OCR Text |
Show Chambers Creates Much Excitement I at State Capitol I On Advice of Former Attorney General Barnes, Ogden Man Refuses to Give Up His Office and Governor's Notice Is Torn Down Finally Chambers Vacates on Urging of Dan Shields. H (Special to The Standard ) Statehouse. Salt Lake. Feb. 16 When Fred W Chambers, state fish and game commissioner, accompanied by A. R. Barnes, the former attorney-general, attorney-general, went to Chambers' office this morning they were confronted by an official sign on the door reading as follows! "This office is CLOSED and in the hands of the governor. All persons are forbidden to enter this room without with-out express authority from the governor. gover-nor. (Sighed ) "SIMON BAMBERGER. "Governor of Utah." Barnes, pale with anger, ripped the sign off the door and threw it down, at the same time telling Chambers to enter the office. Chambers used his key and entered the room. A few minutes later the capliol custodian and also the Governor's messenger entered the room and ordered or-dered Chambers to get out. He flatly refused. In ri6inc; anger Chambers threatened to throw them out and an if encounter was imminent when Attor- It ney-General Dan B. Shields entered if the room He was cool and calm. He advised the u-todian and tho gov- t ernor's messenger to leave and allow him to deal with the situation. They I left and the attorney. general then talked privately and diplomatically ? with Mr Chambers, who also left and the governor's seal was replacod 1 upon the door. The Incident occupied only a few minutes and while in the room Mr. Chambers did not open his desk or j molest anything. I News of the exciting Incident flow t; from mouth to mout-n, growing In importance every minute A crowd f, was gathering when the incident end- ed. Beyond this, however, there was f no scene. f i ( Continued on Pse 8 ) U CHAMBERS CREATES MUCH EXCITEMENT (Continued from Page 1.) Lynch Suspension Revoked. Early this morning Governor Bam-j Bam-j berger revoked his order suspending I from office William J Lynch, secretary secre-tary of the state land board, because! I he was advised that he lacked the le-i gal authority to enforce his order Lynch was elected secretary of the board and the Governor could not un-i un-i ceremoniously remove anyone from office of-fice except an appointee of the gover-I gover-I nor, present or past. The bill did not give him the authority to suspend any-I any-I one who was not a governor s an- pointee. Lynch, presumably, will hold the fort until he is ousted bj the legislature, lor by other legal procedure Sensational Sensa-tional developments mav be expected at any time. The governor's special investigators i are hard at work. The belief is growing grow-ing thai Governor Bamberger's special 'agents hap been secretelj at work ever since his election and that startling start-ling disclosures are Imminent. No inkling was given as to Goer-noi Goer-noi Bamberger's probable action in the case of A. R Barnes, the former attorney at-torney general, who boldly tore down I the official notice from Chambers' office of-fice door. The notice was posted by i the governor under hij constitutional authority, as well as special authority conferred bj the legislature. Salt Lake, Feb 16. Governor Simon Bambergei yesterday susppnded Wll-i Wll-i liam J. Lynch, secretary of the state I land board, and Fred W Chambers, state fish and game commissioner, from their offices until such time as an investigation of the affairs of both their offices are completed. It was intimated by the governor thai further suspensions are to take 1 place and that any state employee lor appointee who interferes in any gation would meet summary treatment. treat-ment. The suspension of the Iwo state officials of-ficials following close upon the heels Of the passage of the bill which ap-; propriated J25.0U0 for the purpose of conducting an in estigation into the ( affairs of the different state departments depart-ments and into the state institutions. The bill was passed by the House and I Senate under suspension of the rules and signed by the governor and become be-come a law in less than two bourse and thirty minutes. Ii While neither Mr. Lynch or Mr. I Chambers would comment on the ac-' tion of the governor it was learned j last night that neither intend to give up their offices under the suspension j orders of the governor. It may be that the measure passed yesterday will find its way into the supreme court for a test at once. Governor Gov-ernor Bamberger declared that he in-; tended to carry out the provisions of ' the law and keep the two officers suspended sus-pended until a full Investigation of the .affairs in tne two departments is had. It was predicted by former state official- thai light would be made on the suspension order. Not more than twenty minutes after the signing of the bill the governor issued a peremptory order suspending Mr. Lynch as secretary of the stale land board and Mr. Chambers as fish and game commissioner. Brown Placed In Charge. F. D. Brown, who has oeen conducting con-ducting the investigation into the affairs af-fairs of the state land board, has been j placed in charge of the affairs of the land board until such time as the I audit of the books and tho investigation investiga-tion is completed. He was auditing 1 the books of the state land board since January 1 when he was sent to that j department by Governor Bamberger No one has been placed in charge 'of the fish and game department and it was announced esterday that ' none would bo assigned to the department depart-ment until some time today. Governor Bamberger announced last night that F. D. Brown would be made the chief investigator for the gover- nor's office so .'ar as the auditing of i the books of tho various state depart- ments and state institutions are concerned con-cerned Ho will be assisted by Arthur Kuhn of Ogden. who is an expert ac jcountant. and a Republican. Mr Kufcp will arrive in Salt Lake this ; morning to begin work under the I terms of the investigation. Mr. Brown haa been at work on the books of 1 the state land board for more than month. No sooner had the Senate been called to order yesterday, and there was feverish haste In getting the Senate Sen-ate down to business Senator Arm-stronc Arm-stronc moved thai Senate bill No. 80, appropriating J2.VO00 for the purposes of the investigation, be passed by the! Senate under suspension of the rules The bill had been amended over night so that It gavo to the governor the power to suspend any state Offi er who might be under investigation. The) bill was rushed through the Senate and Hcuse without debate under ai suspension of rules It was engrossed i in less than fifteen minutes and the' governor signed the bill within ten1 minutes after it had been presented to) i him. Officials Surprised. The suspension of the Btate officials offi-cials last night came as a shock to those connected with tho state land J board and with other offices through-out through-out the statehouse. The governor said that he had been compelled to suspend i the two state officers as it had been 1 , brought to his attention they had been ! ' interfering with special auditors who had been placed in their departments, depart-ments, and further that they had not been rendering the assistance necessary neces-sary in order that the true state of affairs In the two departments might be reported to tho governor Those who are in touch with the affairs of the governor's office declared last night that it was the intention to o through every department of the state government. While efforts have been made by the administration to probe into the affairs of the state land board it was necessary to get the bill through in order that the investigators might he clothed with the authority of the statH to enter banking houses and other corporations, cor-porations, where it Is alleged that the investigators might secure evidence of Irregularities in connection with the conduct of the affairs of the state land board and other state institutions and departments. May Suspend Other Members With the secretary of Hip state land hoard suspended reports were in circulation cir-culation last night that the governor tTl ( frtl I Inlrc ;i,rK attr. .. . . 1 .1 ' imn .Tljv.ll EJbOya rt? IYUUIU cause other members of the slate land , board to be suspended until the Investigation Inves-tigation is completed These reports1 were not confirmed bv the governor's1 office, but it was asserted that the' governor might make a move either today to-day or during the early part of next week which would lead to startling situations in the statehouse Republican appomtpes who are not in the spotlight of the probe last night w ere wondering whether or not the in- vestigation would extend to their offices of-fices It was asseried bv Governor Bamberger that he Intends to find out ihe exact condition oi affair- and that to that end he will investigate every officp in the building if it is found nec essary. Why the Suspension. I have suspended Mr. Lynch as sec-retary sec-retary of the statp laud hoard because his department is being Investigated ; and for the reason that it has been j brought to my attention that hp has I not given that assistance which is nec-i nec-i essary, but, on the other hand, retard-i retard-i ed the investigation." said Governor i Bamberger. ' The fish and game de i part men t was also being investigated ! and I was informed by those who are in charge of the investigation there that they have not been given the assistance, as-sistance, but. on the contrary, have been retarded in their efforts to get at the truth. In order that the Invest!-: Invest!-: gators might have a free hand and might get facts I suspended both of the officials until the investigations are completed. Ii mav as well be understood plain-lj plain-lj at this time that any state ap : pointees or state employes who inter-j inter-j fere in an way with the Investigators and who do not give to the investiga-i investiga-i tors every assistance when called upon to do so will be suspended In addition anv state appointee who becomes officious of-ficious during this investigation or j who tries to conceal the real state of office affairs or who does not try' to aid m getting to the bottom of things j will be suspended The administration administra-tion does not intend to be hampered j through having state appointees and state employes interfering with those who are rpprpsenting the governor in this investigation. We intend to make this Investigation thorough and we are going to the very bottom of things. In order that we may know Just what must be done in order that the affairs I Of the stale may be placpd in proper j condition if it Is found that thp affairs I Of thp state need to be placed in prop-i prop-i er condition. j "With the appropriation made bv the legislature, it Is Intended that the j machinery of the investigation shall get to work and get to the facts In I the matter. From now until the investigation inves-tigation is completed F. D. Brown will be the chief investigator of the books j and the audit and he will be empowered empow-ered ?o handle the affairs as hesees fit. No attorneys have yet been considered con-sidered in connection with the Investigation." |