Chapter IX
IN February, 1904, I returned to Portland, Ore., and calling upon Mr. Mays, gave him full particulars relative to my experience with Secret Service Agent Gallagher, in connection with the Porter letter. Mays made inquiry concerning Mrs. Watson's whereabouts, and I assured him that she was safely located in Southern California, which information seemed to meet with his approval.
He next asked about Heney; if I had met him in San Francisco, and as to my opinion of his legal ability. As a reply I told Mays that I had attended the preliminary hearing before United States Commissioner Heacock, at San Francisco, wherein F. A. Hyde, John A. Benson, Joost H. Schneider and Henry P. Dimond were accused of conspiracy to defraud the Government of its public lands, and had passed the better portion of two days in the courtroom; that I followed Heney closely in his examination of witnesses, and found him to be most thorough in detail, as well as rigid and severe at times; that his points of law were well taken in almost every instance, being sustained repeatedly by the Court, and that, notwithstanding the fact that several of San Francisco's most eminent attorneys were arrayed against him in behalf of the defendants, Heney seemed to be drawing blood with every stroke of the mallet. I had no hesitancy in telling Mays that I should be exceedingly well pleased if the Government could find it convenient to substitute someone else in Heney's place.
Mays shared my opinion relative to the Government prosecutor, having instituted a quiet inquiry concerning him on his own account, and stated that he had been informed that Heney was one of the best lawyers in the country, being especially formidable on Federal law by reason of his familiarity with the statutes while United States Attorney for Arizona during President Cleveland's administration. Mays mentioned the fact of Heney having been appointed Special Assistant to the United States Attorney-General, through the influence of Attorney-General Knox, and remarked that he must, of necessity, be a man of superior qualifications, else he could not have otherwise been so honored. All in all, Mays was frank in his admission that Heney would be a "hard customer" to go up against, and that under the circumstances it would be advisable for him to remain in the background when our case came to trial, and not undertake to openly represent me as counsel on account of its liability to involve him in trouble. He much preferred to be my "silent attorney," as he expressed it, relying altogether upon his personal influence with United States Attorney John H. Hall to defeat the ends of justice.
Mays suggested that I engage Judge Martin L. Pipes, of Portland, as my chief counsel, classing him properly as one of the ablest local lawyers. He remarked incidentally that he, also, might be called to account for some of his land transactions, and that in the event of an indictment being returned against
