raged During Morning
Hours Baltimore and Portland,
Me., Are Scenes of Two Dewlrue-j
Ue Fires In Less Than One Week
Chicago Bluxe Injures Twenty
Persons uud DumugcM Many Large
BuilillngH One Mun is Reported
Killed.
MOIIT
IN I1D CASES
(Continued on page 8.)
HOUSE KEEPERS
II Look To The Needs Of Your il
li
Lfifcff viu.?cf.? i hid iiccii " - -::
, ; ; ; , li
tl While we offer you an unusual opportunity to supply your linen needs-this week-we will
e ; ; 1 ; 5
t; also continue our last week's "Year-End and Inventory Sale" as advertised last week, tj
Ladies Suits, Hats, Coats and Jackets, and Misses and ChildrensCoats at Half and LESS li
il THAN HALF PRICE, Boys and Mens Overcoats at Unordinary Prices, and all Broken Lines
Chicago, 111., Jan. 27. Three disas
trous fires, causing a property loss of
over a million and a half dollars, oc
curred In this country between mid
night and morning. One Is still be
yond control. The Standard OH com
pany's tanks at Baltimore caught fire'
early this morning and, fanned by a
gale, the blaze Is still raging. One
man Is reported dead.
Second Portland Fin1.
At Portland, Me., the second big
fire within a week occurred. It is a
fire in the business section of the city, !
causing a loss of almost $800,000. By
3:45 this morning It was under con
trol and was confined to one block.
Big ( IiIi-uko Fire.
At Chicago one fireman was klll.id
and three Injured and property to the
value of $500,00 destroyed In the
printing establishment of W. P.
Dunn & Co. The flames spread to
the Florence hotel and drove the oc
cupants Into the street In scanty gar
ments. The magnificent new Corn Ex
change building Is damaged.
Twenty persons were Injured.
At noon the Baltimore fire Is sun
raging, the flames leaping h-ml-'f-H
of feet In the air. It Is tstlmatiu that
500,000 gallons of oil have oe i. t it.
sumed so far.
AFTER CLOSING IIALL-
MAVH CASE COMES ItL'.hT.
BWIECACOE
SUICIDES AT
MILTON. DDL
Despondent over ', Inability to
Keep Up With Her Studies
and Takes Her Own Lite
Sutlers Terrible Aony
Because llcney Wants to Go to Knu
FruiH lM o and Brecker Desires
Yucuilon, a Postponement of Laud
Fraud Cases tn Portland Is Expect
edHermann's Cam In Next Fn,
But Conditions ExiMt Which Mean
Certain IH-luy in That, Tiki. ,
PLANS TO GET
DEFENSE IPS
I af Heavy Price Raductions,
TABLE LINENS, BED LINENS, TOWELS AT INTERESTING PRICES
Linen
25c Linen Towels 58x18
XtJnches, in Plain and Fancy
Doraers
3 for 50c
20c linen Huck Towels
tl Plain and Striped Borders
Each 15c
il
il 15c Linen Toweling lie
; 45x36
I 22 in. Bleached
i ki i. :.. jLi. -1.
iiapnnr. uin ween
Per Set 59c
50c Table Linens in Turkey
red and Canary Colors
33c
$1.15 values
inch Sheets
95c
in 12x80
in. Pillow Cases
3 for 50c
r
-A UrtHMJt,
68x90 inch Bleached Linen
Table Cloths in beautiful
Floral Patterns, this week
$2.78
ti
TWO SHREWD PLANS
MADE TO ROB ARMORY
Willi! is B"lleved to Hate Been Two
JiipuneMe Splc, Were Frustrated In
Their Pluns of Entering the Large
Militia Armory at Kan Fraitclxco hi
Two Attempt Kent rim Discovered
Would-be Rohbem Shots Were
Fired and Bunglara Flee.
$1.25 Bleached linen Dam
ask 72 inches wide, this ;
week
89c
$1.50 Real German Linen 11
72 inches wide, this week
$1.95
Portland, Jan. 27. Following the
Hall-Mays case, which will probably
close Friday, another postponement
in the land fraud cane Is expected
Judge Hunt announced today that
inference between Prosecutor Honey,
Brecker and himself on this subject,
would soon occur.
Heney wishes to get to San Fran
cisco and Judge Hunt desires to re
turn to Montana, Attorney Brecker
has been here but a short time and
would like more time to become fa
miliar with the .Oregon procedure.
The next case on the docket is the
Blnger Hermnnn land fraud Indict
ment. Hermann's attorneys are In
Washington at present and might not
be able to reach this coast within
the next 10 days.
Today Franklin P. Mays resumed
his testimony, but told nothing of
material Interest. It was merely a
detailed resume of his legal relations
with Htelwer. Following Mays Heney
attempted to put Meldrum on the
stand, but owing to the fact that Moi-
drum Is now a convicted felon and
serving a sentence for land fraudlng,
his eligibility as a witness was ob
jected to and Judge Hunt took the
matter under advisement.
Despondent over apparent Inability
to keep up with her studies In Colum
bia college at Milton, Ore.,' suffering
under the humiliation which she be
lieved would be heaped upon her.
were she to full at the final examina
tions this spring when she would .
either be graduated sr forced to taka
another year of school work, Mlsa
Bernica Cue, duughter of Mr. and Mrs.
S. K. Cor of Milton, and well known
In La Grande, last evening drank car
bolic acid and died' a few hours later
at tho home of her parents In that
city. '
The news of her suicide was tele
phoned to La Grande. Bridge Super
intendent J. F. Campbell and his wife
were at one time caretakers of the
girl before she entered College, and
Mrs. Cnmpboll Is a sister of the girl.
The first intimation of the deplor
able act reached hero Inst evening
about 10 o'clock, when Mr. Campbell
was notified that the deed was dona
and life was but a matter of hour.
Physicians were working over the
young girl at that hour, and Informed
Mr. Campbell that death would soon
follow. At midnight again the tele
phone was brought Into use to learn
the state of the suicide, flhe had died
a few minutes before connection
were made, after a few hours of ex
cruciating suffering.
This morning Mr. Campbell, and hla
grief-stricken wife left for MlltnrC
Nothing In known of the exact clr-
( Continued on page 4.)
VALENTINES
San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 27. Bu
lets fired by sentries guarding the ar
mory of the National Ouard here
frustrated a second attempt within 2
hours to enter the big building In
which are kept the valuable military
maps of San Francisco and Its const
defense. The attack on the building
was not made by ordinary burglars.
The persistency of the mysterious
visitors makes this apparent.
Early Saturday morning, and again
Jj,Runday morning, two men tried to!
Igiiln entrance to the building. Fear-
Ing Another attempt, sentries were!
doubled Sunday night. !
From descriptions furnished offi. i
Splendid Assortment
All 1908 Styles
All Prices
HILL'S DRUG STORtOAN
La Grande m J CQ
i
V'.
-i
J
I
cers by soldiers It Is believed that the