The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 23, 1918, Page 4

i .cial club of Boise, Idaho, Army ‘MenWon’t Fiddle for Idaho Gang Plot of Bo:se Politicians to Lead ReCrultmg Officers Into Attack on the League Proves a Boomerang—Their “Human Fly” Hero Is a Fugitive RING a wandering steeplejack, who posed as a member of the marine corps fresh from serv- ice in France, to draw a crowd and put over a stupid anti- League speech constitutes the scabbiest trick possible | “at this time, but it was not too’ scabby for the Idaho anti-farmer gang. These agents of lawlessness do not hesitate when it serves their purpose to insult the flag and army of the United States. In this case the immediate agent was the commer- and the gang press play- ed up the story in the manner shown by the cuts of the Fargo Forum and the Boise (Idaho) Statesman headlines on this page. President Townley’s speech in Boise August 26, in spite of every ef- fort of the gang to pre- vent his appearance and with the state primaries only a week away, struck terror into the hearts of the anti-farmer gang. It was a well-founded ter- ror, of course, because I A KEPT PRESS LIE = l LOVK. MARINE PAYS RESPECTS TOA.CTOWNLEY thought they could successfully prostitute. it to pull their political chestnuts out of the fire. As soon as their attention was called to the way the gang politicians had attempted to drag the army into an attack on the League, one after another of the responsible army men in Boise issued state- ments repudiating their connection with the affair. Sergeant McCracken, who introduced the “human fly,” has repudiated his own speech and has given the names of the Boise politicians who led him into it. The local recruiting party issued the followmg signed statement: To Whom It May Concern: We understand that we are accused in a roundgpbout way, of being against a certain organization in this state under the name of t:xte‘ Nonpartisan league. t N PUBLICATION, EITHER BY WORD OF MOU' R _PRINT, anything FO OR AG. ST ANY GANIZATION, N or the MEMBERS OF ANY ORGANI- ZATION—no matter what politics are involved. We_further state that since our stay in this city we have not heard any se- ditious words uttered, or disloyal re- marks published, by any person—either in a political sense or not. (Signed) CHARLES F. C Sergeant in Charge. CORPORAL ROY BROOKS, PRIVATE WILLIAM J. MASON. LIEUTENANT REPUDIATES _ POLITICAL GANG But most important of all was the the League carried everything at the polls September 3. The gang was ready to snatch at any straw. HOW THE PLOT WAS FORMED In this case the straw was a wandering per- former, very anxious to . make some ready money and also entirely willing, it seems, to pose as a member of the army, a prlson offense. He was advertised as the great “human fly,” who would -gedle one of Boise’s tall- est buildings for the en- tertainment of the crowd. But this was not enough. He had, it was declared, seen the hottest kind of service on the . western front, was going back September 24 and in the meantime would help re- cruiting for the marine corps. Then the commercial club agents took him to Jack Williams, Daring Climber, Delivers Scorching Arraign- ment of President of Nonpar- tisan League; Scales Overiand pm—— &.-C. Townley. president of the Nonpartison ‘leaguc,’ who spoke in fio\n Friday night. was anumu ’ night branded as s pro-Ger 3 / traitor by Jack_ vhma an (ly,” a for] M2 Here is the headline of the Boise Idaho Statesman, which first sprung the story of the “human fly” denouncing the Nonpartisan league. The truth could .not be suppressed, and the opposition paper the next day exposed the whole miserable, put up job of a fake hero. This is a typical instance of anti-farm- er tactics, emanating ‘this time from the Idaho gang. The story is built on gross fraud for which the little tool of the interests is now a fugitive from justice and an outrage against the in- tegrity of the American army as the. letters from army officers given in full in the accompanying article show. repudiation of this political gang by Lieutenant Fox of the navy recruit- tisan league has done these things, my speech has no reference to them in any way, shape or form. i I wish to protest against the use of this plain, general statement of Americanism for political or personal purposes. who have made use of it for such a purpose or who may in the future do so, are acting with- out my authority and under a misapprehension of my Sentiments. ~— JOHN LAWRENCE FOX, Lieutenant U. S. N. Boise, August 27, 1918. : HOW THE GANG - PRESS USED IT : A stinging rebuke like this, however, is not enough for the anti-farmer gang. Even after Lieu- tenant Fox had sent signed copies of this letter denouncing the political trickery to the politicians who were circulating his address, they ignored his letter and had 5,000 copies of the two paragraphs prmted to be handed to voters just before the: primaries. Another mistake which the anti-farmer gang will probably never explain, is absurd lies put in the mouth of its marvel or invented by him on the spur of the moment. After playing up the situa- tion in press-agent style with such statements as “This denunciation of Townley under such auspices fairly took the crowd off its feet,” the story run by the kept press hits off the high spots in the marvelous address by Hero Williams. First there is an absurd quotation of what this Any person or persons - ing station in Boise, whose speech at a flag-raising at Barber the Sunday previous was being used throughout the state by the gang. The poli- ticians asserted that, while he did not name the Nonpartisan league, he referred to it in several parts of his speech as disloyal. The following letter, which Lieutenant Fox wrote on his own ini- tiative when this garbling -and distor- tion of his speech reached him, is a straight -from -the - shoulder punch: In a speech made by me at Barber Sunday night, I made a few remarks on the subject of dis- Igyalty and dis- a back room and drilled mto him a bombastic anti-League speech. They got®two army sergeants, who were innocent of: what they were getting into, to appear before the crowd as sponsors for their prodigy. On the day following Mr. Townley’s speech this politico-mili- tary circus was pulled off. audience except for the organized gang cheering, but it enabled the gang press of Idaho and of the whole country to play up a feature story on a marine corps hero attackingithe League. GANG DIDN'T RECKON WITH HUMAN NATUléE The Boise politicians thought they had succeéded with their foul scheme. But they didn’t reckon with human nature. They forgot that a man, even "if he is. a wandering steeplejack, has a conscience that calls a halt.. The humblest of us makes moral distinctions. Ready to go into the scheme for the bribe offered and, in fact, going through it accord- ing to schedule, the conscience of the “human fly” began to bother him and he confessed that he had lied for the Boise gang. Now Cecil Hogue, alias “Jack Williams, the human fly,” vaudeville actor for the Idaho farmer-haters, is a- fugitive from Justlce, being wanted on a federal warrant sworn dut in Boise August 26. But the Boise gang made another fatal blunder in underestimating the integrity of our army. ‘They It fell flat with the lToyal organiza- tions. These remarks are.re- 'ported to me as having been given undue prommenee which, if not taken in connection/with the remainder of the speech, give a false impression as to the aim of this address. This speech was intended to be solely a state- ment of the plain principles of Americanism and the duty .to- wards -the army and navy of those \workers ‘who are forced to be at home. It has been called to my. at- tention by officers of the No nr partisan league that this part o mi speech is being used in the political fight against that or- ganization. I wish to emphatically state that this speech was not an attack on any specific. organization. It does apply to any disloyal . " 'THE FARGO COPY CAT AS A TRAITOR BY {FORMER MEMBER * Cheers Attacks On League Leader IS NOT POLITICS Returned Soldier Speaks 2hnd Before Perform- ing Circus Stuhts (Iml to The ¥Forum.), n. Aul n—A. Knowing the story of the Idaho human gnat was false, yet the Fargo Forum clipped it out of the Idaho paper and. . printed-it as the truth. 'This is only one example of the tremendous dis-- honesty of the eorporatioh press. .- bution. Mr. Williams said he heard President Townley say in an Indiana speech. The simple truth is that President Townley never made a speech in that state. “The second high sph,t noted by the kept .press: “I have had . story was: the pleasure of seeing A. C. Townley taken from the stage after making ‘the most sedi- tious speech I ever heard.” Again a stupid lie, but -this time the “hero” and mouthpiece of the Idaho gang did not name the place. Mr.. Townley has never been “taken” from the stage except by hand-shakmg farmers. "A SWIFT - RETRIBUTION The article winds. up with the hero’s claim of personal - acquaintance with Mr. Towaley (prob- ably also without foun- dation) and his appeal for recruits for the ma- ~ rine 'corps, membership in which he was faking in violation of the law. - The anti-farmer in the other states of the Northwest have been us- ing' methods as dirty as this since the League first appeared as a for- midable opponent to spe- cial privilege rule. But seldom has ‘one of ‘their dirty, un-American’ : schemes to. discredit the - farmers’ rhovement met with such swift mtn~ organizations which have done the things speci- fied in that speech. Whether or not the Non- partisan league has done these things, I donot - ‘know and, therefore, my speech can not proper- . ly-be used as a weapon against them unless those using it first prove conclusively that this : : olgamntmn has done the disloyal acts I men- - tioned. If it is npt proved that the ‘Nonper-;? ’ _:, ucn rouz g el Almost‘before they had fimshed applaudmg their .- mountebank, this Boise gang stood naked before the world through the ‘mountebank’s confession. Al- “most before the “hnman fly” had fled to escape the “law, the officers of the army: had. signed posures of the plot. - Within a week the voters of :Idaho had given the. gang a whaling! in the state = . primary: election, the like of which had not be-: fore been seen. outmde of North Dakota their ex-