Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/262

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.


appointed a deputy, George Allan Smith, who, the Judge says, was faithful. (And evidently he was, for he was forced to resign after the trial.) No local judge cared to sit on the case, so a judge of the Pueblo district (controlled by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company) was called in. For the grafters appeared Charles J. Hughes, a leading attorney for the corrupt corporations of Colorado (since elected a United States Senator). The story of the trial is a story of “jury work,” stolen papers, conspiracies and plots, and an attempt to brand Judge Lindsey as “an ingrate” (to the System), a “reformer,” and a “grand-stand player.” (How they do hate to have a man serve and appeal to the people!) Nobody ex- pected anything but a verdict of acquittal, and then Judge Lindsey was to have been put on trial.

But the jury convicted those grafters. How it happened I couldn’t learn. Somebody blun- dered, I heard. The jurors apologized; the District-attorney apologized; the very judge apologized. Judge Voorheis delivered from the bench to those prisoners at the bar a speech which was eulogistic of them. He spoke of their stand- ing and usefulness as Christian gentlemen and good citizens. He said they were victims of an evil System. He regretted that he had to impose any punishment, but he must; so he gave the