The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-28
MAJOR RUNCIE so SWEARs
Damaging Testimony Before
 Senate Committee.
cieerman Tells of . ss, 100 Present to Wood and the Concession to the Jai Alai 0amb- 
 ling scheme.

mittee on military affairs to-day heard Major James D. Runcie of Havana. prob ably the most important witness that will be offered by the opponents of Gen. eral Leonard Wood in their attempt to prevent his confirmation to be major general. t8& N Major Runcie was on the stand several times during the day, telling the commit. tee of dinner at Santiago, Cuba, at- tended by himself. General Wood and Ray Stannard Baker. newspaper man, at which, 1t is alleged, was. planned the magazine article attacking Major Gen. eral Brooke that has figured conspicu- ousiy in the Wood case. Major Runcie was stopped more than once during the course of his testimony and told to give nothing but facts of which he had per-cn1l bnowledge
 That Santiago Dinner.
 This diu not eAciuue his' story of ths dinner incident which resulted In the issue of subpoenas for three other wit nesses among whom is General Brooke.
 In his testimony Major Runcie e&pialn- cd that he had acted as the confidential adviser of General Wood for nearly two years. and that they lived together at Santiago. It was while they were living in the. same house that Mir. Baker went to Santiago in search of material for a magazine article. A meeting was ar-
 
 followed. testified Major Runcie at which they discussed the plan to have published an article which would exploit the strc- cess of General Wood in dealing with affairs at Santiago and draw a compar- ison with the situation at Havana un- favorable to the administration of Gem eral Brooke.
 Major -Runcie: declared that General Wood asked him to write the article and that he had done so. The article waa given to Baker and published in Feb ruary. 1900, over the name of Major Run. eie. He asserted that General Wood knew what the article contained and that they had correspondence about 1t as to the result of the furore created by it's publication. He offered to pro- duce copies of letters which he had writ defen~s "s1s -~sts -'~~
 Broke Up the Friendship. It Was 44~s -..s4a .ALs~. No4av. .A. Wood succeeded General Brooke that the arti- cle was published. The effect was a severance of the relations between the witness and General Wood. Major Run cie then began the practice of law at Havana, and, according to his testi- mony, has been there ever since
 The witness said that when the Secre- tary Of War went to Cuba following the disclosures to the War Department, the suggestion was made either by the sec retary or General Wood that he be court martialed for writing the article, and that he had. in effect. invited the court martial "
 The committee informed Major Runcia that he would be called again some time next week. His connections in Havana make 1t necessary for him to appear be. ,ore the committee, to testify concern ing matters other than the writing of the magazine article.
 It IS said he has knowledge of General Wooos order for the arrest of Maior Rathbone and as the agent at Havana for Maryland bonding company. can give information in regard to Major Rathbone's charge that General Vood used his influence with the cour,s Io having his (Rathbone's) bond fixed at a figure he declares to have been unrea- sonable.
 Testimony of Clearman.
 MT. Clearman was twice on the stand today. The first time he told the conmlt- tee that after the purchase of the silver set' ne took the ware to Havana and de- lfvered 1t to Zorasqueda and received the purchase price. sS.1O0. He was not asked whether duty was paid on the set.
 Tne second time he was asked concern. ing the charge that while negotiations were on between purchasers and the jeyg- eIry company, telegram was received by the purcnaser, telling him not to close the deal until notice of the granting of the concession to the Jai Alai Comnany. had been published in The onlciaI Ga zette at Havana. MT. Clearman said ha had never heard of such a telegram. It was brought out through the testirnony of another witness and by inspection oP the articles of the Jai Alai Company that zorasqueda was member of the board of directors.
 Retfcence was manifested by all mem bers of the committee concerning the tes- umony Of Major Runcie. The commlttee concluded with him and adjourned ,,rtTI II o'clock tomorrow. when 1t is expecfed that Horatio Rubens will testify. if-not. he will be heard Monday, when General Brooke also is expected to appear. Ru- pens was connected with the Cuban Junta in this country. previous to inc snanish war and part of the time during ths military occupation he was employed by the War Department in Cuba.