the Coast for the purpose of seeking an interview with Mr. Heney and that I had sent for her, hoping to enlist her aid to that end. I asked Airs. Watson whether Mr. Heney was in the city, and if so, if she knew where he was stopping.
She replied that he was in San Francisco, and while he had changed his office after the fire, was still residing at his old home and that she had called on him several times within the past few weeks.
Asked if Mr. Heney had made any reference to either McKinley or myself. Mrs. Watson stated that he had spoken of us on several occasions, and had expressed surprise that we should have gone away.
In discussing the matter with her in a general way. she maintained the opinion that Mr. Heney did not have anything against either McKinley or myself and insisted that he had spoken kindly of us both at different times and she believed, if I gained an interview with Mr. Heney personally, as was my expressed desire to do, and would explain to him the entire situation, he would feel agreeable to the idea and would meet me more than half way on any fair proposition. Mrs. Watson volunteered to arrange a meeting between Mr. Heney and myself at her home, provided he could be induced to come there, and I approved of the plan, as Mr. Heney could probably be induced to come there rather than to any other place, on account of her connection with the Oregon trials, and on the pretext that she had some information which she wished to impart to him.
After discussing the subject in order to determine on a probable excuse she might offer to Mr. Heney for not wishing to divulge the information when she called at his office, I told Mrs. Watson to advise him that it was in the nature of documentary evidence which she did not care to risk carrying on her person, but which, if he would call at her mother's residence in Oakland, she would gladly show to him personally, and by way of arousing his curiosity, she was to exact from him a promise that he would not divulge to a single person where he became possessed of the information, nor was he to mention it at all until the next session of the Federal Court in Oregon, at the resumption of the land fraud trials.
Mrs. Watson hesitated to agree to this deceptive method of bringing Mr. Heney to her home, but when I pointed out to her that she would be telling the truth in a sense—that I would be there, if Mr. Heney would agree to come, and would present myself as the "documentary evidence" and which documentary evidence, in all truth, she could not very well "risk carrying on her person," I could not see where Mr. Heney would have any cause to complain, or to call into question her reputation for truth and veracity. At any rate, I assured Mrs. Watson that no harm could come of it, even though her contention might be considered far fetched.
I prevailed upon her finally to view the situation as I did, so she agreed to call on Mr. Heney at his office on the day following—Friday, May 18th—and if a conference was arranged, she could notify me immediately by visiting the place of our present meeting at 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, but if she should fail to see Mr. Heney, she was then to meet me on the following morning at 10 o'clock.
Returning to my hotel, I remained there during the evening, and the next morning arose early and took breakfast in a small restaurant across the street from the hotel, after which 1 read the morning paper and then sauntered down the street to a point where I had noticed a number of men and women formed in line. These I discovered to be San Francisco refugees awaiting their turn for their morning rations, which were being distributed by members of the relief committee.
Having a curiosity to learn how matters were progressing, I fell into line, and after moving forward with the crowd, managed, about 40 minutes later, to reach the inside of the building and found myself in front of a long counter. Behind this were several clerks busily engaged in filling orders on identification cards handed in by those entitled to consideration. These cards bore the name of the person, the number in the family, and such other information as might enable the clerks to make the proper distribution of provisions.
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