OCR Text |
Show ANDERSON IN ROLE OF REPORTER DISCREDITED Milton H. Lee, Alleged Counterfeiter, Declares "Copyrighted" Story by United States Mar- shal Is Largely a Piece of Fiction. UNITED STATUS MARSHAL JAMES XI. ANDERSON" joined the Herald-Republican staff on Monday as a police ropoftcr and ho Is accused of gross misstatements misstate-ments In the very first slory he wrote an Interview with Milton XI. JL.ee, an aged prisoner, who was arrested ten days ago by R. K. Goddard of the government secret service on a charge of counterfeiting. counterfeit-ing. Loo Is confined In the stato penllcn-tlarv penllcn-tlarv whllo awaiting action of the federal" fed-eral" grand jury. As United States mur-shal mur-shal Anderson visited the prisoner on Monday and procured from him a statement state-ment as to his criminal record. As reporter re-porter for the Hcrald-Rcpubllcan Anderson Ander-son wrote what purported to be tho Interview In-terview with Loo. but which Lee now stoutly denies, declaring that It Is almost al-most entirely false and Is based not on facts, but on the active imagination of the United States marshal, who Is ap-parentlv ap-parentlv trying to show that ho has the standard qualllications necessary to making mak-ing good as a Hcrald-Rcpubllcan police reporter. Grossly Distorted. With emphasis the aged prisoner last night declared that tho extravagant tale written bv the United States marshal for the Herald-Republican was practically without foundation and that In practically practi-cally every detail the facta wcro so grossly gross-ly distorted and exaggerated as to make the story absurd. Apparently, the marshal in his initial effort as a police reporter didn't care to be hampered by facts. He was considerate consid-erate enough of tho other papers, however, how-ever, for he printed abovo the slory a copyright line to save them from the humiliation of publishing tho exaggerated exagger-ated talc. But the slory was entirely a product of the Imagination- In the course of a couple of columns of tho story the statements were made that Leo was 67 years old and that be was now In tho state penitentiary. Careful inquiry has developed the fact that In these two particulars the story of the alleged confession of Lee was absolutely ab-solutely correct. The rest of tho story-was story-was highly colored A Bit of Record. Says the marshal's account of his interview: in-terview: "Committing his rlrst crime in IS63 In order to aid Jefferson Davis and the southorn confederacy," etc Says Lee: "I was a southern sympathizer, but I ucver committed any crimes or did anything any-thing else dishonorable to aid the cause. I assisted in recruiting soldiers for the confederacy." Marshal Anderson has Lee saying: "In our zeal to aid the confederacy wo robbed stages, stole horses and committed com-mitted many crimes to get money to send to the half-starved soldiers." Lee declares with emphasis: "I said nothing of the kind. We never robbed stages, stole hor5es or committed any other crimes to aid the confederacy." confed-eracy." Tho marshal declares that Leo admitted inairy horse-stealing escapades. "1 never stole a horse in my life," says Lee. The marshal quotes Lee as saying: "I IcfL San Qucntln in 1873 and from that tlmo on I was the terror of tho Yosemltc, tho Mojave desert, and the towns of Callfornlu. My reign of terror lasted until 18SI." What Leo actually says Is this; "I never committed a crime In my life until 1SSI. I was know 'n until that time as a quiet, retiring and honest citizen. I never terrorized anybody. I certainly had no reign of terror." Now comes thcthrllllng note of the marshal's Imaginative story, in which he quotes tho gray old prisoner as saying, perhaps with a bit of the fire of the old, raw days In his eye: "R was during ibis period that I earned the title of 'the gentleman bandit of the Yosemltc.' Whatever crimes I committed T guess I have held up as many as 120 stages and some express trains, besides the horse stealing and the Individual robberies I never killed anyone any-one or was oven rough, except to the degree where they wore made to put up their hands." Lee Unappreciative. Unnpproeiatlvo of this swashbuckling tribute from the United States marshal. Lee Insists that we dispel this picture of the handsome "gentleman bandit of tho Yosemltc," who did his. rough work with tho refinement that comes from long and deft experloncc and tho other thrullng scenes which tho dime .novel rhetoric: of Marshal Anderson conjures up. for Leo tells us: ' Nobody ever called mo tho "gentleman "gentle-man bandit of the Yoscmlto" or any other name of the kind. In all my life I tried to hold up only ono stage. I guess I wasn't cut out for a bandit, because I didn't do a good job of It, and I was arrested and sent to the penitentiary. Nobody ever suspoctod that I was capable of highway robbery rob-bery until I was arrested. After T got out of the penitentiary I. tried to bold up an express train, but. I didn't succeed. T was quickly arrested and sent to the penitentiary again. These two attempted holdups, with some petty thefts, arc the only crimes I have ever committed In all my life. My family arc reputable people of California and Micro are scores of other persons In different California towns who know that the account In the Herald-Republican is all wrong. Fiction's Masterpiece. The denial of the prisoner, however, detracts nothing from tho value of the marshal's story as a contribution to current cur-rent fiction. Had It not been for the patriotism of Marshal Anderson that caused him lo make tbc sacrifice of accepting ac-cepting public office lo servo his country coun-try he would doubtless have won bis way to fame through the authorship of hoarl-freezing, hoarl-freezing, blood-chilling dime novels. Perhaps, Per-haps, now thaL he Is about to retire from the service of Iho United States government, govern-ment, he will be a. regular contributor to tho columns of the TTernld-Republican, as well, as the author of sanguinary motion mo-tion picture scenarios. It might, be well to reassure the timid that the "gentleman bandit of tho Yose-mile"' Yose-mile"' Is under heavy lock and bar in the stato penitentiary, also that he is suffering suf-fering from an attack of rheumatism, so that Salt Lake Js safe from a terrorizing raid from this bold bandit for the time being at least. |