The great detective telegraphed me from San Francisco that my name had not been the subject of discussion at any time during his visit to Los Angeles. I was not satisfied with that, and telegraphed again, saying that I wanted to know if he had mentioned me at any time in Southern California, and if he had done so, would he say openly and for publication what he had said against me. In the meantime there had been published a United Press dispatch from San Francisco, quoting Mr. Burns as saying that if he had mentioned me, it had been “as a private individual and not as a government official.” Therefore I pointed out to Mr. Burns that he could not say anything about me as a private citizen; whatever he said would be assumed by everyone to be based upon information he had got as head of the United States Secret Service. This brought a second telegram from Mr. Burns, as follows: Replying to your second wire, I made no statements concerning you as a private citizen or government official at Pasadena or elsewhere, nor have I ever undermined the character of you or any other person. I want to also deny that I ever made any statement to the United Press as stated in your telegram, and for your further information let me assure you whenever I express myself concerning you or anyone else I will not hesitate to admit it. That seemed explicit, and I was prepared to accept it. But you note that it left the United Press in a bad light; and representatives of the United Press took the matter up, and wired their head office in San Francisco, receiving the information that the interview with Mr. Burns had been given to Frank Clarvoe, one of their most trusted and experienced men. Mr. Clarvoe had been with Mr. Burns in his hotel room when the telegram from me arrived, and Mr. Burns had allowed Mr. Clarvoe to make a copy of this telegram, and had dictated a reply, slowly and distinctly, so that Mr. Clarvoe could write it down. The manager of the United Press added that this was evidently one of those frequent cases where parties talk and afterwards wish to deny it. In the meantime I had been interviewing the executive committee of the University Club of Pasadena, holding over the heads of these gentlemen the threat of a slander suit, and thereby inducing each of them in turn to state upon exactly what basis he had repeated the statements about Mr. Burns and myself. So the report was definitely traced to Mr. Irwin Hays Rice, president of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association of Los Angeles, and one of the chiefs of the Black Hand. Mr. Rice, in a conversation over the telephone, had stated to the secretary of the club that Mr. Burns had described me as “a parlor pink and a dangerous enemy of the United States government.”