Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-01-25


Actual Occurrences Sought by the
Committes-Allen o. Meyers on
the Stand - Had a Hot Round
With Senator Garfield ~ Wit
nesses Who Refuse to Testify
Will Be Prosecuted for Contempt.
Cincinnati, o., january 24.-The leg
islative committee tonight closed its
investigation in this city Of the Otis
: charges of bribery in the recent cleo
ton Of United States Senator. The
Senate committee will continue it's
work at Columbus. Thirty witnesses
have been examined here since last
Friday, most of them being employees
of the Gibson House, of telegraph and
telephone companies and Of the
Union Savings and Trust Company.
Jared H. Bliss, Allen O. Myers, ST.,
and E. H. Archer were the principal
other witnesses.
They returned to Columbus tonight
with the committee. The attorneys
and three members of the House com
mittee also returned. AS the evidence
of Representative John c. Otis and of
Col. Thomas @. Campbell will be very
lengthy, they were not called here, but
Mr. Otis will likely be the next wit
ness at Columbus.
At Columbus last week several wit
nesses refused to testify because their
attorneys advised them that a Senate
committee had no jurisdiction in in
vestigating charges made by member
of the House. The employees of Pres
ident Schmidtapp's bank and Hon.
Harry M. Daugherty chairman of the
Republican State Central Committee,
to-day declined either to be sworn or
to answer questions because the com
nlittee had no jurisdiction.
When H. H. Hollenbeck was en-
route from Columbus to Cincinnati
January z he received a dispatch
signed "H. D." and the committee
asked Mr.. Daugherty if he sent that
dispatch. He declined to answer ques-
tions and continued to argue, the ques-
ton of jurisdiction till he was excused,
subject to call for punishment for
contempt. When Manager Page, of
the Western Union, was asked to pro-
duce the H. D." dispatch and other
messages, he said the company now
had none of their messages as far back
as January 10. And he did not know
whether they had been taken across
the river to their offices in Covington
and Newport, KY, or sent to New
York, or where they were. Chairman
Burke announced that as soon as the
committee was through with all the
willing witnesses, that the proceedings
would at once he begun to bring all
the unwilling witnesses before the bar
Of the Senate for punishment for con-
tempt
ALLEN 0. MYERS, SR..
was the first witness. He was at the
Great Southern hotel in Columbus.
January z, where Mr.. Kurtz and others
opposing Senator Hanna were then
stopping. His son, Allen 0. Myers, Jr.,
clerk at the Gibson House, in Gin
cinnati, called him up that night and
told Of Boyce's movements The next
day his son reached Columbus with
copies of stenOgraphic reports of
Boyce's talks from Cincinnati over the
telephone with the Hanna headuuar-
tiers in Columbus. AS the matter per-
tanned to Republicans, he turned all
over to Kurtz and introduced his son
to him. Kurtz told Myers that Hol-
lenbeck would go to Cincinnati with
money. Myers detailed the shadowing
Of Hollenback from Columbus to Gin
cinnati and back, also the carriage
drives of BOyce about Columbus. The
testimony Of Myers caused quite a stir,
especially when he became very angry
on the cross examination by Senator
Garfield He denied that he was a
party to any conspiracy in setting I'D
the BOyce- Hollenback story about the
bribery of Representative Otis When
Senator Garfield told witness he need
not reply to anything that would in
criminate himself, Myers became in
tensely enraged and Chairman Burke
! lldu uiHICuICy III plOCScuIuS Will IHS
inquiry.
E. H. ARCHER, OF COLUMBUS,
Deputy State Railway Commissioner,
testified to following H. H Hollenbeck
from Columbus to Cincinnati and
pointing him out to Jerry Bliss and
the detectives at the depot.
Archer testified rapidly without
questions being asked. He told about
the shadowing of Hollenbeck from the
Neil House to the Columbus depot,
watching his movements on the train
and even in his berth all night. Hol
lenbeck carried his valise TO the toilet
room with him and wherever he went.
Hollenbeck took his valise with him
into an upper berth. He did not I'M
dress in the sleeper and received mes
sages in care Of the conductor along
the route. The rest of Archer's tes
timony covered the shadowing in Gin
cinnati and Columbus that had been
covered by the witnesses last Saturday.
Archer said he was a volunteer with
Kurtz and other Republicans in seek
ing the defeat of Hanna; that he was
not employed as detective, but had
worked for weeks for the good of the
cause.
Harry NJ Daugherty. chairman Of
the Republican State Executive Com
mittet. was called. but refused to be
, sworn. because. he claimed. the com