A concerted effort was made to have the Judge
suppress his report. Many respectable friends of
the grafters went to the front for graft. They
pretended to represent “business,” the “party,”
“the fair fame of Denver,” etc. They used the
names of United States Senators Patterson and
Teller. They were panic-stricken. As for the
Judge, he was awed at the show of influence.
“And,” he says, “I was really in doubt lest I
might be doing a great harm to accomplish a
little good.” But he was reassured. He sounded
the United States Senators, and both Mr. Patter-
son and Mr. Teller sent back word to “go ahead
and show up the grafters regardless of party.”
That was the first encouragement the Judge got.
Finally, three of the County Commissioners
called, and their pleadings decided him. They
also prayed in the name of “the party, the
“credit of business,” Denver, gratitude, their
families; but — there was no word about stopping
the stealing! The Judge published the report
in the Democratic newspaper, the News.
The County Board had to act; and it began with an investigation of its own a farce, of course. “One thing I learned from it, however,” the Judge says, “and that was that many men of business are cowards. The same experts who had told me that the commissioners were thieves, went
