Earl H. Fehl, weekly publisher and off-time candidate for mayor of Medford, Saturday filed his candidacy for county judge on the Republican ticket. It was a surprise filing, as Fehl has repeatedly declared he would devote his political efforts to be mayor of this city.
    Fehl gave as his slogan: "Reduce property tax."
    He is the second candidate within the week to file for the county judgeship, A. H. Willett of Talent, retired business man, filing Friday.
    Susanne Homes Carter, county school superintendent, late Saturday filed her intention to seek reelection on the Republican ticket, giving her slogan as "Equal opportunity for all the children, on a basis of economy,"
    C. R. Bowman of Talent, connected with the schools, has also filed for the county school superintendency on the Republican ticket. Bowman gave as his slogan "Efficient, economical and progressive methods."
    County Clerk Delilia Stevens Meyer has not as yet made up her mind about seeking reelection.
    Everett Beeson of Talent, a farmer of that section and a member of a well-known Southern Oregon pioneer family, said Saturday that he would file Monday for sheriff on the Republican ticket, and would make an active campaign for the post. J. B. Hughes, Phil Loud and C. J. Haas have already filed to the place, and two more besides Beeson are about ready to announce themselves.
    Filing to date for county offices, which do not close until a month before the primary, or April 20, are as follows:
    County clerk--George Carter
    Sheriff--Republican, Phil Loud, J. B. Hughes and C. J. Haas, Ralph Jennings and Gordon Schermerhorn, Democrats.
    County Judge--A. H. Willett and Earl H. Fehl, Republican.
     County commissioner--C. E. Velin, Willow Springs, and Ralph Billings, Ashland.
    Justice of the peace, Medford district--Glenn O. Taylor (incumbent), Fred Colvig and Everett Brayton, Republicans. W. H. Canon, Democrat.
    School superintendent--A. J. Hanby, Medford and C. R. Bowman, Talent, Republicans.
    There have been no filings for county assessor or treasurer. It has been generally thought that J. R. Coleman and A. C. Walker, incumbents, will seek reelection on the Republican ticket. Walker is being urged to run for county judge but to date has refused.
    The county judgeship will probably be the principal target, along with the sheriff's office, in the primary. The Democrats are grooming a candidate, which means that at least one other Democrat will make the race. J. F. Wortman of Phoenix and attorney W. E. Phipps of this city are mentioned in the place.   
    E. B. Day of Sams Valley was in Medford yesterday and stated he had decided to be a candidate for renomination on the Republican ticket for representative from this district.
    Mr. Day, one of the leading farmers and stockmen of this county, served in the last legislature and was a member of reapportionment, agricultural, assessment and taxation, fisheries, irrigation and drainage and horticultural committees, being a chairman of reapportionment, a very important committee, particularly to Oregon.
    Victor Bursell, present county commissioner, who has been spoken of as a possible candidate for county judge, said yesterday he has decided not to seek the judgeship, but on the solicitation of friends from different parts of the county, will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for representative to succeed H. S. Deuel, who has decided not to seek renomination.
    Mr. Bursell has been a prominent citizen and farmer of the Central Point district for years.
    So far no other Republicans of the county are seeking the nominations for representatives. This county elects two members of the lower house in November. Senator George Dunn of Ashland is a holdover senator, and there will be no election for this office until 1934.
Medford Mail Tribune, February 7, 1932, page 1


    Trial of the libel suit for $50,000 alleged damages of Roy Parr, game warden, Ashland, against the Pacific Record Herald, weekly, and its editor, Earl H. Fehl, will probably be called in circuit court tomorrow morning before Judge H. D. Norton.
    Preliminary to the main trial, attorney Allison Moulton for the plaintiff late Monday attempted to secure a deposition from Fehl. Attorney Moulton abandoned the effort when the court ruled that Fehl did not have to answer questions that might reveal his defense.
    Fehl was represented by attorneys F. J. Newman, T. G. Enright and E. C. Kelly. Objections were numerous and at one point all three objected at once, which gave the large audience waiting for the Reed murder verdict a laugh.
    Attorney Moulton informed the court at one point that "defense counsel is trying to heckle me." Later in the course of the spirited arguments, the court admonished the lawyers to go slow, "or we will all become irritated."
Medford Mail Tribune, March 1, 1932, page 1


    Selection of a jury and the opening statements of both sides were completed early this afternoon in the suit for $50,000 damages by Roy Parr against the Pacific Record Herald. The jury, as accepted, is as follows:
    Lloyd Bearss, farmer, Rogue River; John P. Dougherty, Ashland; Earl F. Moore, storekeeper, Gold Hill; Mrs. Katherine E. Lathrop, housewife, Central Point; Anderson Mee, farmer, Applegate; Mrs. Myrtle GeBauer, housewife, Medford; Mrs. Grace Pankey, housewife, Medford; E. D. Thompson, farmer, Rogue River; B. J. Palmer, retired, Medford; Richard Fredenberg, worker, Medford; R. S. Daniels, electrical engineer, Medford; Joseph Randles, merchant, Ashland.
    Opening statements of the defense were made by attorney E. E. Kelly and for the plaintiff by attorney Arthur Moulton.
    An alleged statement in an article published November 20, 1930, in which reference was made to Parr as a "murderer," was the basis of the action.
    Selection of a jury in the libel suit of Roy Parr, game warden, against the Pacific Record Herald, a weekly paper, and Earl H. Fehl, its editor, began this morning in circuit court before Judge H. D. Norton. Parr asks $25,000 general damages and $25,000 punitive damages.
    Prospective jurors were asked by the defense if they view the prohibition law as more "sacred" than any other law, if they had prejudices against the enforcement of the game laws, and if they held any prejudice against Fehl or his articles and if they believed officers were entitled to privileges in use of firearms.
    The plaintiff questioned the veniremen upon their views of law enforcement, the "freedom of the press," and if they were readers of the Pacific Record Herald.
    It will be the contention of the defense that the alleged libelous article, entitled "A Call to Arms," was published as a matter of news and for the public good, following a number of shooting tragedies in Jackson County, and that the article was written without malice to Parr.
    The plaintiff will hold that editor Fehl in publishing the article overstepped the "freedom of the press," wrote the article without obtaining the full and complete facts, and that Game Warden Parr was not at the scene of the shooting at the time of the tragedy.
    The suit grows out of an article published November 20, 1930, a week after the fatal shooting of Everett Dahack, during a raid on a moonshine still on Reese Creek, eight miles northeast of Eagle Point.
    The trial is expected to require all day. Fehl will be the principal witness in his own behalf. The plaintiff will call the four officers on the raid and Coroner Conger and introduce the records and testimony of the coroner's jury which failed to fix the blame for Dahack's death. A regular and special grand jury called by Governor Meier to investigate the shooting failed to return a true bill.
    Fehl is represented by attorney Frank J. Newman, E. E. Kelly and T. J. Enright, and Parr by attorney Allison Moulton of this city and attorney Arthur Moulton of Portland.
    At the opening of the trial the courtroom was only comfortably filled with spectators.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 3, 1932, page 1


    Cross-examination of Earl H. Fehl in the libel suit of Game Warden Roy H. Parr started this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock, and the first question of attorney Arthur Moulton, brought a titter from the large audience and a rebuke to them from counsel.
    Asked what he was doing on November 14, 1930, Fehl replied, "Minding my own business."
    The crowd laughed and attorney Moulton retorted, "that was a bright answer, and seems to have pleased the audience, but you will answer my question."
    In his own behalf, Fehl declared that he did not know Parr at the time the article was published, that he bore him no malice, that he offered to print Parr's side of the question, and that his only object in printing the article was for the public good.
    Fehl said he objected to officers "banding themselves together and swooping down on any citizen."
    Fehl said that he had known Dahack for many years, and that he had attended the preliminary hearing in justice court. He further testified that the "public mind was inflamed" by the shooting.
    Efforts of the defense were directed to show mitigation and justification, and to prove that no malice was borne towards Parr by the editor.
    Earl H. Fehl, editor of the Pacific Record Herald, today launched his defense in the libel suit for $50,000 general and punitive damages filed against him by Roy Parr, game warden.
    Among the witnesses to be called by the defense will be the widow of Everett Dahack, slain during the raid on the Reese Creek still November 14, 1930, who will testify that the husband had no connection with the still and came upon it accidentally while hunting cows.
    Attorney F. J. Newman, one of the defense counsel, indicated that upon the completion of the evidence he would introduce a motion asking for a directed verdict and asking that the case be taken from the jury on the ground that it had not been shown that Parr had suffered any damages.
    The defense is also expected to attempt to show justification and mitigating circumstances and that Fehl penned the alleged libelous article without malice, but for the public good. Fehl, in the article entitled "A Call to Arms," is averred to have named Parr as "a wanton murderer." Overzealousness on the part of officers in enforcing prohibition laws and being heavily armed for liquor raids will also be interposed as part of the defense.
    The defense will also attempt to show by witnesses that Parr now occupies the same position financially and socially as he did before the publication of the article and that therefore he has suffered no damages.
    Members of the raiding party testified yesterday for the plaintiff. The evidence did not differ in any detail from that already known. Records of the testimony at the coroner's inquest were introduced. There was no evidence that Parr had fired a shot at the raid but was in the vicinity on game warden matters.
    Plaintiff witnesses testified that the raiders went heavily armed to the still because its operators and owners had a reputation for resisting arrest, and gunplay.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 4, 1932, page 1


    Final arguments, instructions of the court and a decision by the court on a defense motion for a directed verdict in the libel suit of Roy Parr against Earl H. Fehl, editor of the Pacific Record Herald, will be the order of business in the circuit court tomorrow when the session is resumed.
    Final arguments and instructions of the court are expected to take the greater portion of the day, with the case being in the hands of the jury by mid-afternoon at the earliest.
    Defense plea for a directed verdict is based upon the contention that Parr suffered no damage as a result of the publication of the article, November 20, 1930, as he holds the same official position and suffered no loss of social prestige. The defense also holds the article was published without malice and that an offer was made to print any comment Parr might care to make.
    Circuit Judge H. D. Norton excused the jury until Monday morning with the admonition that they refrain from discussing or reading about the case. Judge Norton held it was imperative that he hold the regular Saturday session of court in Grants Pass to clear up routine matters, inasmuch as no session was held there a week ago on account of the Reed murder trial.
    Hearing of testimony in the trial was completed Friday afternoon with defendant Fehl on the stand. After a short cross-examination he was excused.
    Principal evidence in the case concerns what transpired at the Reese Creek still, November 14, 1930, when Everett Dahack was slain. Testimony was introduced to show that all the men at the still, including Raleigh Mathews, William Goetchen, a man by the name of Smith and the slain man had come upon the still accidentally while hunting cattle.
    The plaintiff introduced evidence to show that Parr fired no shot during the raid.
    The defense contends that if the language in the article under fire was strong, it was made necessary by the stress of the conditions.
    Parr is represented by attorney Arthur Moulton of Portland and Allison Moulton of this city. The defense is represented by attorney F. J. Newman, T. J. Enright, E. E. Kelly and E. C. Kelly. The same battery of legal talent defended Fehl in his first libel suit more than a year ago.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 6, 1932, page 1


    The libel suit of Roy Parr, game warden, against the Pacific Record Herald and its editor Earl H. Fehl will be in the hands of the jury by noon tomorrow from present indications. It is expected that the balance of today will be devoted to legal oratory, and that tomorrow morning will be taken up with the instructions of the court.
    At the opening of this afternoon's session attorney Frank J. Newman began for the defense. Attorney Newman centered his attack on Joe Cave, policeman and member of the raiding party. He charged that Policeman Cave fired the shots that caused the death of Everett Dahack. Attorney Newman based his allegations on testimony of William Smith, arrested as a moonshiner at the time. Attorney Newman declared the court's instructions would show enforcement officers had no right to raid while armed.
    Attorney Newman cited enforcement slaying in this county, in the past, as warranting Fehl's articles, and "that he attacked not the men--but the act."
    Attorney Allison Moulton in his opening address to the jury held that who killed [Dahack] was not an issue in the trial, but was incidental thereto. The real issue, he declared--was Roy Parr libeled.
    The courtroom was only comfortably filled with spectators and included many friends and relatives of Everett Dahack.
    Closing arguments were launched this morning in the libel suit of Roy Parr, game warden, against the Pacific Record Herald, weekly, and Earl H. Fehl, its editor, following the denial by the court of the defense motion for a directed verdict. Counsel for both sides, and the court, before the jury was placed in the box also agreed on the special instructions to the jury.
    The defense in its plea for a directed verdict sought for "nominal damages"--which means no damages at all, and technical guilt without malice. The court held the question of "the invasion of a man's right to a reputation was a question for the jury to decide," and that guilt and damages, if any, also came under the same head.
   The defense pleads "special privilege," and that the criticisms were for the "public good" and without malice.
    The Washington state libel law, which is strict, and numerous Oregon libel cases were cited by the court ere denial of the directed verdict plea.
    Attorney Allison Moulton opened for the plaintiff. Attorneys Kelly, Enright and Newman will speak for the defense.
    The trial started last Thursday and recessed over Saturday and Sunday. Parr asks $50,000 general punitive damages as a result of an article entitled "A Call to Arms," published after the killing of Everett Dahack, Eagle Point, during a raid November 14, 1930 on a Reese Creek still. The plaintiff contends that the reference to a game warden as a "wanton murderer" constitutes libel and cause for legal action.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 7, 1932, page 1


    Further legal action by counsel for the Pacific Record Herald, weekly, and its editor, Earl H. Fehl, against whom a circuit court jury yesterday afternoon returned a verdict awarding Roy Parr, game warden, $5000 general damages and $10,000 punitive damages for alleged libel, has not been definitely decided upon, T. J. Enright of defense counsel said today. An appeal, however, to the state supreme court is likely, attorney Enright said. With the return of the verdict the court granted the usual 10 days for further legal steps.
    The jury took "six or eight" ballots, the first ballot, jurors said, being unanimous that there was no "justification or mitigation" for publication of the article upon which the libel suit was predicated. The other ballots were taken to decide the amount of the punitive and general damages. Fifteen thousand dollars punitive damages was considered once but voted as "excessive."
    Members of the jury said the fact that no retraction had been printed by the Pacific Record Herald, or Fehl as its editor, was taken into consideration in their deliberations. Serious allegations against Joe Cave, Medford policeman, were not weighed in the final award.
    The findings in favor of Parr were generally expected by followers of the case, but the size of the damage award was higher than predicted. R. S. Daniels of Medford was foreman of the jury, composed of three women and nine men.
    After the reading of the verdict, Fehl and Parr met and shook hands. Fehl said:
    "Well, Parr, you've broke me."
    "No, I didn't. You broke yourself," was Parr's rejoinder. The litigants then exchanged a few casual remarks and parted.
    The libel suit was based upon an article in the Pacific Record Herald and written by Fehl, following the raid on a Reese Creek still in which Everett Dahack of the Eagle Point district was slain. Alleged reference to Parr as "a murderer" was the basis of the suit. The trial lasted four days with a weekend recess and was hard fought throughout.
    Fehl has been editor of the paper for the past 10 or 12 years and an exponent of so-called "fearless journalism." It was his second appearance in a libel action, he having been acquitted by a jury in the first case.
    Considerable interest in the Parr action was taken in this city and Ashland, and in the Eagle Point district, where Everett Dahack lived and was well known.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 9, 1932, page 1


    The Pacific Record Herald, weekly publication, Earl H. Fehl, editor, was closed late Saturday afternoon by Sheriff Ralph G. Jennings, upon an execution of judgment order for $15,000, the amount awarded by the jury last Wednesday in the libel suit instituted by Roy Parr, game warden.
    The execution of judgment was served by Sheriff Jennings, and the property and plant of the weekly placed formally in the hands of the sheriff, pending satisfaction of judgment or posting of stay bond for twice the amount of the judgment, pending decision in an appeal to the state supreme court if one is taken.
    The legal move was taken by attorney Allison Moulton, who with his brother, Arthur I. Moulton of Portland, represents Game Warden Parr, following the revocation by Circuit Judge H. D. Norton of that portion of the motion for 10 days in which to file a motion for a new trial that asked for a stay of judgment for ten days.
    It is understood that the action of Parr's attorneys was taken to forestall any legal move by Fehl, and it is also understood that L. Niedermeyer holds a mortgage on the Record Herald plant and building with preference in the eyes of the law over the judgment for Parr, some lawyers hold.
    Under the law, it will be necessary for the sheriff to hold the weekly property and any other property in Fehl's name until the $15,000 judgment is satisfied or a settlement made.
    If Fehl's attorneys file an appeal to the state supreme court, they will have to file a stay bond of execution for twice the amount of the judgment, or $30,000.
     The execution of the judgment came as somewhat of a surprise as it was not generally expected that any steps would be taken until after ten days, when the court would rule on the motion for a new trial.
    Friends of the weekly editor stated last night that despite the closure, the Pacific Record-Herald would probably be issued as usual, from a printing plant other than its own.
    Fehl last night had no statement to make on the turn in the fortunes of his paper, or his future plans. The Pacific Record-Herald has been in existence for 15 years or more, under Fehl's management. It has had a rather stormy journalistic career, and the Parr libel suit was the second in its history--the first libel action, a criminal accusation, resulting in a circuit court jury returning an acquittal verdict.
    Parr's suit was based upon an article entitled "A Call to Arms" published the week following the fatal shooting of Everett Dahack during a liquor raid on a Resse Creek still, November 14, 1930. Serious and bitter charges and countercharges were hurled during and since the trial.
    It is considered certain that an appeal will be taken to the state supreme court on the alleged grounds of "excessive damages" and restriction of "the freedom of the press."
Medford Mail Tribune, March 13, 1932, page 1


    Suits for foreclosure of chattel and real estate mortgages against the Pacific Record-Herald, weekly newspaper; Earl H. Fehl, publisher; Mrs. Fehl, his wife; Roy Parr, game warden, and the Eagle Point Irrigation District were filed yesterday by Geo. M. Roberts, attorney for Niedermeyer, Inc., a Southern Oregon corporation headed by L. Niedermeyer of the West Side district. The action is understood as a necessary procedure to protect the Niedermeyer interests in the Fehl property against the $15,000 judgment awarded Officer Parr at the close of the libel suit against Mr. Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald.
    The real estate mortgage held by Mr. Niedermeyer dates back to April 1, 1927, since which time Mr. Fehl has owed him $3500, plus interest at seven percent on the amount. The chattel mortgage on newspaper equipment is for $4000, and dates back to 1924.
    In addition to these sums, Mr. Niedermeyer asks payment of interest and attorney's fees.
    The Parr judgment, the complaint states, is subject to, inferior and subordinate to the superior right and interest of the plaintiff, Niedermeyer. The lien of the irrigation company on the Fehl property is also inferior to the Niedermeyer title, it is stated.
    The newspaper was closed down Saturday night by the Sheriff's office after Judge H. D. Norton of the circuit court rescinded the 10 days' stay of execution at first granted the defendant in the libel suit.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 17, 1932, page 2


    Motion for a new trial in the case of Roy Parr, game warden, vs. Earl H. Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald was filed in circuit court late Friday afternoon by Fehl and his attorneys. Irregularity of the jury and of the adverse party and his attorneys is given as grounds.
    Officer Parr was awarded a judgment of $15,000 in the verdict of the jury in the recent libel suit, and the newspaper office was closed down one week ago by the sheriff's office in execution of the judgment. Fehl's attorneys state in the motion for a new trial that the verdict was excessive and "given under influence of bitter passion and prejudice."
    The motion is accompanied by seven affidavits submitted in attempt to show that the jury was prejudiced and indulged in irregularities. Most of them are aimed at statements made by Mrs. Max GeBauer.  One also implicates the foreman of the jury.
    The motion further states that the court "erred in its instructions to the jury, commenting upon the evidence," and "in submitting to the jury the question of special damages."
    The affidavits are signed by John Enright, Ted Wilson, A. C. Abrams, Darrell Huson, Harvey Grigsby, Mrs. Carrie Walker and Orlen R. Kring.
    Exhibits "eight" and "nine," signed by Fehl and his attorney, E. E. Kelly, also tend to show that the jury was prejudiced and did not base the verdict upon evidence produced during the trial.
    Abrams, who makes his home at the W. F. Campbell residence on East Main Street, in his affidavit refers to a conversation overheard there during which Mrs. GeBauer, he states, showed that "her attitude with respect to Mr. Fehl was a bitterly hostile and prejudiced one."
    Huson, who reports a conversation in his place of business on Sixth Street, credits Mrs. GeBauer with saying that the "verdict was not rendered upon the evidence in the case."
    Mrs. Carrie Walker further quotes her as saying "that I had my mind made up when I went on the jury."
    The other affidavits are of similar content, all endeavoring to show that the verdict was not drawn from evidence heard during the trial. Allison Moulton, attorney, with his brother, Arthur Moulton, of Portland, for Officer Parr, is mentioned as "hobnobbing with the jury in earnest conversation with the members."
    An exchange of aspirin tablets, lifesavers and other treats is referred to as further proof that the members of the jury were too friendly with the plaintiff and his attorney to retain fair minds during the trial.
    Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald are represented by attorneys F. J. Newman, H. K. Hanna, T. J. Enright and Kelly & Kelly.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 20, 1932, page 1


    Counter-affidavits from all jurors in the libel suit of Roy Parr, game warden, against the Pacific Record-Herald and its editor, Earl H. Fehl, were filed Saturday in circuit court by Allison Moulton, attorney for Parr. Fehl's affidavits charged the jury that returned a $15,000 verdict against him with misconduct and prejudice.
    Each juror, including R. S. Daniels, foreman, averred under oath that he had never received any "lifesaver or candy" as charged, from plaintiff's counsel, which was the basis of the misconduct allegation, and all emphatically deny any prejudice against Fehl.
    Mrs. Myrtle GeBauer, woman member of the jury, accused of making prejudicial statements during the trial, makes denial in an affidavit she sets forth that she was in Huson's "What-Not" and read "a bitter attack on the Parr-Fehl jury, and particularly myself, which I took to be an effort to intimidate the jury," and the article was discussed. Mrs. GeBauer denies any statements credited to her by Mrs. Carrie Walker, Darrell Huson or William Gibson, detrimental to Fehl or his paper, and sets forth that these three affidavit-makers are either tenants or employees.
    Mrs. GeBauer also denies the affidavit of A. C. Abrams that she visited the home of Mrs. Francis Campbell, 604 East Main Street, on March 7th, while the trial was in progress, but she admits that she visited Mrs. Campbell on March 13, when they discussed the size of the verdict. She states she noticed Col. Abrams, but does not know whether or not he overheard the conversation. She asserts that after publication of his affidavit Abrams told her "he was sorry, it was printed, as I did not think it would be," and that at another time Col. Abrams became excited and said: "The judge has got to give him (Fehl) a new trial." The affidiant says that Abrams expressed a high admiration for Fehl. Mrs. GeBauer declares she entertains no prejudice against Fehl, and "voted for him for mayor."
    Mrs. GeBauer declares that while talking with attorney E. E. Kelly, during a trial recess, she was introduced to attorney Allison Moulton by him. Attorney Kelly is one of the counsel for Fehl. There was no conversation, Mrs. GeBauer says.
    Anderson Mee, another juror, files an affidavit denying that he ever told Orlen R. Kring that "three members of the jury were prejudiced." Mee also filed a second affidavit setting forth his place of residence and explaining this contention in the case as follows:
    "I, Anderson Mee, being first duly sworn on oath say: that I have been a resident of Jackson County, Oregon all of my life, and am 51 years old; that I have property and pay taxes in Jackson County Oregon, and do not have property or pay taxes in Josephine County; that I am a registered voter in Applegate Precinct in Jackson County, Oregon; that I have voted in Applegate Precinct in Jackson County since about 1920; that I have a mine known as the Black Bear in Jackson County, Oregon; that in August 1931 I moved temporarily into the house of S. L. Johnson which I believed until recently was in Jackson County, but which have been informed it is in Josephine County, Oregon, but I do not know positively of my own knowledge whether it is in Jackson County or Josephine County; that I have never had the intention of moving away from Jackson County, or changing my residence, and have always considered myself a resident of Jackson County, and am moving from the place where I am now staying in Mr. Johnson's house onto a place I have rented in Jackson County within the next few days; that since I have been in Mr. Johnson's house and until in December, I was employed from time to time working my mine, the Black Bear, which is in Jackson County, and at the time I moved into Mr. Johnson's house I did not have the intention to remain there and become a resident at that place but did have the intention of continuing my residence in Jackson County, where I had spent my life and where my property is located."
Medford Mail Tribune, March 27, 1932, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, candidate for county judge, made a campaign speech last night at the armory to an audience of about 400 people, which included babes in arms, small boys, a number from the Eagle Point, Beagle, Sams Valley and Gold Hill districts, and residents of this city. People who attended in the expectation of excitement and a "showdown" were disappointed, the speaker of the evening stressing that he was "no more honest than anybody else, and I know all the county officials and they are all good men." Two or three times the candidate declared there "is nothing personal in my remarks."
    The keynote of Mr. Fehl's remarks was a "cleanup of the court house." He also discussed conditions he opposed in the construction of the courthouse, the renting of a steam shovel from Josephine County, the humane society, the unemployment relief work, county printing, the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office, the prohibition fund and things in general. Mr. Fehl alleged that "politicians would like to see me hung."
    At the conclusion of his speech a silver offering was taken, two of the hat-passers being Ezra Dahack and his son, Ernest, of Eagle Point. When the collection was counted Mr. Fehl said enough was donated to "break even" for hiring the hall and advertisements.
    At the start of the meeting Mr. Fehl praised William Gore for securing the O.-C. tax money for this county and that the county was niggardly in only giving him $5000. Commissioner Bursell arose to explain that Gore had received $17,000 for his Washington D.C. effort. Fehl declared; "This is my meeting." A portion of the audience emitted whoops and Commissioner Bursell remained quiet the rest of the evening.
    Hugo Daley, candidate for constable, made a speech at the start, setting forth his qualifications for the job and urging his hearers to vote for "a native son of Jackson County."
    Attorney T. J. Enright, Republican candidate for district attorney, closed the meeting. Mr. Enright said: "If elected I will not have any deputy around in the road and will dispense justice impartially and will uphold the Constitution."
    Mr. Fehl said he would make eight more speeches in the county, including a return speech here in the last days of the campaign.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 21, 1932, page 5


    To the Editor:
    There is going about in Jackson County a certain candidate, who formerly confined his vile remarks against Medford citizens, who were entrusted with its business affairs. He is now seeking to become county judge, using the same methods of gaining his hearer's ears.
    He is making all kinds of misstatements to serve his political needs in his campaign.
    He says the O. & C. funds have been squandered, when he knows the records show that in 1927 the county debt was reduced more than $611,000 in the retirement of bonds and warrants; that $312,495 was turned in to the school and road funds and $250,000 retained for the state's claim, and afterward transferred to the courthouse fund, later reduced by $10,000, which was transferred to the school fund deficit.
    He states the funds will be all gone when the courthouse is completed when he knows that there still remains a fund of $309,080.50 of O. & C. money in the treasurer's hands and partially invested in liberty, state and Jackson County bonds, enough to retire all but $66,000 of the bonds outstanding and due on or before 1952.
    All bonds that were purchased or canceled were secured at the then prevailing market price, to net 3½ percent, which is 1½ percent more than we were getting from the banks on daily deposits. You must remember we are paying 5 percent on outstanding bonds, and there is no danger of losing the funds during the period before they become due.
    He states the county received $92,000 of O. & C. money lately. He knows this was included in the 1931 estimates; that only $57,700 went to the county and the rest to school and road funds. The $57,700 will be used to take up 1931 warrants for cancellation.
    The budget for general and market roads, including receipts for 1931, amounted to $220,973.44, which was expended in an amount of one-half as the taxes were paid. In addition 11 road districts showed enough faith in the county court and its road organization to make special levies of more than $90,000 additional for special improvements in each district, except No. 5, which was presided over by W. H. Gore at its meeting, November 1930. 
    In February, 1931, a short time after road district No. 5 had failed to make a levy, Mr. Fehl and others called a meeting at the Grove school, Mr. Fehl acting as chairman, to start petitions for a West Side Highway through Mr. Gore's land, which after several days contained 30 names, while the remonstrance had 700 signatures--quite a rebuke to Mr. Fehl and Mr. Gore.
    This road would have cost $50,000 for right-of-way and fencing and an additional $100,000 to construct.
    Was Mr. Fehl thinking of you, Mr. Taxpayer, or tax reduction at that time? When he talked for a special levy for $700 on the Dark Hollow Road was he thinking of you? When the 6th Street improvements were made did it make any difference to 6th Street property owners' tax bill? Ask them, Mr. Home Owner!
   Mr. Fehl is trying to gain this responsible position by misrepresentation and vilification of your trusted employees, which you have elected two or three times and in whom you have shown most explicit faith. Why take Mr. Fehl's misstatements as correct? The county records are open to every taxpayer and you will find them well kept.
    There was collected during 1931 only 67 percent of all taxes levied and by closing down road work except maintenance we were able to close the year with every office having a balance on hand of $500 to $1500 each.
    Is Mr. Fehl the kind of man you want to say how your estate shall be handled for your loved ones?
    Do you want your child or relative's children to come before a man of his temperament in juvenile cases?
    Think well, Mr. Voter, when you go to the polls and remember "you get just what you vote for."
    (Signed)   VICTOR BURSELL
    Medford, April 23.     
Medford Mail Tribune, April 24, 1932, page 1


To the Editor:
    Mr. Fehl makes the statement that I was attending and attempting to break up his meetings. He had completed his meeting at Ashland and had asked for questions and invited anyone to speak. I accepted and was the last of several to talk.
    At the armory in Medford, I attempted to correct him once, only. When he stated that Mr. Gore had gone to Washington at his own expense of $20,000, he knew that Mr. Gore, as chairman of the committee, had received $12,000 from the 18 O. and C. counties' expense money and $5000 for services from Jackson County. He quotes an array of figures as premiums paid on bonds in 1927 and early in 1928. The total of these premiums was $31,000, which was a saving of $33,000 to the taxpayers by the time the bonds were matured over and above the daily balance of 2 percent received from the banks.
    He knows they were bought at the market price and by the advice of the three larger banks of Medford, including Mr. Fehl's friend, Mr. Gore, who loaned the writer a bankers' rate book for the court's benefit in purchasing bonds.
    Fehl knows that those transactions were before the 1928 elections in November, when the voters approved them by electing me a third term by a large majority.
    The writer does not want all the credit, as the court consisted of the late W. J. Hartzell, a former broker from Minneapolis, and Geo. Alford, former commissioner, a farmer, in addition to myself as the third member.
    Mr. Fehl stated at the Ashland meetings, and at the Medford meeting, that when the courthouse was completed, the last of the O. and C. funds would be gone. Then he admits that I stated facts when he said that $15,000 was invested in Liberty bonds and $56,000 in road bonds and the balance of the $309,000 in the Pacific Highway and Crater Lake Highway bond redemption funds. Would you believe what Mr. Fehl said at the armory, or the printed statement?
    Mr. Fehl doesn't deny that he was chairman of the West Side highway committee and started the petitions. He says there were no estimates made of cost. Did he think it could be built without cost to the taxpayers? What would he do as a member of the county court? Would he guess at the cost himself? Probably so, as he is opposed to any engineers.
    The Oregon laws of 1930, section 4556, provide that the county court is empowered to establish a road by resolution. This manner of establishing a road was not taken advantage of by the writer to establish the West Side highway, nor by any member of the court for personal gain. Would Mr. Fehl be as fair?
    Judge by his previous actions in the above matters and determine whether you can rely on any of his statements. My 1928 press statements show that I was opposed to any West Side highway, as I believed the Caves road was a much more needed road.
    Mr. Fehl said that he never urged a special levy by road petition, but he did not deny that he spoke for the levy at the Oak Grove school for his Dark Hollow Road, in the presence of many witnesses. He showed some faith in the road organization, but was not thinking of the taxpayers or reduction of taxes.
    Mr. Fehl advises the writer to read the probate law, which he has done many times, and finds that the probate or county judge can refuse to approve the granting of many things in estates which may become necessary to the heirs. Mr. Fehl states that the above is not an issue in this campaign, but that taxes on real property must be reduced, on which we are all agreed, since the 1929 collapse in commodity prices as well as farm products.
    The one question is why Mr. Fehl wanted the West Side highway at a cost of $150,000 in 1931, and limestone on the courthouse, necessitating a special levy of $17,500 for a jail.
    It has come to the attention of the writer that Mr. Fehl has made disparaging remarks against the late Judge Sparrow at several of his meetings; a man whom all knew, held in most profound respect and who was loved by the humblest and best among the Granges, townspeople and those in all walks of life. It is with shame for anyone to speak otherwise than with compassion and love.
    There are several candidates for county judge on the Republican ticket. All will be new to the work. Select the one best qualified to handle the business of the county as well as juvenile and probate work, remembering that he will have two commissioners to aid in the transaction of the county's business.
    Are you going to believe Mr. Fehl's misstatements?
    REMEMBER THAT YOU GET JUST WHAT YOU VOTE FOR.      
Medford, April 28.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 28, 1932, page 6


To the Editor:
    I have been asked repeatedly why I did not reply to the many accusations Mr. Earl Fehl, candidate for county judge--or is it sheriff?--and I have replied that I did not want to get into any tiresome, endless controversy with him, for I feel that the thinking people of this county realize that Mr. Fehl is just down on the world in general and that not a grand jury, special jury, regular jury, judge, court or official, both city or county, has escaped his tongue. I have no wish now or later to enter into a useless, ceaseless squabble, but there are a few things I would like to know.
    Up until after the Parr verdict, Fehl was friendly--or at least seemed to be, insofar as he is capable--to me. In fact, during the trial he made the statement on the witness stand that he had the highest respect for me and my boys. He also talked to me about having one of my deputies run on the Republican ticket suggesting that she would get the nomination and then make no campaign and I would be elected. When I said that there was no time to circulate petitions he said that he would pay the $20 filing fee. I am not attempting to discredit Mr. Fehl in his race for county judge, as I am and always have been an advocate of a clean, decent campaign and ready to stand on my record and my qualifications.
    Mr. Fehl became angered because I closed his place of business--the Pacific Record-Herald--when he knew that that was one of the duties of my office and I had no choice in the matter. After the verdict in the Parr case he was given a ten-day stay of execution and immediately attempted to transfer his property, which was the reason that the stay of execution was canceled, and an execution ordered to take effect at once. This I was called upon to serve and I thereupon followed instructions of the attorney as I do in all legal matters. I was liable under my bond if these instructions were not carried out. The attorney stated at that time that it must be done on Saturday to overcome the possibility of the machinery being moved on Sunday.
    When I went to Fehl's establishment to levy the execution according to my instructions, Fehl, for some unknown reason, blamed me for the whole affair and made the following threat, "Ralph Jennings, you are not re-elected yet, and if I can prevent it, you never will be."
    As for the prohibition fund regarding which he rants so much--he knows that this fund is checked by every grand jury and surely he wouldn't intimate that every one on every grand jury is crooked. This fund has been the cause of more controversy and trouble than any other of the duties of my office, but the manner in handling it is prescribed by law, and it cannot be avoided. Also the prohibition work has not cost the taxpayers of this county one penny, for it is made up of fines largely taken from professional bootleggers and still owners. Each year an amount averaging around $2000, over and above enforcement costs, is turned over to the general fund of the county, which does not happen in many counties of this state. As I have stated before through the press, the sum of $1,456.07 referred to so often by Fehl represents the expenditure of four months, covered by 45 vouchers.
    I have spent the last seven years at this job and I am confronted with new problems every day. I am wondering how many fully realize the many details of this office. During the year 1931, the sum of $1,362,833.80 was collected in the tax department. All segregation of funds into school districts, cities and irrigation districts are made in this department, about 25,000 tax receipts are written and last year over 6000 delinquent notices were sent out. Previous to my entering office in 1925 a force of four deputies was kept in the tax department all summer, while we are now getting along with one.  We have also devised a system by which the tax receipts are written by three girls instead of six as was formerly needed.
    There has been no increase in the force of the legal department in spite of the fact that the work has trebled in the last 10 years. There are many who do not know that every animal sold to a butcher must carry a tag, and we wait on an average of 15 persons a day for this service alone. Everyone selling more than 10 chickens or turkeys must procure a tag. The automobile license work has increased from $32,230.05 in 1923 to $116,946.84 in 1931, and during that time many new laws, such as the title law, have been enacted making far more work. During the year 1922, 808 legal papers of various kinds (chattel liens, writs, summons, executions, subpoenas, etc.) were served, while in 1931 there were 1972 cases.
    Upon this office also falls the service of jury summons, the making of deeds, delivering of ballot boxes and the checking of polling places. In 1922 there was no collection of unsecured personal tax through the legal department and in the year 1931 the amount collected was $13,363.23.
    I have been censured for having my boys work for me. I consider them my greatest asset. They tend strictly to business, have my best interest at heart, and I know that I can trust them. I believe that any attorney in this county will unhesitatingly recommend them.
    At the present time I collect in litigants in court when I serve papers, mileage at the rate of 10 cents per mile, one-half of the mileage fees so collected goes into the general county fund and I receive only five cents per mile for cars used in this service. In 1922 the sum of $504.19 was turned over to the county general fund for mileage fees collected from litigants, and in 1931 the sum of $1805.75 was turned over to the county for that item.
    In 1923 the budget called for $15,683 and $20,807.63 was spent.
    In 1931 the budget called for $19,413 and $18,622.06 was spent.
    I have tried to build up an efficient, economical, capable organization, and this is not accomplished in one day or one year. I will admit that we have made mistakes, but we have profited by them. My office force has always worked in harmony and we have attempted to give courteous, quick service and I have tried personally to work for the good of all. If re-elected I cannot promise more than I have promised before--and given--my best effort in an endeavor to give you an honest, efficient administration.
Medford, May 9.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 10, 1932, page 2


    A. W. Pipes, former mayor of Medford, today challenged Earl Fehl, candidate for county judge in the Republican primaries, to open the files of his newspaper, the Record-Herald, to the people so that certain views he has held toward local issues and local citizens in the past might be generally known.
    Mr. Pipes would particularly like the editorial of Mr. Fehl on the Kingsley murder case, also on law enforcement and bootleggers. He believes the people are entitled to know how the candidate for judge has regarded such important questions in the past, and therefore can be expected to regard them in the future.
    "I challenge Mr. Fehl," said the former mayor, "to bring forth these articles and again publish them, so that the voters may know just where he stands on matters of such public concern. Isn't this a fair request to make of a man who wants to hold the most important office in Jackson County?
    "I have no personal enmity toward Mr. Fehl. I have no wish to harm him by insinuations and innuendos and make none. All I ask are facts which are matters of record. His stand and his utterances in these matters are a matter of record, in the columns of his newspaper, and I simply ask that he make that record known.
    "The county judgeship is one of the most important, if not THE most important office to be filled at the coming election. The people are entitled to all the facts concerning every candidate for that office. They are not only entitled to know Mr. Fehl's view on public issues in the past, they are entitled to know his business record, his record on public questions in his own home town.
    "What is his business record? Let the people look up that record. Where did Mr. Fehl stand more than a decade ago when Medford was in serious financial difficulties and her bonds were in default? The city administration at that time devised a refinancing plan which saved the city's credit. This plan was later approved by a vote of the people.
    "Where did Mr. Fehl stand on that question? He opposed the plan which saved his city from disaster. More than that, he carried his fight to the courts. He says he is a dear friend of the Medford taxpayers. Was he a dear friend of the Medford taxpayers? Let the people figure out how much Mr. Fehl cost them. How much did his fight on the water system cost them? How much did his attitude in other public questions cost them?
    "Have we as taxpayers and property owners any right to believe that Mr. Fehl, if elected judge, would exercise any better judgment in protecting the interests of the taxpayers of Jackson County than he did the taxpayers of Medford? Is he the type of man to select to administer our property affairs or the affairs of our loved ones? Is he the type to select to run our private business, or to sit in judgment over boys and girls in the juvenile court?
    "By his record of the past let us judge him. I say this with no animus or malice, but because I believe that where a candidate for public office has a public record, that record should be known. In the files of Mr. Fehl's Record-Herald is his record. I challenge him to open the files of that paper through republication in the newspapers of the county. If he refuses to do so, then the people can draw their own conclusions."
Medford Mail Tribune, May 10, 1932, page 10


    The following article completes the thumbnail sketches of candidates for public office on the Republican ticket at the May 20 primary.
    Earl B. Day, incumbent, Sams Valley farmer; active in Grange; member American Legion, recognized as rising rural district leader; attended last session legislature and desires second term. Made good record. Conscientious, hard-working and able. No. 47 on ballot.
    William N. Carl, farm owner of Applegate, called "Farmer Bill" by acquaintances in Jackson and Josephine counties; picturesque talker. Not very well known outside own home circles. Member of Grange. Pledged to "guard your legislative needs." No. 46 on ballot.
    Victor Bursell, stockman and farmer, completing third term as county commissioner; has been 49 years in valley;  recognized as best-informed man in county regarding county affairs; born in Nebraska; member of Grange; not fluent but convincing talker; raises hay on farm near Central Point; well-known, competent and able. No. 45 on ballot.
    George W. Porter, 40 years a resident of city and valley; operates a lumber yard; served in several civic capacities; now member city council; good-natured but firm, well-known and shrewd business man. Very proud of his grandson. Member of Elks, Masons, etc., etc. No. 48 on ballot.
    T. J. Enright, lawyer, resident here about 10 years; native of Iowa, where he held secretarial position with L. J. Dickinson, keynote speaker of Republican Party; saw service in Washington D.C. offices; in army during war; defense counsel in several prominent local criminal and civil cases past two years; member American Legion; knows lots of people; aggressive and combative type. No. 50 on ballot.
    William M. Briggs, Jr., native son of Ashland, well known, particularly in south end of county; graduate of Ashland schools and U. of O.; served term in state legislature; associated with father-in-law business; member American Legion; studious type, but good jury lawyer. No. 40 on ballot.
    C. B. Lamkin, incumbent, named by governor last January to fill vacancy caused by death of Alex Sparrow; born in New York state; spent boyhood on Iowa farm. Served in Iowa legislature and co-worker of Senator A. B. Cummins. Resident of Ashland 25 years; three times elected mayor; member of school board, bank director, farm owner entire life; conservative type, with plenty of political and business experience; member of Masons and [omission] campaigner, fearless and conscientious. No 53 on ballot.
   C. A. Thomas, identified with lumber business in Southern Oregon 12 years; well known among laboring class and mill workers; former yard superintendent Owen-Oregon plant; held position with other lumber concerns, lives in Ashland, formerly lived here, not as well known as majority of candidates, but made good impression during campaign and has had considerable business experience. Only candidate to say good word for President Hoover in slogan; favors middle course between economy and extravagance. No. 54 on ballot.
    A. H. Willett, resident of Talent several years, where owns small farm; former resident Portland and Kansas; personal friend of Governor Julius L. Meier, but not supporter; extensive business and executive experience; member of Masons and Shriners. Solid substantial type, but good mixer. No. 55 on ballot.
    Earl H. Fehl, 25 years a resident of valley, a goodly portion of time running weekly newspaper; five times unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Medford; storm center of a score of local controversies. Instigator of legal suits against city on water, sewer and paving questions over long period; twice in court on libel actions; once acquitted, last time jury returned verdict of $15,000 against him, and judgement executed. Case now pending on appeal to supreme court. Militant, with many warm supporters and better known in this city than rest of county. Only candidate actively on the stump. Tireless worker for own cause; chairman of Muncie plan committee; instrumental in construction of Holly Theater and opening Sixth Street. An "out," who perpetually crusades against the "ins." No. 51 on ballot.
    Earl C. Gaddis, former mayor of Medford, long-time resident of city. Administration under almost constant fire of Fehl. Many valley farms surrounded by Page fence he and Volney Dixon sold; conservative type, good business man, well-known among the older residents of valley; active civic worker many years; belongs to several civic organizations and fraternal orders; conservative, competent and friendly. No 52 on ballot.
    William E. (Shorty) Morris, native of Missouri, successful raiser of sugar beets in Colorado and lima beans in the Imperial Valley, Calif., fishing and wrestling fan; operates farm near Table Rock. Resident here 10 years, popular, fairly well known, once a drummer, knows men and business methods; enterprising and energetic; member of Elks and a Granger; married. No. 57 on ballot.
    Louis M. Sweet, farmer, Sams Valley resident for 20 years; known to many by contentious letters he has written to newspapers over that period; close student of county affairs and taxes; only candidate in field running on Meier platform; Granger, sociable, and former field deputy for assessor. Will listen to reason, and admit error if convinced he's wrong. No. 58 on ballot.
    Ralph Billings, native son of Ashland; member of pioneer family; farmer, well known in southern end of county. Defeated in 1930 for same post. Hard worker, substantial type, member of Kiwanis, Elks and other organizations. Not an orator, but with a reputation of doing whatever he sets out to do well. No 56 on the ballot.
    George R. Carter, resident of valley for 45 years, coming here as a little boy. Farmed in Talent district and had stock ranch in Dead Indian country for many years. Steady, conscientious; managed Medford Ice Co. for many years, was also field deputy in assessor's office; knows Jackson County folks through wide acquaintance. Married, has two boys. No. 59 on ballot.
    Delilia Stevens Meyer, incumbent, experienced, efficient, accommodating; native daughter of Jackson County, first public appearance in school play staged by Roosevelt School students. Deputy clerk under Chauncey Florey. Established new methods in handling clerk's office and drastically cut overhead. No. 60 on ballot.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 12, 1932, page 9


    In the suit of Niedermeyer, Inc., against Earl H. Fehl, the Pacific Record-Herald, a weekly newspaper, Sheriff Ralph G. Jennings, the Eagle Point Irrigation District, and Roy M. Parr, Fehl, through his attorneys Saturday afternoon filed an answer and counter-claim alleging that L. Niedermeyer owes him the sum of $22,410.60 for services and labor.
    Fehl alleges in his counter-claim that Niedermeyer owes him $5,225 as his share of the lot upon which the Holly Theater stands, $10,000 for promotional efforts before the Holly Theater was started, and $7,185.60 for supervision of the construction of the theater and labor performed thereon.
    It is set forth that Fehl, in the promotion of the Holly Theater structure, made numerous trips to Portland and San Francisco, conferring with architects and moving picture interests, and that he was instrumental in the securing of the ornamental street lights on Sixth Street and that he secured a bonded lease of the theater to Walter H. Leverette for ten years for $65,000. Fehl also avers that he secured Frank and King Comedians, a tent show, to hold forth on the Holly site to demonstrate its fitness as an amusement place location.
    Fehl alleges that he took the initiative in purchasing the lot from the Knights of Pythias lodge and put up an option, afterwards interesting Niedermeyer in the theater project. He asks $5,225 as a half interest in the lot.
    For supervision of the construction of the Holly Theater, which cost $71,185.60, Fehl asks ten percent of the total cost, or $7,185.60 [sic].
    Fehl sets forth that he toiled in several capacities during a period of 18 months in arranging for and building the Holly Theater, and secured tenants after it was erected.
    The answer says that the dealings, now in controversy, were negotiated with L. Niedermeyer as an individual and that afterwards Niedermeyer, Inc., was formed.
    In opposition to the $22,410.60 claim of Fehl, Niedermeyer, Inc., in its complaint admits that Fehl worked for approximately 236 days and claims that $10 per day is a fair wage, which they are willing to deduct from the mortgage against Fehl and his printing house and equipment.
    The amount involved in the mortgage is approximately $4,400.
    Sheriff Jennings and the Eagle Point Irrigation District are named defendants in a minor legal capacity, and Roy M. Parr is named as the holder of a $15,000 libel suit judgment. Niedermeyer Inc., holds that their mortgage holds precedence over the libel suit judgment execution.
    Fehl is represented by attorneys H. K. Hanna, T. J. Enright and Kelly and Kelly. Niedermeyer Inc., is represented by aAttorney George M. Roberts and William McAllister.
   The plaintiff, by a ruling of Circuit Judge E. C. LaTourette of Oregon City last Monday, is allowed five days in which to file a reply to the answer, after which the case will come to a hearing in circuit court.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 3, 1932, page 1


    Niedermeyer, Inc., today filed a reply to the answer of Earl H. Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald in their suit for the collection of a promissory note and chattel mortgage for $6,443.98, less payments and deductions. Fehl in his answer and counterclaim, filed a week ago, alleged approximately $22,000 was due him from Niedermeyer, Inc., for labor, services and promotional efforts.
    The reply sets forth that Fehl has no interest of any kind in the Niedermeyer, Inc., or the Holly Theater; that in its construction he acted only "in the capacity of foreman and was paid an amount in excess of the reasonable value therefor" and that no agreement, verbal or oral, was entered into between L. Niedermeyer and Fehl and that Fehl "should be estopped in good conscience and equity," from declaring otherwise.
    It is also asserted that Fehl declared that he would not accept any fee or commission, but that L. Niedermeyer insisted that he be paid, and the same deducted from the promissory note and chattel mortgage.
    The reply holds that Frank C. Clark, architect, was in charge of the Holly construction and supervised the same and that L. Niedermeyer furnished money for payment of contracts and bills. It is admitted that Niedermeyer provided $22,988 which Fehl disbursed for labor and small items. The reply further alleges that Fehl held no realty dealer license, as required by state law, and that during the construction of the Holly he was engaged in other "building enterprises, and the editing of a weekly paper."
    It is set forth that from 1919 to 1927, Fehl "constantly solicited, implored and requested" Niedermeyer to build a theater at Sixth and Holly streets and in 1927 Niedermeyer permitted Fehl to start excavating and that when a lease was signed with Walter Leverette, the excavation was finished. Niedermeyer, in all these negotiations, assumed the financial and other responsibilities.
    The reply admits Fehl paid $100 earnest money on the lot to the Talisman Lodge of Knights of Pythias of which W. R. Gaylord was chancellor, and that Niedermeyer afterwards paid $9,650 for the land in two installments and that the $100 paid by Fehl was deducted from the promissory note.
    The reply avers that Niedermeyer insisted on Fehl accepting payment for services, when Fehl claimed that "the enhancement of property values on Sixth Street" would be his recompense. The sum of $2300 was applied to the note on these grounds, with the consent of Fehl.
    It is set forth further that claims of Fehl that he was instrumental in securing the Sixth Street lighting system, or a tent show to hold forth on the site, are not supported by information at hand.
    It is also recited that Fehl interested Niedermeyer in the construction of the Ivy Street Market, and dismissal is asked on the grounds of "insufficiency of cause."
    Fehl in his answer and counterclaim alleged he had due $7,150 as a fee for construction of the Holly Theater, $10,000 for various promotional efforts, and $5000 as a half-interest in the lot upon which the theater stands.
    Niedermeyer, Inc., is represented by attorneys George M. Roberts and William McAllister; Fehl by attorneys H. K. Hanna, T. J. Enright and Kelly and Kelly.   
Medford Mail Tribune, July 8, 1932, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl was on the witness stand this afternoon, and for a short period before the noon recess he gave a history of his business relations with L. Niedermeyer, from their inception.
    Fehl testified that Niedermeyer financed the founding of the Pacific Record-Herald, and that the primary object of its birth was to secure publicity against the proposed plan to include land near Jacksonville in an irrigation district project.
    Fehl at the start of the afternoon testified that his negotiations for the purchase of the Holly Theater lot were "upon a partnership basis."
    With the conclusion of Fehl's testimony as a defendant, both sides will open the presentation of rebuttal testimony.
    Hearing of testimony in the civil action of Niedermeyer, Inc., against Earl H. Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald, for collection of a promissory note and chattel mortgage, approximating $5000, began this morning in circuit court before Judge Earl C. LaTourette of Oregon City, assigned to the case by the state supreme court when the defense filed an affidavit of prejudice against Circuit Court Judge H. D. Norton.
    Louis Niedermeyer, head of Niedermeyer, Inc., was the first witness and detailed negotiations in which Fehl played a part, that led to the construction of the Holly Theater on Sixth Street, starting in November, 1929.
    Niedermeyer testified to transactions and verbal agreements between himself and Fehl over a period of years, and testified that after the foundation and excavating was well underway he asked Fehl what his charge would be for services and Fehl replied that the enhancement of Sixth Street property values would be his reward.
    Niedermeyer testified that he refused to operate upon this basis and informed Fehl, "You will have to quit, unless you make a charge." It was then agreed that Fehl should be paid at the rate of $10 per day, the total to be deducted from the note obligation. Niedermeyer testified that Fehl worked 223 days and that $2230 was credited on the note.
    Niedermeyer testified that Fehl acted in the capacity of a general foreman and that Niedermeyer himself attended to all other transactions, such as making of contracts, and that Frank C. Clark of this city was the supervising architect.
    William H. Miller and Col. R. I. Stuart, contractors, F. C. Clark, architect, Ed White, realtor and other local residents were scheduled to be called as plaintiff's witnesses.
    The decision in the case, according to lawyers, will have a bearing on the status of the judgment executed by Roy Parr, game warden, in a $15,000 libel suit verdict. The Niedermeyer, Inc., claim on Fehl and his newspaper now holds legal priority.
    It is the general contention of Niedermeyer, Inc., that Fehl has no claim. Fehl, through his counsel, contends in a counterclaim that he has due a sum greater than the amount of the chattel mortgage.
    Niedermeyer, Inc., is represented by attorneys George M. Roberts and William McAllister and Fehl by attorneys T. J. Enright and Kelly and Kelly.
    It is expected that the hearing of testimony will be completed by tomorrow noon.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 25, 1932, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, chief witness for the defense in the civil suit of Niedermeyer, Inc., against him to collect a $5000 chattel mortgage and promissory note, was excused this morning after nearly a day in the witness chair. Fehl was questioned briefly by the court before dismissal as a witness.
    Fehl in the testimony related the alleged business relations existing between him and L. Niedermeyer over a period of 13 years, starting with the inception of the Pacific Record-Herald in 1919.
    Fehl contends his efforts on behalf of the Holly Street theater in 1929 were on a "partnership basis," as far as the purchase of the lot was concerned, and that he is entitled to commissions on other transactions.
    Niedermeyer, Inc., contends that Fehl acted only in the capacity of a foreman, signed no contracts and furnished no money.
    Dr. J. F. Reddy was called as a witness and in response to a hypothetical question pronounced by the defense said that for promotional work for a $75,000 theater, a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $15,000 was "fair." Dr. Reddy testified that he had been in promotional work for 40 years, more or less, and had once owned a theater. The witness said that the amount of the commission would be based on services performed. Fehl testified that he made trips and worked on the Holly Theater promotion for a period of two years.
    Dr. W. H. Everhard, attorney F. J. Newman and a number of carpenters and artisans employed on the Holly Theater were scheduled to be called as witnesses by the defense today.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 26, 1932, page 1


    The political pot in Jackson County started simmering anew the past week with rumors and counter-rumors of Independent candidates entering the list between now and 45 days before the general election, or about September 15th.
    One of the most persistent rumors of the week was that John Dennison of this city would make an Independent race for sheriff. Dennison was prominently mentioned before the primary campaign as a candidate but refused, and friends say he has not changed his mind.
    Lowell Zundel, who stated ten days ago that he had sufficient signatures to his petitions as an Independent sheriff candidate, as yet has not filed.
    There has been considerable whispering up the political alleys the past week, but as yet nothing has come of them.
    An interesting political reaction to the Judge Norton recall plot came to light last week when Arthur E. Powell, editor of the Central Point American, announced his withdrawal of support to the county judge candidacy of Earl H. Fehl, Republican primary nominee, as follows;
    "This week he heard a man, who had been a strong follower of Earl H. Fehl and L. A. Banks, make the remark that 'Fehl and Banks have sure queered themselves now. If Fehl has no more sense than to take the attitude he has regarding the recall of Judge Norton, he has no place on the county court.' We think this man is right. We can see nothing to this recall matter but disgruntled litigants' attempted revenge for fancied wrongs. We had hoped Mr. Fehl would be above such things. And so long as he persists in his attitude and insists on following Banks' lead, we shall be compelled by honesty to withdraw from his support for County Judge.
    "The man we need for County Judge must be a man of well-balanced mind, one who can see both sides of a question and who can calmly sit in judgment on the problems confronting him daily without allowing personal prejudice to interfere with his decisions. We fear Mr. Fehl cannot measure up to that standard."
    Widespread disapproval and disfavor of the abortive recall plot directed against Circuit Court Judge H. D. Norton continued to be manifested throughout Jackson and Josephine counties the past week. From those had seen the petition circulators, and the petitions, it was learned yesterday that the signers were few, and the rebukes many. Suburban service stations where petitions were left also gained few names. It was reported disgust with the scheme was strong among both country and city people.
    The sponsors of the recall are still in the dark, but public opinion generally attributed it "to a few disgruntled litigants and revengeful politics." One local report said that "women were to blame," but this was regarded as a move to "pass the buck."
    The Gold Hill News made an effort to determine the recall sentiment in that city and reported as follows:
    "In an effort to determine the sentiment locally regarding the petition which was circulated here last week, this paper made a canvass of Main Street Wednesday and so far as we were able to learn not a single name was gained in the business district, although one lady who saw the petition said there were probably ten names on it which the circulators said they had obtained in Gold Hill. This lady said she did not read the names and only judged the number from the approximate space which they took up, as she told the circulators that she was not interested in signing it.
    "The two ladies circulating the petition asked if they might leave the petition at Chris Jorgensen's pool room but were told they could not. Mr. Jorgensen also emphatically refused to sign it.
    "The Delta Café was also requested to let the petition be left there but declined.
    "The News office was not visited by the two ladies, and we could not learn who the backers were. One of the ladies, however, said that she was the mother of a boy who had received an unjust sentence in Judge Norton's court.
    "Reports from Rogue River district persist in stating that the petitions are being well signed there, however, although nearer Grants Pass less success is being met with."
Medford Mail Tribune, August 28, 1932, page 1


    In a public statement issued today, attorneys for E. H. Fehl in the hearing of his libel suit before Judge Norton emphatically denied that Judge Norton had been unfair or biased in his conduct of that trial.
    The statement signed by all of Mr. Fehl's attorneys follows:
    "We, the undersigned, represented Mr. Fehl in his libel suit. We believe conduct of the trial by Judge Norton was entirely fair. We felt that on the showing made he should have granted a new trial. But while disappointed at his refusal to do so, we agree that this was a matter for the court, not for his attorneys to decide. We believe his decision was based on the amendment to the state constitution which makes it illegal for a court to grant a new trial where there is a scintilla of evidence to support the verdict, except where there is misconduct on the part of the jurors, or errors by law by the court during the trial. We find no fault and have found no fault with Judge Norton's conduct of the case. We believed him throughout the trial entirely fair, unfailingly courteous and absolutely impartial.
    "The verdict was shocking and entirely out of reason, but the people by their amendment have taken from the court the power to grant new trials where passion and prejudice have swayed jurors.
    "H. K. Hanna
    "T. J. Enright
    "F. J. Newman
    "Kelly & Kelly"
Medford Mail Tribune, September 11, 1932, page 1


    In a speech at the Armory Friday night, before a crowd of approximately 300, Earl H. Fehl, primary nominee for county judge, cast serious imputations upon the judicial integrity of Circuit Court Judge H. D. Norton, and alleged that the jurist had given him assurances that the Parr libel suit "was nothing to worry about," "there is not a word of libel in it," and "I'll dismiss the case."
    Fehl alleged that Judge Norton--"who was my friend and neighbor--led me into a trap, and then sprang the trap."
    A court reporter, W. J. Looker, made a stenographic record of his utterances, and near the end of his speech Fehl remarked, "I may be held to an accounting for my words here tonight."
    Fehl alleged by inference that he had been led to believe from the asserted words of Judge Norton that the Parr libel suit would be dismissed.
   During his speech Fehl cited all the cases in Jackson County that have been listed as "miscarriages of justice" save one, stressed the two Central Point bank robbery episodes and the case of Evan Crow, now serving two years in state prison. He did not go into the details of the Crow sentence, except to charge it was "a police frameup."
    Fehl told the history of his legal troubles, from the start of his weekly to the verdict in the Parr libel suit. He excoriated what he called "the Liberty Building gang," naming A. W. Pipes as the leader. He also flayed Deputy District Attorney George A. Codding as the instigators of his troubles. He paid a glowing tribute to Attorney E. E. Kelly, who was one of his counsel.
    During the course of his address, Fehl made frequent quotations from the Bible, which he said "is the only book I ever owned."
    The relations between Fehl and Judge Norton, up to the time the Parr libel suit was brought, were described. He said "Judge Norton frequently came to my office and smoked cigarettes as fast as he could stick them in his face," that "I gave him a turkey for Christmas," and "his mansion is the product of my brains and his money." He claimed he had been instrumental in the election of Judge Norton.
    At the outset of his speech, Fehl said, "I have delayed starting this meeting waiting for my former friend, Judge Norton, to appear, as I say nothing behind a man's back I won't say to his face."
    Fehl admitted he signed the recall. "Much has been said about who was the father of the recall. It makes no difference who started it--it's been started." He said he hoped "all will sign the recall if you get a chance."
    The speaker surprised his hearers by declaring "The Mail Tribune has always treated me nice. It's one of the finest papers on the Pacific Coast--or anywhere. If they start fighting for the common people, instead of the gang, I'll quit trying to run a newspaper."
    At the conclusion of his speech, the hat was passed to pay the expenses, which he said were $15. Fehl said he intended to make speeches throughout the county, and "this is my only appearance in this city, unless there is a demand for another."
    Many in the audience were from the county districts--particularly the Rogue River and Gold Hill regions.
Medford Mail Tribune, September 11, 1932, page 1


To the Editor:
    Just a thought or two on the Fehl accusations:
    It is one of the ethical ideals of American jurisprudence that all stand equal in contemplation of law and before the courts.
     Mr. Fehl is a candidate himself for a judicial position of the highest importance in that it deals with the estates of those who have passed on and in a large way holds the destiny of the widow and orphan. To anyone who knows Judge Norton and who has conducted litigation before him Mr. Fehl's statements are absurd, but they at least disclose Mr. Fehl's attitude of mind and his ideals. They reveal that the now high-minded friend of downtrodden justice in Jackson County was ready and willing to take advantage of his friendly relations with the court and secure from the court a biased and unwarranted dismissal of a lawsuit without even granting to the other side its day in court. In other words, Mr. Fehl expected to capitalize his friendship with the court, and because this relation did not return dividends in the way of judicial favors, he now seeks to recall the judge, obviously in the hope of securing one more amenable to "influence."
    It seems to us that Mr. Fehl, in his attack upon Judge Norton, has rendered one service to the electorate of Jackson County. He has disclosed his own standards of judicial fairness and honesty and has stamped himself as wholly unfit to occupy the high office which he seeks.
    In the Central Point bank holdup, in one case a deadly firearm was used; the other case was a simple case of embezzlement by a young man who yielded to temptation. Penalties are fixed by the legislature and not by the judge, and the gravity of the charge is often lessened by the sort of indictment returned by the grand jury.
                    U.S.A.
                        (Name on file.)
"Communications," Medford Mail Tribune, September 11, 1932, page 4


    Earl H. Fehl, Republican primary nominee for county judge, in a campaign speech at Lake Creek last Wednesday night spoke to an audience of 15 people, nine of whom signed the nominating petitions of C. E. Gates for county judge, according to Lloyd Damon of that section, who counted noses and circulated the Gates petition at the meeting. Damon says there were 20 people outside the hall, visiting and discussing the problems of the day among themselves.
    Thomas R. Farlow, pioneer stockman of the district, attended the meeting and said, "There were a few more than a dozen in the hall," and that he declined to offer to be chairman of the meeting. Farlow said, "Quite a bunch of the boys were outside."
    At a primary meeting held by Fehl in the Lake Creek district last spring, close to 200 people heard him flay the "ins," allege "injustice," and appeal for sympathy. The change in sentiment in the Lake Creek district is viewed as typical of the entire rural section of the county and a sign that the voters have become weary of the "political revolution," and "collapse of justice" talk.
    There has been a noticeable "soft-pedaling" the past ten days of well-known and oft-told charges, reflecting on county officials and particularly in the Judge Norton recall plot. Fehl, in his Lake Creek speech, devoted himself chiefly to "my policies if elected county judge." In his three previous speeches he hurled allegations at Judge Norton. General public revulsion to the fatherless recall scheme is widespread. Fehl in Medford speeches boasted he had signed the recall petition and urged others to follow suit. Fehl also declared in his last Medford talk that he would not support the national head of the Republican ticket in November.
    Circulators of the recall petitions were still circulating the past week. A woman, seeking names on the petition at Ashland, informed the Ashland Tidings that she had secured 93 names after two weeks' work. A newspaper solicitor visited the Foots Creek district Tuesday, and sought subscriptions and signatures, and attacked Judge Norton. As far as known there are only a half dozen circulators, a majority being "disgruntled litigants," or kin to defendants who received adverse decisions in the circuit court.
Medford Mail Tribune, September 25, 1932, page 1


    The situation before the election in Jackson County today is very similar to the situation preceding the primary election last May.
    There is no question that a majority of the people of Jackson County don't want Earl Fehl for county judge.
    There was no question before the primary that a majority of the REPUBLICAN voters did not want Mr. Fehl as their candidate for county judge.
     But then as NOW, there was no unanimity as to how to defeat him. There were five candidates for county judge in the primaries--the Fehl opposition was split four ways. Every effort was made to get some of these candidates to withdraw and throw their support to others. But none of them would. Then, as NOW, THEY ALL THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE NOMINATED, AND THEIR PARTISAN SUPPORTERS THOUGHT LIKEWISE.
    As a result Earl Fehl won the nomination. He received 2425 votes. His nearest competitor, Judge Lamkin, received 2075 votes. Gaddis received 1165 votes, Thomas 697, Willetts 637. In other words 2425 Republicans wanted Fehl, 4574 REPUBLICANS DIDN'T WANT HIM. But because those 4574 voters refused to forget their political and personal preferences, refused to get together--the man they opposed WON.
    Now it is apparent--that if ONLY 175 VOTES had been switched from any of the weaker candidates to Judge Lamkin, who was unquestionably the strongest candidate, Lamkin would have won--and a large part of this noise and fury that has torn Jackson County wide open all these months would have been avoided. That was the writer's opinion then, but the Mail Tribune unfortunately did not enter the primary this year, and like most other papers in the state never has supported or opposed primary candidates. NEVER AGAIN!
    Now the Fehl opposition is split three ways instead of four. The same effort has been made to make one of the candidates withdraw. But none have. They are all going to be elected now just as the primary candidates were.
    And unless there IS some concentration behind the strongest opposing candidate, unless this opposition is not again scattered three ways to breakfast, then take our tip; Earl Fehl with his solid backing is going to win.
    Don't be deceived. The Mail Tribune isn't. We know what the street talk is; we know what the straw ballots indicated--that Gates, Codding and Beeson are the strongest anti-Fehl candidates. But we ALSO know that the minority support Fehl enjoyed in the primaries and is his today did not PARTICIPATE in the straw ballot; it is a silent vote, but it is a CERTAIN one. It is going to the polls 100 percent strong tomorrow. And unless there is a last-minute switch to the strongest opposing candidate, political history in the primaries will be repeated again.
    Now there is nothing political or personal in this paper's opposition to Mr. Fehl. Although he has spent most of his time the past decade or so slinging mud at this paper, we have never said anything to reflect upon his standing as a private citizen, or his moral character. We don't oppose Fehl in his private capacity; we do oppose him as a candidate for public office. Our opposition rests FIRST upon our BELIEF that he is ENTIRELY UNQUALIFIED for public office, and is PARTICULARLY UNQUALIFIED by temperament and character for the position of a JUDGE.
    SECOND, that the things he represents, the political methods he sanctions and uses, are wrong, economically destructive, have done this community great harm, and if endorsed by the people and consequently continued, will do irreparable INJURY--render any constructive progress in this community when prosperity does return PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.
    Nor is there anything personal or partisan in our support of C. E. (Pop) Gates for county judge, George Codding for District Attorney or Everett Beeson for sheriff. We have repeatedly pointed out that our endorsement should in no way be interpreted as reflections upon those other candidates who are as strongly opposed to Fehlism and all it involves, as they--and we--are.
    But because of the situation as above presented, and in an effort to prevent what happened at the primary, we have urged and hereby urge again--and for the last time--that all our readers who believe as we do--who oppose Fehl and what he stands for--vote for these three candidates.
    Not for their sake--certainly not for the sake of this newspaper--but FOR THE SAKE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT, for the sake of returning Medford and Jackson County to something approaching unity and sanity once more.
        The Fehl-Wilkins-Zundel triumvirate sneer at the suggestion of unity and harmony. OF COURSE THEY DO. For constant dissension, constant mud slinging, constant agitation is their life blood, and their influence and their cause collapses without it.
    But we know a majority of the people in Jackson County DON'T FEEL that way about it. and we ALSO KNOW that just as the only sure and safe way in the primaries was to unite behind Judge Lamkin--so
    THE ONLY SURE AND SAFE WAY TODAY is to unite behind Gates, Codding and Beeson. For while we admit the same result MIGHT be obtained by backing some other combination--the conditions are so critical, the issues so important to the future welfare of Jackson County, we feel THIS IS NO TIME TO TAKE CHANCES!
    And those who insist on voting otherwise, DO take chances--VERY SERIOUS CHANCES.
    So with that final plea the local campaign is over as far as the Mail Tribune is concerned. (And we are glad of it!) For the reasons above given we urge the people of Jackson County, in their own self-interest, and for the welfare of this valley, to cast their ballots for
    Gates for County Judge.
    Codding for District Attorney.
    Beeson for Sheriff.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 7, 1932, page 1


    The complete unofficial count for Jackson County, for county judge, is as follows:

	Fehl	5,697
	Gates	4,331
	Phipps	2,597
	Pipes	1,100

    Fehl's majority over Gates, his nearest contender, was 1,366.
    Pipes, the Ashland Tidings candidate, carried but one precinct in the county and that was Ashland Boulevard, by a majority of six votes over Gates. In the 13 precincts of Medford, Pipes received but 262 votes.
    Fehl in this city received 2,145 votes, a majority of 25 over Gates, who received 2,120 votes. In the final week of the campaign, a leading local Democrat said this morning, a wing of the local Democracy swung from Phipps to Fehl.
    The Medford precinct vote on county judge was:

	Fehl	2,145
	Gates	2,120
	Phipps	857
	Pipes	262

    The county judge vote for the Ashland precincts was:

	Fehl	644
	Gates	608
	Phipps	451
	Pipes	524

    Fehl carried all the county precincts, with Trail, Wimer, Eagle Point and Rogue River rolling up the biggest pluralities.
    District Attorney George A. Codding, against whom a bitter campaign was waged for months, was re-elected by a majority of 365 votes.
    The unofficial vote is:

	Codding	5,216
	Briggs	4,851
	Wilkins	3,023

    Wilkins carried the following precincts: Eagle Point, Sams Valley, Trail, Rogue River, Derby, Union, Bellview, Wimer and South Jacksonville.
    The vote in this city was:

	Codding	2,145
	Briggs	1,610
	Wilkins	641

    The Ashland precinct vote was:

	Codding	982
	Briggs	841
	Wilkins	391

    Other state and county offices reported as follows:

	Day	7,368
	Porter	5,278
	DeArmond	4,558
	Kelly	5,400

    Kelly won over George Porter by 122, in one of the election surprises.
    For county commissioner, Ralph Billings of Ashland defeated H. T. Pankey of Central Point as follows:

	Billings	6,767
	Pankey	6,336

    In the precincts north of Phoenix, Pankey polled a high vote, but the Ashland district polled 2,104 for Billings to 534 for Pankey, cutting down the early Pankey lead. Billings won by 431 votes.
    The vote on other county offices was:
             County Clerk--

	Carter	8,692
	Ulrich	4,410
	Carter lead	4,262
	Assessor--
	Coleman	8,942
	Heard	3,939
	Coleman's majority	5,003
	Treasurer--
	Walker	10,248
	Autrey	2,662
	Walker's majority	7,588
	School Superintendent--
	Bowman	9,183
	Rogers	3,787
	Bowman's majority	5,296

Medford Mail Tribune, November 10, 1932, page 1


    A subscriber asks us to explain Pop Gates' defeat for county judge. We explained it before it happened.
    The day before the election we said that unless the people united overwhelmingly behind Pop Gates, the strongest candidate opposing Earl Fehl, the latter would be elected county judge.
    They refused to do that. 4331 voted for Gates, 2597 voted for Phipps, 1110 voted for Pipes--a total of 8038. Fehl's total was 5697.
    It is apparent that if Pipes had retired from the race, Fehl would still have had a plurality of 256 votes, approximately his plurality in the primary over Lamkin.
    Under such circumstances, however, if 130 votes that went to Phipps had gone to Gates, the latter would have been elected.
    Why did the voters refuse to go to Pop Gates in sufficient numbers to put him over?
    We have an answer to that, which of course may or may not be correct. In our opinion, it was due to the peculiar hookup during the campaign. Fehl, Phipps and Pipes all worked against Gates--he was the man to beat. This combination was too strong for any one man to overcome, particularly when a defensive instead of an offensive strategy was adopted.
    In other words, Gates was beaten in the election for the same reason that Sheriff Jennings was beaten in the primary. Because he was alone against the field. Jennings had every candidate for sheriff working against him--five Republicans and one Democrat. The Republican candidates didn't want him as an opponent; the Democrat wanted to beat him. The combination was too much for any one man to overcome.
    It is always easy to be wise after the event. But if Gates' supporters had concentrated upon fighting Fehl, kept constantly on the offensive instead of being forced to adopt the defensive--the results MIGHT have been different.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 11, 1932, page 8


To the Editor:
    Thanks for printing your interesting tables of the election results in Jackson County--this is an example of enterprising and efficient service which reflects great credit upon the Mail Tribune and is greatly appreciated by its readers. In studying these tables, however, I admit there is much I can't understand, and I would appreciate an explanation from you. How do you explain the vote for Fehl, for example, and the vote for Sheriff Jennings and George Codding--the voters appear to have been on one side of the issue, where Fehl was concerned; and on precisely the opposite side in the case of his two chief opponents. I know I would be greatly interested in your interpretation of this inconsistency and so would your readers.
                    FRANCES HEFFERNAN,
                        Medford, November 14.
    We admit the inconsistency but have heard no satisfactory explanation and have none to offer.
    Fehl's chief issue was the time-honored cry of gang rule and the breakdown of law and order. Codding and Jennings were the leader of this so-called gang; they were held responsible in the much-advertised Dahack case and other cases for the breakdown of law and order.
    Yet Codding was re-elected by a safe majority, and the written-in vote for Jennings was unquestionably the greatest personal tribute and expression of public confidence in a public officer ever recorded in the history of Jackson County.
    Obviously the people of Jackson County, as a whole, did not believe these charges against these two efficient public servants, did not accept the unwarranted claim of the malcontents that lawlessness reigned rampant in Jackson County. They dismissed all this noise and fury for what it was--merely a lot of hooey to catch political flies.
    Why then did they vote for Fehl and put him in control of county affairs by such an emphatic plurality?
    Well, the only explanation we can conjure up is that the vote for Fehl did not represent an endorsement of his charges or his claims, but DID represent an expression of sympathy for the underdog, for a man who had been deprived of his chief means of livelihood by the awarding of a judgment against him.
    The fact that Mr. Fehl's paper was not discontinued, but resumed publication as before, was lost sight of in this emotional reaction, as were other substantial factors in the situation, which militated against this sympathy plea.
    THAT, we admit, isn't much of an explanation, but it is the only one we can dig up at the present writing. If any of our political wiseacres hereabouts have a more convincing interpretation, we would be glad to publish same. Although it is our belief that the sooner we forget politics, local and national, and the sooner we get together on the successful solution of more immediate and important problems, the better for all concerned.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 15, 1932, page 4


    In the suits of Niedermeyer, Inc., against Earl H. Fehl, the Pacific Record-Herald, Roy M. Parr and the sheriff, a ruling was handed down yesterday by Circuit Judge E. C. LaTourette of Oregon City, holding that Fehl had not sustained any of the allegations made in the action, and upholding the claims of Niedermeyer, Inc. in all particulars.
    The decision gives to Niedermeyer, Inc., possession of the machinery of the Pacific Record-Herald plant, against which an execution of judgment was filed by Parr when awarded $15,000 judgment against Fehl and his paper in a libel suit.
    Fehl, in his countersuit, claimed that he was entitled to approximately $20,000 for services rendered over a period of years, and a commission for the sale of the lot upon which the Holly Theater stands, an architect's commission, contractor's fee, and pay for services in launching the building of the theater. It was an involved action, extending over a number of years, and included a chattel mortgage on the Pacific Record-Herald plant.
    Niedermeyer, Inc., set forth in the suit that they had allowed Fehl $10 per day as foreman of the Holly building construction, and had made deductions and given credit for this and other items on the chattel mortgage.
    Judge LaTourette instructed that a finding in accordance with his ruling be filed by attorney George M. Roberts, counsel for Niedermeyer, Inc.
    The case was heard last June by Judge LaTourette when Fehl filed an affidavit of prejudice against Circuit Judge H. D. Norton.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 18, 1932, page 1


    A decree in the case of Niedermeyer, Inc., against Earl H. Fehl and others for a judgment of $3500 and $350 attorney fees was filed in circuit court late yesterday. The decree was signed by Circuit Judge E. C. LaTourette of Clackamas County, who heard the case.
    The decree directs that a judgment be made against the property involved, that the same be sold and that a deficiency judgment be issued against Fehl if required, and that "any overplus be distributed among the defendants in accordance with their rights."
    The decree further holds that the mortgage held by Niedermeyer, Inc., has priority over the libel judgment of Roy Parr for $15,000 awarded by a jury against Fehl and the Pacific Record-Herald, that no partnership existed between Fehl and the Niedermeyers, and that none of the allegations and claims of Fehl in countersuits was sustained by the evidence.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 2, 1932, page 13


    Sale of the printing plant of the Pacific Record-Herald, under a judgment and order of sale issued out of circuit court, was made yesterday by Sheriff Ralph G. Jennings. The judgment was issued by Circuit Judge E. C. LaTourette of Clackamas County in the suit of Niedermeyer, Inc., against the Pacific Record-Herald and Earl H. Fehl. A decree in favor of Niedermeyer, Inc., was issued a month ago by Judge LaTourette.
    The only bidder was L. Niedermeyer, who bid $1500. The judgment was for $4,004,64. A deficiency judgment for the uncovered balance will be issued. The sale yesterday was on a personal property judgment.
    Notice of the sale was duly posted, attorneys for Niedermeyer, Inc., said, for "ten days in three public places as required and every process of law duly observed." Sheriff Jennings, who conducted the sale, said this morning that the legal action "came up in the regular order of business, had no secrecy," and "Mr. Fehl knew the day and date, and was advised by phone a short time before the hour set."
    A second execution of judgment in the Niedermeyer, Inc., decree against the Pacific Record-Herald and Fehl for the sum of $3500 against the building and land is scheduled for January 7, 1933, at 10 o'clock on the courthouse steps, the records in the case show.
    The office of attorney George M. Roberts, counsel for Niedermeyer, Inc., say publication and posting of the notice of this sale had been started and that this is the routine in all similar cases.
    The original Niedermeyer, Inc., suit was filed last summer for the collection of a chattel mortgage and other obligations involving the Pacific Record-Herald and other property on Sixth Street. The claims of Niedermeyer, Inc., took precedence over the execution of judgment levied against the paper in the $15,000 Parr libel suit verdict. Fehl filed a counterclaim against Niedermeyer, Inc., for $21,000. The case was heard before Circuit Judge LaTourette of Oregon City when an affidavit of prejudice was filed against Judge Norton. The decree and findings, upholding Niedermeyer, Inc., claims, and holding that Fehl had failed to support his counterclaim, was handed down last month.
    The Niedermeyer, Inc., action bears no relationship to the Dahack still slaying case, the Parr libel suit, or any other Jackson County case, with which it has been erroneously linked, attorneys and county officials said today.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 15, 1932, page 10


    Earl H. Fehl, County Judge-elect, who assumes office next Tuesday, yesterday issued a ukase containing 16 articles, covering all phases of county government, and calling for a general reorganization, establishment of a new bureau for county relief, and an audit of the books of the county. No county funds are provided for in the budget for either, it is said.
    One of the outstanding proposals is for control of county funds as follows:
    "That all county funds now on deposit in Jackson County be made available and placed under control and direction of the county court for such re-deposit as may appear necessary."
    The plan conflicts with the state law which, it is pointed out, places the treasurer under heavy bonds, requires that county money be kept in a duly authorized bank, and makes the treasurer the sole custodian and responsible for county funds.
    The platform of County Judge-elect Fehl follows the recommendations of the recent grand jury, with the exception of that body's suggestion that the county judge and county commissioners be placed under bond. The county court at present under Oregon law is under no bonds.
    The program, as advanced by County Judge-elect Fehl, also provides for divorce of the county health unit and county relief work from associate organizations, an inventory of all county machinery, and suspension of work until it is completed, the refund of marriage fees to the general fund, change in the system of furnishing meals to county jail prisoners, control of tax title sales, competitive bids for county supplies, discontinuance of use of county autos save for county business, mileage fees save when fixed by law, suspension of the county engineer's office until services appear necessary, no appointment of a county agent until an investigation can be made into the needs of this department of county services, and the supervision of the county court of patients in the county poor farm and sanitariums.
    County Judge-elect Fehl asks that his program be made a part of the minutes of the first meeting of the newly created county court. In explanation of the statement of policies, the following concluding statement is made:
    "The ultimate purpose of the foregoing reorganization of the county affairs is to reduce operating expenses of the county government so as to relieve the tension on the taxpayers and to give the taxpayers a sound economic business administration, and with a firm resolve, God being my helper, I pledge unto the people of Jackson County, if aided by them and by my colleagues, to make good every pledge I have made to my constituents."
Medford Mail Tribune, December 30, 1932, page 4


    An order confirming the sale of the Pacific Record Herald building on Sixth Street was filed in the recording department of the clerk's office late yesterday, as another legal chapter in the suit of Niedermeyer, Inc., against Earl H. Fehl and wife and the Pacific Record Herald and others.
    The order was signed by Circuit Judge Earl C. Latourette of Oregon City, who handed down a decision awarding Niedermeyer, Inc., judgment.
    Attorney E. E. Kelly, representing Fehl, said that an appeal to the supreme court would be filed today.
    The sale orders shows that the building was sold to Ted Heimroth of the Griffin Creek district and J. B. Thomas and wife of Ashland, with the high bid of $5372.43, an amount covering the mortgage and the costs of the action. Thomas and Heimroth were the high bidders at the public sale January 7.
Medford Mail Tribune, January 24, 1933, page 1


    A garnishment of the salary of County Judge Earl H. Fehl for the month of January to date was filed with the county clerk this morning. A return was made by the county clerk and sheriff.
    The garnishment was filed by Lord & Moulton of Portland and Allison Moulton of this city on a $15,000 judgment awarded to Roy M. Parr against Earl H. Fehl in a libel action founded on charges hurled in the oft-mentioned Everett Dahack case.
    A few days after assuming the office of county judge, Fehl made an assignment of his salary for January to Corinthia E. Stailey. The county judge's salary is $160.66 a month.
    The action is based on the provision of the Oregon law and supreme court decision prohibiting assignment of salaries by elected officials.
    The case will probably be taken to the higher courts.
Medford Mail Tribune, January 27, 1933, page 1


    SALEM, Feb. 2.--(AP)--The house judiciary committee has prepared for introduction a bill which would exempt the salaries of all elective state and county offices, including the judiciary, from attachment.
    Carrying out the same idea as is now applied to elective federal officers, the bill is designed to prevent embarrassing political retaliation by enemies of elective officers. The bill was originally proposed by Representative Kelly of Jackson County.
Medford Mail Tribune, February 2, 1933, page 1


To the Editor:
    It is being published and said that Judge Norton issued garnishments against the salary of Judge Fehl. An investigation in the clerk's office shows that this is not true. No garnishments heave been issued or ordered through any action taken by Judge Norton. When a judgment is entered for money, it requires an execution to be issued by the clerk. After that time, the person who obtains the judgment can require the clerk to issue as many executions as he wants until the judgment is paid in full. The record in the case at the clerk's office shows that since the judgment was given date, three executions have been issued, and unless the debtor puts up a bond on his appeal to stop these executions, it is the right of the plaintiff to have the executions issued. This means that garnishments, which are like attachments, are served when these executions are issued on any person owing money to the defendant.
    Judge Norton's duty ended when he gave the judgment. The statute requires the judgment to be given on the same day that the verdict is returned by the jury. The judge has no discretion about that matter.
    The record shows that Judge Norton has not made any orders since the judgment was entered which was several months ago, except extensions for Fehl's time on appeal.
(Name on file.)
Medford Mail Tribune, February 2, 1933, page 7


To the editor:
    In regards to this epidemic of rotten politics, I want to state on February 15th I appeared before the Honorable County Court of Jackson County, stating that I wanted to make a request of the court. Judge Fehl said, "Go ahead." I wanted to make my statement; the lady stenographer asked my name, I presume to take notes of what I said. I stated, knowing that I was within my rights as an American citizen, I wished to make a request of the court to stop the use of the assembly hall in the court house for seditious, inflammatory, inciting remarks. Judge Fehl motioned the lady to stop taking notes, and he hollered at me "I won't hear it." I replied, "Wait a minute, you have not let me finish stating my request."
    He replied, "I won't hear it, you are a disturber, demanding me to stop their meetings." I replied, "Wait a minute, don't butt in, and beg of you to let me make my request, as you have not heard what I wish to say." He exclaimed, "I was told that you were down in the meetings, causing a disturbance." I answered, "Whoever told you that was a falsifier"--that was not the word I used, but I have to be careful and not use Texas words in Oregon on paper.
    I want to state, Earl Fehl, that you are telling a falsehood, same as you made the remark in our tangling confab that I demanded of the court to stop those meetings. Thanks to Nealon for saying, "Burton made a request and not a demand."
    Mr. Fehl, why did you stop the stenographer, and not let the words said between you and I be reported? I wish it were in the journal, so your friends could read it, and I wish I could have had a kodak and have taken your physical extortions so your friends could see your actions in the honorable court, lowering the dignity of the said court.
    Now Fehl, I call on you to swear out a warrant for my disturbance, and produce your informer and as many more as you feel like. Thanks, Mr. Billings, for asking me to remain. I believe I know what you wanted to do. You wanted to get the law presented to show that I was within my rights to make a request of the county court.
    It was not alone me that riled the honorable county judge in that wage case, when Deputy District Attorney Neilson was called and tried to read the law on the question. After Judge Fehl, throwing his arms, "To hell with this, and damn that," them two can run the court, I'm not going to have nothing to do with it; Neilson replied, "I was called in to read the law."
    Mr. Neilson attempted to read the law, but he was stopped by the maniacal conduct of your honorable county judge. Mr. Neilson stated, "Codding has given an opinion backed by the opinion of the attorney general." Judge Fehl exclaimed, "I would not believe anything George Codding says." Neilson replied, "It was not a personal matter, he was called upon to read the law, which I do not believe he ever had the chance."
    Mr. Billings, Mr. Nealon, I commend you both for your patience, contending with the fermented brain of ignorance. Oregon, burn up your law books, we have two master minds that will tell you what to do, they are the master minds of the "Good Government Congress"--Banks and Fehl.
    Do as they say, or suffer the consequences. They are causing more contention in this county than anyone I know of. People of Jackson County, I come through the papers stating this so that you can understand what officers have to put up with.
    Judge Fehl publishes a paper; he always wants to make a grandstand play and let the public know of his actions in your court on your behalf. Now get this, he was too cowardly to let the stenographer take the remarks that were made between him and myself. Good people, I want to call your attention to the Boloff case, Multnomah County, Oregon. Without friends, only a member of the Communist Party, a poor man, ignorant of the law, was given two years in the "pen," contracted tuberculosis and died. Then the scoundrels who had caused his death through their seditious teachings wanted to parade the streets with his casket and let the path be strewn with flowers. Did this bring the poor unfortunate back?
    I'm trying to put this before you, Americans, he was only a member and was convicted. With half of the testimony that had been given to the people of Oregon was seditious remarks that has been placed before your eyes in these "good government" meetings which are opened with a prayer and hell raised afterwards.
    Take the advice of an old fool, and if you signed a Good Government card and have not taken any leading part in these meetings, tear the card up, for the syndicalism law is far-reaching. My last words in this turmoil, I want to call your honorable county judge's attention, if his Highness can select three intelligent citizens to call upon me, that I am disturbing the peace of the good people of Jackson County, and publish their names, and they have not caught the disease of the epidemic, I will be on my way to Texas where I understand their language, where a few that do not follow a woman's dress and get behind and raise hell with the public.
    Fehl, I want to call your attention to your actions and language that you used before that lady, it would not be what you think in Texas. In my humble position to make a request to the county judge, I'm afraid to appeal to the authorities to stop those meetings in any building that will allow the remarks which are un-American. I want to commend the business men and all others in Jackson County who are taking part and making Medford a valuable asset to the state of Oregon.
    Pardon me, I mention in  conclusion I have written three of these letters and tore them up, trying to say something and not infringe upon the law, for you know an individual, especially a poor devil, has to be careful what he says. You want to belong to an organization so you can parade around and make a show. I don't believe Judge Norton, District Attorney Codding, Commissioner Nealon will be at the big meeting Saturday, but good people you see you have been misinformed and misled again.
    But come, it is no big advertisement whether the actors are there or not as advertised. Paper has given out and I must quit. You go down an alley by a home, see any inflammable material stacked against a home, a man with a match is nearby. The match is a good thing, lighting pipes, cigars, fires for cooking and heating. It is innocent, but strike it and place it to the fuel in the alley, makes a flame and burns the house; later coming back, we see a pile of ashes, it was a good house to live in but not the ashes. It was inflammatory, inciting, seditious remarks that was taught to the poor degenerate that fired the shots at the president-elect, mayor and others. It was not the degenerate, it was from the remarks that he had heard. If that teaching had been taken away from him he would not have pulled the trigger of a gun to take the lives of those who have not harmed him.
    Oh what's the use, I want to state I hold no one responsible for my actions or words that I may say. I'm prompted by no one. If these articles cause me to be bumped off all I ask is to be laid at rest, lay upon my breast an emblem of the Stars and Stripes, it will be all right--an American from Texas.
Medford Mail Tribune, February 19, 1933, page 3


    This is a funny world. Not so funny at the moment perhaps. Probably "strange'' would be a better word.
    What impels this observation is another one of these anonymous communications.
    The writer of this ONE fails to understand why the Mail Tribune didn't tell the people about Earl Fehl, BEFORE they elected him county judge, instead of "AFTER."
    There certainly is a CLASSIC for the student investigating the brevity of the public memory.
    Didn't tell the people about Fehl! Let our correspondent read over the files the week before the election, less than four months ago. Let him read over older files, dating back to "befo' the wah!"
    If the Mail Tribune didn't tell the people, then what in the name of common sense does the term mean! We told them--and told them--and TOLD them! And during more city campaigns than we care to recount, what we said was apparently believed. At least the present county judge was never able to get into the mayoralty chair.
    But at the last election what we said was apparently NOT believed--we were only a mouthpiece of the gang, speaking as a representative of the privileged press trying to defeat "a champion of law and order, the stalwart friend of the downtrodden and the oppressed."
    It may be interesting to repeat what this paper said a few days before the November election:
    "Unless the people as a whole unite behind Pop Gates, Fehl will be elected. Unless there is concentration behind the strongest opposing candidate, unless the Fehl opposition is not again scattered three ways to breakfast, then take our tip--Earl Fehl with his solid backing is going to win.
    "Don't be deceived. The Mail Tribune isn't. Unless there is a last-minute switch to the strongest candidate, political history in the primaries will be repeated again."
    And again:
    "A vote for Fehl will keep this community disrupted and embroiled for an indefinite period in the future. Such a vote will be a public declaration that false charges are believed, that unscrupulous and unwarranted character assassination is approved, and this fuss and fury will indefinitely continue.
    "There is nothing personal in our opposition to Fehl… we don't oppose Mr. Fehl in his private capacity as a citizen--we do oppose him as a candidate for public office.
    "OUR OPPOSITION RESTS UPON OUR BELIEF THAT FEHL IS ENTIRELY UNQUALIFIED FOR PUBLIC OFFICE, AND IS PARTICULARLY UNQUALIFIED BY TEMPERAMENT AND CHARACTER FOR THE POSITION OF COUNTY JUDGE."
    There! Is that not telling the public about Mr. Fehl!
    We did all we could do to defeat Fehl, for the reasons above stated. We leave it to our readers as to whether or not our predictions both as to the RESULTS of the election, and what would FOLLOW, were true or untrue.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 1, 1933, page 6


    Warrants for arrest have been served on the following residents of Jackson County in the political turmoil:
    In connection with the ballot theft--
    County Judge Earl H. Fehl;
    County Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn;
    T. L. Brecheen, organizer of the Good Government Congress;
    John Glenn, county jailer;
    C. W. Davis, county machinist;
    Walter J. Jones, mayor of Rogue River, and recently appointed district road supervisor by Judge Fehl;
    Arthur LaDieu, ex-advertising manager of the Medford Daily News.
    C. W. McKittrick, alleged leader of the Green Springs mountain boys, reputed body guard of L. A. Banks, former editor of the News, and also for LaDieu;
    Virgil Edington and J. Croft.
    County officers are holding warrants for six others in connection with the robbery.
    Four are charged with horsewhipping editor Leonard N. Hall of the Jacksonville Miner.
    They are--
    Henrietta B. Martin, president of the Good Government Congress, who wielded the whip;
    Her father, C. H. Brown, secretary of the congress;
    L. O. Van Wegen and L. E. Fitch.
    Saturday, February 25, was a red-letter day for developments in the political turmoil prevalent in Jackson County for several months, and brought to a head by the theft of sheriff-recount ballots Monday of last week.
    It saw the arrest of County Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn for the ballot theft; the reopening of the much-publicized Dahack case; the dispossession of L. A. Banks, fiery editor of the Medford Daily News, of his plant; and the horsewhipping of editor Leonard N. Hall by Henrietta B. Martin, president of the Good Government Congress.
    Close on the heels of these events followed the arrest of County Judge Earl H. Fehl in the ballot theft, along with other county employees, and several members of the Good Government Congress, whose names are listed above.
    Thursday morning papers  confirmed the rumor that Virgil Edington of Gold Hill is one of the youths involved. He has been employed by L. A. Banks as a paper carrier, and later is alleged to have done bodyguard duty for him and J. A. LaDieu.
    Mrs. Martin and others held in the horsewhipping matter were arraigned for hearing before Justice W. R. Coleman Wednesday afternoon. Trial was set for Friday morning at 10 a. m.
    Latest developments in the ballot theft was the issuance of writs of habeas corpus for five of those arrested, namely, C. W. Davis, T. L. Brecheen, Virgil Edington, J. Croft and C. W. McKittrick.
    Judge Fehl issued the writs for the first four and the question has arisen if he has authority to hear the case, being himself a defendant in the matter. Also two of the prisoners, Davis and Brecheen, are held in the Josephine County jail, and there is doubt as to the power of the county judge over the sheriff of another county.
    The writs of habeas corpus demand the appearance of the prisoners at a given time to show cause of their detention.
    The reopening of the Dahack case came as somewhat of a surprise move, but is being made in the hope that another phase of the unrest in the county may be cleared up. Officer Joe Cave is held charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Everett Dahack, allegedly killed by a bullet from Cave's gun fired during a raid on a Reese Creek still November 14, 1930. The matter has been investigated by two other grand juries, but the hesitancy of three men held for operating the still to testify prevented a true bill being returned. They have since served their sentences and last week were willing to talk.
    Cave's indictment charges "that said Joe Cave in the commission of a lawful act, but without due caution or circumspection, fired a rifle in the proximity of Everett Dahack, causing his death."
Gold Hill News, March 2, 1933, page 1


To the Editor:
    In the Pacific Record Herald appears a letter from C. H. Brown regarding money taken from the Farmers and Fruitgrowers Bank after the moratorium was declared.
    Our firm received that money--small silver change--to enable us to do business. For that change, we paid the bank its equivalent in other money of larger denomination. This courtesy was not denied by any of the banks.
    No money was taken from the bank--the moratorium was not violated.
    This should serve in show just how much foundation there is for the nauseous vaporings of the filthy minds that have been casting suspicions on the citizens of Jackson County.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 5, 1933, page 1


    "Convinced of the grave danger which would exist should Mr. Fehl succeed in being nominated on the Republican ticket for the vitally important office of county judge, we today abandon our 'hands off' policy in the primary campaign--not to endorse any candidate, but to oppose with all the power and with the personal conviction of our duty, not only to the Republican Party, but to the citizens of Jackson County, the nomination of Mr. Fehl, whom we would under no circumstances support in his aspirations to public office. We do this because we honestly believe that a genuine menace would face this county should Mr. Fehl, with the destructive attitude which he has exhibited in his publication, achieve a position of power in this county…. We urge this because we have at heart the welfare and best interests of Jackson County and our fellow citizens… and we advocate the voters remove, NOW, IN THE PRIMARY, the menace of such mental attitude as Mr. Fehl has, and continues to exhibit and as he would exhibit if elected county judge."
    The foregoing appeal to the voters of Ashland and Jackson County appeared in the Daily Tidings on May 18, 1932, two days before the primary election, when we were aroused to action to abandon our usual primary policy of remaining silent, and (here we quote again) "not with a desire to tell the voters how to cast their ballots, but merely to warn them against making an error which would prove so costly, we believe, to Jackson County."
    The Daily Tidings had the satisfaction of knowing that from Talent to the California line Mr. Fehl received a decidedly small vote in the primary election, but most unfortunately for Jackson County, the "split" Republican vote, with five candidates in the field, resulted in Mr. Fehl winning the nomination.
    The Daily Tidings did not support Mr. Fehl in the general election--it was our hope that some candidate would be put into the field who would not be factional and who could rally around him all the right-thinking citizens of Jackson County. Unfortunately, with the general election vote split four ways, Mr. Fehl again won--this time by a substantial plurality.
    Then, in a desire to see that every regularly elected official be given public support until such time as he proved himself unworthy of that support, the Daily Tidings urged that Mr. Fehl be given an opportunity to either discredit himself or prove that he was efficient and capable of holding the position of trust which had been entrusted him by voters of Jackson County. Once Mr. Fehl was elected, it was our sincere hope that our former views would prove untrue; it was our hope that the man who in his newspaper condoned the cold-blooded murder of an Ashland police officer, would, in the discharge of his duties to Jackson County, prove himself made of something finer than was indicated in his criticism aimed toward the tearing down of already established government.
    Events of the last two months have proved these hopes in vain. Mr. Fehl faced a marvelous opportunity to make good, to be of service to his county and to his fellow men. However, his first move threw the county into a turmoil. On the day he was inducted into office, he took the reins of justice into his own hands and decided that a legally appointed county commissioner COULD NOT serve on the county court, splitting the court wide open, instead of waiting for the duly qualified courts to pass judgment on this controversial issue.
    This was only the starter of other brazen, impudent, grandstanding and unjustified acts, individually or in association with L. A. Banks, then publisher of a Medford paper, and others which fanned the unrest of this county to a point where it recently flamed. Judge Fehl openly associated himself with those who were waving the flag of defiance to regularly constituted government with egotistic and unveiled threats of terrorism.
    Many respectable, ordinarily law-abiding citizens have placed him and some of his associates on pedestals. They visualize halos of martyrdom about their leaders. The county has been on the verge of revolution, with open defiance of officers and the law.
    Then the most incredulous and most unexpected climax came with such suddenness that the whole county was saved--the very courthouse itself was broken into and one of the most sacred manifestations of government was defiled and dragged into the muck--the voice of the people was really stilled when the sacredness of the ballot was defiled through theft.
    Regardless of who may be responsible for the actual theft of the ballots, there seems no doubt but that that crime was the outgrowth of the unrest which had been deliberately fanned to flaming point, and the apparent indifference of Mr. Fehl to do anything to aid in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
    Forgetting the serious charge which has been filed against Mr. Fehl, that of being implicated in the ballot theft, we still believe that his conduct in office has disqualified him to serve Jackson County--at least until such time as he learns the necessity of cooperation with his fellow public officials, each as legally qualified as Mr. Fehl.
    Revealing an inability to do this, Mr. Fehl should not betray the trust placed in him, but should GET OUT AND STAY OUT UNTIL HE IS READY TO COOPERATE WITH OTHERS IN ADMINISTERING THE AFFAIRS OF JACKSON COUNTY.
    The Daily Tidings has insisted that no "coalition" be formed against Judge Fehl by the two commissioners, and we do not think there has been any such coalition. They would be no more justified in voting opposition to Mr. Fehl because they were not in sympathy with him personally than would Mr. Fehl be justified in disregarding advice and wishes of the commissioners. Mr. Fehl has no justification for resorting to childish tactics and insulting his fellow officials because they do not agree with him.
    Unfortunately, our warning of last May was not groundless in its inception. The election of Fehl has proved a costly and unfortunate experience to Jackson County.
    If there remains in Mr. Fehl one spark of responsibility toward the citizens of Jackson County, he will step out of public office without delay--and remain out until such time as he has been cleared of the charges which now hang over him, or until such time as he can overcome his belligerent and venomous antagonism for other public officials. There's really nothing heroic about the self-made martyr--his halo of martyrdom fails to hide the selfishness of his purpose. Jackson County is in a sorry plight because there have been those who possessed leadership who have used it to destroy rather than build.
    Should Earl H. Fehl see his way clear to resign and bring again to Jackson County the peace and tranquility and belief in humanity which once existed here, there would be displayed a spirit of unselfishness which would compel admiration instead of contempt, such as self-inflicted martyrdom inspires.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 5, 1933, page 1


    A few days ago in reply to an inquiry as to whether or not this constant internal dissension and strife could not cease, and Jackson County be returned to normal peace and harmony, the Mail Tribune replied:
    "No one would welcome an end to 'bickering and caterwauling' more heartily than the Mail Tribune. But unfortunately whether it is to stop or continues does not rest with this publication…but with those who hope through continual dissension and disorder to feather their own nests and literally establish a dictatorship…. If they abandon those efforts it will be peace tomorrow. If they don't it will be war--war of their own choosing--and war to the finish."
    Through his own publication, the "Record Herald," and through his own public utterances, County Judge Fehl removes all doubt as to where he stands. He intends to continue this internal dissension, this defiance of the courts and all constituted authority, until--to use his own vigorous phrase--"Hell freezes over.''
    "Through his OWN publication, a call is issued for a mass demonstration at the court house Monday, in protest AGAINST any organization using the auditorium without written permission of the county court.
    What does this mean! It means we have a county judge who calls for a public demonstration against a legal action of the court over which he himself presides. Two members of the court signed this order. These two members in a court of three represent CONSTITUTED AUTHORITY. Their action is the LAW!
    In other words, County Judge Fehl calls on the members of the Good Government Congress, of which he is a member, to defy constituted authority, to seek the nullification of a law his own court has handed down--the precise sort of thing that has led to this deplorable and dangerous situation, and must stop, before any return to normal peace and harmony is POSSIBLE.
    In the same editorial the Mail Tribune said:
    "If attacks upon our courts, defiance of our law enforcement…are to be called off…then this 'bickering' will disappear. If they aren't it won't."
    Since then WHAT has County Judge Fehl done?
    Out on bail himself charged with complicity in the pillaging of the court house and the destruction of ballot boxes, he has tried to use his official position to secure the release of four other defendants in this case, or force the constituted authorities to REVEAL the evidence on which these suspects are held.
    There is only one term for this, "the willful obstruction of justice.'' What happened then? District Attorney Codding asked for an extension of time. Judge Fehl denied it. Codding then returned with affidavits of prejudice against Fehl, based upon the fact that the judge himself was an interested party in the case. This likewise was denied.
    What next! The district attorney asked for an appeal. THIS was denied. So the district attorney did the only thing under the law he could do. He appealed to a higher court, in this case the circuit court, and Judge Duncan of Klamath Falls, presiding there, signed a restraining order directing that County Judge Fehl certify to the state court all matters pertaining to the writ of habeas corpus proceedings and "desist and refrain from taking any further action in said criminal action."
    County Clerk Carter, in the regular line of his duty, served the restraining order. Judge Fehl refused to accept service--another absolute defiance of constituted authority, following this up with the following direct challenge to Judge Duncan:
    "I have just as much right to order him as he has to order me. Let him issue one more order like that and I'll sign one against him."
    As if this were not enough, County Judge Fehl, as a defendant in a case involving burglary and destruction of ballot boxes, announces:
    "I am carrying this fight to the people. Tonight and every night from now on I am going out into the county to speak at school houses and to meetings. The people are going to settle this thing, and it's going to be done peaceable and not with guns and ropes."
    That abandonment of the so-called Good Government Congress appeal to "GUNS AND ROPES" is a relief, but what does this declaration REALLY mean?
    It means that as a defendant in a criminal action, the county judge of this county is going to try his own case in his own newspaper, going to abandon the courts, where his case and all criminal cases must be settled--if any orderly government is to be maintained--for the political stump--where by more inflammatory speeches, more appeals to passions and hatreds, more malicious and slanderous harangues he undoubtedly hopes to render the attainment of impartial and even-handed justice in Jackson County IMPOSSIBLE! The place to try criminal cases is in the COURTS, and of all public officials in our government, a JUDGE should know--and should insist upon it. But NOT Judge Fehl!
    THERE YOU HAVE IT, citizens of Jackson County--the same challenge to law and order, the same challenge to orderly government, the same brazen defiance to all constituted authority, that has been going on here for so long a time which culminated in the pillaging of the court house, and which all right-thinking citizens, with the suspension of the morning paper under the direction of L. A. Banks, HOPED WOULD CEASE.
    But our county judge declares, as long as he remains in office, it will not cease--he will continue to foment, to agitate, to incite until "Hell freezes over.''
    Our answer is "the people of Jackson County'' WILL decide this! They will decide it, "without guns or ropes" also.
    THEY WILL DECIDE IT, BY ASSERTING THEIR RIGHTS as law-abiding and loyal citizens of Jackson County by UPHOLDING their courts, UPHOLDING their law enforcement officers, supporting them and demanding from them merely this:
    THE COURAGEOUS AND UNCOMPROMISING PERFORMANCE OF THEIR RIGHTFUL AND LEGAL DUTIES.
    Tho challenge again has been made. And we know the people of Jackson County well enough to know that they have accepted it.
    They DON'T want more dissension and strife, they DO want a restoration of normal peace and harmony, but they know this also:
    There is no way of halting the first,
    There is no way of securing the second,
    Until those who defy the law, defy our courts, defy all constituted authority, are taken out of public office,
    And those who have followed such leadership, and are GUILTY of pillaging the court house and destroying the ballot boxes are
    Placed IN THE PENITENTIARY WHERE THEY BELONG!
Medford Mail Tribune, March 5, 1933, page 4


    Is E. H. Fehl judge of Jackson County, or head of the so-called Good Government Congress, or is he both?
    In the last issue of his paper, he issues an official proclamation worded in part as follows:
    "Therefore, as judge of Jackson County I am appealing to each and everyone who is now a member of the Good Government Congress, to at once call at the office of the Good Government Congress located in the Herald Building, at 324 West Sixth Street, in the city of Medford, and leave with the lady in charge whatever sum of money that you can spare in the interest of the re-establishment of a free press in Jackson County."
    Here is a county judge, acting in his official capacity, turning his private office into the headquarters of a political organization, whose leaders have openly appealed to taking the field in open revolution against the people of this state, and asking for cash contributions to maintain a private business in which he is himself interested.
    Do the people of Jackson County endorse THAT SORT OF THING! Do they want their judge acting as the leader of such an organization, using the power of his office to get money from the people of this community to finance a blackmailing sheet dedicated to the destruction of everything that the law-abiding and self-respecting people of this community hold dear?
    The banks are closed. Every spare dime is needed to provide food for the hungry, and shelter for the ill and distressed.
    And yet the county judge of Jackson County, elected to look after ALL the people of this county--at a critical time like this--makes his own office the headquarters of an organization whose members cry out for ropes and nooses, whose leader calls for revolution; demands they hand over their hard-earned nickels and dimes to finance private business in which he is interested, and which had done more to ruin this county than any other agency in its entire history.
    Once more this paper calls on County Judge Fehl to resign, before he violates every principle of decency, drags into the mud and the mire every consideration of honor and self-respect in public office.
    It must be clear NOW to every right-thinking citizen that as long as he remains in office nothing can be done--no constructive work is possible--no genuine relief attainable.
    We asked that he resign before, in justice to himself, as a suspected accomplice in one of the most outrageous crimes against good government and law and order in the history of this community.
    We ask it now, in justice to the people he was elected to represent and the welfare of the community in which he resides.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 10, 1933, page 8


    A restraining order was granted in circuit court today prohibiting L. A. Banks, the Medford News Publishing Company and Electa A. Fehl from "taking any legal action in any court to interfere with" the sheriff's sale of the newspaper plant, scheduled for tomorrow morning. The action thwarts any eleventh-hour move to balk legal proceedings for final possession of the newspaper.
    The restraining order, signed by Circuit Judge W. M. Duncan of Klamath County, was sought by the News Publishing Company, Lee B. Tuttle, president, now in possession of the plant, on an execution of judgment for "in excess of $12,000" on unpaid promissory notes and a chattel mortgage issued by Banks on the purchase of the paper in 1929.
    The complaint, upon which the restraining order is based, sets forth that Electa A. Fehl claims to hold a certificate of delinquency for $1084 for three years' back taxes, and has "pretended to bring suit to collect."
    It is further alleged in the complaint that Electa A. Fehl has "given out and asserted that it is her purpose to apply to the county judge for a restraining order to prevent the sale and printing of the News by its present holders." The complaint sets forth that L. A. Banks is insolvent and "unable to respond to a suit for damages."
    The complaint further cites that the county judge is the husband of Electa A. Fehl, and that he is "hostile and prejudiced" to the plaintiffs and that the issuance of any such order would hamper the daily publication.
    Service of the restraining order was made this morning by the sheriff upon the county judge, L. A. Banks, and Electa A. Fehl.
    Attorneys for Tuttle and the present News possessors said that the tax delinquency certificate suit for $1084 was intended to be filed last Friday, but the extension of the non-judicial days, through the bank holiday, prevented. Attorneys declared the plan was to extend the hearing date--and that in the meanwhile the News would have been prevented from daily issuance--its chief asset.
    Reports indicate that the appeal last week of County Judge Fehl to the "Good Government Congress" for funds "to re-establish a free press in Jackson County" was meeting with meager response, though solicitors were making personal calls and pleas for financial aid, principally in the rural areas. The call for another "protest demonstration" was also reported as not meeting with enthusiasm.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 14, 1933, page 1


    The district attorney's office this afternoon said it had an unconfirmed report that County Judge Earl H. Fehl was held in the county jail at Grants Pass. The district attorney's office said it has been unable to confirm the report up to three o'clock.
    Fehl is alleged to have been arrested at Grants Pass, where he went by auto with his wife for a conference with Thomas L. Brecheen and C. W. Davis, held there for ballot destruction complicity.
    State police and other authorities had no comment to make on the report that Fehl was a fugitive, but admitted a search was underway but "we have been unable to locate him."
    Fehl could not be located in this city today, and did not make an appearance at the courthouse.
     While rumors were prevalent throughout the city this afternoon that County Judge E. H. Fehl, honorary member of the Good Government Congress, closely associated throughout the political turmoil here with L. A. Banks, had been placed in jail, no verification for the statement could be obtained from officials. Fehl could not be located at his home nor at the county court house.
    In a telephone interview with a woman who stated that she was Mrs. Fehl's mother, it was learned that Fehl and his wife had left home at an early hour this morning and had not returned. The woman stated that she did not know where they were going nor when they would return.
    The secretary to the county court said that Fehl had not been in his office at any time this morning. Various officials interviewed at the court house stated that they had not seen him at any time today.
    State police were looking for Fehl, they admitted this afternoon, on a warrant issued following the return of a secret indictment by the grand jury yesterday afternoon relative to the theft of ballots from the county court house vaults.
    Fehl was arrested by officials shortly after the ballot theft on a charge of burglary not in a dwelling and released on bail of $5000.
    The substance of the indictment, said to obtain 21 names, returned by the grand jury last night has not been revealed. Officers stated this afternoon that Fehl apparently knew he was wanted today by officials.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 16, 1933, page 1


    Failure of attorneys T. J. Enright and H. V. Schmalz, counsel for E. H. Fehl, to return from a conference with L. A. Banks in his cell in the Josephine County jail this afternoon, delayed the hearing before Judge Duncan for a reduction of bail for the county judge. The hearing will be held as soon as the attorneys return.
    Fehl was still eluding the authorities.
    Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, under indictment as one of the 23 men who burned and destroyed 10,000 official ballots on the eve of a recount for sheriff, continued this morning in the background, while his attorneys--H. V. Schmalz of Burns, and T. J. Enright--sought a reduction of bonds from $15,000 cash to $7500.
    Fehl was not at the court house today and he could not be located this morning. Search was made for him yesterday and last night. Through his counsel he has offered to furnish $7500 bonds, with Ted Heimroth and Ed Vogel as bondsmen.
    Justice of the Peace Coleman yesterday refused to approve the bond except upon the personal appearance of Fehl. Authorities said that Fehl was trying to evade a personal appearance in court.
    The state will insist that the bond of $15,000 cash be retained and that the situation justifies this amount.
    Counsel for Fehl hold that the bond is excessive; that "it in an inhibition of the Constitution," and that Fehl's "official, social, political position" insures his remaining here.
    Fehl was reported as in seclusion at the home of friends.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 17, 1933, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, county judge, visibly nervous and wan and weary, appeared before Circuit Judge William M. Duncan Saturday afternoon, and was ordered released on $15,000 bonds, with Ted Heimroth of Griffin Creek, E. E. Morrison of the Central Point district, Mrs. Ariel Burton Pomeroy of the Old Stage Road section, John Huener of the Jacksonville district, George F. Obenchain and his wife Sarah F. Obenchain of the Central Point district, and Edward Vogel of the Griffin Creek district as signers.
    The court in releasing Fehl declared there was sufficient prima facie evidence to warrant it, but informed the state that at any time the state desired it, further hearings on the qualifications of the bondsmen would be heard. The state contended that the qualifications of the bondsmen was not sufficient, and desired more time in which to investigate their holdings. All or any one of the bondsmen are liable under Oregon law for the full amount of the bonds.
    Fehl came to court with his wife and attorneys, T. J. Enright and H. Von Schmalz of Burns, after being in seclusion for two days. The state had threatened to demand his appearance from Ted Heimroth and Ed Vogel, bondsmen on the first bonds of $5000.
    The court again denied the plea of Fehl's counsel for a reduction of the bond from $15,000 to $7,500.
    There were several sharp interchanges between Deputy District Attorney George Neilson and attorney Enright.
    At one juncture, Enright said:
    "This is persecution, not prosecution. They want to put Judge Fehl in jail and take his fingerprints, and make him the 'goat'."
    "We will not go into the matter of just who is the goat at this time," rejoined the deputy prosecutor. "It looks like the public might be the 'goat'."
    Before the questioning of the bondsmen, Fehl was arraigned, and the indictment, charging him and 22 others with "burglary not within a dwelling." The defense was granted time in which to enter a plea and file a demurrer, if deemed advisable. Time of entering a plea was set for next Monday, if Judge Duncan was able to be here, and next Thursday, if delayed.
    Most of the bondsmen shook hands with Fehl in friendly greeting as they filed to the witness stand. Mrs. Ariel Burton Pomeroy carried a Bible. When sworn in, she said, "I always want to take an oath on the Bible."
    Friends and acquaintances of Fehl in the comfortably filled court room remarked upon his changed appearance. He has apparently lost weight and sat with bowed head in a gloved hand most of the session. He was visibly nervous at the start of the proceedings.
    The whereabouts of Fehl during the period the officers were seeking to serve a warrant upon him was not divulged, but he was reported as having been secluded in a house between this city and Jacksonville, near the Jacksonville Highway.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 19, 1933, page 1


    Voicing a sincere tribute to Constable George J. Prescott--deploring bitterly his slaying by L. A. Banks, former editor and publisher, and condemning vehemently the attitude of County Judge Earl H. Fehl throughout the political turmoil, climaxed here last Thursday by the death of Officer Prescott, attorney Gus Newbury addressed the Kiwanis Club today noon at the Hotel Medford.
    Accusing Judge Fehl of failure to repudiate at any time the revolutionary threats of Banks, with whom he was closely associated in the Good Government Congress and other activities, attorney Newbury referred to the last issue of the Pacific Record Herald, Fehl's newspaper.
    In one corner of the newspaper appeared a rewrite from the Saber-Club World, Portland, approving the activities of Banks, his "generosity and forethought" and condemning the abuses allegedly accorded him here. In another corner, not far removed, appeared the account of the slaying of Officer Prescott. No comment upon the tragedy was made.
    This action attorney Newbury described as typical of Fehl's attitude throughout the tragic agitation which has swept Jackson County since he entered office.
    Beside L. A. Banks on the steps of the county courthouse the day Banks threatened to "take the field in revolution," Mr. Newbury reminded his audience, stood County Judge Fehl. He did not orally, or in his newspaper, repudiate the statement of Banks. Fehl knew for months that Banks had threatened to take the life of any officer who came to his home for him. He failed to take any action to oppose him in the matter, Mr. Newbury stated, and continued his association with Banks, who repeatedly voiced his praise of the county judge.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 20, 1933, page 1


    Our advice to Judge Fehl is to keep still.
    The place to try his case is in the courts, not in the newspapers.
    Just as long as he persists in making statements to the press, calculated to gain public sympathy and prejudice prospective jurors in his favor, just so long will he be answered--and the answers, we fear, will do him no good.
    His first public statement following his arrest, charged with complicity in the theft and destruction of ballots, reads in part as follows:
    "I deplore the wanton killing of one of the best and most honorable peace officers that Jackson County ever had--George Prescott…. I have always stood for justice and law enforcement through the orderly process of a democratic form of government."
    Could a more brazen contradiction of sentiments and actions be imagined!
    Judge Fehl "deplores'' the wanton killing of one of the "best and most honorable peace officers that Jackson County ever had"--he characterizes the cold-blooded murder as "wanton''--that is, needless, malicious and criminal.
    Yet what did he do when he saw more clearly than any other person in Jackson County that the murder he so deplores was "in the cards''?
    What did he do when his closest political crony, his intimate friend, the man he consulted with day and night, called George Prescott a "bandit''?
    What did he do when that same man threatened to kill George Prescott or any other peace officer who tried to arrest him? What did he do--where WAS he--when the "best and most honorable peace officer Jackson County ever had'' fell with a bullet through his heart, while in the performance of his legal duty?
    Judge Fehl deplores that "wanton murder" NOW.
    But he never deplored the criminal activities of the man who committed that murder; he never deplored the campaign of falsehood, blackmail and slander that resulted in that murder. He never deplored the statements in that same man's newspaper that the "showdown" had come, that "blood would flow.''
    NOT ONCE in the sequence of those tragic events did he ever interpose an objection, ever raise a hand of warning, nor when that same man cried out for "revolution" did he, sitting on the same platform, a member of the same organization which by its silence sanctioned that seditious statement, ever UTTER A WORD IN PROTEST.
    Judge Fehl not only did nothing to prevent that wanton sacrifice of an innocent--and at the time--a DEFENSELESS man's life, but for months before the tragedy he contributed night and day to the campaign of discord and dissension, of vilification and hate, which caused it. He not only did nothing to oppose the spreading of poison by the slayer's newspaper, but he contributed to it, in his own newspaper, and when L. A. Banks' paper ceased publication, he ALONE was responsible for its continuance.
    But now he deplores the killing of George Prescott, he deserts the man who made him county judge, and brands his former co-worker a wanton murderer!
    "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind!"
    But not Judge Fehl. His hands, he claims, are clean. His conscience clear. Others may have outraged justice and defied the law. But he...
    "has always stood for justice and law enforcement through the orderly process of a democratic form of government."
    Always is quite a long time. When only a month ago Judge Fehl stood on the platform of the Armory and before an enthusiastic meeting of the Good Government Congress, declared:
    "I am a member of this organization--I joined it the day after I was here before and talked to you.
    "And why? Because I thought it was an organization in the interest and the upbuilding of better government here…and I hope this organization will go on and on until it sweeps every county in this state and every state in the union."
    Was that standing for justice and law enforcement through the orderly process of democratic government?
    That organization had already advocated "ropes and nooses''--at that meeting at which Fehl made this statement it defied the law regarding the recall; only a week later, the court house was broken into and ballot boxes burned, and before another month had passed, that organization's president had taken the law into her own hands with a horse whip, and its provisional president and official spokesman had wantonly shot down in cold blood "one of the best and most honorable peace officers Jackson County had ever had."
    But Judge Fehl--by his own declaration a member of that organization--has always stood for justice and law enforcement, through the orderly processes of democratic government! Such a statement would be ludicrous were it not so brazen and tragic.
    And now indicted for complicity in one of the most lawless acts ever committed in the history of Southern Oregon--an act outraging every principle of "democratic government and its orderly processes"--Judge Fehl in this official statement broadcast to a waiting world says"
    "As to the charge against me, theft and destruction of the ballots, I state that this charge is a gigantic political frame-up to rob me of my position as judge of Jackson County."
    "A gigantic political frame-up!'' How familiar that sounds. Another conspiracy, another miscarriage of justice, another robbery on the part of the gang!
    In one sentence he deplores the killing of George Prescott, and condemns the slayer. In the next he resorts to PRECISELY THE SAME PHRASES, appeals to the same prejudices and passions, employs the same psychology, that more than any other one thing CAUSED that tragedy!
    L. A. Banks shot and killed George Prescott because HE claimed he was the victim of a gigantic political frame-up to rob him of his rightful property. Now Judge Fehl would make the people of this community believe there is no justification for this indictment against him, no truth in the charges filed--that he is merely the victim of a gigantic political frame-up to deprive him of his judgeship. There is just as much truth to one claim as to the other. Both are absolutely false, and everyone who knows anything about this deplorable situation in Jackson County knows both are false.
    Judge Fehl may or may not be guilty of complicity in this theft and destruction of the ballots. That is something for the courts--and only for the courts to decide.
    But this much is CERTAIN. There is no political frame-up involved one way or the other--gigantic or not gigantic. Politics has nothing to do with it. Judge Fehl's position as county judge has nothing to do with it.
    Directly after a meeting of the Good Government Congress in the court house, which member Fehl attended, the court house room vault was broken into, ballot boxes were stolen and destroyed--as a result Sheriff Schermerhorn, who opposed the recount, was allowed to retain his office, ex-Sheriff Jennings, who demanded the recount, was forced to relinquish the office. WHO STOLE THOSE BALLOTS, WHO ARE THE MEN RESPONSIBLE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY FOR OVERTURNING THE ORDERLY PROCESSES OF A DEMOCRATIC FORM OF GOVERNMENT BY FORCE!
    That is the question--and that is the only question!
    It is a matter of evidence, a matter of proof, a matter of what is true and what isn't. It has nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with who is or who isn't county judge, it has solely to do with who framed this plot to overthrow popular rule in Jackson County and who carried it out.
    If Judge Fehl is innocent of any connection with that crime, he can prove it at the proper time, before a judge and jury, in the regular way.
    Until then, like any other accused man he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
    But when he tries to evade his moral responsibility for the seditious and inflammatory campaign which resulted in a crime that "shook Jackson County to its foundations''--
    When he tries to make the people of this community believe that his arrest as a suspect in the theft and destruction of the ballots is merely a political frame-up to rob him of his position as county judge--
    HE TRIES TO DO SOMETHING THAT CAN'T BE DONE!
    He prejudices his case from the outset, as far as the informed, right-thinking and law-abiding people of this community are concerned.
    We repeat, our advice to Judge Fehl is to keep still, until the cases in which he is a defendant are cleared up, in the proper way.
    The fewer public statements he makes like this one, the less he attempts to try his case in his, or any other newspaper, the better for himself and the better for all concerned.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 20, 1933, page 4


    Earl H. Fehl, county judge under indictment for participation in the ballot theft, this afternoon filed a motion in circuit court seeking to quash the warrant upon which he was arrested and an order discharging him from arrest. The motion was filed by his attorneys, H. Von Schmalz and T. J. Enright.
    The latest legal move came on the heels of Fehl yesterday filing an affidavit of prejudice against Circuit Judge W. M. Duncan. It alleged he could not secure a fair and impartial trial, and that the prejudice affidavit was not filed for the purpose of delay.
    Fehl was scheduled to enter a plea and be arraigned Thursday. The prejudice affidavit automatically blocked the action.
    In the motion to quash and discharge, the accused county judge alleges that Judge Duncan has not authority to preside over the circuit court, that he was assigned here by the state supreme court, for the case of O. B. Waddell against L. A. Banks.
    The order of assignment is attached, and gives Judge Duncan the power to hear cases in this district, on and after February 7.
    The motion also holds that Judge H. D. Norton is not disqualified to sit upon the case, and that the grand jury did not hold its session in the regular grand jury room, and that Judge Duncan had no authority to receive the indictments, or order bench warrants issued upon them.
    When the indictments were first returned the accused official announced that he would demand an early trial.
    No date has been set for the hearing of the motion to quash. The state will contend that it is evasive, and intended to delay justice.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 24, 1933, page 1


    Response to the petition asking for removal from office of County Judge Earl H. Fehl was received today by the past commanders of the American Legion, stating that the governor does not have power under the law to cause removal of a county judge. "Should the county judge be disqualified for service," the governor's letter stated, "the governor may appoint someone to fill the vacancy."
Medford Mail Tribune, March 24, 1933, page 1


    In an order signed by Earl H. Fehl, county judge, and filed with the county clerk yesterday, the suit of the State of Oregon and Howard A. Hill, ex rel., against C. B. Lamkin, former county judge, and Victor Bursell, former county commissioner, is ordered dismissed, and all judgments rendered be "dismissed and declared null and void." The suit was a contempt proceeding launched against the two former county court officials in reprisal by Fehl and L. A. Banks for the appointment of R. E. Nealon as county commissioner to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John A. Barneburg. The fine is revoked and judgment voided.
    In the order Fehl admitted he was in error in hearing and rendering a judgment, and that he had no jurisdiction in the case. Bursell and Lamkin were fined $1 for contempt. It was never paid, and is now dismissed.
    The legal question now arises that if Fehl had no jurisdiction to hear the case, he now has no jurisdiction to dismiss, as it was an illegal action from the start. The case is now pending action on a writ of review to a higher court. The writ of review is based upon the claim that Fehl, in ordering the arrest of Lamkin and Bursell, hearing the case and passing sentence, usurped powers not given him under Oregon laws. Fehl for weeks questioned the legality of Nealon's appointment he now declares is valid.
    The order sets forth that Fehl, in conducting the proceedings, acted upon the advice of M. O. Wilkins, his attorney, specially named by him to conduct the proceedings, and now places the blame for the high-handed proceedings upon the shoulders of his former counsel and friend. Fehl insisted that Wilkins prosecute the case.
    The issuance of the order will have no effect upon legal matters that may be pending against Fehl, as a result of the contempt hearing and usurpation of power.
    Fehl, at the time, claimed full jurisdiction, that he had concurrent powers with the circuit court, and issued bench warrants late in the afternoon, which then-Sheriff Schermerhorn vainly endeavored to serve that night.
    The order is also an admission by Fehl that the former county court had the right to appoint Commissioner Nealon, and were within their legal rights and powers in so doing, and that his appointment was at all times valid.
    Fehl contended that the appointment of Nealon was a plot "to tie his hands" and with L. A. Banks insisted at "demonstration" and "Good Government Congress" meetings that Nealon resign. Petitions to the same end were circulated and signed.
    The contempt charge hearing was the first stormy session at the courthouse that followed the assumption of office by Fehl. The county court room was daily packed with Fehl-Banks henchmen, and frequently muttered threats were hurled against both District Attorney Codding and Commissioner Nealon. Fehl insisted that attorney Wilkins conduct the proceedings instead of the district attorney, while he himself made officious rulings, prefaced with the frequent announcement: "I am your duly elected, qualified and acting county judge." The trial was conducted in a strained atmosphere, and with public attention at a high pitch.
    At the conclusion of the so-called "kangaroo" court, Lamkin and Bursell were fined $1 each. They took an appeal. Transcripts of the proceedings have been prepared for presentation to a higher court. The order is considered by attorneys for Bursell and Lamkin as a move to thwart further proceedings in the case. The "mock" trial was held the first week in January.
    The full text of the order of the county judge is as follows:
    "The above entitled matter being now before the court for further consideration, and the court being now better advised in the premises, makes these representations and this order:
    "Whereas, the above entitled proceeding was brought by the plaintiff, Howard Hill, upon relation of the State of Oregon, as this court is advised by the said Howard Hill, upon the advice and with the solicitation of M. O. Wilkins, attorney at law of Ashland, Oregon; and
    "Whereas, both the said plaintiff, Howard Hill, and the county judge at said time had faith and confidence in the integrity and legal ability of said M. O. Wilkins and believed that the advice given by him was proper, and
    "Whereas, this county judge believed that he had jurisdiction in the premises to try and determine the said proceedings; and
    "Whereas, this county judge is not an admitted attorney at law nor learned in the matters of jurisdiction, but is dependent upon those supposedly learned in the law for advice with respect thereto; and
    "Whereas, this county judge has been further advised by legal counsel in whom this court has full faith and confidence that this Earl H. Fehl, sitting as county judge, had not jurisdiction to hear and determine the said contempt proceeding above named, and now being fully advised in the premises, this county judge makes and enters his order:
    "The above entitled proceedings be and the same is hereby dismissed and all orders and judgments therein rendered be, and the same are hereby, revoked and annulled."
Medford Mail Tribune, April 9, 1933, page 1


    Before we leave this subject, just one word more. In this same issue of the Record Herald, Judge Fehl gives for the first time what we presume to be his real view of the murder of George Prescott. At any rate it is quite in contrast to the only other view he has made public--an official statement given the United Press, two days after the crime.
    In this statement of March 18th, Judge Fehl declared:
    "I deplore the wanton killing of George Prescott, one of the best and most honorable peace officers Jackson County ever had. I had no knowledge of the affair until long after the tragedy. Also permit me to state I have always stood for justice and law enforcement, through the orderly process of a democratic form of government."
    But now on the front page of the Record Herald we read that this "wanton killing of one of the best and most honorable peace officers Jackson County ever had" was NOT wanton. It was NOT uncalled for. It was "forced upon this community by the law enforcement officials--using all the means at their command to silence this movement (the Good Government Congress) and bring about utter chaos among the people."
    We doubt if in all the annals of crime--political or criminal--there was ever a more extraordinary statement than this.
    L. A. Banks, declares the Record Herald, was not responsible for this murder. The president, officials and leaders of the Good Government Congress--were not responsible. The law enforcement officials--one of whom paid with his life--were responsible.
    We quote:
    "This condition forced upon our citizens no doubt in a very large way was responsible for the taking of another human life in Jackson County. We pause at this time to analyze this picture: wholesale arrests, incarcerations and intimidation of the people can only result in one thing and that usually is the low of human life."
    What were those "wholesale arrests"? They were the arrests of members of the Good Government Congress, EIGHT OF WHOM HAVE ALREADY CONFESSED, TO THE THEFT AND DESTRUCTION OF THE BALLOTS.
    In other words, if the law enforcement officers of Jackson County had not arrested those guilty of pillaging the court house and burning the ballots, if they had allowed them to run at large, had winked at this crime and perhaps, like certain other public officials, participated in it, George Prescott, "one of the best and most honorable peace officers Jackson County ever had" would be alive today.
    But they didn't. They did their duty. They arrested these "good citizens''--put them in jail. And because of that these law enforcement officials who carried George Prescott to his grave, KILLED HIM!
    Read that statement in the Record Herald over, men and women of Jackson County. Think it over.
    There is the official view of the Prescott murder--its JUSTIFICATION if you please--by your "duly elected" judge of Jackson County!--who--we are shamed to say--still is the judge of Jackson County!
Medford Mail Tribune, April 9, 1933, page 6


    Destruction of all confiscated liquor held by the sheriff was under way this afternoon. It was dumped into the sewer, with Sheriff Olmscheid in charge, assisted by Deputy Sheriff Leach, state police and courthouse janitors. Rev. Alex Bennett of the First Methodist church was among the spectators. Commissioner R. E. Nealon and Deputy District Attorney Neilson were also present.
    An inventory taken yesterday of confiscated liquor held in the sheriff's vault at the courthouse reveals no shortage, as indicated in the report of the grand jury of which William T. Grieve was foreman, but instead that the two checkups are virtually the same in essential figures.
    The grand jury report was based upon the liquor records of seizure and orders of liquor destruction, and a check of liquor actually on hand. They did not conform and resulted in false assumptions by both the public and the grand jury of "liquor shortages." It is now evident there was nothing of the kind, and that the grand jury report, wittingly or unwittingly, was used as fuel for political fires by agitation racketeers.
    The inventory taken yesterday was by suspended Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn, his attorney, Frank J. Newman, Sheriff Walter Olmscheid, Chief Deputy Sheriff Edward Leach and Assistant District Attorney Geo. W. Neilson. A court order signed today authorized the destruction of the liquor, so that Sheriff Olmscheid will have a clean liquor vault.
    The supposedly vanished liquor--and much of the political turmoil in this county has centered around it--was used as a talking point by "congress" orators, to alibi for the theft of the ballots. Henrietta B. Martin, its president, in her last appearance on the courthouse steps, on the day that L. A. Banks "proclaimed a revolution" charged that the ballots were stolen to distract public attention from the missing booze, and intimated its disappearance was the greater crime. It was also widely charged that former Sheriff Jennings and two sons, as deputies, had taken the liquor. When the brazen and bungled ballot theft was revealed and arrests made, the first claim was that "the same people got both."
    The grand jury in its report stated a "careful check" showed 30 gallons of alcohol, 158 bottles gin, 20 gallons of water, and no wine on hand. No shortage of beer, whiskey and moonshine was reported.
    Six five-gallon cans of grain alcohol, four five-gallon cans containing water, 157 half bottles of gin, one quart of Mumm's champagne, 108 bottles of beer, 20 empty milk cans, 20 empty pint bottles, a carton of pint bottles and moonshine and whiskey of many grades and many type containers.
    The grand jury found a half bottle more of gin, and did not discover the champagne.
    The inventory yesterday in full is as follows: 
Moonshine whiskey:
    896 full pints.
    7 half-full pints.
    1 full gallon.
    1 gallon ¾ full.
    1 full  g gallon.
    1 quart jar g full.
    1 quart jar g full.
    1 3-oz. bottle.
    2 full gallon containers.
    1 one-third-full gallon container.
    18-gallon keg part full.
    1 pint bottle filled with water.
Gordon dry gin: 120 pint bottles and 1 bottle ½ full.
Bourbon whiskey (Log Cabin): 121 pints.
Scotch whiskey (Old Priority):  53 quarts.
Gordon gin (Dry London): 37 one-fifth bottles.
C. H. Mumm's champagne: 1 quart.
Beer: 108 bottles.
Grain alcohol: 6 five-gallon cans.
4 five-gallon cans containing water in addition to the following articles:
19 ten-gallon empty milk cans.
1 carton of empty pint bottles and 20 empty pint bottles.
    The grand jury report in full, which continues confusing to the lay mind, was as follows:
    "We find that since January 1, 1932, various amounts of intoxicating liquor have been seized by various officers and turned in to the sheriff's office for storage disposition and that the only records we have been able to find of the amounts turned in of the various kinds and quantities are the records of the district attorney and the state police: 438 gallons of alcohol, 208 bottles gin, 15 gallons wine, 28 bottles wine.
    "Upon application of the sheriff's office, orders have been issued by the court for the destruction of the various items of said liquor described in the applications and referred to in the said orders with returns properly filed showing the destruction of the said liquors, the same being as follows: 265 gallons alcohol, no gin, 5 gallons wine and 1 bottle wine.
    "According to the above figures, there should be on hand undestroyed and in the storage vaults, of which O. W. Dunford was custodian under the supervision of the sheriff, various of said liquors of the kinds and in amounts as follows: 173 gallons alcohol, 208 bottles gin, 10 gallons wine and 27 bottles wine.
    "We have carefully checked the liquors on hand in the storage vaults aforesaid in the sub-basement of the courthouse and find the following amounts and kinds of liquor: 30 gallons of alcohol and 20 gallons of water in alcohol containers, 158 bottles gin, no wine on hand.
    "Based on the foregoing tabulations we find a shortage of liquors that should be on hand in the following kinds and amounts: 143 gallons alcohol, 50 bottles gin, 10 gallons wine and 27 bottles wine.
    "We have no record of how much liquor was on hand January 1, 1932. No shortage was found in beer, whiskey or moonshine.
    "Our investigation also reveals the fact that O. W. Dunford, with no authority, held two five-gallon cans containing alcohol in a storage room in the jail. It is understood that this has disappeared without a court order. This alcohol is not included in the above invoice.
    "We recommend that a more careful record be made by the sheriff and other police officers of liquor seized, kept and destroyed, and that the sheriff keep detailed records of all liquors turned over to him by police. Also that no liquor be destroyed without an order of the court.
    "Signed this 20th day of January, 1933.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 12, 1933, page 1


    The county court yesterday afternoon issued an order directing that the county court stenographer, in the future, be not used by the county judge in the dictation and typing of articles appearing in the Pacific Record Herald, of which Electa Fehl, wife of the county judge, appears as editor. It is claimed that the articles were written on county stationery and with county typewriters, and on county time. The order also provides that all the secretarial work of the secretary, except juvenile and probate court, be open to the "inspection of the members of this court."
    County Judge Fehl said this morning that the county court had no jurisdiction over the secretary, who attended to his juvenile and probate court work, and that the county clerk's office provides the secretary for the county court work. This work at first was attended to by Elsie Olsen Brown, but the past six weeks has been performed by County Clerk Gardner.
    The order also provided that "no gasoline bills be allowed in the future unless approved by the county engineer." County Judge Fehl said this was aimed at an $18 gasoline bill he presented, and was for gasoline he has used since the first of the year. He pointed out that the budget allows him $100 for travel expenses, and declared he has not submitted a bill for all the gas he has used. The county judge declared, "they will have to O.K. the bill, as it is legitimate."
    The order was signed by Commissioners Nealon and Billings, who recently learned that County Judge Fehl was dictating articles for the Pacific Record Herald to the stenographer. Articles appearing in the last issue aroused the public.
    The order, in full, was as follows:
    "Whereas, it has been brought to our attention that articles appearing in the Pacific Record Herald are being prepared and typewritten on county stationery with county equipment by the secretary of the county court during the regular working hours at the expense of the taxpayers of Jackson County;
    "It is ordered that no matters be prepared through this office for the said Pacific Record Herald or any other newspaper unless ordered by at least two members of the court.
    "Be it further ordered that all secretarial work of the secretary of this court, except probate and juvenile, be open to inspection of the members of the court.
    "It is further ordered that no gasoline bills be allowed to any county officer except the road department and that these bills must be approved by the road engineer. Mileage expenses will be paid only when the court is satisfied that the mileage is created doing county business, the same being true of telephone, telegraph and other bills."
    The order was presented by Commissioner Nealon. The commissioners expressed the opinion it would stop the "activities."
    Most of the session of the county court yesterday was devoted to the approval of bills.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 20, 1933, page 1


    County Judge Fehl is working night and day to return Jackson County to that condition of internal strife and turmoil which resulted in the theft of the ballot boxes and the cold-blooded murder of Constable George Prescott.
    By the continued circulation of falsehoods and the dissemination of contemptible and incendiary insinuations, while his followers attempt to revive the defunct good government congress, the county judge apparently hopes to arouse so much feeling that another local crisis threatening violence and bloodshed will be precipitated.
    In this effort he is doomed to disappointment. The people of Jackson County have had all the revolutions and uprisings they want--they are in no mood to be patient with those who are trying to afflict this community with a SECOND "reign of terror." County Judge Fehl has apparently learned nothing from the recent unfortunate experiences in Jackson County--but the citizens of Jackson County HAVE--and they are not to be caught napping a SECOND time.
    With the pear crop finally financed, and with local business conditions starting to improve, they want a truce to internal politics and all that it implies. With the trial of L. A. Banks soon to start in another county, and with the ballot cases coming up for trial immediately after, they are quite content to let the political issues involved be settled in the proper way--by the courts--and nowhere else.
    Meanwhile they welcome this breathing spell, to forget local dissension and strife, to concentrate upon a program of constructive and beneficial development for the material benefit of this community and every other community in Southern Oregon.
    Medford and Jackson County have had enough unfavorable advertising for quite some time--all local business has been paralyzed and disrupted long enough--by an irresponsible crowd of self-interested agitators and trouble makers.
    With the stealing of the ballots and the slaying of George Prescott this deplorable phase of Jackson County history ENDED, and if County Judge Fehl can't see it, then the people of Southern Oregon will have to let subsequent events pull the scales from his eyes.
    The war is over. The play is played out. Let the county judge rave and rant as he will, the people of this community are no longer interested in what he says or does.
    They are interested in the Banks trial. They ARE interested in the ballot theft trials. To these trials they will be looking for the facts and figures concerning the recent "unpleasantness," and from these trials they are going to draw their OWN conclusions as to what has actually happened in Medford and Jackson County the past year and more, and what HASN'T--who are and who are not responsible for the same.
    Meanwhile there is work to do, and the people intend to do it. After the trials are OVER--all the facts are known, and the mess cleared up--will be time enough to consider purely political issues once more, and Judge Fehl's status concerning them.
    Until that time, Judge Fehl's desire to engage in a continual political controversy will not be gratified, as far as this paper is concerned.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 25, 1933, page 4


To the Editor:
    In the past I have refrained from making any comment upon the administration of relief in Medford under the so-called Jackson County Relief Committee, but the method employed by this committee seems to me, at this time, to be worthy of some criticism. I have before me a disbursing order which permits a man with one dependent the privilege of spending $1.80 of the money that is supposed to come to him, through some commercial institution in the city of Medford for provisions for 15 days. In fact, this disbursing order bearing date of May 1, 1933, says, "Groceries to May 15, $1.80." Not disclosing the identity of the person or the number of the order, permit me to say that there are many such orders.
    At this time, I would like to ask Mr. James Owen, chairman of this famous Jackson County Relief Committee, just how in h--- any two people can live on $1.80 worth of provisions for 15 days. And I also would like to ask Mr. Owens by what authority he retains a credit account for an individual of approximately $8.00 upon which he only allows the party $1.80 of credit as above stated for supplies for 15 days? Another question I would like to ask this committee is just how long they are going to function in this manner?
Medford, May 2.
"Communications," Medford Mail Tribune, May 2, 1933, page 4


To the Editor:
    The county judge asks me as chairman of the county relief committee how I expect a man with a family to live for two weeks on $1.80. Our committee DOES NOT EXPECT any family to live on that sum of money for two weeks. The records of the relief office are open to inspection of the judge at any time, should he care to know the facts in any given case.
    The funds made available by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for the relief of destitution in any county are IN ADDITION TO, and not in lieu of, all the available resources of the county and of the various families on our rolls. One dollar and eighty cents ($1.80) PLUS what the family has in home canned goods, garden vegetables or other supplies, WILL make it possible for a family to live for two weeks.
May 4, 1933.
"Communications," Medford Mail Tribune, May 4, 1933, page 6


    EUGENE, May 4.--E. A. Fleming, 67, well-known Jacksonville orchardist, at the home of L. A. Banks at the time Banks fired the shot that slew Constable George J. Prescott, on March 16 last, and Sergeant-Detective James O'Brien, companion of the slain official on his last tragic official mission, gave sensational testimony Thursday at the trial of the former editor and orchardist and his wife, Edith Robertine Banks, charged with first degree murder.
    Fleming enlivened the somber proceedings with his laconic replies to questions. O'Brien identified the death weapon--a high-power big game rifle--and the blood-stained bench warrants, and a note Mrs. Banks sent to officers, by Tommy Williams. Fleming told of threats made by Banks a few minutes before the slaying. O'Brien told of looking through a window and seeing Banks calmly reloading his rifle after Prescott had fallen, mortally stricken, on the front porch of the Banks home. He identified also four fragments of bullets removed at an autopsy in his presence, from the body of the slain official.
    Both were two of the major witnesses for the state, and links in vital corroborative evidence to come.
    Fleming testified that he came to Banks' home on the morning of the murder, in the auto of Earl Bryant, one of the eight men who have entered pleas of guilty to ballot theft. Fleming came to confer about calling a meeting of the "Good Government Congress," to collect funds for the defense of the men arrested on the charge. Banks and Fleming exchanged greetings. Mrs. Banks was present, Fleming testified. The two men seated themselves. Mrs. Banks was busy nearby.
    Soon thereafter Banks said:
    "Fehl and Coleman held a long conference yesterday. They planned a political swap, and will make me the 'goat' in this ballot business. They can't do it. I understand there is a warrant out for my arrest. If any officers try to arrest me, I will go out over their dead bodies, feet first."
    "I said: 'O, Mr. Banks, don't do that. It will cause you a lot of trouble.' "
    According to Fleming's testimony, Banks replied:
    "I am going to do it. I said I was going to, and I will."
    Fleming swore that Banks told him he had dictated two letters that morning, warning the officers not to come, and that when a rap came at the door, Mrs. Banks started to answer, and Banks said to him:
    "You better go." Fleming testified he made ready to obey.
    Janet Clements Guches, former secretary of Banks, and her husband were in the Banks home when Fleming arrived, and they left with the words:
    "We are going to the farm."
    Banks told his wife to "deliver the letters I dictated," when she told him "The officers are coming."
    Fleming, his overcoat on his arm, went towards the back door, as the officers came to the front door. Half the distance, he heard a shot. Then he heard a woman's voice he would not positively identify as that of Mrs. Banks say:
    "We have shot Prescott."
    Fleming testified he left by the back door, and was arrested by state police and held ever since as a material witness.
    Under cross-examination by attorney Lonergan, Fleming made rapid sallies, calling the defense chief "Brother."
    The crowded courtroom laughed when Fleming identified himself as "John Doe No. 1" named in the ballot theft indictments. Banks laughed heartily at the reply, but Mrs. Banks retained her solemn, meditative attitude.
    Telling of his exit from the Banks residence, Fleming added:
    "Yes, I thought it was the longest house I ever saw." This brought another smile from Banks, who was in a far more cheerful mood than on the previous day.
    Fleming was on the stand two hours--at the start of the morning and the opening of the afternoon session.
    Under cross-examination by the defense, Fleming vigorously denied that he had told defense attorney Tom Enright and Arthur LaDieu, during a visit to the Josephine County jail, he had not seen Mrs. Banks in the house the morning of the killing. The state brought out to the jury that LaDieu was a former Banks aide, on redirect examination.
    The detention of Fleming in jail since the murder, as a material witness, was stressed by attorney Lonergan. Fleming denied he had been promised immunity, and resented, his replies indicated, his detention. The defense counsel's inferences that Fleming was illegally detained brought no immediate contradiction from the state.
    Sergeant O'Brien of the state police described the actual killing, said that with Constable Prescott he had gone to the Banks home to serve a bench warrant for ballot theft on Banks. He testified the entire proceedings took "less than a minute."
    O'Brien stated:
    "As Mrs. Banks opened the door, I heard Mr. Prescott say: 'I have a warrant for your husband's arrest.' I was looking through a window, in the door, and I saw Mr. Banks with a rifle leveled to his shoulder. I said to Mr. Prescott, at the same time trying to pull him away, 'Look out!' Then came the explosion. The bullet hit the constable in the hand. The flesh splattered in my face, and splinters flew from where the bullet struck the door, and hit me in the eye. Mr. Prescott started to fall, as I grabbed him. We both lost our balance, as we fell to the porch. As I lay there, I looked through another window, and saw Mr. Banks calmly reloading the rifle. I went for reinforcements. The entire proceedings did not take more than six or seven seconds."
    O'Brien also said he saw Fleming running to the rear of the home.
    O'Brien then told of informing the state police headquarters, and the arrest of Banks. The court ordered reference to the proposed use of poison gas stricken.
    The state police sergeant identified the bloody bench warrant issued for the arrest of Banks, after it had been further identified by County Clerk Carter, recalled to the stand for the purpose. The ghastly relic of the murder was then read and passed to the jury. He also identified the firearms found in Banks' home after the murder.
    Under cross-examination by attorney Lonergan, Sergeant O'Brien was subjected to a mildly sarcastic grilling. The defense counsel questioned him about the number of the state police in Medford on the day of the murder, and if Greyhound stages, for whom he formerly worked, were not "owned by the Southern Pacific." He questioned him pointedly relative to his experience as an investigator, and by what authority the state police had to assist in the serving of bench warrants. The defense has given hints it would attack the legality of the ballot theft indictment against Banks, and the bench warrant for his arrest. Sergeant O'Brien was still  under cross-examination at the close of the Thursday session.
    The defense objected to the introduction of the bench warrants, the death rifle, and revolver and holster, found on a table in the Banks home after the murder. They were overruled by the court. The state did not register an objection the entire day.
    O'Brien pointed out on the floor plan of the Banks house where Mrs. Banks told him her husband stood when he fired the fatal shot, and where he had stood while reloading his weapon.
    Verne Shangle, Medford photographer, was the first witness called [and] identified a score of photographs, showing exterior and interior views of the Banks home. Some were taken within an hour after the murder; others were taken on April 21.
    A large crowd attended the afternoon session, and a number of Medford people were in the audience, including a number of university students. The proceedings were devoted chiefly to identification of evidence, and long  cross-examinations. At times there were vivid high points that awakened alike the interest of the spectators and jurors.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 5, 1933, page 1


    County Judge Earl H. Fehl flatly denied the statement made by E. A. Fleming, Jacksonville orchardist and Banks follower, who testified on the witness stand in Eugene yesterday that Banks had said, on the morning before he shot Officer George Prescott, that ''Fehl and Coleman are trying to frame me on the ballot theft, and were closeted two hours yesterday afternoon."
    "It isn't true." Fehl said. "Coleman and I did not plan to frame Banks.
    "I should say I wouldn't frame Banks," Fehl continued. "Coleman and I did not have a conference on the afternoon before Prescott was killed."
    Fehl refused to comment further, except to make a statement about "newspapers printing the truth."
    Judge W. R. Coleman, with whom Banks claimed Fehl conspired to "frame him" on the ballot theft, laughed at the story as "ridiculous."
    "I had a talk with Fehl some time before Banks killed Prescott," Coleman said, "but we didn't mention Banks' name and we didn't mention ballots. Our talk was about other matters entirely, and whoever carried that story to Banks was crazy, if it was ever carried to him. We were in Fehl's private office, however, and I told Fehl at that time that I'd gladly give five dollars, if 99 other friends of his would, to carry his Parr case to the supreme court to determine whether or not he got justice in circuit court here.
    "No," Coleman said, "Fehl and I didn't frame Banks."
Medford Mail Tribune, May 5, 1933, page 1


    EUGENE, May 9.--County Judge Earl H. Fehl spent Sunday afternoon in Eugene, visited L. A. Banks in the county jail, and spent a short time with defense witnesses and members of the "good government congress," here for the murder trial.
    Judge Fehl arrived by auto, and left late Sunday for Salem, on official business, and expects to stop here on his return Tuesday or Wednesday.
    Rain fell intermittently all day Sunday, and the jury remained in their hotel under the eyes of a man and woman bailiff.
    They are not allowed to read newspapers, or have contacts of any nature. The woman bailiff telephones each day to their homes, so the women jurors can have word of what is going on in their homes.
    Among the Medford people who arrived Monday to attend the trial were Mrs. Robert R. Hammond and Mrs. Glen Fabrick of Medford. They were on their way home from Portland, and left for Medford Monday afternoon.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 9, 1933, page 1


    Upon a replevin action filed in circuit court today, all the machinery and equipment belonging to Niedermeyer, Inc., in the office of the Pacific Record Herald was moved out of the Fehl building today.
    The machinery and equipment of the Pacific Record Herald came into the possession of Niedermeyer, Inc., upon a mortgage foreclosure recently granted the Niedermeyers against the Fehl Printing Company, but has been used by Fehl since Fehl moved his paper from the Medford Daily News plant back to its old location on West Sixth Street. When the Pacific Record Herald building was seized by Roy Parr last July, upon a damage action, Fehl moved his paper to the Medford Daily News plant, then in the possession of L. A. Banks. When the Medford Daily News plant was taken back on a mortgage by the old News Publishing Company, Fehl moved back, and has since published his paper on the Niedermeyer machinery and equipment.
    Fehl could not be reached today, as he had gone to Eugene to confer with L. A. Banks, who is on trial for his life for the killing of Constable George Prescott. Many of Fehl's chief supporters and followers, all members of the Good Government Congress, are also in Eugene attending the trial.
    Niedermeyer contended in the complaint for possession in the property, which he filed yesterday, that by an agreement entered into March 1, 1933, Fehl had agreed to pay $20 a week rental on the property. The complaint further alleged that the $20 a week rental has not been paid.
    The property, the complaint stated, is valued at $1500, and further that the Niedermeyer corporation has been damaged to the extent of $100 by Fehl's wrongful detention of the property. Possession of the property was demanded on May 3, the complaint stated, and Fehl refused to deliver the property to Niedermeyer, thereby retaining it wrongfully since May 13.
    Fehl is expected to counterclaim with the contention that Niedermeyer owed Fehl money for rental, as the printing equipment was kept in the Fehl building between the time Fehl reclaimed the building, at a mortgage sale, and the time he started using the Niedermeyer equipment.
    Fehl has three days in which he can file a re-entry bond, and regain possession of the property.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 9, 1933, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, editor of the Pacific Record Herald, refused to comment today about the removal of machinery and equipment from his printing plant by Niedermeyer, Inc., asserted owners of the equipment. It is understood, however, that Fehl will take some legal action, but he would not divulge its nature.
    It is understood that printing equipment belonging to a brother of John Glenn, former jailer and close friend of Fehl, will be moved here from Northern California, and that publication of the Herald will continue as in the past.
    All of the machinery and equipment was removed yesterday and this morning by Niedermeyer, who claims that the equipment belongs to him on a mortgage foreclosure, and that Fehl has defaulted on rental assertedly due. According to the complaint filed by Niedermeyer, a "reasonable rental" was agreed upon, and Niedermeyer construed the rental to be $20 a week. The machinery is valued at $1500, according to the complaint.
    Fehl may file a re-delivery bond, to gain possession of the machinery, pending determination in court as to the legal owner. If he acquires the printing equipment from Glenn, however, he may not contest the ownership of the moved equipment.
    Fehl did not announce where he would print his paper pending the arrival of other equipment.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 10, 1933, page 7


    Suit was filed in justice court late yesterday afternoon by Electa Fehl against Niedermeyer, Inc., for collection of $250 rental allegedly due the Fehls for storage for the Niedermeyer printing equipment, which was moved from the Fehl building Tuesday and Wednesday.
    The complaint filed by Mrs. Fehl alleges that a rental of $50 a month was reasonable storage of the machinery, and that there had been an agreement between the Fehls and Niedermeyers that $250 was due for rental.
    Niedermeyer had the printing equipment stored in the Fehl building since the building was bought by the Fehl interests at a mortgage sale.
    The suit by Fehl is construed by lawyers to mean that Fehl admits Niedermeyer owns the printing equipment. Fehl had a writ of attachment issued against the machinery which is stored on North Grape Street in the old People's Electric store warehouse.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 11, 1933, page 1


    EUGENE, May 15.--Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, one of the "threat witnesses" for the defense in the L. A. Banks murder trial, under cross-examination Monday afternoon testified that on the days between March 16 and Saturday, March 18 last, while officers were seeking him on a warrant charging ballot theft, he was in "the room of attorney Von Schmalz, in the Hotel Holland."
    Twice Fehl, who spent a hectic 45 minutes on the stand, refused to divulge his whereabouts, until ordered to do so by the court and attorney Lonergan, who advised him to answer.
    Fehl testified that the last time he saw Banks before Sunday, May 7, here was the Monday night before the Prescott slaying, and that he did not know of that murder "until told by my attorney late on the 16th or the morning of the 17th." His memory was faulty on the dates.
    Fehl denied he was "hiding," but "keeping out of the way of the officers, who wanted to throw me in jail before I could raise the $15,000 bonds."
    On direct examination Fehl testified that Constable Prescott had visited him in his private office on February 3 last, and said in the course of a conversation about Banks, "If I ever go out after that ---- ----, I'll bring him in, if I have to bring him in feet first."
    Fehl added that Prescott was "very bitter" against Banks, and that Banks had twice voluntarily submitted to arrest.
    Under cross-examination, Fehl was a reluctant witness and testified from a position low in his chair, and with his hand on his face.
    Attorney Moody quizzed him relentlessly on the purported threat, and the witness was plainly nervous under the fire.
    "You testified that Prescott requested you to telephone Banks that he voluntarily go to Ashland and submit to arrest, yet at the same time, you testify that he uttered a threat against Banks." The witness admitted the discrepancy.
    Fehl denied he was a member of the "Good Government Congress," and testified that he had only made one speech before that organization, and that was at the courthouse on the night the ballots were stolen. He admitted he had made "speeches in the country to meetings arranged by Congress members, but talked on county matters."
    Fehl testified further under cross-examination "that he was not particularly friendly with Banks, except in a business way." He finally admitted that he had advocated in his weekly paper that the "Good Government Congress" should continue.
    The witness declared "the gang took his machinery away while I was up here last week," but under rigid questioning admitted "it was on a due legal process out of the circuit court," and that it was a replevin action, instituted by Niedermeyer, Inc.
    Fehl questioned the authority of the circuit court to issue the process, and at another point said Circuit Judge Duncan "performed as a circuit judge."
    On Banks' testimony of last Friday that Fehl had transmitted him grand jury information given him by William E. Grieve, foreman, Fehl was evasive, but was reluctantly pinned to the main points.
    Attorney Lonergan objected, with the denial that Banks had made the charge.
    The court replied: "He most certainly did, Mr. Lonergan, and I recall it distinctly. Check the records. I will be glad to be corrected, if I am wrong."
    Under the quizzing of attorney Moody, Fehl gave a brief sketch of his life. He testified he was born in Ohio, and spent his early life on a farm in Kenton County, Ohio. He said he came west in 1899 from Iowa, and had worked at Tacoma, Wash.,  for the Pacific Mattress Co., and the Carmen Manufacturing Co., for seven or eight years. He was employed as a handyman and as a shipping clerk. Before coming to Medford 26 years ago, he said he had lived for a short time in Kalama, and Seattle, Wash.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 16, 1933, page 1


    Calvert L. Fehl. assistant editor in charge of the Pacific Record Herald, was driver of one of the automobiles which figured in a crash on the Pacific Highway one mile north of Grants Pass Sunday. Henry E. Buchanan of Chehalis, Wash., was driver of the other automobile, according to accident reports filed in Grants Pass Monday.
    One girl occupant of Buchanan's car suffered a broken leg, another woman received lacerations on the head, and a boy in the car was shaken up.
    Buchanan's report asserted that Fehl's car swerved in front of him when Buchanan attempted to pass Fehl. He said his only alternative from hitting Fehl was to turn up over the bank, which overturned his car. Fehl said he did not swerve in front of the passing car, but that it suddenly dived up the bank as it got opposite him.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 16, 1933, page 3


    EUGENE, May 15.--The following is official stenographic report of the cross-examination of Earl H. Fehl, on the grand jury leak revelations of the Banks trial:
    Q. Now you have been very friendly with Mr. Banks haven't you?
    A. In a business way, yes.
    Q. And you are communicating to him all the information you can obtain?
    A. I did not.
    Q. You are taking him information that leaks from the grand jury?
    A. No, I am not.
    Q. Do you know that Mr. Banks testified upon the stand that you did?
    (Defense objection.)
    A. No, I didn't know it.
    Q. Then as a matter of fact you never gave Mr. Banks any information that you got from the foreman of the grand jury?
    A. That wasn't the question.
    Q. I am asking you a new question.
    A. I don't know how he testified.
    Q. Well, did you ever give to Mr. Banks any information that you did receive from the foreman of the grand jury.
    A. I gave Mr. Banks some information that I had received from the foreman of the grand jury, but not any leaks from the grand jury.
    Q. The foreman of the grand jury then told you what was transpiring in the grand jury room?
    A. He did on a couple of occasions, yes.
    Q. And who was that foreman?
    A. Mr. William Grieve.
    Q. Yes, and you communicated that information to Mr. Banks?
    A. Oh, I communicated it to a lot of people, and Mr. Banks too.
    Q. That's all right, you answer my question.
    A. Yes, sir.
    Q. You are the county judge of Jackson County?
    A. I am, yes.
    Q. And you were county judge and gave to an individual the information as to what was transpiring in the grand jury room.
    A. It was no secret.
    Q. Answer my question.
    A. Yes, I told him.
    Q. And you thought that was a proper thing for you to do?
    A. I didn't see anything wrong with it.
    Q. You know that the transactions in a grand jury room are supposed under the law to be secret, don't you?
    A. Their deliberations is, yes.
    Q. Yes, and here was the foreman of the grand jury that was talking to you as county judge.
    A. Talking to me as county judge, yes.
    Q. And telling you the transactions that took place in the grand jury room and you then communicated that to Llewellyn A. Banks?
    A. Yes, sir.
    Q. How frequently did you do that?
    A. Oh I think on a couple of occasions--it wasn't any secret. It was common knowledge around the court house.
    Q. And you told him at the same time that they were investigating Mr. Banks?
    A. Oh, I don't believe I made just that remark.
    Q. Well, didn't you convey to him the thought?
    A. No.
    Q. That they were inquiring into matters relating to Mr. Banks?
    A. I believe what I told Mr. Banks is substantially as follows: that the prosecuting attorney's office was making every effort to bring in indictments against him for articles appearing in his newspaper, and I believe that I told him that there were some eighteen or twenty such efforts being made.
    Q. And the foreman of the grand jury told you that they were hearing evidence upon that charge?
    A. No, I don't think he told me they were hearing evidence on that charge.
    Q. What did he tell you?
    A. He told me about these indictments being in there--in fact I was in the grand jury room and knew they were in there too.
    Q. Then you read the forms of the indictments that the district attorney--.
    A. No I didn't read the forms.
    Q. What indictment did you read in the grand jury room?
    A. I did not read any.
    Q. You just said you did.
    A. No, I didn't.
    Q. What did you see in the grand jury room with reference to the indictments?
    A. The only thing I seen in the grand jury room was a stack of papers folded up about that high (indicating) on the table which the secretary said was indictments that had been presented there as against Mr. Banks.
    Q. For what?
    A. Various charges they were trying to prefer against him. I didn't read them or see them other than that.
    Q. What right had you in the grand jury room?
    A. They would call me in.
    Q. As a witness?
    A. Called me in as county judge to ask me some questions.
    Q. And then you, being called into the grand jury room of your county to ask questions, communicated that fact to the individual who was being investigated?
    A. I did not--not at that time.
    Q. Did you draw a line of demarcation between whet the foreman told you and what you saw?
    A. Absolutely.
    Q. And you only reported to Mr. Banks the mere information that the foreman of the grand jury gave you?
    A. It wasn't secret--he told me right in an open room.
    Q. Now where was Mr. Grieve stopping when he was in Medford presiding as foreman of that grand jury?
    A. Oh about three blocks, I guess, out on West Main street further than Mr. Banks'--I don't know the number of the house.
    Q. Wasn't he living at the Medford Hotel?
    A. I don't think so--I didn't see him there.
    Q. Is it not a fact that practically every night while that grand jury was in session that you were in conference with Mr. Grieve, the foreman of the grand jury, in the Medford Hotel?
    A. I was not.
    Q. Is it not a fact that you were in conference pretty near every day when that grand jury was in session, at some place, with Mr. Grieve, the foreman of that grand jury?
    A. It is not.
    Q. Well, how frequently did you have conferences with him?
    A. Oh, I don't--can't tell you the exact number--probably four or five different times.
    Q. Yes?
    A. He came in my office in the county court room I think two or three times, and I was at his home out on West Main Street where he lived, I think, twice.
    Q. What did you go out to his home for?
    A. He asked me to come out and eat lunch with him one evening, and the other night I went out on other business pertaining to some timber land, after the grand jury had adjourned.
    Q. The main purpose--the main subject of your conversation with Mr. Grieve during the period of the time that he was the foreman of the grand jury--was with reference to the transactions that took place in the grand jury room, was it not?
    A. Not particularly, no.
    Q. Well, it was, to a greater or less extent?
    A. Yes, because there was many matters pertaining to county business that the grand jury was investigating, and of course they called me into the grand jury room many times regarding those matters.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 16, 1933, page 8


    With Assistant Attorney General Ralph Moody and Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth presiding for the state, the trials for stealing ballots from the Jackson County courthouse last February 20 will get under way Tuesday of next week. These are the same two men who were in charge of the trial of L. A. Banks, former Medford editor, charged with murder, who is now under life sentence for killing Officer George J. Prescott when he went to the Banks home to arrest Banks in the ballot stealing case.
    Twenty-two men, including County Judge Earl H. Fehl and former County Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn, are involved in the ballot stealing, which according to authorities, took place during a meeting of the so-called Good Government Congress.
    They state that it was while L. A. Banks was delivering an address to the congress that he held up his pen with a match in the clip in the sign of a cross, and made a few apparently meaningless remarks, which were greeted with noisy and prolonged applause. This has since been interpreted as a sign to those "in the know" in the audience that the ballot stealing had been started, and the resulting applause was to help hide any noise that the thieves might make.
    The ballots were stolen on the eve of a recount which had been called by defeated Sheriff Jennings, who was a write-in candidate, as there had been considerable misunderstanding about the proper way to write in his name, and because his margin of defeat was very small.
    It is not likely, officials report, that the defendants will ask a change of venue, as all must sign such a petition, and several have already pleaded guilty.
    As soon as the ballot cases are disposed of, the state plans to take up the case of Henrietta B. Martin, president of the so-called "Good Government Congress" and aide to Banks in his agitation moves. She is indicted for riotous and disorderly conduct, as the result of an attack with a buggy whip on Leonard Hall, editor of the Jacksonville Miner, February 17 last. Indicted as aides of Mrs. Martin are L. O. Van Wegen and E. L. Fitch, reputed "congressmen."
    C. H. Brown, secretary of the "Good Government Congress," and father of Mrs. Martin, indicted for "slandering a bank," is also scheduled to be brought to trial as soon as possible.
    Criminal syndicalism charges, growing out of the Banks-stirred turmoil, will be heard after the above matters have been concluded.
    A syndicated letter from Salem the past week contained the information that Governor Julius L. Meier had detailed undercover agents to report to him on conditions in this county. They have been working for a couple of months, unbeknown to the general public, it is reported.
Gold Hill News, June 1, 1933, page 1


    The so-called "Good Government Congress" at Lake Creek Sunday, according to reports received today, was attended by between 200 and 250 people. Fifty autos were parked around Wyants' Grove, where the meeting was held, according to an official count. The attendance was about evenly divided between residents of the Lake Creek district and Central Point, Rogue River, Trail and Wimer sections.
    Henrietta B. Martin, president of the "Congress," presided, and County Judge E. H. Fehl was among the speakers. Fehl talked 15 minutes. He informed a woman reporter for this paper, who inquired about his text, that his speech "was the ordinary bunk."
    A number of well-known workers in the "Good Government Congress" were present at the session, which lacked the venom and fire of previous meetings last winter on the part of the speakers, and enthusiasm on the part of the small crowd. Ariel Burton Pomeroy, Mayor Walter Jones of Rogue River, John Glenn, former county jailer, and attorney Tom Enright of this city were reported among those present. Jones and Glenn are under indictment for ballot theft.
    Reports of the meeting indicated there was some dissension in the ranks of the "Congress."
Medford Mail Tribune, June 5, 1933, page 1


    Attorney A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, counsel for County Judge E. H. Fehl in the ballot theft cases, admitted in court this afternoon, "I have apparently made an error in dictation in my affidavit relating to my conversation with Attorney General Van Winkle. The attorney general was referring to what Judge Fehl told him and not to Assistant Attorney General Levens.
    "If I am in error at any time in this case, I desire to correct it."
    The court replied:
    "I know the attorney-general would not lie, and I know you would not lie. It is a mistake."
    The affidavit purported to claim that the attorney general had told Hough that former Assistant Attorney-General Levens had reported to his superior his belief that Fehl was not involved in the ballot theft, and was being "framed," as Fehl claimed Levens said.
    Ingfried Holm, secretary to the county court, signed an affidavit that Levens was closeted with the county judge on the afternoon of April 27, and that he left between four and five o'clock.
    Imputations contained in an affidavit filed by County Judge Earl H. Fehl, one of the 22 ballot theft defendants, and involving former Assistant Attorney General William S. Levens, who died suddenly on the eve of the Banks murder trial at Eugene, were branded "untrue" in open court this morning by Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody. The affidavit was filed yesterday by Fehl in support of his motion for the right to inspect confessions and interview witnesses in the state's case.
    A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, counsel for Fehl, filed a supporting affidavit, which was also questioned.
    The startling and surprising allegations in the two affidavits are emphatically and sweepingly denied by Attorney General I. H. Van Winkle.
    The accused county official claims in his affidavit that the deceased assistant attorney general told him in the county judge's office in the courthouse, on or about April 27, about five o'clock in the afternoon that Levens said "I have been investigating the ballot theft cases, and that he (Levens) was satisfied that I (Fehl) had taken no part in the ballot thefts, and that I (Fehl) was being 'framed' as he expressed it, and that he would report the matter to his principal, the attorney-general of Oregon..."
    Attorney Hough in a corroborating affidavit asserts that on April 30 last he had a conversation with attorney General I. H. Van Winkle in his office in Salem, in which he recited the "claims of Fehl and the attorney general said:
    "Yes, that is about what Mr. Levens told me," or words to that effect.
    Attorney General Van Winkle, in a telegram embodied in counter-affidavits filed by the state, denies any report from Levens asserting that Fehl was "framed," or that he was in his office on April 30 last, the date on which attorney Hough claims a supporting conversation was held.
    Assistant Attorney General Moody, in an affidavit, declares he was with his former superior "to within an hour of the time of his death," and that he at no time mentioned any conversation with Fehl, or intimated that he believed he (Fehl) was being "framed" and had no part in the ballot thefts
    The telegram of Attorney General Van Winkle, refuting the affidavit of Fehl and attorney Hough, in full, is as follows:
"Ralph E. Moody, Asst. Atty. Genl.
"1st Natl. Bank Bldg., Medford.
    "Referring to statements contained in affidavits of Earl H. Fehl and A. C. Hough in support of motion of defendants to inspect and examine evidence and witnesses in cases relating to thefts of ballots in which Earl H. Fehl and Gordon L. Schermerhorn have been indicted, with others, for the crime of burglary not in a dwelling, which statements you read to me over the telephone, I have to say that Mr. W. S. Levens, assistant attorney general, never reported to me any findings or conclusions to the effect purported to be quoted from him in such statements. Mr. Levens was never in Salem alive subsequent to the date of his alleged interview with Judge Fehl on or about April twenty-seven, and I never saw him subsequent to that date. I did not see or talk to Mr. Hough on May thirty, nineteen hundred thirty-three, and was not in my office on that day, but was out of the city practically all day. I did see and talk to him a day or two later, but did not make any statement to effect purported to be quoted by him in his affidavit. Any statement to him or conversation with Mr. Levens related to Mr. Levens' earlier investigation and was not in any respect to the effect stated in said affidavits or either of them.
    The essential portion of the affidavit signed by Fehl is as follows:
    "That on or about the 27th day of April, 1933, the date being dependent upon my memory, but it being the last day when William Levens was in Medford and preparing to depart therefrom to prosecute L. A. Banks in the trial which began at Eugene on May 1, 1933, the said William Levens came into the office of the county judge in the court house in Medford, Oregon, at about 5 o'clock p.m., and there told me that he had been investigating the evidence in the ballot theft cases in which I am charged as a participant in the indictment above referred to and that he was satisfied that I had taken no part therein and that I was being 'framed' as he expressed it, and that he would so report the matter to his principal, the attorney general of Oregon..."
    The supporting affidavit of attorney Hough, in part, is as follows:
    "On May 30, 1933, I talked with Honorable I. A. Van Winkle, attorney general of Oregon, and stated to him that I had been told by the defendant, Earl H. Fehl, that Honorable William Levens had stated to him, Earl H. Fehl, that he, Levens, believed that the said defendant, Earl H. Fehl, had been 'framed,' and that he, Levens, believed that the defendant, Earl H. Fehl, had taken no part and had not participated in said ballot theft, and the said Honorable I. H. Van Winkie said to me, 'Yes, that is about what Mr. Levens told to me,' or words to that effect."
    The telegram from Attorney General Van Winkle was received by Assistant Attorney General Moody near the close of his argument, resisting the defense plea for the right to inspect confessions and interview witnesses:
    "There are some matters contained in the affidavit of Fehl and attorney Hough that are untrue, and I desire to call the attention of the court to them. I at first thought I would pay no attention to them, but after reflection, decided they should not be allowed to pass unnoticed."
    Attorney Moody then read the telegram from his chief. The court held that it was immaterial to the matter of witness and confession inspection, but he would receive and consider counter-affidavits.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 6, 1933, page 1


    County Judge Earl H. Fehl, one of the defendants charged with ballot theft, was denied the right to interview state witnesses and inspect reputed statements and confessions obtained by the state in a decision handed down this afternoon in circuit court by Judge George F. Skipworth.
    Fehl's motion for the inspection and interviews was overruled.
    A similar motion, introduced in behalf of suspended Sheriff Schermerhorn, was also denied.
    The defense filed the usual exception to the ruling of the court, and the same was allowed.
    The court held, among other points, "that the law gives the defendants no right of inspection simply to pry into the evidence of an opponent."
    The ruling of the court, in part, is as follows:
    "It would be manifest error for the court to make the order demanded by the defendant and would be an absurd abuse of discretion, for such an order would be absolutely contrary to law.
    "It is the duty of the court to see that the defendant is given a fair and impartial trial, and this the court will attempt to do to the utmost of its ability. But to ask the court to make such an order as this is beyond the bounds of reason.
    "I will say that I have given this motion most careful consideration, and in addition thereto I have studied the authorities applicable to the question and I can find no authority which would warrant the court in making the order requiring the state to deliver to the defendant or his attorneys the written statements of confessions or memoranda of the testimony of his witnesses to the defendant. It is not the law. The case in 99th Oregon does not so hold, and it is the duty of the court to administer the law. If this were the rule, it would subvert the administration of the criminal law. Witnesses would be tossed to and fro--they would be harassed first by one side and then by the other side and there would be no regularity whatsoever in the administration of the criminal law, and for this reason the motion is overruled."
    In its written memorandum, which the court read, the court said:
    "Under the authorities, it is an absolute abuse of discretion, if the court has such discretion, to order the state to deliver its evidence to the defendant...
    "It would be as reasonable to compel the defendant to disclose written statements of his witnesses to the state as for the defendant to ask the court to compel the state to disclose the written statements of its witnesses to the defense.
    "The defendant is advised by the indictment of the charge he is compelled to meet. Under the Constitution, he has a right to meet the witnesses face to face and cross-examine them; this right he will have at the trial of the case.
    "…It would be an abuse of discretion to permit the defendant to have possession of the written statements of the state witnesses.
    "It would be a manifest error for the court to make an order as demanded by the defendant, and would be an absurd abuse of discretion, for such an order would he absolutely contrary to law."
    The court held that "in effect the motion was a bill of discovery." It was further held that the affidavits of Fehl and his attorney, A. C. Hough, are "immaterial to a decision in this case…or for a decision in this motion."
    The court cited a number of authorities in support of his findings in a clear, concise and carefully considered summation.
    J. Arthur LaDieu--former newspaper business manager for L. A. Banks, convicted murderer and former local agitator, editor and orchardist--will go on trial tomorrow morning in circuit court before Judge George F. Skipworth, on an indictment charging ballot theft, the first of a score of men facing the same charge.
    The state will call a score of witnesses. Some of this number have admitted participation in the brazen and bungled crime, and some will be well-known local residents who were on the south side of the courthouse on the night of the ballot stealing and watched the "goings-on" unaware of their significance.
    County Clerk George R. Carter and deputy clerks will probably be the first witnesses called by the state to establish by official documents that the ballots existed, that they were stolen and destroyed, and that a recount of the ballots had been ordered by the circuit court in the race for sheriff between suspended Sheriff Gordon L.  Schermerhorn and Ralph G. Jennings, a "write-in" candidate. Schermerhorn, on the face of the official count, was elected by 127 votes. The theft occurred February 20, during and after a meeting of the self-styled "Good Government Congress" in the courthouse and auditorium. The theft and burning of the ballots automatically halted the recount proceedings as ordered.
    LaDieu will be represented by attorney Thomas J. Enright of this city. LaDieu has been a resident of this city for about four years. He formerly lived in Klamath Falls and has kin residing in Oakland, Calif.
    The state of Oregon, which is prosecuting all the cases through the attorney general's office, will be represented by Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody.
    A jury list of 30 names has been ordered to report tomorrow morning. It may be necessary to call special venires before a jury is finally selected.
    The jury list as called follows: Charles T. Nahas, Route 4, Medford; W. L. Holdridge, Talent; Frank W. Houston, Talent; H. H. Perry, Eagle Point; S. S. Davies, Ashland; John Rowden, Applegate; L. F. Belknap, Route 4, Medford; Henry G. Enders, Jr., Ashland; Milroy Charley, Brownsboro; G. F. Putnam, Phoenix; W. R. Allen, Eagle Point; John Cupp, Medford; William Lowden, Route 4, Medford; W. R. Crawford, Route 2, Medford; J. F. Wortman, Phoenix; Mary Hanley, Lake Creek; J. G. Ferrell, Route 4, Medford; Minnie B. Bellinger, Medford; Glenn Saltmarsh, Jacksonville; Horace Green, Medford; R. E. Carley, Route 2, Medford; Ed Gyger, Route 1, Ashland; Alice Waddell, Central Point; E. B. Olds, Route 1, Ashland; Grace D. Lydiard, Ashland; E. J. Brown, Applegate; Mary E. Kleinhammer, Jacksonville, and William C. Hooker, Medford.
    Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth of Lane County, who presided at the Banks murder trial, will occupy the bench. He is known as an able jurist, strict courtroom disciplinarian, and a stickler for starting court on the dot of the appointed hour.
    Attendance at the trial will be limited to the seating capacity of the courtroom. Guards will be maintained at the doors, for observance. A press table will be placed in the court sanctuary.
    Public interest in the trial, while keen, lacks the tenseness of court proceedings last January and February.
    Following the LaDieu trial, the state has announced it desires to try Walter Jones, mayor of Rogue River, to be followed by the trial of John Glenn of Ashland, former county jailer.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 7, 1933, page 1


    The claim of County Judge Earl H. Fehl, charged with a score of others of ballot-theft, that Former Assistant Attorney-General William S. Levens had expressed to him belief in his innocence of the charge, and that he was "being 'framed'--as he expressed it," virtually collapsed Monday afternoon in circuit court when A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, attorney for Fehl, admitted "an error in dictation" and further said, "the attorney general probably told the truth."
    Attorney Hough filed a supporting affidavit to Fehl's affidavit which also charged that Levens, who died on the eve of the Banks murder trial, had told him he intended to report to Attorney General Van Winkle that the accused official was being "'framed'--as he expressed it." Fehl alleged that the purported conversation took place about five o'clock April 27.
    Attorney-General Van Winkle, in a telegram, denied the claim of Fehl, emphatically and in full.
    The affidavits of Fehl and his attorney were filed in support of their motion for the right to inspect confessions and interview state witnesses in the ballot theft case.
    It was held that the affidavits were "immaterial" to the motion. The question, as a result of attorney Hough's statement, and other developments, leaves the issue, Assistant Attorney-General Moody stated in court, "between the word of Fehl and a dead man who is not here to speak for himself."
    State authorities say that the only conversations between the deceased attorney general and Fehl, was at Fehl's request, when he asked for a reduction of his $15,000 bonds.
    The statement of Fehl's attorney, A. C. Hough, as taken from the official report, is as follows:
    Hough: "I wish to say in reply, if the court please, to what counsel--the assistant attorney general had to say--I didn't know until he called my attention to it by reading it that I had made an error in dictation here. I stated to the court in the opening statement that I made that after I had spoken to Attorney General Van Winkle and said to him that I had come there for the purpose of telling him what Judge Fehl had told me, that he said 'Yes, that is about what he told me.' I see that I stated it in dictating it 'Yes, that is what Mr. Levens told me.' He didn't say 'That is what Levens told me,' he said 'Yes, that is about what he (Fehl) told me,' but in making my statement to the attorney general I was talking about what Judge Fehl had told me that Mr. Levens had told him, and that Mr. Levens would carry it to the attorney general--and I thought I had made it plain to the attorney general that I wanted a confirmation of it, and after I made my statement. the attorney general said 'Yes, that is about what he told me'."
    The Court: "'Meaning that is about what Judge Fehl told him."
    Mr. Hough: "I don't know now--I can see now through this thing and where the error lies. The attorney general probably told the truth when he said he never saw Mr. Levens after he left Medford up to the time he died. The attorney general had seen Judge Fehl a few days or two weeks before--about two weeks before, and when he used the word 'he' the attorney general probably was referring to the statement that Judge Fehl had stated to him, and probably that is where I erred."
    The Court: "I think so. As I stated--someone had misunderstood--that no one is trying to lie about it."
    Mr. Hough: "Neither one of us is."
    The Court: "I am satisfied you wouldn't lie, and I am satisfied the attorney general wouldn't. I think it is some error."
    Hough: "I am sure that at some conversation--it doesn't appear in this record--but if I make an error in this matter I hope counsel will immediately rise to it."
    The Court: "He will."
    Hough: "And on the other hand I hope that if I do not, that the attorney general will confess it."
Medford Mail Tribune, June 7, 1933, page 5


    Arthur LaDieu of Medford, Walter Jones of Rogue River, and John Glenn of Ashland are the first of twenty-two men to go on trial for stealing Jackson County ballots last February.
    LaDieu's trial opened in Medford at 9:30 this morning before Judge G. F. Skipworth of Eugene, with attorney Ralph E. Moody prosecuting.
    Separate trials have been granted for LaDieu, County Judge Fehl, former County Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn, Jones and Glenn and former county jailer Joseph Croft.
    Preliminary hearing for LaDieu was held Tuesday morning, and he entered a plea of not guilty. All the defendants in the ballot theft case were in the court room for his arraignment.
    The same day attorneys for Fehl and Schermerhorn filed motions asking permissions to inspect confessions which have been secured by the state from several who are indicted for the ballot thefts.
    This request was officially denied late Wednesday afternoon.
    Attorney Moody has actively resisted this move, contending that "it is unheard of to expect the state to reveal evidence on which the state relies for conviction."
    Another development of the week was the affidavit filed by Judge Fehl, stating that the late Assistant Attorney General William S. Levens had assured him that he (Levens) believed Fehl was being framed. This was backed by an affidavit by Attorney Hough of Grants Pass, defending Fehl, who quoted Attorney General 1. H. Van Winkle as having learned the same from Levens.
    A telegram received from Van Winkle Tuesday, however, stated that he had not seen Levens alive after his purported talk with Judge Fehl, and that Levens had not reported that he had reason to believe Fehl was framed.
Gold Hill News, June 8, 1933, page 1


    County Judge Fehl again requests a "recall election'' on July 21st so he can take the stump and tell the people about the "most corrupt political organization that has ever been permitted to exist since the crucifixion of Christ."
    Many issues of vital importance to this community and the state are to be voted upon July 21st. We believe they should be decided on their merits, and not be scrambled and clouded by such a recall election as the county judge suggests. Let the state election be held, as far as possible, in an atmosphere free from local dissension and strife.
    We oppose the recall of Judge Fehl four or five weeks hence for another reason. He is a defendant in the ballot cases now being tried. In all probability his trial will come up during this period, in which, if his request is granted, he would be engaged in his personal political campaign.
    We don't believe the two events would work either to Judge Fehl's benefit, or to the benefit of the people of Jackson County. As a defendant charged with a very serious crime, we should fear his style as a campaigner would be seriously cramped, for during a trial we believe the law provides the defendant should be present in court. We don't believe even our resourceful county judge could successfully have his day in court and his nights on the political stump, at one and the same time.
    In fact, under the circumstances we fail to see why Judge Fehl should be so anxious to have his recall at the same time as his trial. It appears to us--and we believe will appear to the people of Jackson County--as a most extraordinary request!
    Our county judge further desires an immediate decision regarding this recall so he can "canvass Jackson County a few days and tell the people just what he knows about the inner workings of the gang."
    But Judge Fehl has been telling the people of Jackson County about the inner workings of this so-called Medford GANG for the past 15 or 20 years. And if since his election he has been doing anything but "canvass'' the outlying districts and attending meetings of the Good Government Congress, then we would like to know what it is.
    We fail to see why he needs a special recall election to enlarge his operations in this direction.
    Moreover we should suppose a public official, holding such a responsible position as Judge Fehl, facing such serious charges as he faces, would first want the truth or falsity of those charges cleared up before he goes before the people and asks them to retain him in office.
    Until the people of Jackson County know just what part Judge Fehl took in this raid on the court house and the burning of the ballots--or did not take--how can they be expected to vote intelligently upon the issue his recall election would present?
    We are surprised that such a firm believer in democracy and the orderly processes of our established government as Judge Fehl should call upon the people of this community to vote so completely in the dark.
    More than that we should think Judge Fehl would not only PREFER to have his recall come after the charges against him had been cleared up, but would INSIST upon it.
    For until these charges are cleared up, his public record certainly rests under a cloud. If he was in no way involved in these ballot thefts, the people will feel one way about them. If he WAS involved, they will feel quite another. Only his trial, under the rules of the proper court, NOT a stump-speaking campaign, can determine this important fact.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 27, 1933, page 6


    Earl H. Fehl, county judge, indicted and facing trial for ballot theft, this morning filed in circuit court a separate motion for a change of venue on the grounds he cannot secure a fair and impartial trial in Jackson County. The motion states it is not filed for the purpose of delay, and requests that it be held in the nearest county possible, and at an early date. Attorneys A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, H. Von Schmalz of Burns and T. J. Enright appear as attorneys for Fehl.
    Accompanying the motion was an exhibit consisting of editorials and news accounts from the Mail Tribune, Ashland Tidings and Jacksonville Miner, covering Fehl's political and public record connections with the ballot theft and kindred events.
    Fehl asserts that the editorials and articles appearing in the Jackson County press "inflamed and prejudiced the public mind against him." Among the editorials protested are those suggesting that Fehl and suspended Sheriff Schermerhorn resign "in justice to themselves," and news articles telling of the efforts of the officers to find him immediately after the issuance of a bench warrant on a ballot theft indictment. Fehl testified at the Banks murder trial that he was sequestered in the Hotel Holland room of attorney H. Von Schmalz during this period.
    It is further set forth that Fehl is willing to be tried either before Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth or Judge Norton, in a county other than Jackson, and he can be ready for trial within "a reasonable time."
    Fehl denies that he is, or was, a member of the self-styled "Good Government Congress" and claims that the local press stating he was has caused prejudice.
    Fehl further asserts that the press has printed the testimony of the LaDieu and Jones trials, tending to show, as the state contends, his connection with the ballot thefts, and that this prevents him securing a fair and impartial trial. He further claims that the jurors in the same two trials, both resulting in convictions, have returned to their homes and discussed the evidence with their neighbors, causing prejudice and partiality.
    Fehl claims that the Jackson County press has printed "personal attacks reflecting on his honor and integrity," and engendered "a great bitterness against him."
    Fehl also recites that he signed the recall petition against Judge H. D. Norton and publicly stated his reasons therefor, and that this has caused a prejudice against him among the friends and adherents of Judge Norton.
    The motion also states that he has recently interviewed George Obenchain of Central Point, one of his bondsmen; Dr. J. M. Keene, J. H. Young, Dr. Kunz, William Kinsell of this city and P. M. Morrison of Ashland, and all have stated to him that from their observations and belief it would be impossible for Fehl to secure a fair and impartial trial.
    Similar opinions are also expressed in the motion by attorney Frank J. Newman and City Attorney Frank P. Farrell.
    Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody said the change of venue would be resisted by the state on legal grounds, and because of the additional expense burden it would place upon Jackson County, and the delay resulting. No date has been set for the argument on the motion.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 30, 1933, page 1


    Request of KMED to broadcast the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, charged with ballot-theft, and scheduled to start upon the completion of the Schermerhorn case, was denied by Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth today.
    The court made no comment upon the request, except to say, "The Fehl trial, nor any trial over which I preside, will be broadcast."
Medford Mail Tribune, July 12, 1933, page 1


    Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth this afternoon granted the motion of County Judge Earl H. Fehl, charged with ballot-theft, for a change of venue, and tentatively ordered that the trial be moved to Klamath County, to start next Monday, July 24.
    The court said that the order would not be made definite until he had a chance to communicate with Judge William D. Duncan of Klamath County, now holding court in Portland.
    The court, on two previous pleas by the defense for a change of venue, had denied them--the last one with the proviso that it could be reopened.
    The court in granting the motion commented "that it is getting so it is a battle of wits to select a jury in this county," and that "for the interests of both sides, it is best that the venue change be granted."
    The defense renewed its venue plea this morning, following the vacation of the order, and the discharge of the jury drawn yesterday by the coroner.
    Assistant Attorney General Moody, for the state, resisted the venue motion on the grounds that it would "upset all previous convictions in the ballot theft cases, and result in mistrials."
    All the remaining defendants, Tom L. Brecheen, J. Croft, Claude Ward, and Oliver Martin, joined with Fehl in the venue motion.
    The motion was accompanied by an affidavit signed by attorney H. Von Schmalz, alleging that a fair and impartial trial could not be secured in this county.
    The state opposed the defense suggestion that the trial be moved to Josephine County on the grounds that it was the home county of attorney A. C. Hough, and that there was high interest in Josephine County in the ballot theft trials.
    The defense opposed Douglas County.
    The defense also expressed the hope in open court that Judge Skipworth hear the trial in Klamath County. The court said he would advise Chief Justice Rand of the state supreme court of his action, and that the chief justice would make the assignment. All the defense counsel favored the continuation of Judge Skipworth.
    The court informed the counsel for both sides that it had no desire to hear the case, but inasmuch "as I have started, I might as well finish it." The court also said: "Don't anybody get the idea I am looking for a job. I'm two months behind with my work at home, and would like to take the train tonight for home."
    Assistant Attorney General Moody held that the state desired only to keep the record free from errors.
    The defense contended that the articles published in the Mail Tribune and other Jackson County publications on the Amos W. Walker contempt charges were prejudicial to Fehl, although the press only reported the facts as admitted by both sides in that controversy.
    Walker, on the witness stand for the defense in the Schermerhorn trial, admitted that at the instigation of County Judge Fehl he had interviewed the wife of George B. McClain, a juror, after McClain had been sworn as a juror. McClain was dismissed from the jury by the court, upon an affidavit filed by the defense.
    The newspaper articles gave Walker's admission, and printed an official copy of the court's comment in directing the district attorney's office to investigate the matter for the filing of contempt citations.
    Monday, Fehl's counsel filed a motion for a change of venue, and it was denied by the court with the comment that the Walker episode was also published in all the papers of the state, in a prominent position. The court also remarked that he doubted the effect of news articles and editorials as attested by the few talesmen in the ballot theft cases who have said they were influenced by the same.
    The Walker episode is also made one of the grounds for a new trial plea filed yesterday in the Schermerhorn case.
    The court in denying the venue change plea made Monday cited the Brumfield case, wherein the supreme court of the state had held that newspaper articles were not grounds for granting a change of venue.
    The Brumfield case concerned a Roseburg dentist, charged with murdering a hermit by the name of Dennis Russell and substituting the hermit's body for his own in an attempt to perpetrate an insurance hoax. The Douglas County papers bitterly assailed the accused man.
    The court denied Fehl's first motion for a change of venue, when the state showed that Fehl in his own weekly paper had published articles "as bitter, if not more so," than those published in his contemporaries.
    The defense with its first motion submitted copies of articles published in the Mail Tribune, Ashland Tidings, and other Jackson County papers, covering the 1932 primary and general election campaigns, the L. A. Banks murder, and other incidents and observations upon the local situation.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 18, 1933, page 1


    The state of Oregon today was marshaling its witnesses, exhibits and forces in preparation for the trial of County Judge Earl H. Fehl, charged with ballot-theft, at Klamath Falls, starting next Monday before Judge George F. Skipworth of Lane County.
    Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody and assistants left yesterday afternoon for Klamath Falls ahead of time, because of unexpected developments arising. Judge Skipworth left yesterday.
    The original records, or certified copies of the same, were dispatched yesterday to the county clerk of Klamath County, for personal delivery by Captain Lee M. Bown of the state police.
    The Klamath County jury has been summoned to report for jury service next Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock.
    The state this morning was preparing photographs of the Jackson County courthouse showing the site of the vault and its proximity to the auditorium, where the "congress" held forth on the night of the robbery; the sheriff's vault where Fehl, Brecheen, Chuck Davis, and the Sexton brothers, the evidence is expected to show, discussed the ballots and the vault containing them; the county judge's office, where a conference was held, also the county jail, and other courthouse spots identified with the crime.
    The stolen ballot containers, retrieved from Rogue River; the broken vault window, the ax that crashed it, and the hammer and monkey-wrench carried by "guards" and other exhibits were taken to Klamath Falls late yesterday.
    The state will summon in the neighborhood of 40 witnesses, including several who have not testified in any of the previous trials. Evidence, state aides say, not heretofore known will be revealed and testimony will be introduced, it is said, tracing Fehl's movements and words from mid-afternoon on February 20 until long after the ballots were stolen.
    The defense has listed 45 witnesses. Thirty-one have been subpoenaed to date. The state's case, after the selection of the jury, is expected to require a week.
    Following the announcement that the trial would be held in Klamath County, a number of "congressmen" hied across the mountains.
    County Judge Fehl and his chief counsel, T. J. Enright, spent yesterday in Klamath Falls, attending to preliminary details connected with the defense. Fehl will also be represented, by attorneys A. C. Hough of Grants Pass and H. Von Schmalz of Burns.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 20, 1933, page 1


    A change of venue for Judge Earl H. Fehl, and the four other defendants remaining to be tried in the Jackson County ballot theft cases, was granted Tuesday of this week by Judge Allison Skipworth, who gave as his reason that selecting a jury for the several cases is becoming a battle of wits between opposing attorneys.
    Klamath County has been chosen for the trial, and Judge Skipworth has been appointed by the state to continue as presiding judge.
    Although it was at first thought the change of venue might result in declaring mistrials for the cases already heard, late reports state that it will not affect these, and that the conviction of Arthur LaDieu, Mayor W. J. Jones of Rogue River, and ex-Sheriff Schermerhorn will stand unless reversed, when and if appealed.
    Ex-sheriff  Schermerhorn was convicted of participating in the theft when the jury returned its verdict late Sunday afternoon. This is the third conviction won by the state in four trials.
    The defense has been urging a change of venue for Judge Fehl for some time, arguing that newspapers of the county were prejudicing the minds of the people. Judge Skipworth twice denied the motion on the grounds that equally prejudicial articles had appeared on both sides of the case, Judge Fehl's paper, the Pacific Record-Herald, doing as much damage as other papers of the county.
    The defense has become especially desirous for a trial outside Jackson County, however, since the conviction of Schermerhorn, and finally won out Tuesday.
    Meanwhile, Jackson County has had another problem to solve--that of who shall be sheriff.
    With Sheriff Schermerhorn's six month's suspension up the 8th of July, he hopefully went about securing bonds to reinstate himself in office, in spite of the fact that he was on trial for theft of the ballots. After his conviction he presented his bonds to the county court, but they were refused, and Acting Sheriff Walter J. Olmscheid was duly appointed. County Judge Fehl, however, did not concur with the other two members of the court in this action.
    Now Schermerhorn's attorneys say they will move for a new trial for their client, and in the meantime, the private bonds he has secured have been presented for approval, in the event that he becomes qualified to resume his office.
Gold Hill News, July 20, 1933, page 1


    The state of Oregon today had about completed preliminary arrangements for the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, charged with ballot-theft, and fifth of the score or more of defendants to face a jury. Fehl will be tried in Klamath Falls, by virtue of a change of venue to Klamath County granted to the defense this week.
    Deputy District Attorney George W. Neilson leaves today for Klamath Falls, joining Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody. Judge George F. Skipworth, who will preside, is also on the ground.
    The stage is all set for the start of the case Monday morning, barring legal moves by the defense, which are not considered likely.
    Selection of a jury is expected to be short, as scores of Klamath County people have never heard of the ballot theft cases, and have no opinions or interest. The jury list has been ordered to report Monday morning at 9:30 o'clock.
    First of the state witnesses have been ordered to report Monday afternoon. These include the Sexton brothers, Wesley McKitrick, Virgil Edington, and others who have pleaded guilty to participation in the vote stealing. Other state witnesses will be E. A. Fleming, Earl Bryant, and James D. Gaddy, who admit a role in the crime.
    The state is expected to call to the stand a number of witnesses who have not testified in the previous ballot-theft trials.
    The trial is expected to last the better part of two weeks.
    All the remaining ballot theft trials have been moved to Klamath County. Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, mentioned in the testimony to date, as a busy worker around the courthouse on the night of February, conferring, directing, and guarding, is scheduled to go on trial following the Fehl case.
    Brecheen is the "forgotten man" of the turmoil. Arrested on February 25, unlike all the rest, bonds have never been provided for him, and his calling list has been limited to a few "congressmen." There has been spasmodic but unsuccessful effort to secure his release.
    Brecheen has been a resident of the valley for about two years, coming here from Alameda County, California, and locating at Ashland, where he immediately became an active political worker, and secured campaign in the south end of the registrations in the 1932 primary county.
    Last January Brecheen became one of the so-called "courthouse pets," eating many of his meals and sleeping there. When L. A. Banks, former local agitator and convicted slayer, organized the self-styled "Good Government Congress," Brecheen enrolled and was the "story-teller" of the conclaves and assemblies. It was Brecheen's job to "make 'em laugh," and his platform appearances were never marked by fiery orations and wild charges.
    He claimed to be "a personal friend of President Roosevelt of 25 years standing." When a "congresswoman" doubted the claim, Brecheen dared her to send a telegram to Washington, D.C., which was done at county expense, it is said. This was about the time other "congress" leaders were alleging intimate acquaintance with chief justices, senators and cabinet officials, to impress the rank and file.
    Following Brecheen, the indictments against J. Croft, "the man in the horsehair coat," Oliver Martin, former Klamath County resident, and Claude Ward, brother-in-law of Banks, will be aired. All enacted minor roles on the night of the vote-stealing as guards and messengers, the state alleges, and were around and about the courthouse.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 21, 1933, page 6


    Jackson County's drama of turmoil, most of the time sprinkled with wild comedy, with grim tragedy intermingled, shifts to Klamath County the coming week where County Judge Earl H. Fehl goes on trial at Klamath Falls, charged with ballot theft. He is the fifth of the defendants to go on trial. Three have been convicted, and one acquitted. Statewide interest attaches to the case.
    It is expected that the jury will be selected Monday, and the first witness take the stand Tuesday. Though close, Klamath County has taken but passing interest in the local agitation. Like the rest of Oregon, it has marveled at the weird agitation and its results, and went about its daily business feeling it was a matter for Jackson County alone to figure out. The trial is expected to last ten days, at the least.
    Both the state and defense completed preliminary arrangements yesterday and await the opening of court in the morning. The state will call close to 45 witnesses--many of them not testifying in the previous trials. The defense has listed 45 witnesses. Two of three surprise witnesses and exhibits are expected from the state's case.
    The state will be represented by Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody and Deputy District Attorney George W. Neilson. The defense will be represented by attorney A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, H. Von Schmalz of Burns, and T. J. Enright of this city.
    The trial was moved to Klamath County last week when Circuit Judge Skipworth, after two denials, granted a change of venue on motion of the defense.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 23, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., July 26.--(AP)--Charles Brower of Ashland, surprise witness for the state, this afternoon testified he had heard Earl H. Fehl, Jackson County judge, and T. L. Brecheen, co-defendants in the ballot theft case, say they had picked the stickers off the ballot boxes in the Jackson County courthouse.
    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., July 26.--(AP)--Opening statements were completed, and the first state witness called to the stand this morning in the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, charged with ballot-theft conspiracy, wherein more than 10,000 ballots cast in the last general election were stolen and destroyed.
    Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody in his opening statement declared "the evidence will show that Fehl was the master-mind of the conspiracy and that the motive was to prevent a recount, not alone for the office of sheriff, but for other officers."
    The state's attorney further declared "that late last November, or early in December, before Fehl assumed office, Fehl and Tom L. Brecheen, a co-defendant, got into the county clerk's office one night and tore off stickers from ballot pouches to leave the impression they had been tampered with, to be used as a basis for a recount protest.
    "The evidence will further show," Moody declared, "that Brecheen left his stickers for the wind to blow away, but Fehl packed his away in his coat pocket.
    "The evidence will show that to cover up the sticker removal act, Fehl called the attention of members of the grand jury, particularly the foreman, to the missing stickers, and Fehl was in confidential communication with the grand jury foreman, and carried information gained to other persons interested," Moody said.
    "The state will further show that Fehl asked several people if the removal of ballot pouch stickers was sufficient to prevent a recount, and when told it was not, declared some other way will be found, and further said there would be no recount, and that Ralph Jennings will never be sheriff," the prosecutor said.
    The state attorney said the state would prove that Fehl opposed the appointment of a night watchman for the courthouse following the robbery; that Fehl had attempted to issue warrants for the arrest of officers actively engaged in ballot-theft investigation, and was halted by a court injunction; that Fehl was around the courthouse all evening while the robbery was in progress, that Fehl's associates acted as guards and that Fehl attended a meeting in the county judge's office late in the afternoon of the robbery date, when plans "for getting rid of the ballots" were discussed.
    Moody's address lasted slightly more than an hour, and in a 15-minute reply attorney T. J. Enright declared the defense would show that Fehl had nothing to do with the ballot robbery; that he had no interest in the sheriff office recount; that at the time the state contends he was conniving with others to steal the ballots, he was arranging bonds for L. A. Banks, "as an act of courtesy," and would show that Fehl was at dinner in his home when the state holds he was on the basement floor of the courthouse, discussing robbery plans.
    The first witness called by the state was County Clerk George R. Carter of Jackson County, who identified records and court documents. He was followed on the stand by deputy clerks Nydah Neil and Helen Dugan, who testified to the removal of the ballot pouches from the vault to the courtroom.
    Verne Shangle, Medford photographer, identified a number of photos of the Jackson County courthouse and spots connected with the crime.
    Burley Sexton, 20, the youth who admitted he broke the vault window, and aided in the theft of 18 or more ballot pouches, will be called to the stand this afternoon.
    KLAMATH FALLS, July 26 --The jury of Klamath County residents who will decide the fate of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County on trial here charged with ballot theft, was formally accepted and sworn in by the court at 3:30 o'clock Tuesday afternoon.
    Besides the regular jury of 12, two alternates were sworn in. The court took a half-hour recess to permit some of the jurors to return to their homes and make ready to stay, in charge of bailiffs, for the duration of the trial.
    The jury, as sworn, is as follows:
    Gertrude Cawker, 45, housewife, Klamath Falls.
    Chester Avery, 50, farmer, Merrill.
    Joseph S. Bolduc, 60, laborer, Klamath Falls.
    Gus G. Johnson, 40, contractor, Klamath Falls.
    Roy Taber, 35, garageman, Merrill.
    Walter Locke, 40, auto dealer, Klamath Falls.
    Frank Savage, 43, merchant, Chiloquin.
    William Zumdrum, 33, farmer, Fort Klamath.
    H. H. Jenkins, 50, lumberman, Klamath Falls.
    Robert T. Baldwin, 56, mechanic, Klamath Falls.
    Alternates--
    E. T. Higginson, 35, sawmill worker, Klamath Falls.
    Thomas Durbin, 30, railroad fireman, Klamath Falls.
    The jury was placed in charge of bailiffs Earl Fry, of Medford, Frank Ham, and Marie Newson, of Klamath Falls, and will so remain until the case is finished.
    Robert T. Baldwin, a mechanic of Klamath Falls, was the twelfth regular juror selected, and was subjected to long questioning by both sides. Baldwin was noncommittal and evasive in some of his answers, and brought a judicial frown from the court just before recess.
    The court inquired of jurors accepted during the afternoon session if they would require time to go home and make preparations for a stay away.
    Baldwin asked, facetiously:
    "Do you want us to go home and get a bed?"
    The court repeated its inquiry firmly.
    The defense in its queries asked jurors if they thought people had the right to assemble, and to meet and discuss questions with their county judges. The defense also wanted to know what quantity of proof would be necessary to show conspiracy.
    The state asked jurors if they would accept the testimony of accomplices, if corroborated, and if they entertained any bias against such testimony, explaining that several of the state witnesses had pleaded guilty, and admitted their part in the ballot thefts. Attorney Moody told the jury, "This is just an ordinary criminal case."
    Louis Nol, retired, Klamath Falls, was excused by the court when he declared he had doubts about accepting the testimony of accomplices.
    Charles T. Roberts of Klamath Falls was excused as an alternate when he said he had read much of the case and entertained fixed opinions.
    The first of the state witnesses arrived in the city Tuesday. They were: Verne Shangle, photographer, who took pictures of the Jackson County courthouse and locations inside and outside that figured in the crime; County Clerk George Carter and two deputies, Misses Nydah Neil and Helen Dugan; the Sexton brothers, Mason Burley, 20, and Wilbur, 17, who have confessed their roles in the crime.
    Mason Burley Sexton at other ballot-theft trials testified that at a signal from Walter J. Jones, mayor of Rogue River, he smashed the vault window with an ax, and Wilbur Sexton testified that with C. Jean Conner of Pinehurst he crawled into the vault window and passed out ballot pouches.
    R. C. Cummings of Rogue River, another state witness, will testify that he started his old model auto and raced its engine to drown the sound of falling glass when Mason Burley Sexton broke the window. Cummings with the Sexton brothers, the trio will testify, disposed of the first four stolen ballot pouches, by casting them into Rogue River.
    The state has indicated that in the Fehl trial it will produce evidence tending to show that the conspiracy to destroy the ballots was born shortly after the November 1932 election, and that Fehl, from the outset, was involved.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 26, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., July 26.--Sentiment in this town in the Jackson County ballot theft cases in general, and the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, now under way before Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth is neutral, with no opinions, no prejudices, practically no interest, and no violent views pro or con, on facts and the outcome.
    Klamath Falls--a payroll town, with 35 mills of various sizes within the immediate trading area--is much more concerned with a strike of lumber workers that threatens to stem the returning wave of prosperity, than in another chapter in Jackson County's long-prolonged L. A. Banks-spawned turmoil.
    The main thought as expressed on the streets, in the hotel lobbies, in the clubs, and among people generally is:
    "We don't know anything about it, and we don't care anything about it."
    Monday afternoon on the opening day of the trial the seat section of the courthouse was only half filled. There were less than 100 people in the courtroom, including prospective jurors, attorneys, court attaches, and the curious. The rank and file were down on the street discussing the local labor situation. The ballot theft trial was not even a casual conversation topic.
    Among those present were Captain Oliver Applegate, patriarch of Southern Oregon pioneers, with his long, white flowing beard.
    "It might turn out to be quite interesting," Captain Applegate opined at the afternoon recess. He had no views--it was just another trial.
    The community "jitters," that marked proceedings in Medford, and the propaganda that was so pronounced at the L. A. Banks murder trial in Eugene, is entirely absent here.
    Among those present here, and familiar figures at all previous court sessions are:
    Former Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn, convicted of ballot theft, and his attorney, Frank J. Newman; Walter J. Jones. mayor of Rogue River, also convicted; Arthur LaDieu, former Banks newspaper manager, and former Klamath Falls resident, first of the ballot theft defendants to be tried and found guilty; L. O. VanWegen, identified with Henrietta B. Martin, president of the self-styled "Good Government Congress" in the Leonard Hall horsewhipping episode; John Glenn of Ashland, former county jailer, acquitted on the Fourth of July by a Jackson County jury of which Charles Blaess of Trail was foreman, and Mrs. Glenn, and Amos W. Walker, sometimes probation officer of Jackson County, and sometimes not.
    The "congress" chief as yet has not made her appearance on the local scene.
    Defendant Fehl occupies a place at the defense table, close to the jury box. Mrs. Fehl is seated close by. Fehl sat for the most part with his face buried in his hands. At times he took a keen interest in the proceedings and consulted with attorney Enright, suggesting questions for the veniremen.
    Fehl's counsel has been augmented by attorney John Irwin, an old-timer of the Klamath County bar with wide acquaintances. He is ostensibly employed because of his wide acquaintance in Klamath County. He is president of the Klamath Taxpayers League. Each juror was asked by the state if he belonged to this organization, and none answered in the affirmative.
    Among the veniremen questioned late Monday afternoon was William Zumbrum of Fort Klamath, father of "Dutch" Zumbrum, a couple of years ago a fullback of the Medford High School football team. Zumbrum has a little daughter living in Medford and attending grade school. He is also related to John H. Hughes, one of the many candidates for sheriff a year ago. The state questioned him on these points. Zumbrum said he had talked little of the case, and knew only a smattering of the facts.
    The defense questioned veniremen on an editorial appearing last Friday in the "Klamath Basin Progress" entitled "Just Pals." It pictured a relationship between attorney Elton Watkins of Portland, one of ex-Sheriff Schermerhorn's attorneys in the recount proceedings, and Mayor Maloney of Klamath Falls. None of the prospective jurors had read the article, though a few had seen the paper.
    The court, at one point of the afternoon session, commented to a juror: "You will try this case on the evidence, not what you read in a newspaper."
Medford Mail Tribune, July 26, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 27.--Damaging testimony tending to link Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County charged with ballot theft conspiracy, with its commission was introduced by the state Tuesday afternoon, from the lips of Harley R. Brower of Ashland, Oregon, and attorney M. O. Wilkins, formerly of Ashland and Chiloquin, Oregon, and now a resident of the Portland area.
    Brower testified that about the middle of last December he was present at a conversation in Tom Brecheen's room in Ashland, between Fehl and Brecheen, in which Fehl said he had "picked seals off the ballot pouches in the clerk's office" and had placed some of them on the window sill "for the wind to take care of," and "had carried away some in their pockets." Fehl also said: "I can't have Jennings as sheriff while I am county judge."
    "They thought that would stop the recount for sheriff, but I was a member of the election board in Ashland, and told them that the seals wouldn't stick on the pouches, anyway, and I didn't think the judge would call off the recount for that," the witness further testified.
    Brower testified that Fehl told him he had carried away some of the removed "stickers in his pocket," and that the witness had expressed "the opinion that monkeying with the stickers was not tampering with the ballots."
    Under cross-examination, Brower admitted that he had sought to be named a deputy sheriff by Schermerhorn, "but was not mad because I didn't get it."
    Brower said that Brecheen was "ailing" at the time, and that he was one of a group of friends who "took care of him and cooked his meals." Brower said Fehl visited Brecheen in his Ashland quarters three or four times a week until January 1, and after that date but once or twice a week.
    Brower testified that he was present at a meeting at Fehl's home in Medford in the early morning of January 2 last, with ten others, when Schermerhorn's appointees were announced.
    After Schermerhorn had shaved, he came into the room where the group had gathered, was introduced, and announced, "I am going to appoint the youngest and the oldest," and then named John Glenn, 57, jailer, and Clark Thomas, a young man, his assistant. Brower listed as those present Jesse Thomas and Nick Rossi, Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, Everett Ball, Clark Thomas and Phil Lowd.
    Brecheen is a co-defendant of Fehl's, the next to be tried for ballot theft.
    Under further cross-examination Brower denied that Mrs. Electa Fehl, wife of the defendant, was present at the conversation.
    The witness was unable to remember the exact date, or the exact words.
    Attorney M. O. Wilkins, formerly city attorney of Chiloquin, and former counsel of L. A. Banks, testified that with Banks and Fehl he had discussed the "recount matter" in Banks' home in Medford and that Fehl, at one of these meetings, had asked him:
    "What would occur if the ballots were missing?" and that he had replied, "it would mean that the recount would fail."
    Attorney Wilkins said that Fehl asked him to repeat his opinion to Banks, and that a day or two later he did so, in Fehl's presence.
    The witness further testified that Fehl told him "Jennings will never be sheriff."
    At another meeting in the Banks home, Fehl remarked that the ballot pouches were lying on the floor in the clerk's office, and that keys were in one or two of the locks, and that the attention of the grand jury had been called to them.
    Before attorney Wilkins was allowed to testify, the defense questioned him at length, whether or not he was Fehl's attorney, during the period to which he was testifying, and Wilkins said he was not. The defense hinted that he was, and his testimony was revealing confidential and professional matter, contrary to legal ethics. The witness testified he was not Fehl's counsel then, but did act as such in the Lamkin-Bursell contempt proceedings, before Fehl, in opposing the appointment of R. E. Nealon as county commissioner by Lamkin and Bursell, before they retired as county judge and commissioner.
    Assistant Attorney General Moody called the attention of the court to the law wherein "a defendant is not protected by confidential information given when contemplating a crime and not revealed until after the crime is committed."
    Attorney Wilkins testified that conversations with Banks and Fehl were held at Banks' home last December, when the recount was discussed in detail, and Fehl said he had advised Schermerhorn's recount contest. Fehl asked for details on the recount laws and proceedings.
    Attorney Wilkins said he had presented a bill for $100 to Fehl for services rendered in the Lamkin-Bursell contest, and that he had presented a bill to Schermerhorn, but it was repudiated, as Schermerhorn said Fehl "has nothing to do with it."
    County Clerk George Carter testified that when Fehl was informed of the ballot robbery, the morning after, in the presence of Commissioners R. E. Nealon and Ralph Billings, the witness, and Fehl, the defendant "was not interested." The answer was stricken, on defense objections.
    The witness was asked to detail Fehl's demeanor, and said "he seemed indifferent." This answer was also ordered stricken.
    Clerk Carter testified that Fehl had opposed the appointment of a night watchman for the Jackson County courthouse following the robbery, but one was named.
    Nydah Neil and Helen Dugan, deputies in the clerk's office, testified to the condition of the clerk's vault, where the ballots were stored in the evening when the ballots were returned from the courtroom (it was orderly) and the next morning, when it was in disorder.
    Vern Shangle identified a number of photographs of the Jackson County courthouse, showing the scene of the crime, and other views connected with it.
    Donald Tryer, formerly a Southern Pacific employee at Ashland, and so deaf it was necessary for the attorneys to speak louder than usual, testified that he was one of "the armed guards" for L. A. Banks at his newspaper plant, and that he visited the Jackson County courthouse on the afternoon of February 20, and was "propositioned twice" by C. Jean Conner, vice-president of the "Good Government Congress," and one of those entering pleas of guilty, to help steal the ballots while they were being removed from the courtroom to the vault, after the decision to hold the recount had been handed down.
    The witness said he refused, "because I didn't want to get tangled up with Uncle Sam."
    Tryer was asked by the state "if he had been called to account for his testimony in the LaDieu case?" The court sustained the defense objection, but held it could be used in rebuttal testimony, if desired.
    Burley Mason Sexton, 20, who has pled guilty, and admitted that he swung the ax that broke the vault window, was the final witness of the day for the state. Sexton marked with an "X" photographs showing spots around which the crime centered.
    Sexton testified that he was arrested January 1 for a New Year's Eve row, and that the charge was later dismissed by the grand jury; that he was married, and the father of a baby girl, and that he was given food and lodging at the Jackson County courthouse in exchange for janitor services through the offices of Fehl, Glenn, the jailer, and Schermerhorn, then sheriff.
    The youthful witness testified that on the evening before the robbery, with his brother Wilbur, 17, Tom L. Brecheen, C. W. Davis and Fehl, had discussed the combination of the clerk's vault, and that at the suggestion of Brecheen, while Fehl was present, he had flicked the vault lights so Brecheen could locate the vault window from the outside.
    Sexton testified that before Fehl left the meeting to address the "Good Government Congress" he told him and his brother, in a joking manner, "I'd hate to see you boys break into that vault," and that at another stage of the conversation Fehl said with an oath: "I'll show those ------ ------ ------ a trick or two, before I get through."
Medford Mail Tribune, July 27, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 27.--The district attorney, the Jackson County press, the "Committee of 100," attorney O. C. Boggs, and the Jennings family--father and sons--were flayed by attorney Enright, in a brief opening statement on behalf of his client, County Judge Fehl, here Wednesday morning.
    Attorney Enright charged "the indictment against Fehl is the result of a frame-up by the district attorney's office," and "malicious attempt to eliminate Fehl as county judge so the gang over there can name someone they can handle, and there won't be any more investigations of thousands of dollars spent by the district attorney without authority.
    "The 'Committee of 100' is a bunco organization, headed by the notorious O. C. Boggs, of the Jackson County Loan Association...."
    "The local press has been very bitter against Fehl, and the Mail Tribune has printed scurrilous lies about him, right up to the present time.
    "About every ten minutes General Moody mentioned L. A. Banks, who has nothing to do with this case. His case is disposed of. They mention Banks to prejudice this jury against the defendant."
    Other high points of Enright's comments were:
    "Fehl had nothing to do with the ballot robbery, and had no interest in who was sheriff. Why should he? He was elected by close to 1500 majority.
    "Fehl was not a member of the 'Good Government Congress,' and never did belong.
    "We will call Henrietta B. Martin to the stand to show what went on on the platform after the meeting adjourned, and that they left by the back door which can only be opened from the inside.
    "The grand jury asked Fehl to attend the meeting, and explain the law on the use of public property for meetings. Commissioner Nealon and the notorious O. C. Boggs had complained to the grand jury that communism was being preached, and that threats against government were uttered.
    "The state's case is made up of insinuations and suspicions.... It is just a lot of dreams. It reminds me of the story of a man who went to China and was given a can of opium to smoke, and was dressed in fine silks.
    "Fehl helped arrange bonds for Banks, just as a matter of courtesy to Banks, and which any man would do for another.
    "We will show that Fehl ate dinner at his home with Walter Jones and members of his family, and did not arrive at the courthouse until after eight o'clock.
    "We will show that Fehl and John Glenn were in Fehl's office until nearly 10 o'clock, talking over a loan to get Fehl's press back."
    (The state holds that Fehl was conversing with Brecheen and the Sexton brothers, between seven and eight o'clock, and that the crime was committed between nine and ten o'clock, on the night of February 20.)
Medford Mail Tribune, July 27, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 27.--(Spl.)--In his opening statement to the jury yesterday on behalf of the state, Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody said:
    "It appeared upon the face of the election returns as tabulated by the county clerk after the last November election that Earl H. Fehl was elected county judge and that Gordon Schermerhorn was elected sheriff. Proceedings were instituted by Ralph Jennings, who was a 'write-in' candidate for the office of sheriff, contesting the election of Schermerhorn, and demanding under the statute a recount of the votes cast for the office of sheriff, claiming that that recount would show that Jennings was elected sheriff rather than Schermerhorn.
    "The ballot pouches and boxes containing the ballots cast at the 1932 general election when returned to the county clerk's office were piled on the floor, or in a corner of said office and not placed in the vault, They were not placed in the vault until New Year's Eve of 1933. When it was learned that there was an attempt to have the votes of the November election recounted consternation possessed Fehl and his adherents. It was determined by them that no recount of the ballots should be made and that all means necessary were to be adopted to prevent the recount of the ballots. During the latter part of November or the early part of December Fehl, with another, tampered with the ballot boxes which were then on the floor of the county clerk's office and had not yet been placed in the vault, and a few of the seals were taken off of these ballot boxes by Fehl and some others so as to indicate that the ballot boxes had been tampered with and thus prevent the court from allowing a recount.
    "In the contest proceedings objection was made to the recount of the ballots by reason of the ballot boxes presenting physical evidence of having been tampered with. And it was the understanding of the parties who were interested in preventing the recount that if the judge should allow a recount, notwithstanding the physical evidence showing that the ballot box had been tampered with, that such other means would be taken or adopted as would be sufficient to prevent a recount of the ballots. When the judge ordered a recount of the ballots it was then intended to steal the ballot pouches from the messengers who were conveying the pouches to and from the court house basement vault to the courtroom. However this plan or scheme to steal the ballots from the messenger boy for some reason or other was not accomplished. However an endeavor was made to accomplish this theft. After the ballots on the evening of the day that the judge ordered a recount to take place the next morning were placed in the vault it became necessary in order to prevent a recount to arrange for the breaking into the vault and the stealing therefrom of the ballots. This was accomplished, arrangements having been made by Fehl, and those associated with him in the conspiracy.
    "Schermerhorn was kept out of the state from the time that proceedings instituted against him to recount the ballots until he took his oath of office and qualified in the early morning hours of January 2, 1933, thus permitting him to remain in office during the pendency of the contest proceedings against him. Had he not absented himself from the state so that service could have been made on him the election contest and the recount of the ballots, had they been there to recount, [the recount] would have taken place before his term of office began. While Schermerhorn was absent from the state he was in constant touch with Fehl and obeying his directions, and on the early morning of his return Schermerhorn appointed as his deputy the ones that Fehl and Banks directed him to name.
    "The evidence will show that Fehl was aware and present around the premises at the time the actual burglary took place when some 36 ballot pouches were stolen from the vault and the ballots subsequently destroyed by those who carried them away. It was evidently the intention of Fehl to prevent not only a recount of the office of sheriff but to prevent a recount of the votes of any other office--the county judgeship included. The evidence will show that there was a meeting in the court house in Fehl's office on the late afternoon of February 20, 1933, after the judge had ordered the recount to proceed the following morning. This was a secret meeting at which were present Fehl, Banks, LaDieu, Jones, Schermerhorn, Brecheen, Glenn, Amos Walker, and others whose identity the evidence will reveal."
Medford Mail Tribune, July 27, 1933, page 5


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 27.--The state in the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, on trial for ballot theft conspiracy Wednesday afternoon, introduced for purposes of identification files of habeas corpus proceedings instituted by Fehl last February against Chief of Police Clatous McCredie, to secure the release of Virgil Edington, C. W. (Chuck) Davis, Tom L. Brecheen, and others arrested for ballot theft.
    To halt the proceedings launched by Fehl, an injunction was obtained in circuit court.
    County Clerk Carter testified that he had procured the records last Monday. July 24, the day the present trial started, from Mrs. Ingrid Holmes, secretary to the county court, who took them from Fehl's desk.
    The documents were the originals of the abortive action started by Fehl when the arrests for ballot thefts were launched.
    Fehl was in attendance in court in this city when the documents were turned over by his secretary in Medford.
    Their appearance came as a surprise to the defense.
    They were introduced by the state as part of the chain of evidence showing Fehl's interest and aid to those accused.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 27, 1933, page 5


    Alleging that County Judge Earl H. Fehl and Tom L. Brecheen got into the county clerk's office, shortly after the general election last November, and tore off stickers on ballot pouches in order that they might claim the votes had been tampered with, and thus prevent a recount, the state opened its case against Fehl in Klamath County courts Tuesday, confident that it will prove that Fehl was the brains behind the subsequent ballot theft in February.
    The state will seek to prove that Fehl from the very first did not want a recount of the votes, not only because he did not wish Schermerhorn to be ousted as sheriff, but because he feared a change might result in other offices as well.
    Prosecuting Attorney Moody, in his opening address to the jury, stated in part as follows:
    "The evidence will show that to cover up the sticker removal act, Fehl called the attention of members of the grand jury, particularly the foreman, to the missing stickers, and Fehl was in confidential communication with the grand jury foreman, and carried information gained to other persons interested," Moody said.
    "The state will further show that Fehl asked several people if the removal of ballot pouch stickers was sufficient to prevent a recount, and when told it was not, declared some other way will be found, and further said there would be no recount, and that Ralph Jennings will never be sheriff," the prosecution said.
    The state attorney said the state would prove that Fehl opposed the appointment of a night watchman for the courthouse following the robbery; that Fehl had attempted to issue warrants for the arrest of officials actively engaged in ballot theft investigation, and was halted by a court injunction; that Fehl was around the courthouse all evening while the robbery was in progress; that Fehl's associates acted as guards and that Fehl attended a meeting in the county judge's office late in the afternoon of the robbery date, when plans "for getting rid of the ballots" were discussed.
Gold Hill News, July 27, 1933, page 4


    Eighteen witnesses, called by the state, left here this morning for Klamath Falls, where they were expected to testify later today in the trial of County Judge Earl H. Fehl for ballot theft.
    Several others have been subpoenaed for appearance tomorrow, the fifth day of the trial.
    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., July 28.--(AP)--More testimony that the state of Oregon contends links Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, with the ballot theft conspiracy with which he stands charged before a Klamath County jury, was introduced this morning from the lips of Wilbur Sexton, a 17-year-old youth who admits he entered the county vault window and helped pass out 32 ballot pouches on the night of February 20th last.
    Young Sexton testified that when the crime was suggested to him and his brother Burley, by John Glenn, former county jailer, acquitted of the same charge, his brother replied:
    "There is too much law around here," and Glenn replied: "You have nothing to worry about. The sheriff and all his deputies and Judge Fehl are in on this."
    Wilbur Sexton also testified that Tom L. Brecheen, a co-defendant, told him, after the vault window was broken, "If anything happens, we will all go into the sheriff's vault, and hide."
    Defense counsel interrupted the witness to ask: "Did you say, 'We will all go into the sheriff's vault, and hide.'"
    "No, I didn't, but I have often wished they had," retorted the witness, as the court rapped for order.
    The state scored an important legal victory when the court ruled that the declarations of John Glenn to the Sextons were admissible as testimony. The defense contended that the acquittal of Glenn barred the declarations. The court held there was no rule of law supporting the defense contentions.
    The court also ruled that the record of Glenn's acquittal could not be introduced as evidence.
    Burley Sexton, the first witness of the day, testified that Glenn had promised him and his brother $10 each, and a good job, if they would help "get the ballots."
    Burley Sexton testified that Fehl had promised him a job as janitor, but when he reported for the courthouse keys, Fehl told him, "I will have to fix up some place else, as the commissioners voted me down. I will find a place for you in the boiler room."
    Wilbur Sexton testified that after the vault window was broken he and C. Jean Conner, vice president of the "Good Government Congress," entered the vault and passed out the first four ballot pouches.
    The youth admitted he had helped his brother burn the contents of 18 ballot pouches in the courthouse furnace.
    Wilbur Sexton also testified that Fehl had asked him if there were bars on the vault window, where the ballots were stored, and that when leaving to make a "congress" speech, said: "I'd hate to see you boys break into that vault and steal the ballots."
    State Policemen Ed Walker and Rodney Roach identified ballot pouches they recovered from Rogue River.
    Captain Lee M. Bown identified tools used in breaking the window and burnt ballots removed from the courthouse furnace after the robbery.
    KLAMATH FALLS, July 28.--A half dozen state witnesses came to the stand Thursday afternoon to testify to the destruction of 10,000 Jackson County ballots last February, and by inference link Earl H. Fehl, county judge, on trial in the amazingly audacious crime.
    In the cross-examination of R. C. Cummings, the defense gave a hint of their claim that Fehl appeared at the Good Government Congress and made a speech at the behest of the "secretary of the grand jury."
    Cummings could not recall that Fehl had stated "the secretary of the grand jury" had requested him to make a speech, but did recall that Fehl had mentioned the recount, and the audience had said "No!", and that Fehl had reported, "the complaint had been made of feet being placed on the walls," and "there are government agents in the house listening to what is being said."
    Cummings was subjected to a long and minute cross-examination but did not change his story in a single detail.
    The witness told again of starting his ancient auto, to drown the sound of breaking glass with the aid of "congress" cheers, and how he and the Sexton brothers threw the first four stolen ballot pouches in Rogue River.
    Cummings testified that the first intimation he had that the ballots were to be stolen was when Tom L. Brecheen said, "We got to get rid of the damned ballots tonight," and that Walter Jones told him to back his Ford up to the rear of the courthouse as a noisemaker.
    Wesley McKitrick, who with Arthur LaDieu and Virgil Edington destroyed six ballot pouches and contents, testified that he was "captain of the Banks guards," that the guards lived in a house owned by the Fehl Realty Company, and received provisions from the county commissary on orders of Fehl, as county judge.
    One of the jurors asked who hired the guards, and paid, and the witness replied that Banks and Arthur LaDieu did, "but never paid them."
    At another stage of the proceedings a juror asked, "Who is this man Brecheen?" and the court replied, he is a co-defendant still to be tried.
    McKitrick testified that Brecheen proposed that "he get some of the boys and steal the ballots from the Sextons on the way from the court room, but the idea was abandoned as too foolhardy.
    Virgil Edington told of his participation in the crime with Arthur LaDieu and Wesley McKitrick, and declared that Fehl spoke at two of the "congress" meetings in the armory and was present at most of the meetings and "spoke at most of them."
    Fehl, through his attorneys, has denied that he was a "congressman," or ever spoke at any session except the one on February 20, and then at the request of the grand jury, of which William T. Grieve was foreman and Mrs. Hamilton Patton secretary.
    Edington described, as in previous trials, how he and Wesley McKitrick and Arthur LaDieu had gone to the home of Walter J. Jones in Rogue River, with contents of six ballot pouches, some of which were later burned in the McKitrick stove, and the pouches thrown in Rogue River at Galls Creek. Jones and his son-in-law, Shirley Hug, providing the pitch for the burning process.
    Earl Bryant of Jacksonville testified that he attended the "congress" and was backed up against the southwest corner of the courthouse by two "big men," one of whom waved a hammer, and that later five ballot pouches were thrown into his Ford truck by E. A. Fleming of Jacksonville, and three men he did not know. They destroyed the ballots.
    Bryant testified that he saw Fehl standing in front of the courthouse about 11 o'clock, and that when ready to leave Fleming said:
    "Wait a minute; Fehl wants to see me."
    He started for the rear of the courthouse, and when about halfway turned back, and then again retraced his steps, and talked to somebody.
    Bryant testified that he asked Fleming what was in the back of the auto truck, and at first Fleming gave no answer, but later said:
    "Ballots."
    Bryant said: "That's bad business," and Fleming replied: "Yes, it is."
    Walter Lowd testified to the condition of his brother Phil's auto, after it had been borrowed by LaDieu.
    Mrs. Nora B. McKitrick and her daughter-in-law Elsie corroborated the testimony of Wesley McKitrick and Edington.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 28, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 26.--Witnesses who will testify for the defense in the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, commenced to report Thursday, though the defense is not expected to open until next Monday or Tuesday.
    They include Henrietta B. Martin, president of the self-styled "Good Government Congress"; May Powell of Talent, one of the defense witnesses in the murder trial of L. A. Banks at Eugene; J. Arthur LaDieu, convicted of ballot theft, and former business manager for Banks; L. O. VanWegen, indicted as an aide of Henrietta B Martin in her buggy-whipping episode, and Shirley Hug and wife of Rogue River, and others.
    The defense announced in its opening statement that Henrietta B. Martin would testify to what was going on on the rostrum among the officials after the "congress" adjourned. It will be her second appearance on the witness stand in any of the trials.
    What with labor trouble brewing in the mills, Klamath Falls continues blandly indifferent to the Fehl trial, and on each day the court room is only partially filled with spectators. The streets are lined with men and occasional groups of women, discussing the mill strike. Lumber is the meat and bread of the city, the source of its greatest income, and small wonder they should have no worry about imported troubles and turmoil.
    Most of the evidence introduced to date by the state is a thrice-told tale, save for the testimony of attorney M. O. Wilkins, once bosom confidant of Fehl and Banks, and Harley Brower of Ashland, who cooked for and nursed Tom L. Brecheen, described by Burley Sexton as the "assistant superintendent of the job."
    Brower testified that Fehl and Brecheen admitted to him they had torn stickers off ballot pouches, in the hopes that it would lead the court to deny the recount, and cast suspicions that the ballots had been tampered with while stored in the clerk's office.
    The state contends it will prove that Fehl packed off some of the stickers in his pockets, and that some were left on the window sill, to be found later by the janitors.
    The state theory holds that Fehl started to worry about the recount about the middle of November.
    The defense has indicated that it will claim "one of the Jennings boys is involved" and was seen in the courthouse. When the ballots were stolen, the first rumor said, "Suspicion points to the Jennings boys."
    The state has introduced, but not yet formally as evidence, the tabulation of votes cast in Jackson County for the various county offices, showing the discrepancies in the number of votes cast for county judge, and for the other county offices.
    Records show that Fehl had attempted to issue writs of habeas corpus for the release of Virgil Edington, C. W. Davis, the Sextons and others arrested for ballot theft, and his attempt to issue a warrant for the arrest of Chief of Police McCredie, active in the ballot case investigation that resulted in the wholesale arrests.
    These records were turned over to County Clerk Carter by Mrs. Ingrid Holmes, secretary to Fehl, on July 24, the day the trial started.
    The state the past two days has been engaged in showing the crime and telling its details, and the name of Fehl and Brecheen has been frequently mentioned.
    It is admitted that the "dynamite" of the state's case will not be revealed until near the close of its direct case, and on rebuttal.
    Mason Burley Sexton, former Coos County youth, one of the central figures in the robbery and destruction last February of more than 10,000 Jackson County ballots cast in the last general election, was the principal witness at Thursday morning's session of the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, charged with ballot-theft conspiracy.
    The state charges that Fehl was the master mind of the conspiracy. Sexton has entered a plea of guilty, and admitted on the stand that at a signal from Walter J. Jones, former mayor of the town of Rogue River, convicted of participation in the crime, he swung the ax that smashed the vault window while the self-styled "Good Government Congress" cheered, and R. C. Cummings, another co-defendant who has pled guilty, raced his ancient auto to drown the sound of the falling glass.
    Sexton's testimony dealt with all the defendants, and the defense objection to his mention of John Glenn, former county jailer and pensioned Spanish-American War veteran, acquitted on the Fourth of July, on the grounds that Glenn had been freed, and the defendant Fehl could not conspire with an innocent man, was overruled. The state contended that the position of the defense was "unsound, fallacious, and foolish," and that the same position could be taken on the cases of
Walter J. Jones, Arthur LaDieu, and former Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn of Jackson County, all convicted of ballot theft, and called as defense witnesses.
    The court overruled the defense objection, except insofar as it concerned the "money deal between the Sexton brothers and Glenn," the court holding his decision in reserve into later in the day. The state was given the right to re-examine the witness on this point.
    Sexton testified that Glenn had "propositioned" them to commit the crime, and told them when they complained "there is too much law around," that "you needn't be afraid, the sheriff and the county judge are with us."
    Sexton testified that Glenn, C. W. Davis, who has pled guilty, Walter J. Jones, convicted, and his brother Wilbur, 17, had gone to the basement of the Jackson County courthouse to pick out tools to break the vault window, and had chosen an ax when a crowbar failed; how Wilbur Sexton, and C. Jean Conner, vice president of the "Good Government Congress," had passed out four ballot pouches that the Sextons and R. C. Cummings slit and filled with rocks and cast into Rogue River; how when they returned from this expedition, Conner and Wilbur Sexton had passed out six more ballot pouches that were transported in the auto of J. Arthur LaDieu, former business manager of the newspaper of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer, and how Jones had warned the officials of the "congress" not to leave the platform until LaDieu's car had been loaded; how the Sexton brothers at the behest of Tom L. Brecheen had removed eight more ballot pouches and destroyed them in the courthouse furnaces when no one came to remove them from the courtyard, and how the last five pouches had been removed by E. A. Fleming, Earl Bryant, and James D. Gaddy of Jacksonville, all who have entered pleas of guilty.
    Sexton told his amazing tale in a convincing manner, and identified a number of photographs, recovered ballot pouches, and the tops of the ballots which were hidden beneath the courthouse, later to be recovered by the state police.
    Sexton testified that Claude Ward, a brother-in-law of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer, had acted as one of the "guards."
    Sexton also testified that defendant Fehl had been present at a gathering on the basement floor of the courthouse when preliminary plans of the robbery were discussed, and that when Fehl left to address a meeting of the "Good Government Congress" he had said, jokingly:
    "I'd hate to see you boys break into that vault."
    Wilbur Sexton, 17, Virgil Edington, 24, and R. C. Cummings, who admittedly participated in the theft of the ballots, will be called to the stand today, it is expected.
    It is now expected that the state will complete its direct case by Saturday, and that the case will be in the hands of the jury by next Thursday.
    Under cross-examination Sexton remained unshaken and testified that he had seen defendant Fehl in conversation with Jones on the evening of February 20, and that when Fehl asked him to come to his office, when asked what he wanted, Fehl replied: "The d---d commissioners overruled me."
    One juror asked if the ballots were burned in the furnace when the "Good Government Congress" was in session, and another juror asked if the ballots had been thrown in Rogue River.
    When opposing counsel got in an argument over whether or not a monkey-wrench was a weapon, the small courtroom crowd snickered, and the court rapped for order.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 28, 1933, page 1


    MEDFORD, Ore., July 29.--(AP)--Testimony damaging to Earl H. Fehl, Jackson County judge facing trial in Klamath Falls on charges of burglary not in a dwelling, was introduced this afternoon when Reverend O. R. Kring, formerly a leader in the so-called good government congress, stated on the witness stand that Fehl had discussed the stealing of the ballots with him about two weeks before they were taken from the courthouse vault.
    Kring, a metaphysical teacher, arrested last March for criminal syndicalism, stated that Fehl said to him February 6: "How would you like a chance to go down into the vault, and take out some of the ballots?" Fehl had told him "the safe is generally open and it will be easy." The ballots were stolen the night of February 20 during a meeting of the "congress."
    County Commissioner R. E. Nealon, who Fehl's followers had requested to resign after his appointment in January, testified that Fehl had opposed the appointment of a night watchman after the ballots were stolen. He said that when County Clerk George Carter informed Fehl the ballots were stolen "by breaking the vault window," Fehl leaned back in his chair and laughingly said: "Who ever heard of a safe with windows in it," Nealon testified.
    Nealon said that on the afternoon before the ballots were stolen a group gathered in the county court, and when he opened the door [he] saw "Joe Croft, Arthur LaDieu, Walter Jones, Thomas L. Brecheen, L. A. Banks, and a lot of others I didn't know. They stopped talking when they saw me."
    During the cross-examination it was brought out that Fehl and Nealon had a near fist fight when Fehl called Nealon "a dirty so and so."
    The county judge and the commissioner had an argument on whether the vote stealing was an "inside" of an "outside job."
    Then Commissioner Nealon testified. He retorted:
    "It's an inside job, and we will be able to show you how it happened in a day or two."
    The witness said "Fehl slunk down in his chair, and said:
    "I didn't steal the ballots. I saw Joe Daniels, the janitor outside, and talked to him about eleven o'clock."
    Commissioner Nealon testified that Walter J. Jones, convicted mayor of Rogue River, J. Arthur LaDieu, also convicted, Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, next to be tried for ballot theft, "used the county court office as private headquarters," and that C. H. Brown, secretary of the "good government congress was 'an hourly visitor'." Nealon said Brecheen and Brown dined frequently at the county jail table, and he "took steps to stop it." The coterie transacted only private business with Fehl, the witness said.
    Nealon also testified that on the afternoon before the ballot theft, he became suspicious of groups huddled about the corridors of the courthouse, and he asked E. E. Gore of Medford to watch them while he transacted business in the district attorney's office. About six o'clock he came out, and Gore told him there was a group in the county court.
    The commissioner said he bore no bitterness towards Fehl, that when both assumed office they had agreed to work together, but it failed, that he bore no hatred towards Fehl or "anybody else, though there are plenty of people I feel sorry for."
    Attorney Hough in his cross-examination attempted to show that Nealon was a political enemy of Fehl, and that he belonged to "committees in Jackson County" opposed to the defendant.
    Nealon testified he belonged only "to the Grange, a Sunday school, and a church, was a farmer, and had lived all his life in Jackson County."
    Comedy crept in and out of the testimony of the county official.
    Kring further testified that he had "no intentions of following Fehl's suggestion to steal ballots," and had dismissed it from his mind.
    The witness said that Fehl had called the recent decision an "injustice," and that at a meeting at the home of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer, which Fehl attended, Banks asked Kring "what success I was having in getting a special prosecutor, and if I knew of any propaganda to throw blame for the ballot robbery away from Judge Fehl and others."
    The witness said he told Banks that attorney T. J. Enright had written a letter to the state attorney general, and that "contact had been made with Van Winkle, attorney general."
    Kring said the ballot burglary was discussed at the session, which he described as "a circle."
    Kring swore that Fehl turned out the lights in the auditorium about 11 o'clock on the night of the robbery, leaving the lights burning on the rostrum where were seated Henrietta B. Martin, her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Brown, and L. A. Banks, with L. O. VanWegen in the background.
    "Brown became impatient, and his daughter, Mrs. Martin, told him to sit down, and Brown said, "Why do we have to stick around, when everything is done, and we are ready to go?" Banks also asked why the delay, and Mrs. Martin replied:
    "We can't go out the back door until Jones gives us a signal."
    Kring also testified that in general talks with Fehl before the ballots were stolen, Fehl told him, "The ballots can't be counted, they will have to be gotten out of the way somehow."
    Kring further testified that he and his wife, a Mrs. Lindsey, and a Mrs. White, had hastened from the auditorium when they heard the comment of Mrs. Martin.
    Under cross-examination, Kring admitted he had told the defense counsel he could give them some information, and that when he was freed from the county jail on the criminal syndicalism charge attorney Hough had called upon him and asked what he had heard from "the boys in jail about the ballot thefts," and Kring had told him, "Nothing."
    Attorney Von Schmalz subjected Kring to a long cross-examination without materially changing his chief story.
    During the testimony of Kring and Commissioner Nealon, Fehl was an interested listener and frequently smiled at answers of both.
    Jennie Bell Kring testified, corroborating her husband in main details.
    Kring testified that for two years he conducted a "metaphysical mission" in Medford, and was now a resident of Portland.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 30, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 29.--Words and acts of Earl H. Fehl, accused county judge of Jackson County, charged with ballot theft conspiracy on the night of the ballot robbery, were told to the jury Friday afternoon by ten state witnesses.
    William Rosenbaum, airport mechanic of Medford, testified that he attended the meeting of the "Good Government Congress" on the night of February 20 last, when the ballots were stolen, and heard Fehl's speech, in which the defendant asked the audience:
    "Do we want a recount?" and when a portion of the audience said "No," Fehl replied, "Well, we won't have it. If they do I might as well pack up."
    The witness also declared that Fehl told the "congress" "to be careful what you say, as I understand there are four secret service men from Portland in the audience tonight." Fehl also admonished the crowd not to put their feet on the walls.
    Rosenbaum, under cross-examination, said he did not recall hearing Fehl declare that he was appearing before them at the request of the "secretary of the grand jury."
    Rosenbaum also said he saw Fehl "pacing up and down" the south side of the courthouse, and come from the rear of the structure with former Sheriff Schermerhorn about 9:45 o'clock.
    Mrs. Ann Parrott, demure Medford matron, testified that she came to the courthouse about nine o'clock, and left about ten o'clock when the lights went out. She said when this occurred, L. A. Banks, who was speaking, placed his hand in his coat pocket, and moved to the side of the platform. Afterward Banks left by the rear door.
    Mrs. Parrott testified that on or about June 12 last she talked with Fehl at her home on business, and the ballot thefts came up for discussion. Fehl asked her if she remembered seeing him in front of the courthouse. Fehl told her the time was "about 10:20," but the witness said she told him, "It was not that late."
    Mrs. Parrott said that Fehl told her on this occasion that he had been talking with one of the Sexton boys. "I was joking with him, and said it would be funny if the ballots were stolen, and that is all I had to do with the ballot stealing."
    The witness further testified that Saturday evening, June 22, she was at the home of Fehl's mother, when Fehl denied he had been talking to one of the Sexton brothers, but that "It was probably Jack Enright, or Chuck Davis."
    Mrs. Russell Semon of Medford corroborated the testimony of Mrs. Parrott and said she had seen Fehl both at his mother's home and had talked with him at the Parrott home July 22 and Fehl asked what time she saw him in front of the courthouse, and when she said 10 o'clock, Fehl said "It was 10:20," but Mrs. Semon also told him, "It was not that late."
    Mrs. Sermon testified that when the lights went out in the auditorium Banks "sort of jumped to one side," and under cross-examination said Banks acted frightened. He left the platform by the rear door.
    John J. Wilkinson, Medford insurance agent, testified that he was an outside spectator at the "congress" and saw Fehl conferring with Oliver Martin at the southeast corner and saw Fehl walking up and down the south side of the courthouse "three or four times."
    Bert Lowry, Jr., testified that between nine and ten o'clock he was at one of the windows, and saw Fehl pacing up and down, and asked him: "What's the matter, judge, won't they let you in the front door?"
    Fehl in a moment came back and asked "Who said that?" and no one told him.
    Rev. W. J. Howell of the Presbyterian church testified that he saw Fehl on the south side of the building between 8:30 and 9:30 o'clock and saw the defendant conferring with a man beneath a tree. Reverend Howell said that Fehl came to his house recently, and asked him if he remembered seeing him, and when told he had, said he might call him as a witness.
    John Glenn, former county jailer acquitted of a similar charge, testified at his own, and in the trial of Schermerhorn, that he and Fehl were in Fehl's office between nine and ten o'clock--the period of time the witnesses above swore they saw Fehl on the south side of the courthouse.
    Mrs. Catherine Daniels, matron of the county jail, testified that she saw Fehl and Brecheen seated at the sheriff's vault, talking to the Sexton brothers about 7:45 in the evening and spoke to Fehl and Brecheen as she went by, on her way to Rebekah lodge.
    This was corroborative of the Sexton brothers and Chuck Davis, who testified to the same effect.
    Matron Daniels testified that Brecheen was a frequent diner at the county jail between January 1 and the time of the vote stealing, and that he took dinner and breakfast there before and after the robbery.
    Charles W. (Chuck) Davis, one of the defendants who has entered a plea of guilty, testified that he talked to Fehl, Brecheen and the Sexton brothers at the sheriff's vault, and that when Brecheen said:
    "Judge Skipworth ordered the recount and gave Sheriff Schermerhorn one of the rottenest deals a man ever got in court. The ballots should be destroyed," Davis said he warned:
    "If you fellows are figuring on stealing the ballots you will get into plenty of trouble."
    No answer was made by Fehl or Brecheen, and later he repeated the same warning to the Sextons when they were outside at the vault window, trying to open it with a crowbar.
    Davis testified that an argument arose and he insisted that the window could not be opened with a crowbar and that with Jones and the Sextons he had gone to the basement to look for tools.
    Davis said that after the crowbar episode and failure to open the window, he went to a pool hall and did not return to the courthouse until 9:15, when he saw Fehl and Newton C. Chaney standing on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. He said he walked around the courthouse and saw Walter J. Jones, convicted of ballot theft, and Oliver Martin, a co-defendant, standing at the southwest corner. He also saw Claude Ward, a brother-in-law of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer of Constable Prescott, standing at the northwest corner, and returned to where Chaney and Fehl were standing.
    While standing with them and just as he was leaving for home at 9:55 o'clock, Davis testified, Jones came up and said to Fehl:
    "Everything is okay!" and Fehl replied, "Mum is the word."
    Frank McKitrick testified that on the night of the ballot robbery he saw and heard Fehl speaking to the "Good Government Congress" about 8:20 o'clock. At about nine o'clock he saw Fehl and Brecheen entering the courthouse by the main entrance, and saw him standing on the sidewalk shortly afterwards with Jones and that a few minutes later he saw Fehl walking towards a corner adjoining the courthouse.
    McKitrick testified he saw Fehl and Brecheen enter the courthouse close to nine o'clock, with Jones, and that about 15 minutes later, C. Jean Conner, vice president of the "Good Government Congress," told him while he was standing at the southwest corner of the courthouse:
    "There goes the first load of ballots."
    The witness testified he saw Walter J. Jones on all sides of the courthouse, between eight and ten o'clock, the period of time in which he saw defendant Fehl.
    McKitrick testified that after Sheriff Schermerhorn left the courthouse, the entire rear of the structure was in darkness, and this was about the time he heard an auto engine racing furiously. The state contends this noise was to drown the sound of the breaking window glass.
    Virgil Edington was recalled to the stand by the defense to testify to the amount of money he had received from the district attorney's office. Questioned by the defense relative to his motives, Edington said: "As soon as I realized how I had been fooled by L. A. Banks, and some of his lieutenants, I felt I was obligated to the state to do all I could to help clear up this situation, so I gave all the information I could."
    Earl Bryant was recalled by the defense for questioning on his eyesight and meteorological conditions on the night of the robbery.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 30, 1933, page 7


    KLAMATH FALLS, July 31.--The state expects to finish its direct case against Earl H. Fehl by Tuesday noon, at the latest, and the defense of the county judge, charged with ballot theft conspiracy, is expected to require two days and one-half. A day will probably be devoted to the final arguments and instructions of the court, meaning that the case may be in the hands of the jury by Friday afternoon.
    While no definite announcement has been made, it is expected that Fehl will take the stand in his own behalf.
    The glumness of the first days of the trial has seemingly passed for Fehl, and Friday and Saturday, when the state introduced some of its strongest evidence, the accused official smiled, wanly.
    The past three days, attorneys Hough and Von Schmalz have conducted the cross-examination of state witnesses, a job heretofore handled almost exclusively by attorney Enright. The latter counselor now writes copious notes, and voices an occasional objection.
    The defense has not been revealed, but cross-examination questions indicate their contention will be that Fehl was present at the "congress" at the request of the "secretary of the grand jury," where he told the "congressmen" to "keep their feet off the walls" and warned them "to be careful what they said, as three government men from Portland, I understand, are watching us."
    Among the witnesses expected to be called are Henrietta B. Martin, president of the "congress"; Amos Walker, sometime probation officer, and cited for contempt of court in the Schermerhorn trial; Walter J. Jones, convicted; J. Arthur LaDieu, also found guilty; Gordon L. Schermerhorn, convicted ex-sheriff; Mrs. Ariel Burton Pomeroy, John Glenn, whose acquittal has been often stressed by the defense; Shirley Hug, daughter of Jones, and Harley Hall, Little Applegate farmer.
    Disapproval of the court's ordering of the recount voiced by Earl H. Fehl at the meeting of the self-styled "Good Government Congress," February 20, the night of the ballot robbery, was told Saturday by half a dozen witnesses in Fehl's trial.
    Some of the witnesses told of how L. A. Banks had made a crude cross of a fountain pen with a match in the clip, and asked the "congress" twice:
    "Do you get me?"
    On the second query, some of the "congressmen" answered "We do" and "Yes."
    The state contends that the fountain pen suggested the "write-in" names, and the match, that the ballots were being destroyed.
    Mrs. Estella Cobb, a gray-haired woman who came to Medford about a year ago from Mason City, Iowa, testified that she attended the meeting of the "congress" on February 20 and heard Fehl declare shortly after the meeting had been called to order by its president, Henrietta B. Martin, "that the judge has allowed the recount, and it was crooked."
    Fehl asked the audience if they "wanted a recount," and when a portion of the audience answered "No," Fehl replied, "We won't have it."
    The witness said Fehl declared if the recount was held "we will all be out."
    At one stage of the meeting Fehl said, " 'I am proud to be a member of the Good Government Congress'," the witness declared. The former Medford agitator also shouted, " 'We won't stand for a recount'."
    Under cross-examination by the defense, Mrs. Cobb said she could not remember all of Fehl's speech, but the portions she had testified to had made a deep impression upon her. Fehl talked of little but "the ballots and the recount," she said.
    Amos P. Hoetling, of Medford, a public accountant, testified that he had watched the "congress," through the windows on the south side of the courthouse, standing by a tree with his wife. He told of the rushing around on the south side of the courtroom.
    Hoetling said Fehl was speaking when he arrived and that he seemed "agitated" by the ordered recount of the ballots, and implied that "the court's decision was not justice," and had asked the audience if "it was right?" and "what are you going to do about it?" He received various answers. Hoetling said Tom Brecheen spent nearly an hour in one spot, and he saw Oliver Martin, C. Jean Conner, and others about.
    Under cross-examination Hoetling admitted he was campaign manager for the "Committee of 7000." He remained unshaken in the main details of his testimony.
    Moore Hamilton, formerly a Banks newspaper employee, testified that he and Irva Fewell, a member of the Mail Tribune staff, had attended the "congress." Fehl with some law books arrived while Henrietta B. Martin was opening the session.
    Hamilton testified that Fehl declared the grand jury had asked him to address the meeting, and that the recount had been ordered by the court. The scribe remembered that Fehl had said: "It's ridiculous to order the recount three or four months after the election, when it was shown that they have been tampered with."
    The state introduced evidence to show that Fehl and Tom L. Brecheen did the tampering.
    Hamilton testified that he and Miss Fewell left the meeting about ten o'clock, and they saw Fehl standing on the sidewalk on Oakdale Avenue opposite the auditorium. Fehl asked them the time and passed some other casual remark. They returned fifteen minutes later and Fehl was standing in the same spot. The first time, a man came up and asked for a word with Fehl. He was described as a short man wearing a cap. Fehl came to the meeting with two law books, which he "left for Banks to read."
    Miss Fewell testified that Fehl said in his speech, "there should not be a recount," and recalled that the lights went out while Banks was speaking, towards the end of the session.
    Miss Fewell described how Banks had held up the match and fountain pen cross, and said:
    "Thia is the cross upon which many of us are being crucified."
    Leonard Hall, editor of the Jacksonville Miner, testified that from a window on the south side of the courthouse he had heard Fehl say, as he banged the table with his first:
    " 'The ballots must not be counted'."
    Hall testified there was a great rushing back and forth of "congressmen," and that he saw Jones, Oliver Martin, C. Jean Conner, Schermerhorn, and others he knew as "'congressmen,'' in conference. Hall testified there was "unusual activity," and that this night was the first time he ever saw Fehl pacing up and down outside. Hall said he saw Fehl come around the southwest corner of the building. "Men would appear and re-appear from around the back of the building all evening," Hall declared. There was unusual "stirring around," Hall said, at the rear of the building.
    "You are the man Henrietta B. Martin horsewhipped?" asked attorney Enright under cross-examination and Hall replied, "I am the man that Henrietta B. Martin attempted to horsewhip."
    The defense brought out that Fehl, during his talk, had asked Hall to "come inside," and Hall retorted, "I'm as close as I want to get."
    Newton C. Chaney testified that he came to the courthouse about nine o'clock, and viewed the proceedings from a window. Chaney said he saw Fehl twice: once, coming from towards the southwest corner, and again, on the sidewalk on Oakdale Avenue; also Oliver Martin, Earl Bryant, and the Rev. W. J. Howell, who testified Friday to seeing Fehl outside.
    Chaney testified that about ten o'clock he started downtown to get some tobacco, and that he passed Fehl standing over a torch flare, on the sidewalks. He said Fehl yelled a greeting and he yelled back, and asked: "What are you trying to do--get warm?" Chaney said Fehl told him that the grand jury had asked him to speak at the "congress," and "tell them to behave themselves."
    Chaney testified that he saw Leonard Hall and William Rosenbaum, and that a newspaperman had chatted with him "quite a while."
    Under cross-examination by attorney Hough, Chaney would not state definitely that Fehl had told him, "the foreman and the secretary of the grand jury asked me to speak "
    "Are you trying to leave the impression with this jury that Fehl came from around the southwest corner," asked attorney Hough.
    "I am not trying to leave any impressions; I am just trying to tell what I saw," replied Chaney.
    Chaney several times in describing Fehl's movements said, "He came from the southwest corner direction."
    Robert Bell, janitor at the courthouse, testified that he saw Fehl standing on the Oakdale Avenue sidewalk, and that when he went to his office in the courthouse he saw only Clark Thomas, former assistant jailer. The office overlooks the ground around the vault window. Bell testified the ax used in the burglary had been placed in his care.
    Burley Sexton was recalled to testify that while standing on the ground below, he saw Bell, Thomas, Glenn, and Schermerhorn in the janitor's office.
    Clyde A. Warren, state police sergeant, testified to the turning over to him of the ax Burley Sexton used to smash the vault window, and that janitor Bell turned it over to him. It has been kept in a locked closet.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 31, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS. Aug. 1.--Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, on trial here charged with ballot theft complicity, opened his defense Monday afternoon with an attack on the reputations of the Sexton brothers--Mason Burley, 20, and Wilbur, 17--youths who have pled guilty and admitted their roles. Mason Burley testified that he swung the ax that smashed the vault window, and Wilbur testified that with C. Jean Conner of Pinehurst, vice-president of the "Good Government Congress," he entered the vault and passed out the window the first, and subsequent loads, of ballot pouches.
    Four character witnesses came to the stand to tell of the purported reputations of the brothers in Coos County.
    Sheriff Henry Hess of Coos County declared the reputation of the Sextons--father and sons--were "bad."
    Under cross-examination by the statem Sheriff Hess denied he had shown "interest" in the ballot cases. He said he had "no recollection of Burley working for him." The state showed that Hess has testified for the defense in all of the ballot cases to date. He was subjected to a hectic quizzing by attorney Moody.
    Peter Culver of Coquille, who described himself as "a deputy without pay," testified the reputations of the Sextons was "bad."
    James Watson of Marshfield, former county judge and for 61 years a resident of Coos County, called to the stand and asked about the reputations of the Sextons, declared, "I only know a family by that name, and would not know them if I saw them." He declined to testify to the reputations of the Sextons involved in the ballot cases.
    M. W. Pinkston, now a farmer of Jackson county, provided the second mild reverse of the afternoon for the defense. He stated he did not know the reputation of Wilbur Sexton, or his father, Milton B. Sexton. He said he knew the reputation of Burley Sexton, six or seven years ago in Coos County, and said it was "bad."
    Under cross-examination Pinkston admitted that Burley Sexton was "14 or 15 years old at the time." Quizzed by attorney Moody, the witness was unable to name any other Coos County schoolboy of 14 years whose reputation was "bad."
    Pinkston further stated that he had been asked to testify by A. L. Hug, son-in-law of Walter J. Jones, convicted of ballot theft. Pinkston said he had lived on Thompson Creek for 18 months.
    Because the state closed sooner than expected, the court recessed a half hour earlier than usual to allow the defense to marshal its witnesses.
    The usual motion for a directed verdict, introduced by the defense, was denied by the court.
    The court issued an order that all defense witnesses be excused as soon as they have testified, "so as not to be drawing pay, and to keep the expense down."
    A proffer of the state to produce evidence to show that Fehl had attempted to issue writs of habeas corpus for the release of co-defendants in the ballot theft cases, and also attempted to secure the arrest of officers actively engaged in the investigation, was denied by the court Monday afternoon, on the grounds that it would be a "doubtful question" and prejudicial, and thus constitute a reversible error.
    Assistant Attorney General Moody offered to produce evidence showing that Fehl, a joint defendant, had attempted to secure the release of co-defendants, and that an injunction enjoining Fehl had been issued by Circuit Judge William D. Duncan of Klamath County. Despite this, the state's attorney declared Fehl had further attempted to interfere.
    The court said Fehl had no jurisdiction in the matter, however. Phil Lowd, deputy sheriff, was called by the state to testify to the above proffer, and the jury was excluded during the arguments.
    Lowd testified that he had loaned his auto to Wesley McKitrick and Arthur LaDieu on the night of the robbery, LaDieu leaving his auto behind. The two told him, Lowd said, when he loaned them his auto, "We are going on a party and need a large car." LaDieu told him, the witness said, "We are going over to the courthouse to steal some whiskey, and we might get some ballots."
    Lowd testified that his auto was in the driveway covered with mud, and the rear compartment littered with straw. Lowd said he measured the gasoline, and the car had been driven 65 or 70 miles,
    McKitrick and Edington, who entered pleas of guilty, testified that they had borrowed Lowd's auto to take the ballots to Rogue River, where they were burned, first being removed from a straw stack where LaDieu had hidden them, the testimony showed.
    Ingrid Holmes, secretary to the county court, testified that February 20, the day of the robbery, was her first day at the courthouse, and that she first heard of the ballot robbery between nine and 9:30 o'clock. She said Fehl generally came about that time.
    The secretary testified that Jones, LaDieu, Brecheen, Glenn and C. H. Brown were frequent visitors to the county judge after February 20 and discussed private matters. The witness said Brown, secretary of the "Good Government Congress," was a frequent visitor to the court immediately following the robbery.
    Elsie Olsin Brown, deputy county clerk, testified that on the morning of the robbery, County Clerk George R. Carter came into the county court and asked for the appointment of a night watchman for the courthouse, saying: "The vault was robbed last night, and the ballots taken." This was about 10:30 o'clock.
    The witness said that Fehl "pretended surprise" at the robbery news, though it had been known and discussed throughout the city and courthouse since 8:30 o'clock, when it became generally known.
    The clerk deputy testified that Fehl opposed the appointment of a night watchman, and asked "why one was needed, with a janitor on every floor?" and insisted that the sheriff "could look after it." Finally he agreed if the sheriff could make the appointment. At noon the commissioners agreed upon the naming of W. F. Rattie as night watchman, and it was made over Fehl's objections.
    The witness testified that Fehl had objected to the entry in the county court journal of his conversation, wherein he had expressed surprise at the theft of ballots, two or more hours after the robbery discovery.
    "I didn't steal the ballots," was another statement the witness credited to Fehl, who said that Commissioner Nealon replied, "We can tell you more about that in a day or two."
    The witness said she typed the bonds for L. A. Banks on the evening of the robbery. Banks was then under arrest for criminal syndicalism, and "that Fehl directed the proceedings." She said Brecheen, Jones and LaDieu, all co-defendants, were present, Amos Walker and former Sheriff Schermerhorn were in and out, and many others she did not know were present at the session.
    Much of the testimony Commissioner Nealon gave last Saturday was corroborated by the witness.
    Sergeant James R. O'Brien of the state police was the final witness for the state. He testified to driving past the courthouse about 9:30 and 10 minutes later seeing the Sexton brothers in a Ford going north at Main and Riverside Avenue. The next day when he learned of the ballot robbery, he recalled the incident. It developed later that the Sextons and R. C. Cummings were headed for Bybee bridge with the first four pouches stolen from the vault.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 1, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 1.--(AP)--Henrietta B. Martin, president of the self-styled "Good Government Congress"; J. Arthur LaDieu, first of the ballot case defendants to be convicted; and Mrs. Electa A. Fehl, wife of the defendant testified this morning at the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County charged with ballot-theft complicity.
    Mrs. Martin testified that at the February 20th meeting Fehl did not denounce the decision of the court, ordering a recount. The witness said that Fehl only expressed "surprise" at the decision. She further stated that Fehl told the audience that he had been requested by the grand jury to address them "on their conduct, and the right of free speech and assemblage." Fehl, she testified, told the listeners "they did not look like people who would put their feet on the walls, as I have been told."
    Mrs. Martin declared that she heard no "unusual racket" during the meeting. State witnesses have claimed that an ancient auto clattered, and the "congress" cheered to drown the sound of the breaking vault window.
    The witness also denied that L. A. Banks, convicted slayer, and honorary president, her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Brown, and L. O. VanWegen, had remained an undue length of time on the rostrum while waiting "for a signal from Walter J. Jones, convicted Rogue River mayor, that the rear of the courthouse was clear of ballot pouches."
    There were several sharp exchanges between the witness and Assistant Attorney General Moody.
    The state attorney requested the court "to make her quit arguing" and at another stage boomed, "This is not a debating society."
    The court denied the state the right to question the witness on a speech in which she is alleged to have said:
    "The ballots should have been destroyed months ago..."
    The state contended it showed the interest of the witness. The speech was made on March 1.
    The defense indicated it would attempt to establish an alibi and show that Fehl was at his own home, and the home of his attorney, when the state claims he was on the basement floor of the courthouse discussing robbery plans with the Sexton brothers, Tom L. Brecheen, and C. W. Davis, all co-defendants.
    Mrs. Electa A. Fehl testified that her husband returned home from the courthouse shortly before seven o'clock, and left in a few minutes, returning again about 7:30.
    Mrs. Fehl denied her husband was a member of the "congress" or that she had heard him declare at a Medford meeting last February that he was a member in a speech. The state indicated that it would introduce a stenographic report of the speech, to impeach Mrs. Fehl.
    Mrs. T. J. Enright testified that Fehl was at her home discussing tax matters with her husband between 7 and 7:30, on the evening of the vote-stealing.
    Mrs. Fehl in her cross-examination admitted that Fehl, Banks and Mrs. Martin had addressed many rural "congress" meetings.
    J. Arthur LaDieu, former business manager for the Banks newspaper, testified that the meeting in the county court office was for the purpose of arranging bonds for Banks on indictments charging criminal libel and criminal syndicalism. He sad he was not present all of the session. LaDieu testified that Jones, Fehl, Amos W. Walker and Banks were present, and when Sheriff Schermerhorn, convicted of the same charge as Fehl is accused, returned from securing the approval of the court to the bonds, he was accompanied by attorney Elton Watkins of Portland, attorney for Schermerhorn in the recount proceedings. LaDieu said when the meeting dispersed Watkins and Schermerhorn went to the sheriff's office.
    Mrs. Fannie May Brown corroborated the testimony of her daughter, Mrs. Martin.
    The trial has speeded up, and it is now expected that the chief defense case will be completed by Wednesday noon.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 1, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug 2.--(AP)--Judge Earl H. Fehl of Jackson County. took the stand this afternoon in his own defense. Fehl, charged with ballot theft and conspiracy, was to be the last witness called by defense attorneys.
    KLAMATH FALLS, Aug. 2.--(AP)--Mrs. Edith R. Patton, secretary of the grand jury for Jackson County for the October term of court, testified this morning as a defense witness in the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, charged with ballot theft conspiracy.
    Mrs. Patton testified that the grand jury requested Fehl to address the "Good Government Congress" on the night of the ballot robbery. The witness said that complaints had come to the grand jury that members of the congress were "unruly" and that speakers had indulged in inflammatory remarks against county officials and the circuit court judge.
    Mrs. Patton further testified that the courthouse corridors were daily clogged with loiterers but her memory was hazy on whether or not the grand jury had ordered the posting of "no loafing" signs to relieve the congestion.
    The court sustained the defense objection to the state query whether the grand jury had ordered a stenographer to make a report to them of a speech made by Fehl at a "congress" meeting held in Medford armory two days before the vote stealing.
    S. P. McDonald, laborer, testified that he signed a membership card and turned it over to Fehl in his office. The defense contends that Fehl was not a member. McDonald testified that on the night of the ballot robbery he stood outside the auditorium and heard the comment by Leonard Hall, Jacksonville Miner editor: "I wonder what they are up to tonight."
    McDonald said he had first been called as a state witness but was dismissed.
    Edgar L. Bryan, Medford, testified that he also was an outside spectator and saw Fehl in front of the courthouse about 10 o'clock.
    The state laid the grounds for the impeachment of Bryan. He was asked if he had not told the Rev. E. L. Malkemus, that night, "he was not going around the southwest corner, and get beat up."
    Bryan also denied that he had told jailer Fred W. Kelly Tuesday that he had been asked to be a witness for Oliver Martin, a co-defendant, and had replied "No, because I will have to tell all I know about Martin's activities that night."
    John Glenn of Ashland, former county jailer, acquitted of a ballot theft charge, testified that he was in Fehl's office discussing loan matters between 8:45 and 9:45 on the night of the robbery.
    Walter J. Jones of Rogue River, convicted of ballot theft, testified corroboratively of the Banks bond meeting in Fehl's office on the evening of the robbery, and that after supper at the Fehl home he had returned with him to the courthouse about eight o'clock.
    W. E Penni, who said he was one of the "Banks guards" for two days, testified that on the afternoon of the robbery he met Virgil Edington near the courthouse front door, and Edington had a canvas bag under his arm. Penni said he asked Edington what he was doing, and Edington replied: "I am going to get some ballots, don't you want to come along?" The witness said he refused.
    Penni testified that a few minutes later he met Wesley McKitrick on the basement floor near the ballot vault, and McKitrick asked him "to hold open the door when we take a gentleman out." Penni said he agreed to this proposition.
    The state contends it was the original plan to steal the ballots from the Sexton brothers and janitor while they were being carried from the courtroom to the vault.
    May Powell, Talent, one of the defense witnesses for L. A. Banks in the Eugene trial, testified she had attended the "congress" and did not hear any criticism by Fehl of the recount decision.
    The defense now expects to close its main case late today. Thursday will likely be devoted to the rebuttal evidence of the state, Friday the final arguments, and instructions of the court given. It is expected that the case will be in the hands of the jury late Friday.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 2, 1933, page 1


    The name of Elton Watkins of Portland, former congressman and candidate for the United States Senate on the Democratic ticket, crept into the testimony at the trial of Earl H. Fehl, charged with ballot theft conspiracy. Attorney Watkins was attorney for former Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn in the recount proceedings.
    The testimony of Joe Daniels, on direct examination, and on cross-examination insofar as it concerns attorney Watkins, as furnished by the official stenographic report, is as follows:
    Direct examination by Mr. Moody:
    Q. I believe you were given credit with being the first one that discovered this burglary the next morning--how did you happen to find out?
    A. We were talking with the attorneys just before 8 o'clock.
    Q. What attorneys?
    A. Mr. DeSouza and Mr. Watkins.
    Q. Elton Watkins of Portland?
    A. Yes, with Mr. Fischer and myself were all standing there waiting for the county clerk to open the vault so we could take the pouches up to the courtroom and Mr. Watkins said he wanted to look around the building, so we went downstairs and he asked where the vault was and we went outside of the building.
    Q. Who led you out?
    A. Mr. Watkins.
    Q. Where did he lead you?
    A. We started along the south side towards the south of the west side of the building and I was telling him where the different places were at and the things he had asked about and I believe Mr. Fischer and I both saw the window at the same time.
    Q. Who was Mr. Fischer?
    A. He was the locksmith that was going to open the locks that morning.
    Q. And when you got to the window who was the first one that saw this window broken?
    A. I am not really sure--Mr. Fischer and I seen it about the same time.
    Q. Who stopped you there?
    A. We were just walking around the building. When we seen that we stopped.
    Q. Then what was said by any one of you, and who said it?
    A. Mr. Watkins--
    Von Schmalz: We object to that as hearsay.
    Court: Objection sustained.
    Q. After you discovered that the window was broken, what did you do? It was already open?
    A. Partly open, yes.
    Q. What did you do?
    A. We naturally looked in.
    Q. Yes--what did you find out?
    A. We could see lots of glass over the floor inside, but we couldn't see whether anything was gone or not.
    Q. Did anyone want you to go inside then?
    A. Well, Mr. Watkins asked me to look in.
    Q. I didn't mean to ask you who--I wanted to know, was it a fact that you refused to go inside or not?
    A. Yes.
    The court: This evidence isn't competent.
    Q. When did you report it--then?
    A. Yes, to the county clerk's office.
    Cross-examination by A. C. Hough:
    Q. Now the next morning after this affair you say the first information you got of it was through Elton Watkins?
    A. No. I was with Elton Watkins.
    Q. You were in the corridor of the courthouse when Watkins and somebody else came in?
    A. They were standing there when I got there.
    Q. They had come through the front door, had they? Where had they--where were they standing?
    A. At the head of the stairs on the second floor.
    Q. That's the floor on which Fehl's office and the clerk's office and the sheriff's office is on?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Who was with Elton Watkins?
    A. Frank DeSouza and Mr. Fischer.
    Q. The three of them were standing there when you went into the hallway or corridor?
    A. Yes.
    Q. How long after that before there was anything said about the ballot theft, and who said it?
    A. There wasn't anything said about it until after we found the window broken and went inside and found out that they were gone.
    Q. How did it come you left this corridor and went around there--who suggested that?
    A. Mr. Watkins.
    Q. Where did you go, out of the east door, the front door, at the west door?
    A. Out of the west door.
    Q. He led the way, didn't he?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Down the stairs and through the west door?
    A. Yes.
    Q. And then right around to where the window was broken?
    A. Yes.
    Q. He seemed to know right where he was going?
    A. Well, I don't know.
    Q. That's the way it occurred to you, didn't it?
    A. Well, it could have been.
    Q. He walked right direct--there wasn't any hesitancy or looking at any other objects was there?
    A. Yes, he stopped and looked at various parts of the building. On the way down I told him where the different offices were and different things about it.
    Q. Nothing surprising about the fact he may have known about the breaking of that window from his actions?
    A. It might have been--it seemed that he merely wanted to look around.
    Q. Who was it called the attention of the clerk to the fact the window was broken?
    A. I did.
    Q. Did you look into the vault from the outside?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Did he?
    A. Who?
    Q. Watkins?
    A. Yes.
    Q. And Fischer?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Was the window open or closed?
    A. It was partly open.
    Q. So all you had to do was to push it open--you could see in plainly then?
    A. Yes.
    Q. I see--Did you go with the clerk afterwards--after you notified him, to see what had happened to that vault?
    A. Yes.
    Q. And were you present when he checked tp to find out how many ballot pouches, etc. were there?
    A. I was there through part of it, yes.
    Q. Now there is a photograph here I want to call your attention to, then I am through. Look at State's Exhibit K--do you recognize that as a representation of the interior of the clerk's vault?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Now these objects like that--looks like a can--these two, one on top of the other, looks like a can--what are they--what does it represent?
    A. Ballot boxes,
    Q. These are large ballot cans?
    A. Yes.
    Q. Made out of some kind of metal?
    A. Yes.
    Q. And did you find they had been disturbed--opened?
    A. Part of them had, yes.
    Q. And the contents removed?
    A. Yes.
    Q. However, for most of the precincts they had pouches similar to these that are here in evidence?
    A. Yes.
    Question by a juror:
    Q. May I ask who is this man Watkins? What is his capacity?
    Mr. Hough: He is a lawyer from Portland.
    The Court: Oh, it don't make any difference. (Speaking to the witness, Mrs. Ingrid Homes: Be sworn.)
    Mr. Moody: I think the record in this case shows he is one of the attorneys for Mr. Schermerhorn.
    Mr. Hough: In the contest.
    The Court: Yes, that's correct.
    Cross-examination of Gordon L. Schermerhorn by Ralph E. Moody in the case of State versus Schermerhorn, with reference to the presence of Elton Watkins in Fehl's office on the evening of February 20, 1933, between the hours of 6 and 7 p.m.:
    Q. But you didn't get home, as I understood your testimony, until some time after 7 o'clock.
    A. Oh, no--you are mistaken.
    The Court: I think he said before 7.
    A. Twenty or 25 minutes before 7.
    Q. Twenty-five minutes before 7?
    A. Yes, sir.
    Q. All right--and when you left Fehl's office, who did you leave there?
    A. Well, some of the men that had been there, and some had gone--I didn't take notice. Elton Watkins, the attorney, was there,
    Q. He was?
    A. Yes, sir; he came back from the hotel with me.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 2, 1933, page 2


    KLAMATH FALLS, Aug. 2.--The state scored by the admissions of defense witnesses Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, charged with ballot theft, complicity.
    A. L. Hug of Rogue River, farmer and son-in-law of Walter J. Jones, ex-mayor of the town of Rogue River, found guilty of ballot theft, corroborated in an important degree the testimony of Mrs. Catherine Daniels, jail matron, the Sexton brothers and C. W. (Chuck) Davis, who have entered pleas of guilty, to vote-stealing.
    Hug under cross-examination by Assistant Attorney General Moody reiterated the testimony he had given in the Sheriff Schermerhorn trial, that he had noted Mrs. Daniels speak to Fehl, while Fehl was "either seated or standing at the sheriff's vault." Hug testified Fehl stopped there for "a minute or two" en route to the auditorium to speak. On a photograph of the sheriff's vault, he identified the spots marked by the Sextons and Davis, where the chairs were placed. Hug said he could not identify any of the others present, "but would know them, if you bring them before me."
    Hug would not state he had seen Davis, the Sexton brothers, or Brecheen at the vault, but said "they might have been."
    On direct examination Hug corroborated the testimony of his wife, Shirley Hug, and Mrs. Electa A. Fehl, Delbert Fehl, a nephew of the defendant, and Jack Enright that Jones and himself and wife had eaten supper at the Fehl home, and left for the courthouse at 7:55 o'clock on the night of the vote robbery.
    Hug also corroborated the testimony of Mrs. Fehl, his wife, and Amos W. Walker, relative to the meeting in the county judge's office when bonds were assertedly prepared for L. A. Banks. Hug, as did the others, testified that the session dispersed about 6:30, and that all left the session together by the front door.
    He was a recalcitrant witness, and the court questioned him at times to speed the procedure.
    C. Jean Conner, vice-president and parliamentarian of the "Good Government Congress," and one of the "Banks guards," also reputed as one of the "Green Springs Mountain Boys," admitted under direct examination that with Wilbur Sexton he had entered the vault and passed out 10 ballot pouches on February 20 last. Conner has entered a plea of guilty. He said the first suggestion of stealing the ballots came from Wesley McKitrick on the afternoon of the crime, and that McKitrick after the first four pouches were passed out suggested that he return and steal some more. The state contends it was Brecheen who propositioned Conner.
    Early in his cross-examination Conner nettled Assistant Attorney [General] Moody with his evasive replies, causing that official to comment:
    "Don't get fresh."
    At another point, attorney Moody said: "O! he thinks he's smart," and the court admonished him to proceed.
    Conner, under cross-examination, admitted that when the court handed down its decision in the recount proceedings, "he felt the decision was wrong, and was willing to help destroy the ballots to thwart the order of the court." Conner said he resented the ruling and "thought it was wrong," but denied he had any "intentions of thwarting the court."
    The witness also admitted that he left the courthouse on the night of the robbery by the front door of the auditorium, a rear window, and by a rear door. Throughout, he was averse to implicating others.
    Conner also admitted that after his testimony in the Schermerhorn trial Prof. C. Engelhardt, one of the bondsmen for several of the accused "Congressmen," had given him $5 "for telling the truth about how I felt about the recount ruling."
    Conner admitted that while acting as a "Banks guard" he had lived without paying rent in a house owned by the Fehl Investment Co., and had received about half his provisions from the county commissary.
    Amos W. Walker, cited for contempt in the Schermerhorn trial, and described by the state in this case as "sometimes probation officer, and sometimes not," called to the witness stand, was also a cautious witness.
    Walker testified that he was present in the county court when bonds were arranged for L. A. Banks, and "we all left together by the front door." Walker could not remember any details with any facility. He testified that Fehl, Banks, LaDieu, Mrs. Elsie Olsin Brown, Mrs. Ingrid Holmes, ex-Sheriff Schermerhorn, Walter J. Jones, Claude Ward and others were present at various times.
    Walker testified that he arrived at the "Congress" while Fehl was talking and that after the speech he and Fehl went to Fehl's office, where they remained until about 9 o'clock. He then told John Glenn Fehl wanted to see him in his office and remained in the auditorium vestibule until the meeting was over. Walker said he saw Fehl near the southeast corner of the courthouse "a little after ten." The witness said Fehl had directed that he attend the meeting "to preserve order if any disturbance occurred."
    Under cross-examination Walker admitted that at previous trials he testified all at the Banks bond meeting had not left together.
    Walker also acknowledged that he had not left by the front door, as he first testified, but instead left by the rear door, his auto being parked in that direction.
    Walker declined to mark on a photo where he had stood or sat while in the vestibule of the auditorium for an hour after leaving Fehl, and said he could recall seeing only John Glenn and Clark Thomas, "though others were around."
    John Brock, who said he was a member of the "Good Government Congress" and a "Banks guard," on the night of February 20, was in a room off the rostrum of the auditorium. He said he crawled out a rear window, when Walter J. Jones tapped on the window and told him "Leonard Hall was outside." He said he then acted as a sort of guard at the southwest corner. Under cross-examination he further stated that he had gone north along the west side of the courthouse, passed the vault window and noticed nothing. He marked on a photo where autos were parked in the rear, including the car of L. O. VanWegen, in which Banks and Henrietta B. Martin came and went from the meeting. Brock said there were a number of people on both the south and west sides of the courthouse. He had noticed no unusual noise made by an ancient auto, about midway during the meeting, which the state contends was started to drown the noise of breaking the vault window.
    Brock called back after the afternoon recess, testified that he had seen McKitrick, Edington, C. H. Brown, secretary of the Congress, and Henrietta B. Martin at the "News" after the meeting, sometime after 11 o'clock.
    Mrs. Shirley Hug, daughter of Walter J. Jones, testified that she was at the purported meeting in the county court office when bonds were arranged for Banks, and she and Mrs. Fehl left for the latter's home about 6:30. She said Fehl returned home about 6:45 and then left, returning again about 7:15 o'clock.
    After supper the party left at 7:55 for the courthouse, it was testified.
    Under cross-examination, Mrs. Hug admitted a discrepancy in the testimony she had given at the trial of her father, relative to the movements of Fehl after he arrived home. In the Jones trial she testified Fehl remained at home "all the time." Today she testified he left, and returned about 7:15, alleging he was at T. J. Enright's home discussing tax matters.
    Wilbur Fehl, a nephew of the defendant, testified to the same state of facts as Mrs. Hug, except that at 7:55 he looked at a clock and remarked to guests and kin, "if they were going to the courthouse they better hurry." All then left.
    County Clerk George A. Carter read from "Journal 23," the minutes of the county court, wherein Fehl's objections to the appointment of a night watchman after the robbery, and his reasons. Fehl stated in the record that he opposed a night watchman because of the additional expense. Commissioners Nealon and Billings voted for the precautionary action.
    Under cross-examination Clerk Carter could not recall much of what Fehl had said when he asked for a night watchman.
    Clerk Carter, however, did testify that Fehl, in opposing, said: "It's like locking the stable after the horse has been stolen, and Commissioner Nealon retorted: 'There are more horses in the stable'."
    A. J. Bonkosky and wife, who said they had resided in Medford for seven years, testified they attended the "Good Government Congress" meeting and had not heard Fehl criticize the court's recount decision, and that when they left they saw him standing in front of the sidewalk leading from the auditorium.
    Jack Enright testified that the Fehls and Hugs and Jones were at the Fehl home for supper, that they left at 7:55, and that he saw Fehl in front of the courthouse about 10:20. He boards at the Fehl home.
    C. H. Brown, secretary of the "Congress," corroborated the testimony of his daughter, Mrs. Martin. Juror Zumbrum questioned him at considerable length on the direction those left on the rostrum took after they left by the rear door of the auditorium.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 2, 1933, page 3


    KLAMATH FALLS, Aug. 3.--Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson, on trial here charged with ballot theft conspiracy, took the stand on his own behalf at 2:20 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, and at the close of the court day--cut short ten minutes by the noisy operations of a steam roller outside--was still on the stand under examination of attorney A. C. Hough, chief defense counsel.
    Fehl corroborated in partial details some of the strongest evidence presented against him, but denied that he had any part in the ballot robbery, that he had spoken derogatorily of Circuit Judge Skipworth's decision ordering the recount at the "Good Government Congress" meeting or that he had removed stickers from ballot pouches left in the clerk's office to leave the impression that they had been tampered with as a basis for a denial of the recount.
    Fehl admitted a conversation with Brecheen at the sheriff's vault, as testified to by Mrs. Catherine Daniels, jail matron, the Sexton brothers, and C. W. (Chuck) Davis.
    Fehl testified that he had lingered five or six minutes at the vault and talked to Brecheen, and while thus engaged the Sexton brothers came up. Fehl was en route to the auditorium et the time.
    Brecheen asked about the vault and the combination thereto. The witness said he asked the Sexton boy "what business he had with the combination," or "how he got it." The youth replied that he had watched the clerk while he opened the door.
    Fehl said the principal topic of conversation was the county commissary, inasmuch as it was ordered closed March 1.
    The accused official said, just before he left to address the "congress," he told the Sextons, "I don't want you boys monkeying around the vault or fooling with the records in this courthouse." He said he went to the auditorium with A. L. Hug and proceeded to the platform.
    The Sextons testified on direct examination for the state that Fehl told them, "I'd hate like h--l to see you boys break into that vault and steal the ballots."
    C. W. (Chuck) Davis testified that he told Fehl, Brecheen and the Sextons, "If you are figuring on breaking into that vault and stealing the ballots you will get into trouble." None made reply, Davis said.
    Fehl denied testimony of both the Sextons and Davis. He admitted that he had seen Mrs. Daniels leave the courthouse, after she had escorted her daughter-in-law to the auditorium.
    Fehl testified that "when he left for the auditorium he had no idea the ballots were to be stolen, or intended to be stolen, and if I had I would have attempted to stop it."
    In regard to the testimony of Orlando L. Kring, that on February 6 Fehl had suggested that Kring steal ballots from the vault, Fehl declared he had not proposed such a thing, that he did not know Kring very well on that date, that Kring was a spiritualist, and that he had met him during the campaign.
    Fehl testified that when he reached the auditorium on the evening of the robbery, there was applause as he entered the hall.
    "Was the applause for you?" asked attorney Hough.
    "No," replied Fehl, "it was for Mrs. Martin. I think she was entitled to it."
    Fehl admitted under questioning that Mrs. Martin "had attempted to extol his virtues" in her introductory remarks.
    The witness outlined his general remarks that evening, and denied that he criticized or had spoken derogatorily of Judge Skipworth's ruling that the recount be held, and started the following morning.
    Fehl said he told the audience that complaints had been filed and "asked the audience to keep their feet off the walls." Fehl, under further questioning, said this applied to all organizations holding meetings there and not alone to the "congress."
    Fehl said that after the address, he had gone to his office on the second floor, and talked with John Glenn, acquitted county jailer, about a loan for $1500 wherein Glenn was to give a trust deed as security.
    Following the Glenn conference, Fehl testified that he had gone to the vestibule of the auditorium and asked those present not to smoke, and then went to the south side of the courthouse and had asked Leonard Hall "not to heckle the speakers." He then said he went to the curb on Oakdale, by a night torch, and stood there for some time and talked to a number of people who passed. He said he remembered distinctly that Joe Daniels and C. W. (Chuck) Davis had come around the northeast corner of the court house, cut across the yard and approached him. He also said he recalled that "Shorty" Bryant had talked with him for about 20 minutes.
    Davis testified that at five minutes to ten he and Daniels talked with Fehl, all comparing their watches at that hour. Davis also testified that Walter J. Jones came up then, called Fehl to one side, and said: "Everything is okay now," and Fehl replied, "Mum is the word."
    When court adjourned, the direct examination had proceeded to the point where the evidence left Fehl standing in front of the courthouse auditorium.
    Fehl testified that he recalled seeing the Rev. W. J. Howell, Newton C. Chaney, and several others on the north aside of the courthouse, as they testified for the state.
    Fehl also recalled the incident on the south side, where Bert Lowry Jr., had said: "What's the matter, Judge, won't they let into your own meeting?" and the witness said he had asked, "Who said that?" without a reply being received.
    Fehl corroborated defense witnesses in detail, relative to the meeting in the county court rooms, between five and seven o'clock on the evening of the robbery. He said, at the suggestion of former Sheriff Schermerhorn, he had phoned L. A. Banks to come to his office, as there were a couple of warrants for his arrest. In a short while Banks appeared, and Elsie Olsin Brown, deputy clerk, was delegated to type a new bond. Fehl said that between various delays the bond was not signed by Walter J. Jones and Claude Ward, and approved by the court, until near 6:30. He said he then went to his home with Jones and A. L. Hug, returning about eight o'clock to attend the "congress."
    Fehl declared that the doors to the bond signing were open, and denied that Commissioner Nealon, as "far as I could see," had opened the door and surprised the meeting. Fehl testified the doors were open; state witnesses said they were closed.
    Fehl testified that he had no interest in the outcome of the sheriff recount proceeding, that "it made no difference to me who was sheriff," and that he had supported Everett Beeson at the election.
    When Fehl first took the stand, he gave a biographical sketch of his life, saying that he was born in Ohio and when 21 years old had moved to Tacoma, Wash. Twenty-five years ago he moved to Medford, where he engaged in carpentry, contracting, publishing, and various enterprises. He said last year he ran for county judge and won the race, both primary and general elections heats.
    Fehl said he was under financial obligations to L. A. Banks and had been friendly with him for two years. Tom L. Brecheen had also rendered financial aid, and had helped him in the campaign, but Fehl "felt no political--only personal obligations." The witness said he and his family had been friendly with the Walter Jones family for nine years.
    Fehl said before he assumed office he had investigated the condition of unemployment in Jackson County and that at the peak of the distress 1100 families were being cared for last winter.
    The state's objection to attorney Hough stressing Fehl's relief activity was sustained by the court.
    A blueprint of the courthouse was presented and Fehl testified he was a member of the committee that helped formulate the plans. The state objected unless "it is to show distances, and not to just show that he had something to do with it." The court ruled the blueprints were to be used to show measurements, and not as "a self-serving document."
    Ariel Burton Pomeroy, who admitted "Good Government Congress" membership, was the final defense witness before Fehl took the stand. She testified that she attended the February 20th "Congress" and heard Fehl say nothing derogatory of Judge Skipworth's recount ruling.
    Mrs. Pomeroy did testify she heard Fehl say: "I understand the recount has been ordered, and in my opinion the ballots are not worthy of it."
    The state attorneys declined to cross-examine Mrs. Pomeroy.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 3, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 3.--(AP)--Cross-examination of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, on trial here charged with ballot theft conspiracy, was under way all morning, and marked by frequent clashes between opposing counsel and the defendant and Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody. Fehl was still on the stand at noon recess.
    At one stage of the proceedings Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth warned the attorneys: "There will be no more wrangling."
    When the state showed by the records in the present trial and Fehl's testimony before the recount proceedings last February a discrepancy, Fehl replied:
    "Yes, that is correct, if the records hnave not been changed." The assistant attorney general asked heatedly: "Do you sit there and accuse me of changing the records?"
    Fehl, after a moment's hesitation. answered:
    "No, I don't exactly do that."
    Several times the court instructed Fehl to make direct answers to queries.
    The state indicated by its line of questioning that it was laying the foundation of impeachment of Fehl and other defense witnesses on vital points.
    Fehl testified on his direct examination he was never nearer the disputed ballot pouches, when they were stored in the clerk's office last December, than the main counter. The state read a portion of his testimony in the recount proceedings that he had gone behind the counter and inspected the ballot pouches.
    The state showed under cross examination that Fehl in his direct testimony said that he felt "no political obligations" to Tom L. Brecheen, a co-defendant, for financial aid.
    Fehl admitted that Brecheen had been instrumental in securing a $1,500 loan from J. T. Thomas of Ashland last December. but that the money was not available for Fehl's use until some time after the appointment of Thomas' son and John Glenn of Ashland to jail posts.
    The state said it would introduce Deputy Sheriff Phil Lowd to testify that Fehl had been active in inducing Sheriff-elect G. L. Schermerhorn to absent himself in California until Schermerhorn assumed office, and that Fehl had dictated Schermerhorn's appointment of Thomas and Glenn.
    C. L. Knight and Paul McCurley, members of the October term of the Jackson County grand jury, will be called as witnesses to impeach the testimony of Mrs. Edith R. Patton, secretary of the grand jury, who testified yesterday that Fehl addressed the "Good Government Congress" meeting on the night of the ballot robbery at the request of the grand jury. The state contends this was the individual act of Mrs. Patton and not the grand jury as a body.
    The state also indicated it would show that Fehl telephoned Elton Watkins, Portland attorney, last December and asked him to represent Schermerhorn in the recount case.
    Direct examination of Fehl was completed by mid-morning. Fehl testified that he did not learn of the ballot robbery until about 9:30 o'clock, and that he was busy for two hours before that attending to private and official business about Medford.
    Fehl said three days of that week he was in Salem conferring with the governor and other state officials on the alleviation of unemployment in his home county.
    The witness admitted he had been instrumental in securing jobs for the Sexton brothers around the court house, that he dismissed a minor charge against them, and that he had never suggested to them that they steal the ballots. The Sextons are two of the state's chief witnesses in the case.
    The defendant reviewed at some length the details of his arrest, and relief work activities.
    It is expected that the state will conclude its rebuttal evidence this afternoon. Twenty additional witnesses have been called for this purpose.
    Indications are that the case will be in the hands of the jury late Friday or by noon Saturday.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 3, 1933, page 1


    With Judge Earl H. Fehl taking the stand in his own defense Wednesday afternoon as the last witness in his trial for alleged participation in the ballot theft last February, it is expected that the case will go to the jury not later than Friday.
    The state has presented a strong case against the judge to prove their contention that he was the brains back of the theft. Evidence that had not been revealed in the four previous trials has been disclosed, and several surprise witnesses have given startling testimony concerning the judge's activities before and after the robbery.
    The state has hinged its case on evidence which tended to show that Fehl was much opposed to the recount of the general election ballots which was granted the day preceding the robbery; that he took pains to point out the stickers on the ballots had been removed, and that this should automatically prevent a recount. (One witness testified that Fehl and Tom Brecheen had themselves removed the stickers in the hope that this would prevent a recount being granted.)
    Other witnesses brought out that Fehl had been very active about the courthouse the night of the robbery, and that in a speech before the Good Government Congress in the courthouse auditorium he had bitterly denounced the recount, saying, "We won't have a recount. The recount decision was crooked."
    The state also contended that secret meetings were held in Fehl's office repeatedly before and after the theft, that Fehl sought to hamper police investigation of the case, and that he refused to consent to placing a night watch in the courthouse after the theft.
    He is also credited by various witnesses as having approached them, prior to the robbery, propositioning them as to whether they would like to "help steal some ballots." It is further alleged he told the Sexton brothers who did the actual stealing that "I would sure hate to see you boys break into the vault."
    The defense made a broad denial of the state's allegations, but conflicting evidence given by their witnesses, and admissions made under cross-examination by Prosecuting Attorney Moody, resulted in favorable evidence for the state's case, according to dispatches from Klamath Falls Wednesday.
Gold Hill News, August 3, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 4.--Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, was found guilty of ballot theft complicity by a Klamath County jury at 3:35 today after twelve minutes deliberation. The verdict was reached on the second ballot.
    Judge George F. Skipworth set Monday at 1:30 p.m. for sentence.
    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 4.--(AP)--The trial of County Judge Earl H. Fehl of Jackson County, charged with complicity in the theft last February of 10,000 ballots from the courthouse there, was expected to reach the jury by 3 p.m. today. Ten men and two women have heard the case.
    Defense counsel concluded their final pleas at noon, and Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody was to start his talk at 1:30 p.m., requiring about one hour. Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth of Eugene said his instructions would require half an hour.
    In the concluding addresses this morning, Fehl, seated beside his wife, mother and mother-in-law, heard himself described by his own counsel as "that blue-eyed man of German descent, who was actuated by gratitude and loyalty."
    The state attorney described the defendant as "the master mind of the ballot theft case, who was too cowardly to do it himself, but inspired kids to do the crime of which he expected to reap the fruits."
    The defense had contended that Fehl and others gathered in the county judge's office on the night of the ballot robbery, to prepare a bond for Llewellyn A. Banks. The state attorney declared this bond, offered in evidence by the defense as an alibi, was actually made out on February 11. The state contended the meeting in Fehl's office was to discuss the ballot robbery plans.
    The 10,000 ballots were stolen and destroyed on the eve of a recount the court had ordered to determine the legality of the election as sheriff of Gordon L. Schermerhorn, who was recently convicted of complicity in the theft.
    The state attorney declared that defense witnesses had located Fehl around the courthouse at the hour Fehl claimed he was in his office with John Glenn, former jailer.
    "Sheriff Schermerhorn, Elton Watkins and Tom L. Brecheen were alone in the courthouse after all the others at that bond meeting had left," declared attorney A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, for the defense. "They were as much interested as anybody. I know what my guess is as to what happened, and the jury can draw its own conclusions."
    The state attorney also said that Fehl for "many weeks had been conspicuously interested in the ballot recount, and fearful of the results."
    The state counsel also charged "Fehl and Brecheen tampered with the ballot pouches when they were stored in the clerk's office, and to cover up his tracks, reported his own tampering to the grand jury."
    Attorney Herman Von Schmalz of Burns made the closing plea for the defense. He contended the state had not proven the "guilt of Judge Fehl beyond a reasonable doubt, and the evidence is based solely on suspicions."
Medford Mail Tribune, August 4, 1933, page 1


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 4.--The fate of Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, charged with ballot theft conspiracy, will be in the hands of the jury by mid-afternoon today. Both the state and defense closed their cases Thursday afternoon. Opening arguments started this morning. Each side is allowed two hours.
    In surrebuttal, the defense presented five witnesses to controvert the testimony of Deputy Sheriff Phil Lowd, that he was in Ashland with his fiancee and not on the fringe of the crowd at the auditorium, and to show that Fehl was not a member of the "Good Government Congress."
    Mrs. May Powell of Talent testified that she saw Deputy Sheriff Phil Lowd in the vestibule of the auditorium. Lowd testified that he did not attend the meeting, but was with his bride-to-be in Ashland from 5:30 o'clock until midnight. Mrs. Powell was one of the witnesses for the defense in the Banks murder trial at Eugene last March.
    Mrs. Fannie May Brown, wife of C. H. Brown, secretary of the "congress," and mother of Henrietta B. Martin, its president, testified that she saw Lowd standing in the vestibule about 8:30.
    Thomas Beckwith of Central Point testified he came to the meeting between 8:20 and 8:30 o'clock, and had no difficulty in finding a seat, midway of the hall. He said he saw Lowd in the vestibule. Previous witnesses for both state and defense testified there were no vacant seats.
    C. H. Brown, secretary of the "congress," testified that Fehl was not a member. Under cross-examination Brown testified that the membership cards had passed out of his hands on March 16 last. This was the day the indictments became public. Brown said the membership cards were left at his daughter's house, and "might have been destroyed." Brown denied that Frank Root had turned over $1 and a membership card of Fehl's to him.
    Mrs. Ariel Burton Pomeroy testified that Fehl was not a member of the "congress," and that the by-laws prohibited county officials from joining. She was a committee worker.
    Mrs. Electa Fehl, wife of the defendant, testified that she saw E. E. Gore, a defense witness, in the hall near the county judge's office when she entered the courthouse shortly after 5 o'clock.
    Fehl was subjected to a short examination by the state, at the start of the afternoon. The defendant admitted he had paid a visit to Schermerhorn in Yreka, Cal., while the recount against Schermerhorn was pending.
    Fehl also admitted that he had paid the rent for the use of the Medford Armory for a "Good Government Congress" meeting, and that afterwards the money was refunded by Mrs. Henrietta B. Martin.
    The defendant reiterated that the first he had heard of the ballot robbery was about 9:30 when he came to the courthouse, but could not recall who told him.
    Fehl declared that he was in seclusion in the rooms of his attorney, H. Von Schmalz of Burns, during the three days following the return of the indictments, and while the state police were seeking to serve a warrant upon him. Fehl said he did this to have time to provide $15,000 bonds and "keep from going to jail."
    The final query of the state, which met with strenuous objections from the defense, was:
    "When you appeared in court, after you gave yourself up, you wore gloves?"
    The court sustained the objection.
    E. E. Gore of Medford was the first rebuttal witness for the state. Gore testified he was in the courthouse when the recount decision was handed down. He fixed the time at 4:20. Gore said while he was coming out of the courthouse he met Commissioner R. E. Nealon, who asked "me to keep an eye on Tom Brecheen and Croft." The witness said he did until 6:30 o'clock.
    Gore testified that he saw Brecheen and Croft enter the county judge's office when the door was opened, after they loitered outside 15 or 20 minutes. Gore said three other men he did not know accompanied them. Gore testified that Dick Slinger and J. E. Griffin [J. B. Griffin?] of Medford were with him while he watched.
    Cross-examination of Gore was marked by several lively set-tos between the witness and defense attorney Enright. At one time Gore asked heatedly, "Are you trying to infer I am not telling the truth?"
    Gore testified that he did not see Mrs. Electa Fehl or Mrs. Shirley Hug, who testified they left the county judge's office about 6:30.
    Mrs. Fehl, the final witness for the defense, testified she saw Gore standing in the hall, where he said he was, when she entered the courthouse shortly after 5 o'clock.
    Deputy Sheriff Phil Lowd testified that on January 1 last he drove Gordon L. Schermerhorn, sheriff-elect, from Yreka, Cal., to Fehl's home in Medford, arriving between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. Lowd said Fehl told them:
    "You're not supposed to be here until tomorrow. You are a day too soon. Get out of town and stay out."
    Lowd testified they drove back to Yreka and returned to Medford next day, arriving at Fehl's house between 6 and 7 o'clock. Lowd went to his home and returned at 7:30 to Fehl's. Then all appointments had been made, he said.
    Fehl testified that he had "no interest in Schermerhorn's election or retention in office."
    G. L. Knight and Paul McCurley, members of the grand jury, testified that to their personal knowledge no member of the grand jury had requested Fehl to address the "congress" on the night of the robbery.
    Frank R. Root, temporary chairman of the "Good Government Congress" when it was first organized, testified that Fehl had signed a membership card and paid him $1.
    Under cross-examination Root testified there were no membership fees, so each applicant paid what he desired.
    Captain Carl Y. Tengwald of the Medford National Guard testified the Sexton brothers bore good reputations for truth [and] peacefulness, during the year they were members of the militia.
    The trial started Monday, July 24, and was brought to Klamath County on a change of venue. The defense started last Tuesday afternoon. Fehl was on the witness stand for eight hours.
    Fehl is the fifth defendant to be tried for the sensational ballot theft.
    J. Arthur LaDieu, former business aide of L. A. Banks, Walter J. Jones, ex-mayor of the town of Rogue River, and Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn have been convicted; John Glenn, former county jailer, was acquitted.
    Virgil Edington of Gold Hill and E. A. Fleming of Jacksonville had their cases dismissed so they could be state witnesses.
    Wesley McKitrick, C. W. (Chuck) Davis, Wilbur Sexton, Mason Burley Sexton, Earl Bryant, James D. Gaddy, E. C. Cummings and C. Jean Conner, vice-president of the organization, have entered pleas of guilty.
    Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, J. Croft, "the man with the horsehair coat," and Oliver Martin, former Klamath County farmer, will face a jury here next Monday on the same charge.
    Claude Ward, brother-in-law of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer, has demanded a separate trial, and will be tried later.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 4, 1933, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, county judge of Jackson County, fifth of the 22 defendants charged with complicity in the ballot thefts of February 20 last, was found guilty by a Klamath County jury Friday afternoon, after 12 minutes actual deliberation. It was one of the speediest verdicts in the history of Oregon courts.
    Fehl was indicted under section 14311 of the Oregon codes charged with "burglary not in a dwelling." Sentence provided thereby is one day to five years.
    The court announced after receipt of the verdict that the convicted county official would be sentenced Monday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock.
    Fehl, his attorneys have announced, will file a motion for a new trial, and also file an appeal to the state supreme court. Imposing of sentence will automatically remove Fehl from office.
    The jury left the jury box at 3:16 p.m. by the courtroom clock, and at 3:36 announced their verdict was ready. Ten minutes of this time was consumed in clearing the courtroom of spectators and placing chairs in the jury room. The verdict was reached on the first ballot and, according to the bailiffs in court, in twelve minutes.
    Fehl with his wife, mother, and mother-in-law were in court. They had been in there all day, listening to the closing words of the attorneys. Many of the court attaches and attorneys had left the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
    Announcement that a verdict had been reached came as a surprise, as it was expected the deliberations would last at least an hour.
    Spectators were barred from the courtroom, to prevent any demonstration. An air of expectancy filled the place. Fehl sat grim and glum, with slightly bowed head. His kin watched anxiously as the jurors filed into the box.
    Walter Locke, Klamath Falls auto dealer, was foreman. He handed the verdict to the bailiff, who handed it to the court.
    When the word "guilty" fell from the lips of the court, Fehl visibly paled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and comforted his aged mother, who sat weeping by his side. His wife and mother-in-law also wept.
    The jury, composed of ten men, and two women, quickly dispersed. The crowd in the hallway left quietly. Members of the jury said that the state had presented an "air-tight" case, and that the defense had failed to refute any of their vital contentions. Fehl, they said, failed to impress them as a witness, and made many damaging admissions on the stand. One juror said that one of the salient points in the case was the lack of convincing proof that the meeting in county judge's rooms was for the sole purpose of arranging bonds for Banks. The state showed that the bond was signed on February 11, and the defense claimed it was made out on February 20, a few hours before the vote-stealing started. This was the defense's chief alibi.
    With the imposing of sentence upon Fehl, the court has announced it will come to this city, hear motions for a new trial on the part of J. Arthur LaDieu, Walter J. Jones, and Gordon L. Schermerhorn, convicted of ballot theft. If motions for new trials are denied, sentence will be imposed upon them.
    Passing of sentence upon C. Jean Conner, vice president of the "good government congress," Wesley McKitrick, "captain of the Banks guards," R. C. Cummings, whose ancient auto, with the cheers of "congress," provided noise to drown the sound of the breaking glass window, Earl Bryant and James D. Gaddy of Jacksonville, who assisted in the destruction of five ballot pouches, and C. W. (Chuck) Davis, all who have entered pleas of guilty, will be made as soon as possible thereafter.
    Disposal of the cases of Oliver Martin, and J. Croft, "the man in the horsehair coat," will be next week, at Klamath Falls. The pair will be tried jointly. Claude Ward, brother-in-law of L. A. Banks, has asked for a separate trial, and will be tried later.
    As soon as Judge Skipworth concludes all matters connected with the Jackson County cases, he will return to Eugene, and take action in the case of L. A. Banks, convicted slayer and local agitator, who is said to have enjoyed many liberties since his conviction May 22. This ceased a week ago, when Assistant Attorney General Moody directed the sheriff of Lane County to keep Banks incarcerated and not to allow him any privileges other than those accorded other jail inmates.
    Three months or so since May 1 have been devoted by the authorities to clearing up of the cases arising from the Banks-Fehl inspired turmoil.
    At the October term of the circuit court it has been announced the trials of Henrietta B. Martin, president of the "congress," charged with riotous and disorderly conduct as a result of her attempted buggy-whipping of Leonard A. Hall, editor of the Jacksonville Miner, will be held. This episode, the state says it has evidence to show, was planned the night before at the home of L. A. Banks.
    C. H. Brown, secretary of the "good government congress" and father of Mrs. Martin, charged with slandering a bank, will also be brought to trial at the next term of the circuit court. Both cases will be tried by the district attorney's office.
    It is also expected that both the Lane and Jackson grand juries will investigate at least one angle arising from the Banks murder trial and the ballot theft cases.
    There still remains three "John Does" indicted for ballot thefts whose names have not been revealed. One of the "John Does" is listed as the "yell leader" at courthouse demonstrations and "grand assemblies" in the Armory last winter. His present whereabouts are unknown.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 5, 1933, page 1


    The trial of Earl H. Fehl, county judge, found guilty in record time by a Klamath County jury Friday for complicity in the ballot robbery last February, will cost Jackson County close to $4000.
    Fees and mileage for witnesses will total $3000. Up to Friday afternoon $2,916 has been paid by the clerk of Klamath County for this purpose, and that official said sufficient number were outstanding to bring the total past the $3000 mark.
    State witnesses drew the highest amounts--two coming from Portland to testify. Attorney M. O. Wilkins drew $101 and Orlando R. Kring $86. Wilkins was former legal advisor for Fehl and Banks. Kring, a metaphysician, was close to the "inner circle" of the Congress. He testified that Fehl on February 6 had proposed he steal ballots and that Banks at a "circle" held at his home had once asked him, "Can you think up any propaganda that will divert suspicion from Fehl and others, and put the blame on someone else?"
    Most of the state witnesses, with the above exceptions, were taken to Klamath Falls and returned here on the same day. The average mileage fee for state witnesses was $17.40.
    On the final day, when it was learned that two character witnesses were to be placed on the stand by the defense to testify to Fehl's worth as a citizen, the state called ten leading residents of the county to refute the claim. They were not called when the defense did not put Fehl's character at issue.
    Some of the defense witnesses remained for the trial but were not called. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. John Glenn of Ashland, who each drew $35.40. Glenn, former county jailer, was acquitted by a jury of which Charles E. Blaess of Trail was foreman, after 14 hours deliberation.
    Janet Guches, former private secretary of L. A. Banks, and her husband, Chester Guches, each drew $27.40, and were not called to the stand.
    Others called but not inquired of were attorney W. E. Phipps of this city, $19.40: R. M. Conley, Sams Valley stockman, $26.60, and Harley Hall of the Little Applegate, a member of the Walter J. Jones jury, who drew $35.60.
    Sheriff Hess of Coos County and four others from that county, called to testify to the character of the Sexton brothers for the defense, each drew $51.60. Two of the number called to the stand were unable to qualify. Former County Judge Watson of Coos County testified "that he just knew a family by the name of Sexton residing in Marshfield, and would not know the Sexton boys if he saw them."
Medford Mail Tribune, August 5, 1933, page 1


    Closing arguments for both sides in the Fehl trial, delivered by Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody for the state, and attorneys A. C. Hough of Grants Pass and attorney Herman von Schmalz of Burns for the defense, were replete with thrilling passages. A full courtroom listened raptly.
    Attorney Hough provided the climax for his cause when he inferred that ex-Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn, his attorney, Elton Watkins of Portland, and Tom Brecheen of Ashland, a co-defendant, "were the last to leave the courthouse, and I guess the jury can guess they know as much about the robbery as anybody else."
    Attorney Newman and Schermerhorn were both in the courtroom when the implication was hurled. Afterwards, attorney Newman made a statement in which he declared the words were baseless and that attorney Hough had no grounds for making them.
    Attorney Hough included former Sheriff Ralph G. Jennings and former County Clerk Delilia Stevens Meyer in his implications, when he said:
    "It is reasonable to presume that Delilia Stevens Meyer wanted Jennings to remain as sheriff... Jennings was a dissatisfied candidate. He was interested in the recount. If you are going to let your suspicions run wild, let them run towards Jennings.''
    The state later characterized the words as "a desperate attempt to divert the jurors from Fehl."
    Both attorney Hough and Von Schmalz made sympathy pleas for Fehl, pointing to his gray-haired mother by his side, and declaring "don't tear that blue-eyed man of German descent from the side of that gray-haired mother." Attorney Von Schmalz brought all the dramatic power at his command in his plea, and Fehl and kin were deeply affected. So was the attorney, who wiped his eyes frequently.
    "I am not going to abuse the Sextons," declared attorney Hough, "but one of those boys is a moron, and the other--you can look into his future, and see the penitentiary."
    Both defense attorneys charged that Fehl was "the victim of a political plot, and he has to be put out of the way."
    They stressed Fehl's activities to aid the unemployed last winter, and the "high esteem in which he is held in Jackson County, having a plurality of 1600 votes over all candidates."
    Attorney Hough lauded Henrietta B. Martin, president of the "Congress," and Ariel Burton Pomeroy, active in the organization, as "women of brain power, and if they are a sample of the membership, I want to belong."
    The chief defense counsel also declared the defendant was a man "of loyalty and gratitude," thus explaining his association with Banks.
    Assistant Attorney General Moody, in his final plea, declared:
    "They speak of the gratitude of Fehl. There is the case of Tom Brecheen, who Fehl testified was instrumental in securing a $5000 loan to save Fehl's property. Brecheen has rotted in jail since the day of his arrest, though Fehl secured bonds for himself, and several of the others. That's his gratitude."
    Other outstanding points of the state prosecutor's address were:
    "The collateral for the $5000 loan from J. T. Thomas of Ashland, that Fehl testified Brecheen aided in securing, was the appointment of Clark Thomas as assistant jailer, and John Glenn as jailer. Fehl says they were temporary appointments, but the money was not available for Fehl until the appointments had been made, and young Thomas and Glenn were on the job.
    "Counsel asserts that no needy person went away from Fehl without aid. It is easy enough to be charitable with other people's money. 'Banks guards' were provisioned from the commissary on Fehl's orders, and they were housed in quarters at the command of the Fehl rental agency.
    "If Fehl is innocent why did he flee--hide in the rooms of his attorney--while officers were searching for him. Von Schmalz admits it. It is not the duty of an attorney to hide his client, but Von Schmalz is proud of harboring a fugitive from justice. Esteemed counsel has a different sense of ethics than myself.
    "They have told you of the high esteem with which Fehl is held in Jackson County. If that is true why did he insist upon a change of venue from a county in which he is held so highly?
    "A man by the name of Beckwith or Beckworth, who claimed he lived at Central Point, or some place around there, told this jury that at 8:30 o'clock he walked into the auditorium and secured a seat, when you could not have driven a flaxseed into the place, it was so crowded. And, while seated there, he looked around and saw Phil Lowd, a man he did not know then, he admits, but could remember his face eight months later.
    "True, there was agitation in Jackson County, as defense counsel says, and it was inspired by Fehl and Banks and their like.
    "It was not necessary for Fehl, the county judge, to hang around the court house, to turn off the lights in the auditorium. Janitors were hired for that purpose. He did not turn off the lights on the rostrum where sat Henrietta B. Martin, her father, the secretary of the 'Congress', the witness who said the membership cards were destroyed on the day the indictments were returned, his wife, L. A. Banks and L. O. VanWegen. Does any member of this jury doubt that this group knew the ballots were being destroyed and stolen, and that they were waiting for a signal from Jones to go to their car in the rear?
    "There is reason to believe that if the ballots had been counted, Schermerhorn would have lost his office, and the title to the office Fehl held would have been in doubt.
    "Witnesses for the state and defense have placed Fehl around the courthouse at a time he and John Glenn swear they were in his office talking about a loan.
    "Fehl, Jones, Schermerhorn, LaDieu, Ward, Brecheen, Croft and Walker and others attended the meeting in the county judge's office between five and seven on the evening of the robbery. They were making out bonds for L. A. Banks. Any typist will tell you it can be made out in five minutes, but they took two hours. We will be liberal, and give half an hour, as they claim. They have not told you what they were doing the rest of the two hours.
    "The defense is based upon half-truths, and a half-truth makes a whole lie. They tell you of Fehl's aid to the poor, and stress the fact that John Glenn was acquitted. The state now tells you Arthur LaDieu, former business manager for the newspaper of Banks, and the rendezvous of the county-fed Banks guards, stands convicted. That Walter J. Jones, the mayor of Rogue River and generalissimo of the crime, stands convicted. That Sheriff Schermerhorn stands convicted.
    "The state of Oregon is not seeking vengeance--but it does want justice in full."
Medford Mail Tribune, August 5, 1933, page 5


    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 7.--(AP)--Earl H. Fehl, convicted county judge of Jackson County, was placed in the Klamath County jail this afternoon, pending the securing of $7500 new bonds.
    Attorneys for Fehl are endeavoring to raise the surety in Jackson County,
    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., Aug. 7.--(AP)--Thomas L. Brecheen of Ashland, who Saturday entered a plea of guilty to ballot theft, was today sentenced to 18 months in state prison.
    Circuit Judge G. F. Skipworth in passing sentence said that the fact that Brecheen had "saved Jackson County the expense of a trial was taken into consideration."
    Attorneys for Brecheen sought leniency on the grounds "he is not a chronic lawbreaker."
    Assistant Attorney General Ralph E. Moody besought the consideration of the court for Brecheen, because he had pled guilty.
    KLAMATH FALLS, Ore., August 7.--(AP)--Earl H. Fehl, convicted county judge of Jackson County, was sentenced this afternoon to serve four years in state prison. Fehl, who was found guilty last Friday of ballot theft conspiracy, was granted 10 days in which to file motion for a new trial.
    Sentence was passed by Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth of Lane County.
    Before sentence was passed attorney A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, counsel for Fehl, addressed the court and declared that "the crime of which Fehl stands convicted is largely political." Hough asked the court, if sentence was passed, to "extend parole privileges to Fehl."
    Judge Skipworth, before passing sentence, said, "I regret exceedingly to pass sentence upon the prisoner at the bar. The court had nothing to do with the position he is in today.
    "The evidence in the case on the part of the state was overwhelming.
    "The length of time Judge Fehl remains in the penitentiary rests with himself, and the parole board."
    The court held "the burglarizing of the vault in which the ballots were stored was not alone a crime, but an affront to the court."
    The court reviewed his own connection with the ballot theft trials, and the recount proceedings out of which the crime developed.
    "The defendant has had a fair trial--the burden of proof was upon the state. The state established a clear case," Judge Skipworth said just before sentence was passed.
    Fehl stood before the court and replied in a low voice that he had nothing to say.
    The court then imposed a four-year sentence. Bond was fixed at $7500, pending hearing of the motion for a new trial. Fehl was visibly affected by the ordeal. His mother and wife sat beside him in court.
    Walter J. Jones, ex-mayor of the town of Rogue River, found guilty of ballot theft, was arrested here this afternoon, and will be returned to Medford this afternoon. Jones will be sentenced there tomorrow.
    Orders were sent to Medford to arrest J. Arthur LaDieu, first of the ballot theft defendants to be found guilty, and hold him for sentence tomorrow.
    Former Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn of Jackson County, also found guilty of ballot theft, will also be sentenced tomorrow at Medford.
    The indictments against Claude Ward, J. Croft and Oliver Martin, charging ballot theft conspiracy, were ordered dismissed.
    Only a few persons were in the courtroom when sentence was passed.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 7, 1933, page 1


    Seven months and seven days after he had assumed the office of county judge, Earl H. Fehl, for many years an apostle of dissension in Jackson County and Medford affairs, was sentenced Monday afternoon to serve four years in state prison for his part in the ballot thefts of February 20th last.
    Immediately following the passage of sentence, Fehl, grim, glum and crestfallen, was remanded to the custody of Sheriff Lloyd Low of Klamath County, pending filing of new $7500 bonds. He was photographed and fingerprinted, while his attorney sought surety. A motion for 10 days in which to file a motion for a new trial was allowed.
    The court directed that the new bonds of Fehl be gilt-edged, and fully qualified. If property is offered as bonds, under the law, it must be worth twice the amount of the bonds, or $15,000.
    Only a handful of people were in the courtroom when Circuit Judge George F. Skipworth of Eugene came to the bench. Fehl was seated between his gray-haired mother and his wife.
    "This is the time to pass sentence upon Earl H. Fehl," said the court. "Have his attorneys anything to say?"
    Attorney A. C. Hough of Grants Pass addressed the court:
    "This is one of the saddest times that comes to a man, and it is not pleasant for the attorney who defended him.
    "In all my experience as a lawyer, I have never known a jury to return an apparently unanimous verdict in such a short time.
    "There is not much that I can say. I, however, am informed on authority that I consider reliable that this defendant had nothing to do with the crime of which he stands convicted. I feel that it is more political than criminal. They were out to get Earl Fehl, as a result of the hatreds and prejudices they had aroused."
    The court, addressing the forepart of his remarks to attorney Hough, said:
    "The defendant has been found guilty, in a fair trial. No defendant in any court ever had a fairer trial. The state worked for its conviction, and much credit is due Assistant Attorney General Moody, an experienced lawyer, for his brilliant work. The evidence in the state's case was overwhelming, clear and conclusive.
    "How any man with three grains of sense could make himself believe he could get away with a crime like the ballot thefts is more than I can understand. The court at 4:20 the previous afternoon had ordered a recount of the ballots. Many points of law involved are still at issue. During the night the ballots were stolen and that automatically dismissed the action. It was not alone burglary not in a dwelling; it was an affront to the court. All concerned were in contempt of court.
    "The court knows nothing of the political angles. I hare heard only the evidence, which rests exclusively with the jury. I have listened to the evidence in all the five ballot cases. Except for minor details of corroboration, it was the same in each case."
    The court then directed that defendant Fehl stand up for sentence. He did, with his head bowed, in characteristic attitude. His mother and wife looked straight ahead. Asked if he had any word to speak in his own behalf, Fehl replied in a low voice. "Nothing to say."
    "The court regrets that Judge Fehl, who had been honored by the electorate of his county, comes before him today for sentence. I feel sorry for Judge Fehl. I feel sorry for his mother. I feel sorry for his wife. The jury has spoken and the duty of the court is plain.
    "I hereby sentence you to serve four years in state prison. The length of time you spend in the penitentiary rests with yourself and the parole board."
    Fehl, somewhat stunned. rallied quickly, and consoled his mother and wife. The court then remanded him to the custody of the sheriff, pending securing of new bond.
    The former official, en route to the county jail, told Sheriff Low, "I am as innocent as you are."
    After the sentencing of Fehl, Walter J. Jones, ex-mayor of Rogue River, convicted of ballot theft and "generalissimo" of the amazing crime, entered the courtroom. Judge Skipworth ordered his arrest, on an order issued a short time before. Jones was brought back to Medford late yesterday by the state police.
    Following the sentence upon Fehl and the incarceration of Jones, Thomas L. Brecheen of Ashland, who Saturday pleaded guilty to ballot theft, was brought into court.
    His attorney sought leniency for Brecheen, claiming "his conviction was a matter of doubt," and that "Brecheen is not a chronic law-breaker."
    Attorney Moody for the state declared: "I disagree with counsel. The conviction of Brecheen would be easier than any of the previous cases. I will say this for Brecheen: He has had a rotten deal. He has lain in jail since last March. On the other hand, he has kept his secret wrapped in his soul, along with the other leading defendants. By pleading guilty he has saved Jackson County the expense of the trial."
    Brecheen was then sentenced to 18 months in state prison, with the words, "If you behave yourself you will be out in about a year on parole."
    The court told Brecheen: "I am taking into consideration the fact that you saved Jackson County about $5000 by pleading guilty. That is the sole reason. Your name has been mentioned and your movements shown in every one of the ballot theft trials."
    J. Arthur LaDieu, former business manager for the L. A. Banks newspaper, was arrested at his home yesterday evening by state police and placed in the county jail, pending sentence today.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 8, 1933, page 8


    Bills for the trials of L. A. Banks and Earl H. Fehl were received this morning by the county clerk from Klamath County and Lane County. Banks was granted a change of venue to Lane County, on a murder, and Fehl to Klamath County on a ballot theft conspiracy charge. Both were convicted.
    Cost of the Fehl trial at Klamath Falls, which does not include costs incurred in the preliminary maneuvering, total $4749.25 [about $115,000 in 2025 dollars]. It is estimated the amount will be increased when all the bills are in.
    The trial of Banks at Eugene cost $5,699.35 [about $135,000 in 2025 dollars]. The only remaining bill is for Banks' board while held in Lane County, which cannot be filed until he is removed.
    In both trials, the chief item of expense was witness fees and mileage.
    It is estimated that the total trial cost of all the cases resulting from Banks-Fehl agitation will aggregate between $25,000 and $30,000. It is conservatively figured that the four ballot theft trials here will cost $3000 each.
    An itemized account of the Fehl trial, as submitted by Klamath County, is:
    Attorneys' fees, T. J. Enright in Brecheen, Martin and Croft cases, $150.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 10, 1933, page 1


    Disposal of the cases arising out of the theft of the general election ballots last winter, and dismissal of several indictments against lesser figures in the crime this week, practically cleared the court docket of these cases.
    County Judge Earl H. Fehl, who was this week succeeded by Earl B. Day of Gold Hill, faces a four-year term in the state penitentiary for his part as the "brains" of the theft. It was brought out in his trial that he and Llewellyn A. Banks, former Medford editor, now convicted of killing Constable Geo. Prescott when he attempted to arrest Banks on a ballot theft indictment, were leaders in the plot.
    Gordon L. Schermerhorn, ex-sheriff, received a 3-year sentence. It was because former Sheriff Ralph G. Jennings, a candidate against Schermerhorn in the fall election, had asked for a recount of the ballots that they were stolen.
    Arthur LaDieu, former business manager of Banks' paper, the Medford Daily News, and one of his right-hand men, is to serve not to exceed four years. He aided in the theft and destruction of the ballots, driving a car to the mouth of Galls Creek near Gold Hill and dumping the ballot pouches into Rogue River.
    W. H. Jones, ex-mayor of Rogue River, who superintended the stealing and gave the signal for entering the vault, received the same term as LaDieu.
    Tom Brecheen of Ashland, a close associate of Fehl who also helped plan the theft, was given 18 months. This leniency was in recognition of the fact that he pleaded guilty and saved the expense of the trial. The court also stated that Brecheen was not an habitual trouble maker, as were some of the other participants
    C. Jean Conner, a young man who had been active in the "Good Government Congress," the organization which spread much of the political unrest, was sentenced to 3 years, but was paroled to attorney Von Schmalz of Burns, a member of the defense counsel throughout the ballot trials. Conner pleaded guilty to help steal the ballots.
    Mason and Wilbur Sexton, two youths who did the actual stealing, entering the vault and passing the pouches out through the window and later helping to destroy them, were sentenced and paroled. Mason's sentence called for not to exceed three years in prison. His younger brother, Wilbur, was given one year. Both were paroled to County Engineer Paul Rynning.
    Wesley McKitrick, known as "captain of the Banks guards," was sentenced to one year. He assisted with the theft and destruction of the ballots.
    R. C. Cummings, employee of ex-Mayor Jones, and Earl Bryant and James D. Gaddy pleaded guilty to minor parts in the theft. They were each given two years and paroled to Colonel E. E. Kelly.
    Virgil Edington of Gold Hill, a former Banks follower, who accompanied LaDieu on his ballot-destroying expedition to the mouth of Galls Creek, was freed and the indictment against him dismissed early in the cases, when he turned state's witness.
    Criminal libel and criminal syndicalism and ballot theft indictments against L. A. Banks were dismissed by the court as were a criminal libel indictment against Leonard Hall, editor of the Jacksonville Miner, and criminal syndicalism indictments against a number of "congressmen."
    The ballot theft indictment held against C. W. Davis was ordered in abeyance pending the result of grand jury action on the death of Joseph B. Johnston after a street fight with Davis last Saturday.
    The district attorney's office refused to dismiss the charges against Henrietta B. Martin, president of the congress, for riotous conduct in the horse-whipping of editor Hall and against her father, C. H. Brown, congress secretary, charged with slandering a bank.
    Otherwise, the political turmoil in Jackson County is practically a thing of the past.
Gold Hill News, August 10, 1933, page 1


    SALEM, Aug. 15.--(AP)--Earl H. Fehl, former Jackson County judge, today became the fifth prisoner to start serving time in the state penitentiary for ballot theft in Jackson County. He was sentenced to serve four years.
    Deputy Sheriff Dale Mattoon of Klamath County accompanied Fehl from Klamath Falls, where the trial was held.
    Earl H. Fehl completed this morning a seven months and 15 days journey from the county judge's office of Jackson County to a cell in state prison. Fehl left the Klamath County jail, where he has been confined since his conviction of ballot theft Monday night at ten o'clock, by train, and arrived at Salem this morning. His departure was unheralded, and Fehl waived the ten days allowed for filing a motion for a new trial, which would have expired Friday. The move was a surprise.
    Fehl joins his bosom confidant and aide in local turmoil, L. A. Banks, agitator and murderer, who yesterday started serving a life sentence for the slaying of Constable George J. Prescott; also Walter J. Jones, political ally, of Rogue River; J. Arthur LaDieu, Banks' newspaper aide, both, like Fehl, serving four-year sentences for ballot theft, and Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, serving 18 months on a plea of guilty to vote stealing. Jones, LaDieu, and Brecheen, the testimony in the ballot trials showed, were the "brain trust and action men" of the Banks-Fehl plottings. The state contended Fehl was the "master mind."
    Kin of Fehl, according to advices received by the district attorney's office, bade farewell last Sunday. Fehl, unable to secure $7500 bonds that met with the legal requirements, told friends he would not appeal his conviction, and last Friday announced that he was ready to go to Salem and start serving his time.
    Fehl has been a resident of this city and county for 26 years, and ran for mayor many times, in 1930 being defeated by Mayor E. M. Wilson by 14 votes.
    For the past 15 years or more, through his weekly newspaper, he kept up a constant barrage of vilification and character assassination against county officials and leading citizens. A judgment against him for $15,000 was returned in the Roy Parr criminal libel suit by a Jackson County jury. Previously he had been acquitted in a criminal libel suit fled by Frank Dillard, then city engineer. Previous to these criminal libel actions Fehl kept the city in almost constant costly litigation over his efforts against street assessment collection and city water rights.
    Following the return and execution of the Parr libel suit verdict, Fehl joined forces with L. A. Banks, just budding forth as an agitator, and both entered county politics, finding support in the discontent of the times.
    Fehl defeated C. B. Lamkin of Ashland in the Republican primary, by 200 votes. He won in the general election over a field of four.
    It was the bitterest and stormiest campaign in the history of Jackson County. The victory of Fehl created vague suspicions, but the general disposition was "to give him a chance, as holding such a high office will sober him up."
    Before he had been in office a week, he had filed farce contempt proceedings against two former members of the county court. He assumed office January 2 last, and from the start turmoil reigned. The court house was clogged dally with throngs encouraged to make the courthouse a rendezvous by Fehl and Banks.
    Before Fehl was sworn in, Ralph G. Jennings filed recount proceedings against Sheriff-elect Schermerhorn.
    Fehl opposed this for some reason, and testimony in his trial showed he acted as advisor to Schermerhorn and counseled his absence from the state until the sheriff took office. The testimony also showed that Fehl had dictated Schermerhorn's appointees, in consideration of a $5000 loan from an Ashland friend.
    Hectic efforts to thwart the recount culminated in the ballot robbery of February, for which five men are now serving time and six others are on parole.
    Following the first theft arrests Fehl attempted to issue habeas corpus papers for their release, and also attempted to issue a warrant for the arrest of officials engaged in nabbing ballot thieves.
    Fehl, himself listed as one of the defendants, remained in seclusion until he could furnish $15,000 bonds.
    Fehl established a "county commissary," and testimony at his trial showed "Banks guards" fed from it.
    Fehl hurled charges right and left against his political foes, and as an outgrowth of them a county audit was ordered, which will be filed the last of the week. Fehl charged that county funds were misused.
    Last of the ballot theft defendants to be brought to trial, Fehl asked three times for a change of venue before it was granted. The case was moved to Klamath County, where the jury returned a verdict of guilty in 12 minutes.
    The outstanding features of the trial were Fehl's disavowal of membership in the "Good Government Congress," whose votes he sought, and whose meetings he addressed; and a feeble effort to shift the blame from his own shoulders to Schermerhorn and Brecheen and attorney Elton Watkins of Portland, who had honored him with their friendship.
    Immediately following his sudden conviction Fehl was placed in the Klamath County jail, and Earl B. Day named as county judge.
    Under Oregon law Fehl, convicted of a felony, is barred from ever holding an appointive office, or seeking an elective one.
    The last chapter of his bitter and stormy life aged him 20 years, friends say.
    With good behavior in prison, Fehl will be entitled to 16 months "good time," and will be eligible to parole in 32 months.
    Fehl will join the "hog fuel" crew in his first two weeks in the penitentiary, after which he will be assigned to prison labor as near as possible to his pursuit when free.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 15, 1933, page 1


    Round-up of the master keys of the courthouse is under way this week by the county court. The master keys seemed to have been distributed rather indiscriminately during the short regime of the former county judge, Earl H. Fehl. No accurate information is at hand as to just how many master keys were released. Several have been turned in. The county court plans slight changes in the locks to the county courthouse, to render the remaining outstanding keys useless. It is not anticipated that anyone will endeavor to enter the courthouse now, but it is invoked as a precautionary measure.
    All doors to county offices have been ordered locked at the close of the day's business, as well as the vault and safes containing valuable records. A close check will be kept on master keys.
    Last January and February, there was considerable prowling around the courthouse at night, by unauthorized persons. This brought complaint from citizens without results.
    Evidence in the Fehl trial showed that the ex-county judge was in possession of a master key ere he was inducted into office. The state contended that Fehl and his lieutenant, Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, through the means of this master key entered the clerk's office last December, removed stickers from ballot pouches, and a few days later reported to the grand jury that "somebody has been tampering with the ballot pouches."
    The county judge this week also has disposed of a number of probate matters and sanity hearing cases that have been accumulating for the past three months.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 17, 1933, page 1


    The audit of Jackson County finances and offices was filed yesterday with the county court by L. H. Haines, public accountant of Klamath Falls. The audit does not support in any particular sensational charges and vicious innuendos hurled last spring against the conduct of county affairs by E. H. Fehl, county judge, and L. A. Banks, then local agitator and running mate of Fehl. The audit is a refutation of the pair's accusations.
    The opening paragraph of the 153-page report reads:
    "I hereby certify that in my opinion, with the exception of minor errors, discrepancies, and omissions reported hereinafter, all monies collected during the three years ending December 31, 1932 for taxes, fines, and bail forfeitures, fees, licenses, amounts due from other governmental units, and other incomes have been deposited with the county treasurer, in accordance with statues in effect, and have been disbursed on authorized vouchers, or remain on hand."
    Auditor Haines further stated, "In my opinion, the discrepancies found are no different than those to be found in any other counties, and not as bad as in many."
    Auditor Haines further said the "errors, discrepancies, and omissions" were "clerical errors," such as appear in any business, and could be easily rectified.
    The report contains no sensational or unusual matter, and none of the charges and accusations hurled by Earl H. Fehl and L. A. Banks against the handling of county affairs are supported in the audit. Fehl in "congress" meetings in rural areas frequently voiced serious accusations, and Banks repeated them in his newspaper.
    The report shows that the sheriff's office under Ralph G. Jennings handled $1,444.686.03 during the three-years period, and the recorded cash receipts of the office show a 50-cent shortage. Fehl and Banks hinted in their allegations that the sheriff office funds were "mishandled."
    The clerk's office, another point of veiled attack by Banks and Fehl, handled $18,858.39. The audit shows the clerk's accounts were off a nickel during the regime of Delilia Stevens Meyer.
    The audit shows that the county offices handled in 1932 the sum of $1,432,361.07; in 1931 the sum of $1,929,187.98, and in 1930 the sum of $2,110,710.33. The total amount for the three-year period was $5,472,259.38.
    The county court spent Saturday afternoon going over the audit with auditor Haines, and discussing suggested changes in the systems used in county business. The session will be resumed Monday. An item-by-item study of the audit is being made by the county court.
    The audit is voluminous and in detail and covers all offices and funds. As soon as a copy is received from the binders it will be made available to all interested. The report is complete.
    The contract for the audit was signed March 16 last. Fehl, then county judge, now serving a four-year state prison sentence for ballot theft, in his rural district speeches, and in his weekly [newspaper], made general charges that county funds were being mishandled. Banks in his publication supported the allegations. Neither would make specific allegations, but hurled general allegations.
    The audit was contracted to still the studied and growing agitation. When rumor-mongers spread charges they were hailed before the county court and faced with their accusations in the presence of the auditor. This stopped the practice. One of the terms of the contract was that it would not be revealed except by the auditor, and in the presence of the county court, and that the auditor was to make none of his findings public until the audit was completed.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 20, 1933, page 1


    The county audit completed this week has revealed that the sheriff office "mishandled" accounts to the extent that 50¢ cannot be accounted for, and that the clerk's office is short five cents in the three-year period covered by auditor Haines. The check of records covers all offices and funds, and shows that the total amount handled for the three-year period was $5,472,259.38.
    It cost Jackson County $2500 to find out that her officials kept careful records, in spite of repeated rumors to the contrary. Serious allegations had been made by L. A. Banks and former County Judge Earl H. Fehl that the funds of the sheriff and clerk's office were "mishandled," and their hints and veiled accusations gained such strength in the rural districts that the audit was finally ordered to clear up the situation.
    The opening paragraph of the 153-page report reads:
    "I hereby certify that in my opinion, with the exception of minor errors, discrepancies, and omissions reported hereinafter, all monies collected during the three years ending December 31, 1932 for taxes, fines, and bail forfeitures, fees, licenses, amounts due from other incomes have been deposited with the county treasurer in accordance with statutes in effect, and have been disbursed on authorized vouchers, or remain on hand."
    Auditor Haines further stated, "In my opinion, the discrepancies found are no different than those to be found in any other counties, and not as bad as in many."
    Auditor Haines further said the "errors, discrepancies, and omissions" were "clerical errors," such as appear in any business, and could be easily rectified.
    The report contains no sensational or unusual matter, and none of the charges and accusations hurled by Earl H. Fehl and L. A. Banks against the handling of county affairs are supported in the audit. Fehl in "congress" meetings in rural areas frequently voiced serious accusations, and Banks repeated them in his newspaper.
    The report shows that the sheriff's office under Ralph G. Jennings handled $1,444,686.03 during the three years period, and the recorded cash receipts of the office show a 50-cent shortage. Fehl and Banks hinted in their allegations that the sheriff office funds were "mishandled."
    The clerk's office, another point of veiled attack by Banks and Fehl, handled $18,858.39. The audit shows the clerk's accounts were off a nickel during the regime of Delilah Stevens Meyer.
    The audit shows that the county offices handled in 1932 the sum of $1,432.361.07; in 1931 the sum of $1,929,187.98 and in 1930 the sum of $2,110,710.33. The total amount for the three-year period was $5,472,259.38.
Gold Hill News, August 24, 1933, page 1


    A certificate of levy was filed August 19 last, the county records show, on two pieces of property formerly owned by Earl H. Fehl, now serving four years in state prison on conviction of ballot theft. The move is made upon an assignment of judgment by Roy M. Parr to Corinthia E. Stailey, mother-in-law of Fehl. The property involved is the Pacific Record Herald building on Sixth Street and the Fehl residence property on [504] South Oakdale Avenue.
    The action precedes, county officials hold, service by the county for the cost bills in Fehl's trial for ballot theft conspiracy, which have been filed by the county under the law, in an effort to recover on the expenses of the trial amounting to approximately $5000. Fehl secured a change of venue to Klamath County, which more than doubled the cost.
    Parr, a game warden formerly stationed in this county, was awarded a $15,000 judgment against Fehl for criminal libel for an article published in the Pacific Record Herald. The county records show that for "$1 and other valuable considerations," Parr assigned the judgment to Mrs. Stailey on April 10 last.
    It is reported that Parr accepted $1500 as settlement of the libel judgment.
    The day following his conviction by a Klamath County jury in 12 minutes, Fehl transferred three pieces of property to his wife. The law holds this transfer is void. The county will proceed in its effort to collect for the costs of the Fehl trial against property owned by the defendant that can be attached.
    The county also will file cost bills against L. A. Banks, former local agitator, now serving a life term for murder; Walter J. Jones, ex-mayor of Rogue River; J. Arthur LaDieu, former Banks business aide, and Gordon L. Schermerhorn, deposed sheriff. Jones and LaDieu are serving four-year terms for ballot theft, and Schermerhorn is at liberty on $7500 bonds pending an appeal to the state supreme court from a three-year sentence.
    Hearing on the cost bills in the four cases will be heard before Judge George F. Skipworth at Eugene, the middle of September. As soon as the amounts are established they are docketable as judgments and enforceable as liens.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 29, 1933, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, former county judge of Jackson County, serving a four-year term in state prison for ballot theft complicity, is "doing hard time," according to Medford people, who have been in Salem the past week and came in contact with prison officials and attaches. "Hard time" is penitentiary slang for inmates who grieve and worry over their fate.
    Fehl so far has been unable to reconcile himself to prison life and is bitter, particularly against the Klamath County jury, who returned a verdict of guilty in the record time of 12 minutes.
    L. A. Banks, serving life for murder, is taking his fate far more philosophically, is cheerful and willing, and when not working on the "hog fuel pile" mixes with other prisoners and is a friendly soul alike to guards and fellow convicts.
    Banks and Arthur LaDieu, his former business manager and devoted aide, are the only two of the Medford delegation who have had visitors so far.
    Walter J. Jones, the former mayor of Rogue River, Tom L. Brecheen, and LaDieu are "doing easy time," having adapted themselves to prison routine, and are as cheerful as their surroundings will permit. All three were lieutenants of Banks and Fehl in the turmoil that racked this county. Jones and LaDieu are under four-year sentence, and Brecheen, who pled guilty at the finish after spending six months in the county jail awaiting bail, is serving 18 months.
    Wesley McKitrick, "captain of the Banks guards," who pled guilty to ballot theft and was not amenable to a parole because of a previous conviction of a felony, and was sentenced to one year, entered prison with a hopeful attitude and has already been rated as a "model prisoner." "Model prisoners" get trusty jobs. The prosecution, in asking a parole for McKitrick, declared, "He undoubtedly saved bloodshed in Jackson County when he gave information to the district attorney's office." He is eligible for parole in seven and one-half months.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 31, 1933, page 1


    SALEM, Sept. 19.--(UP)--Llewellyn A. Banks and Earl Fehl, once political colleagues in stormy Jackson County affairs, were separated as cellmates at the Oregon state penitentiary, it became known today.
    When Banks, former militant editor of the Medford Daily News, and Fehl, militant editor of the Pacific Record Herald and Jackson County judge, started serving terms in prison they were placed in the same cell. They were later separated because they were unable to agree as well at Salem as they did at Medford, it was unofficially reported.
    Prison Warden James Lewis said separation of the two was a routine matter, and their assignment to the same cell was not meant to be permanent. Banks now rooms with Arthur LaDieu, who served under him as business manager of the Medford News. Fehl is alone. All are said to be well behaved.
    Banks, former orchardist and candidate for United States Senator, is serving a life sentence after conviction of second degree murder of Constable George Prescott at Medford. Fehl and LaDieu, with several others from Jackson County, are serving four-year terms for theft of ballot boxes from the courthouse.
Medford Mail Tribune, September 19, 1933, page 1


    Word has been received by local authorities that Llewellyn A. Banks, former agitator serving a life sentence in state prison at Salem for second degree murder, after the usual 30 days' observation of criminals has been assigned to the prison laundry.
    Banks, during the first month of his imprisonment, was detailed to various tasks while becoming accustomed to prison regulations, and while prison authorities determine the occupations their temperaments best fit them for.
    The prison laundry employs about 26 convicts and is under constant guard. Hugh DeAutremont, Siskiyou tunnel bandit, also serving life, now on his seventh year of confinement, was a prison laundry worker until he was removed for his part in an attempted prison break over a year ago. DeAutremont is now confined in the disciplinary barracks. All the prison washing is done in the laundry.
    E. H. Fehl is a member of a cell wing cleaning crew. Wesley McKitrick, "Captain of the Banks Guards," sentenced to a year for a guilty plea to ballot theft, is cook's helper. Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, who pled guilty and was given 18 months, has a door-tending job, and J. Arthur LaDieu, former business aide of Banks and cellmate of his former employer, is doing clerical work.
Medford Mail Tribune, September 28, 1933, page 1


    E. H. Fehl, serving four years in state prison for conviction by a Klamath County jury of ballot theft conspiracy, today filed with the district attorney's office an affidavit denying that he appeared as a witness before the grand jury last February against Joe Cave, city policeman indicted for involuntary manslaughter, an action born of the political agitation over the death of Everett Dahack during a raid on a Reese Creek still in November, 1930.
    Attorneys for Cave filed a motion to quash the indictment against Cave on the grounds that Fehl, then county judge, and L. A. Banks, former local agitator, serving life for murder, appeared before the grand jury and did not affix their names to the indictment, as required by law.
    A similar affidavit to Fehl's is anticipated from Banks.
    The affidavit of Fehl reads in part:
    "At no time did I appear before said grand jury, and this affidavit is made in the interests of the state of Oregon, that truth and justice may be upheld and further sayeth not."
    The affidavit is made on prison stationery.
    Edith W. Patton, secretary of the grand jury, and G. L. Knight make affidavits in opposition to the defense contentions that "Banks and Fehl appeared in the grand jury room and might have mentioned the Joe Cave case, but any statement made by them was not considered as evidence."
    At the time that Cave was indicted, Banks was indicted for criminal libel and criminal syndicalism. William T. Grieve of Prospect was foreman. Testimony of Fehl and Banks in the Banks murder trial indicated that both had received "advance information" of grand jury business. Banks had long insisted that Cave be indicted. Former Sheriff Gordon L. Schermerhorn was arrested on a ballot theft information when he went to the city police station to serve a warrant on Cave.
    The motion for quashing of the indictment against Cave is expected to be called as soon as the pending criminal cases before the circuit court are concluded.
Medford Mail Tribune, October 5, 1933, page 2


    The sheriff's office has started advertising sale of the Pacific Record Herald building on Sixth Street, and residential property on Oakdale Avenue, under the judgment rendered against E. H. Fehl in favor of Roy A. Parr, in the latter's libel suit against the former weekly publisher. Fehl is now serving a four-year sentence in state prison, upon conviction of ballot-theft conspiracy. Parr is a resident of Ashland and former game warden, dismissed by the same commission a week ago in an economy move.
    Sale of the property under judgment is made in behalf of Corinthia E. Stailey, mother-in-law of Fehl, who last April was granted a certificate of levy on the property issued to her by Parr in a purported settlement. The amount was never made public, but is said to have been $1500.
    Parr sued Fehl for $50,000 criminal libel damages, as the result of an article published in the Pacific Record Herald, and growing out of the Everett Dahack case. A circuit court jury awarded a $15,000 verdict. In its wake came the political fury and campaign of hate that racked Jackson County for months.
    Execution of the judgment, within the 60 days allotted by law, will close the case officially.
Medford Mail Tribune, October 31, 1933, page 1


    Earl H. Fehl, former Jackson County judge, serving four years in state prison for conviction of ballot-theft, has been endeavoring to have Wesley McKitrick, a prisonmate, serving one year sentence, sign an affidavit exonerating Fehl, according to Deputy District Attorney George W. Neilson, who has returned from a week's stay in Salem on business connected with the turmoil cases.
    McKitrick, "captain of the Banks guards," turned state's evidence, and according to the prosecution "gave information that undoubtedly prevented wholesale bloodshed in Jackson County." McKitrick pled guilty but was ineligible for parole because of previous conviction of a felony. McKitrick is now a prison trusty. He has refused to sign the affidavit. He will be eligible for parole in eight months.
    Tom L. Brecheen of Ashland, serving 18 months in state prison upon a plea of guilty of ballot-theft, has also declined to sign the affidavit. Brecheen is said to be aggrieved that he did not get a parole. He was a "bosom friend" of the turmoil leaders and one of those who were frequent guests at the county jail table last January and February. Brecheen entered a plea of guilty after Fehl's speedy conviction.
    Both McKitrick and Brecheen, the district's attorney's office say, were asked to sign the affidavit following the conviction of Fehl in 12 minutes by a Klamath County jury. All three were in the Klamath County jail at the time. Brecheen and McKitrick refused then, and the request has been repeated since their incarceration in the "big house." The affidavit was intended to be the basis of Fehl's proposed appeal and motion for a new trial.
    Fehl, under the parole law, will be eligible for parole when he has served two-thirds, or 32 months, of his four-year sentence. Like all others behind the grim gray walls, Fehl is hopeful of early executive clemency or parole.
    Deputy Neilson learned during his stay in Salem that Banks and Arthur LaDieu, his former business aide, were "not hitting it off so well as cellmates." Fehl was Banks' first cellmate, but they did not get along as well as they did when keeping Jackson County agitated. LaDieu has a clerical position.
    Both Banks and Fehl expected to continue their "writings" in prison, but were restricted to the prison allowance of the weekly letter to friend or kin. Banks published a pamphlet while in the Lane County jail, and had another one nearly ready when he started serving time. It has never been circulated.
    Fehl is still attached to the "janitor brigade"; Banks is employed in the prison laundry, with alternate days of "hard work" and "easy work." A local attorney consulted with Banks last week on matters in connection with his local business affairs. He reports Banks cheerfully philosophical, expectant of an early release, and still nursing his martyr complex.
    Time for the filing of appeal papers for Walter Jones, former mayor of Rogue River, serving four years for ballot theft, expired October 8. Any future action on this line rests with his counsel.
    Alvin Tollefson, former cashier of the Central Point bank, serving two and one-half years for perpetration of a bank robbery hoax, will be eligible for parole next month. Tollefson, a model prisoner, is assigned to the receiving room of the prison.
    Prison officials reported that all of the Jackson County representation under their keeping are behaving themselves. Hugh DeAutremont, Siskiyous tunnel confessed slayer, and William Donahoe, habitual criminal sentenced for attempted extortion by torture, sentenced to life terms from this county, have been recent occupants of the "bullpen." They plotted an escape on July 4, 1932, during a ball game.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 6, 1933, page 1


    A number of unpaid bills bequeathed to the county court from the Earl H. Fehl administration were presented yesterday to the county court for payment and were disallowed, or held in abeyance. The bills were contracted last May and June, and a portion of July, for gasoline, telephone and telegraph.
    A bill for $166.66 for Fehl's salary for the month of July was not acted upon, as the state of Oregon has filed a claim against it for expenses of Fehl's trial in Klamath County. It cannot be paid until the decision of the court is given.
    The last of the bills for gasoline was presented yesterday, the county court refusing to take any action until an itemized account was made. The gasoline was charged to "Judge Fehl" for the months of May and June and a portion of April. It amounted to $70.08, and was for oil and gas which at the rate of 15 miles to the gallon shows the former official traveled 5000 miles in his auto, which the county court holds "was going some."
    It is figured that the county judge's office gasoline bills for the first six months of this year will set a record. The clerk's office reports that on the face of bills presented to date it will average $30 to $35 per month.
    The Western Union Telegraph Co. again presented a bill for $3.50, which the county court again declined to pay. One of the items is $1.37 for a telegram sent by the "Good Government Congress" to Congressman James W. Mott at Washington, D.C., late in February. The other is for $1.13 for a telegram sent by H. Von Schmalz to Burns, Ore. Attorney Von Schmalz was Fehl's counsel in the ballot theft trial. The county court holds the expense is no concern of the county.
    A telephone bill of $6.60 is in the course of pruning to strictly county business. All telephone calls of Fehl to his attorney, A. C. Hough of Grants Pass, will be disallowed. Similar calls to Sheriff Hess of Coos County will be acted upon accordingly. Sheriff Hess was a defense witness in many of the ballot theft trials.
    The county court has taken the position it will pay legitimate bills against the county, but will not be responsible for personal business of an official.
Medford Mail Tribune, November 23, 1933, page 1


    The Pacific Record Herald building on Sixth Street, formerly owned by E. H. Fehl, and where he published the weekly, was sold Saturday morning at a sheriff's sale to Mrs. Corinthia E. Staley. Mrs. Stailey bid $5000 and was the only bidder. The sale was described by the sheriff's office as a legal formality, "to clear the title." Mrs. Stailey is a mother-in-law of the former county official, now serving four years in state prison for ballot theft conspiracy conviction.
    Roy A. Parr, former game warden, was awarded a $15,000 judgment against Fehl and the Pacific Record Herald, on a criminal libel charge. Parr sold the $15,000 judgment against Fehl to Mrs. Stailey last spring, for $1500, it was reported at the time. A certificate of levy was issued to Mrs. Stailey, and her purchase Saturday gives her a clear title. No money changed hands in the transaction.
    For years the Pacific Record Herald ran wild with accusations against public officials, without regard to facts or truth, and was the fountainhead of the Jackson County turmoil.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 3, 1933, page 10


    MEDFORD, Ore., May 10 (AP)--A straight-thinking newspaperman, who pitted clear editorial persuasion against the forces of political insurrection, directed the campaign which won for his paper the Pulitzer Prize for "the most distinguished and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper" in 1933.
    He is Robert W. Ruhl, 54-year-old editor of the Medford Mail Tribune and once a schoolmate of President Roosevelt at Harvard. He helped smash an upheaval in Jackson County which threatened guerrilla warfare in the first six months of 1933.
    Puhl's fight began when Llewellyn A. Banks, 70, an orchardist, developed political ambition and bought a newspaper plant to aid his desires.
    Stirred into a violent temper by what he thought were gross wrongs perpetrated by city and county officials and fellow residents of the Rogue River Valley, Banks organized his "Good Government Congress."
    Through his paper, the Daily News, he harangued the citizens and pleaded for support. "Ropes and nooses" for some county officials were demanded.
    The first bombshell burst when 10,000 general election ballets were stolen from the county courthouse on the eve of a recount on charges of fraud.
    In addition to the ballot theft charge, Banks was the defendant at that time in two criminal libel cases, one criminal syndicalism charge, and 18 or 20 lawsuits. Banks published an extra edition of his paper declaring he would resist arrest.
    "We have now come to that great showdown," his paper asserted, "where blood is likely to be spilled."
    Members of the "Good Government Congress" threatened to "take over Jackson County."
    Banks' prediction of bloodshed materialized on the morning of March 16, 1933. Constable George Prescott of Medford walked up the steps of Banks' residence with a warrant for the man's arrest. A rifle bullet blew off the top of his head.
    "I shot Prescott," Banks shouted as he stepped over the prostrate body. "He was trying to force his way into my house as any burglar would!"
    Banks was sentenced to life imprisonment.
    "Militant journalism," so called, had no place in editor Ruhl's program. He won his case with expressions of calm, deliberate judgment.
Niagara Falls Gazette, May 10, 1934, page 7
Last revised January 2, 2025