The Topeka State Journal

TURNS ON THE LIGHT.

Cousin of Senator Burton Makes a Statement.

Senator Burton has a cousin, Mrs. Lottie Burton, who lives in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune says. She believes in his innocence and tells incidentally she tells some "facts" which will be news even to Burton's closest friends. Her interview is deserving of a place alongside of the letter from Burton which Frank Grimes published. She says:

"Were President McKinley alive today there would be a different story. Mr. McKinley was probably the closest friend Senator Burton had. You might say he was like a father to him. In the present administration Senator Burton was without a friend.

"At the Philadelphia convention which nominated McKinley and Roosevelt, Senator Burton was against Roosevelt because he did not think him the man for the place. Between the two he thought there was no comparison.

"Of course, Mr. Roosevelt knew of Senator Burton's opposition, and probably has not forgotten it. That has nothing to do with this case, except in this way—the senator lost one of his best friends in the death of President McKinley.

"We have not heard from Senator Burton for some time. I expect, however, a letter at any time, and I am sure it will contain protestations of his innocence of anything wrong.

"I know him. He is still a young man. He was raised a Christian, God fearing man. He would not do anything that he thought was wrong. His record is clear.

"Leaving his home, Mitchell, Ind., as a poor country boy, he made his way to a place where it seemed he might have been nominated for vice president. I know he at one time thought there was a chance of that.

"He is strong in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and as the vice presidential candidate would have been a factor in deciding those states.

"But this thing has come, and I suppose now he would not be even considered, though he be eventually acquitted.

"Mr. Burton is not only all that is honorable in public, but he is also a model man in family affairs.

"Devoted to a wife who has been an invalid for years, no purer life than his is known among men. He is confident, I am sure, that the Lord will deliver him from his trouble in time."