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Chapter XI

Trial of the famous "11-7" case ends in speedy conviction after a series of sensational developments—Puter charges that himself and associates were to be sacrificed as a burnt offering in atonement for the sins of those "higher up"—incidentally, the land fraud king pays his respects to John H. Hall, and shows how the efforts of the ousted United States Attorney to hide Heney's light under a bushel met with disastrous consequences—Binger Hermann's fickle memory proves a factor at the trial, but fails to save the defendants—Telegraphic correspondence between Heney and Mitchell indicates the powerful pressure brought by the Government to secure the Senator's attendance as a witness—Special Agent Loomis and Forest Superintendent Ormsby shine as pastmasters in the art of making misleading reports.

EVENTS antedating the trial and conviction of myself and associates in the 11-7 case, and incident thereto, will, if carefully analyzed, reveal the contemptible political conspiracy to make us the scapegoats for the accumulated misdeeds of all those who had in any way been implicated in Oregon land frauds, and will show that the ringleader of the scheme was none other than John H. Hall, at that time the United States Attorney for Oregon, but afterwards ousted from office by President Roosevelt on account of his questionable connections.

I am not seeking to vindicate myself by these assertions, or presenting them as any excuse why I ought to have been absolved from receiving my just deserts, but I wish to lay particular stress upon the well-accepted fact that those "higher up" were eager to crucify the 11-7 gang upon any kind of legal cross in the hope that the sacrificial offering would atone for the stains of their own sins, and that Hall was to be the high priest at the ceremony.

With the ink still undried upon his commission as a public servant, and the sacred echoes of his oath of office still ringing in his ears, he was to be the conscienceless medium through which his corrupt political allies hoped to secure immunity from punishment by making us their burnt offering. They were deeper in the mud than we were in the mire, and nobody knew this half so well as John H. Hall; yet he stood ready to prostitute his official position in the manner described, and expected, by making a horrible example of us, to pull the wool over the eyes of the law-abiding element, and soothe the public with the idea that Justice was satisfied!

Abraham Lincoln once gave voice to some expressions that have since become symbolic, and in a measure are applicable in this instance. In the course of one of his most famous addresses, the martyred President said:

"You can fool some of the people all the time; you can fool all the people some of the time; but you can't fool all the people all the time!"

Francis J. Heney was one that they didn't fool. He suspected the United States Attorney for Oregon from the moment it dawned upon him that the latter had attempted to switch the weaker case of the two up for trial, and it is an open secret that the Government kept tab on every move that Hall subsequently made, until he was dismissed peremptorily from public service at Heney's suggestion.

A traitor to the Government, Hall's natural selfish instincts prompted him to betray us, and desert us in our extremity like a rat leaving a sinking ship. People may say that it comes with poor grace for one in my position toPage 136