Show I CAHOON DENIES ALL Courts and Demands a Most Rigid Investigation PUNISH TH GUILTY ONES THE EXSELECTMAN FEARS NO CONSEQUENCES Will Meet His Accusers Face to Face Even in tIle County Court But Wants to CrossExamine All Wit nusca The ° Fosrraauiue Tomorrow Tomor-row The other side of the county investigation investi-gation is heard from in the person of ex Selectman Cahoon who presents the I following denial I is an emphatic I explicit statement square to < the point j I and sharply defines the issue I I The investigating committee will I doubtless accede to Mr Cahoons request I quest for an opportunity to be beard I in the light of past statements Salt Lake City March 30 1S95 To the Editor of the Salt Lake Herald I The selectmen and county attorney I I are conducting an investigation with the general character of which the I I public has become familiar through I I the reports of the press and in which I by the testimony of some of the witnesses I nesses as reported and by the insinuations insin-uations contained in the questions of I the examiners charges have been I i made or implied reflecting on the conduct con-duct and tending to Impeach the honesty hon-esty of the former selectmen among I the number myself j i I I As the conduct in question was mine I i in a public office to which I was twice I elected it is not improper that 11 I j r I should address a few words on the subject to those whom I had the honor to represent This is the more appropriate in view of the fact that although it has been announced by at least one of the investigators in-vestigators that to incriminate myself my-self and my fellow exselectmen is the leading purpose and hope of the inquiry in-quiry no invitation nor opportunity has been offered me or them to appear before the county court for purposes of rebuttal or explanation nor has any explanation or statement ibeen sought from us privately or otherwise by any of the Investigators So far as I may gather from ttil newspaper reports of the proceedings against me the general charge as contained in the insinuations of the investigators in-vestigators and their witnesses is that I used my position as selectman to make dishonest profits for myself in various ways at t expense of the county The charge is false I admit a possible pos-sible technical violation of the statutes in this that the county without my I procurement or solicitation puronasett Email amounts of lumber from time to time from the firm of Cahoon Bros of which I am a member I have to say of these purchases all of which were of small amounts chiefly to supply sup-ply road supervisors in the repairs of flumes bridges etc First That I never directly or indirectly suggested or induced any of them the supervisors supervis-ors being left free in every case to select se-lect the lumberyard most conveniently con-veniently located for their work Second that the county got full value for every cent i paid and that nil I I this lumber was obtained by it at the i i I I regular market rates The orders of reglar tbp county vourt for this lumber were I I drawn on Cahoon Bros because thfir yard by reason of its location m the i country was the most convenient for j i some of the supervisors and the latter I i I so nominated I used no influence whatever in the matter OrJers for I other supervisors were Irawn on other i lumber yards in the same way The Salt Lake Pressed Brick company corporation cor-poration in which I am a stockholder furnished a small proportion of brick for the joint city and county building When this subject was first broached I I announced openly to the joint build Vng committee of wnich I was a member mem-ber that I was a stockholder in the pressed brick company and for that reason I would have nothing to do I with the award of any brick contracts The matter was referred to City Councilman Coun-cilman Wantland who took sole charge of it I The contract for certain of the brick was made with the Brick Manufacturers Manufac-turers association and the brick were supplied to it by the Salt Lake company I com-pany because no other company would undertake to supply them I used no influence whatever and was in no way instrumental in securing the brick contract con-tract for the Salt Lake Pressed Brick company With these two exceptions I have not committed even a technical breach of the statutes prohibiting the members of the county court from being be-ing interested in county contracts it Indeed these two cases are technical breaches In both of these cases I used no influence directly or indirectly that the county should buy the lumber lum-ber of Cahoon Bros or tie brick of the Salt Lake Pressed Brick company Jt was the voluntary uninfluenced acton ac-ton of the county court the supervisors super-visors and the joint building committee commit-tee And I challenge any one to assert that the lumber or the brick were not of the proper specified quantity or quality or that the countyvas overcharged over-charged or in any way defrauded to the extent of one dollar in either of these cases The statement reported to have been made by one of the wit nesses in this investigation that I was interested in the Macadam Rock company com-pany or in their shale beds Is absolutely abso-lutely false I am not and never have been directly or indirectly interested in this company or any other company I com-pany which has furnished any material mater-ial for State road work nor in the ownership or control of any shale beds or quarries from which any of that material was obtained nor have I at any time had any interest in any contract con-tract pertaining to that work Mr Kilgore the supervisor was appointed ap-pointed on a petition presented by his friends I did not urge nor even suggest sug-gest his appointment nor even suggest or further the petition After his appointment ap-pointment I recommended to him asa as-a matter of charity the employment of three men whose families were suffering suffer-ing for the necessaries of life Although Al-though constantly beseiged to recommend recom-mend and urge upon him the employment employ-ment of others I invariably declined to do so except in thE case just mentioned men-tioned I was the owner of one team This I had hired out to a young man about a year before the State road work was commenced with the agreement that he was to find his own employment for i and pay me for its use a certain proportion of the proceeds He used it for various private employers under this arrangement What employment he may have obtained for it on the State road work among the dozens of teams so employed he obtained of his own motion I never directed or by intimation in-timation requested Its employment of Mr Kilgore or any one else That I used or attempted to use Mr Kilgore for my own profit or that I had any pecuniary or personal interest in the State road work or in the furnishing fur-nishing of material or the employment of men or teams in that work or that I either honestly or dishonestly made any money by rakeoffs or otherwise other-wise out of the whole State road enterprise en-terprise or any part of it or out of any contract or expenditure relating to i I absolutely deny In regard to Mr Kilgore I wish to say that he and his family were living at Murray where I also live and have lived all i my life he was industrious and steady did not drink and so far as I know had no other bad habits and was regarded re-garded as trustworthy and honest This was his character when he was appointed road supervisor I thought he was honest and competent for the i position and I must still regard him as such until upon a fair trial he is proven guilty I he has betrayed his trust and padded his payrolls he should be punished I say the same about myself or any other man I I am guilty of wronggoing I ask I no quarter I deny that so far as I am concerned or so far as any one else is concerned to my knowledge that there was any taint of dishonesty or fraud in the Andrews furniture contract I never directly or indirectly received re-ceived one cent out of i by way of commission or otherwise Time and andt space forbid my taking up in detain each one of the charges as expressed or impnea i assert in general that it I have committed any errors as selectman I select-man they were errors of judgment I do not pretend to infallibility as a financier or otherwise I is not my purpose in this card to go into those matters I would be practically impossible im-possible to do so I add here briefly that I was in favor of macadamizing State road that the material used on I it is not worthless dirt but is excellent material for the purpose and that although I al-though I certainly should not have favored the enterprise at the time had i I the law on the county debt limit been I settled in advance of its inception I i nevertheless maintain that it is one of i the most valuable and widely beneficial improvements which have ever been made in this county But I deny most emphatically that in any of the matters I I mat-ters brought up in this investigation i i or any other matters during the whole I I of my incumbency of the office of I selectman I in any way abused my official of-ficial position or done any dishonest or corrupt act whatever This statement state-ment and all the statements I have made I am ready to make under oath and to go fully into all particulars I shall be glad to confront shal confront my accusers ac-cusers whether they be the cuser eminent emi-nent reformers now at the helm I of the county government or others I before any competent tribunal or at any time or place where the first principles of justice and fair play are recognized and an impartial observer could detect the distinguishing distinguish-ing line between the court and the prosecution I am willing to before wnUnS appear even the present selectmen if they will allow me to crossexamine their witnesses wit-nesses and to produce witnesses on my own behalf I the present Investigation Investiga-tion have discovered any cause of ac tionagainst me to recover back any public monies fraudulently obtained or any criminal offense on my part i is their duty to cause suit or prosecution prosecu-tion or both to be instituted against me and I demand that they do so In the meantime common fairness requires re-quires that no opinion of my conduct should be based upon a hostile ex parte examination carried on behind my back for the avowed purpose of besmirching my character JOHN P CAHOON Mr Cahoon said last night that he had nothing to say further regarding the case other than silence had ceased to be a virtue 3Ionilays Proceedings The investigation will begin again tomorrow to-morrow with the county court sitting as a court Andrew Cahoon will be subpoenaed again Whether he attends at-tends or not will be another matter I he refuses the district court will be asked to attach him ent Several other witnesses will be pres |