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Chapter XIII

Evidence produced before the federal Grand Jury by Fred A. Kribs and others results in the indictment and subsequent conviction of United States Senator John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, for violation of Section 1782 of the Revised Statutes—Judge Tanner, Senator Mitchell's law partner, breaks down in the Grand Jury room, and in order to save his son from criminal prosecution, confesses that a fake partnership agreement between the law firm of Mitchell & Tanner had been substituted for the original, and changed so as to exonerate Senator Mitchell from any criminal liability—Some interesting inside history of the manner in which the Government secured damaging evidence against the accused statesman, wherein Irvin Rittenhouse, private secretary to Prosecutor Heney, distinguishes himself as a sleuth.

SENATOR MITCHELL'S connection with Fred A. Kribs, as described in the preceding chapter, brought about his indictment and subsequent conviction for a violation of Section 1782, of the United States Revised Statutes. Coincidentally, it sounded the death knell to the reign of a corrupt oligarchy that had dominated the political destinies of Oregon for practically one-quarter of a century. This political machine was in the zenith of its glory at the time Francis J. Heney began his crusade against the Oregon land frauds, and when it was hinted that John H. Mitchell, who had so long controlled the political affairs of the State with such supreme autocratic power, was likely to become involved, the idea that any Grand Jury would be found with temerity enough to indict him, or that any trial jury would convict him for his offenses, was 16oked upon generally as a vivid flight of the imagination.

It is hardly necessary to enter into details pertaining to the various phases of the trial and conviction of Senator Mitchell, for the reason that they form a part of the Court records that have already been considered at great length by the press, and because the one most affected is now beyond the grasp of earthly trouble. What will doubtless most interest the public, so far as this particular case in concerned, is the unwritten history attached to the circumstances attending the downfall of a political idol and it is the purpose of this chapter to cater to this idea more than to any other.

Kribs had given the Grand Jury full information regarding his relations with .Senator Mitchell, and furnished complete documentary evidence, including checks, letters and other data to sustain his statements. Judge Tanner, Senator Mitchell's law partner, went before the body during the latter part of January, 1905, in connection with the Kribs payment investigation, and in answer to Mr. Heney's inquiry about the terms of the partnership existing between himself and Senator Mitchell, Judge Tanner produced what purported to be the original partnership agreement. Heney brought it with him to the hotel that night, and was somewhat perturbed over it, because, if it were the genuine agreement, it would result in absolving Mitchell from having received any compensation in the shape of fees i)aid by Kribs, a clause therein stating that Tanner was to receive all the fees for any work the firm performed before the Land Department.

As a result of the tips that Irvin Rittenhouse had given Mr. Heney during the progress of the Hyde-Benson preliminary hearing at San Francisco in 1904, the Government prosecutor had a great deal of confidence in the ability of his private secretary for deciphering questionable typewriting. He handed Rittenhouse the document, at the same time stating that Judge Tanner had testified that it was the genuine contract, and had been written in March, 1901.

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