The Bank President and the Federal Judge
When the federal government began investigating his failing bank, a Tacoma business owner launched a public crusade against the judge presiding over the case.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Tacoma Ledger, of which Nelson Bennett, president of the wrecked Merchants’ National bank, is the reputed owner, this morning contained a scurrilous editorial attacking United States Judge Hanford on account of his instructions to the grand jury relative to the reported crookedness in the management of Bennett’s bank. It was expected by many that Judge Hanford would arraign the author for contempt. He made no reference to the matter from the bench. After court adjourned this evening Judge Hanford was shown the editorial and asked if he would take any official cognisance of it. He replied: 'I have been in this country a long time, and have been chased by wild beasts and Indians. So long as there is a thing in the country like that [referring to the Ledger] it is not strange I should be attacked by it. I have never been caught, and I am going right along attending to my own business in the regular way.'
“I have been in this country a long time, and have been chased by wild beasts and Indians. So long as there is a thing in the country like that, it is not strange I should be attacked by it.”
This story captures a classic struggle between the power of the press and the independence of the federal judiciary. The tension over whether public business should be conducted in courtrooms or through partisan media outlets remains a central debate in modern civic life.
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