Tynan Would Not Resign

Tynan Would Not Resign

Warden Thomas Tynan refused to resign from the head of the Colorado State Penitentiary. Governor William Sweet was accused of plotting to make Thomas Osborne, his advisor in the investigation, the new warden of the Penitentiary. Sweet denied these accusations.


Transcription:

Dutcher Rumored as Tynan’s Successor, With Osborne as His Deputy: “Story is Bunk, Pure and Simple,” Tynan Declares
Denver, Jan. 10. Political rumor has unraveled the first knot in the tangles skein in charges and counter charges growing out of Governor William E. Sweet’s move a week ago to oust Thomas J. Tynan as warden of the state penitentiary at Canon City.
Rumors, unverified but persistent were that all charges against Tynan will be dismissed by the civil service commission on mechanical grounds, that Tynan will then resign, and a warden acceptable to Governor Clarence J. Morley will be appointed, with Thomas Mott Osborne, nationally known prison reformer, as his deputy.
Osborne arrived in Denver late yesterday and was not at the station by Governor Sweet. At that time Governor Sweet denied that Osborne would be made warden but refused to answer when asked if he would be appointed deputy.
Osborne said he was here only in an advisory capacity in connections with the investigation into the penitentiary, made some time ago by the National Society of Penal Information of which Osborne is chairman.
Prominently mentioned for the office of Warden to succeed Tynan is the name of A.C Dutcher, who was warden of the state reformatory in Buena Vista. Dutcher is understood to be making no effort to obtain the position.
When shown the above dispatch Warden Tynan said.
“The whole story is bunkum, pure and simple. I have no intention of resigning. I am anxious that the charges preferred against me by Governor Sweet be tried before the civil service commission because I want the people of Colorado to know the true story of the conduct of their prison at Canon City. I promise the people that under no circumstances I will resign.
“I am not like Thomas Mott Osborne, whom I understand, not only resigned from the wardenship of Sing Sing prison while under fire of certain charges. But I believe, resigned from wardenship of Portsmouth federal Penitentiary without answering charges which were preferred against him by the Secretary of the United States navy.

"Rumor Says Tynan Will Resign; Tynan says, 'No'" The Daily Record, January 10, 1925, Tynan Family File, Royal Gorge Museum, Cañon City, Colorado.