Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-09-30
LETTERS READ IN BoRAH CASE
steunenberg Writes Senator Foster
Relative to Timber Claims
Holdnp.

BOISE, Idaho, Sept 2s-Mention of the
Weyerhausers, the owners of vast timber
tracts in the northwest. was made in the
trial of Senator Borah Saturday for the first
time. This was when George s. Long of
| Tacoma, Wash, took the stand and stated
that in response to request from James
| T. Barber of Eau Claire. Wis, he had al
lowed his name to be used as a dummy
trustee in the acquisition Of Idaho timber
| lands He produced letter from Mr.. Bar
Der, making the proposition as follows:
| Exigencies have arisen which make It de-
sirable TO pass title 10 certain lands In
\ Idaho through some party entirely re-
moved from association with the Barber
| Lumber company. The circumstances being
| similar to those which made It desirable
| to use my name in connection with some of
! the Weyerhauser Timber e"lpeHy's prop
erty. have therefore tal.-= tse responsi-
! bility of directing the placing of title to
! certain lands in you.
! Long said he had been a personal friend
of BARRIERS for seventeen years. He re-
ceived no compensation for his services as
trustee; never any of the deeds; did
not employ Senator Borah as counsel and.
| in fact, never met the senator until this
year. The attorneys for the defense asked
Long what the "exigencies" referred to by
Barber meant.
! II suppose" replied the witness, they
were the same as arose in Washington
when 1 was purchasing property for the
( Weyerhausers and when I used Mr. Bar
ber's name. II we uskd the weyerhausers'
names in any locality it always sent the
! price up and brougl4 competition"
! More letters tending to show Governor
Stsunenbergs interest4n n timber land specu-
lation Were ntroducSd and read to the
I jury.
| A. B. Campbell of Spokane Wash, a
wealthy mine owner was an important
witness. Letters which Campbell received
: from Steunenberg, bringing former United
States Senator Foster OF Washington into
! the situation. were identified by the wit
ness and put in evidence. One of these
read: k@, $3.50 49,,
Senator Fosters lettef.has been forwarded
TO my eastern associates. The. tieupf Of
twelve of the claims continues. but have
faith that through the work OF yourself
and friends we can soon ind solution
now that we have pointer on the in
spector and those that are responsible for
his appointment.
A second letter contains the following:
Any time you can make an appointment
feature OF the timber deal is getting into
bad shape. Sharp, the inspector, and the
1 land office people have worked so quietly
and used so much deception even with their
friends. that have not been able to learn
the true situation, much less do any work
to hold Sharp off until can see senator.
Campbell said he visited Boise soon after
this and during his stay saw Senator
Borah two or three times. He thought
the conversation had to do with the timber
matter, but could not recall what it was.
Campbell told of meeting Steunenberg in
Washington, ID. c., late in 1902 Steunen-
berg told Campbell that many of his tim
ber claims were being held up and wanted
Campbell to see Senator Spooner of Wis
consin and Mark Hanna.
The witness did not see either. e. N.
Scale an officer of the Exchange National
bank of Spokane, Wash, took the witness
stand and identified deposit slips for drafts
drawn for $500 drawn by A. e Palmer
on James e. Barber and Sumner G. Moon.
The prosecution says II will show that this
money was transferred to Steunenberg and
given by him to Wells and Kinkaid, two
members of the alleged conspiracy.
Scale identified a number of bank notes
In which the Palmer account was kept. He
said that very soon after each of the drafts
on Barber and Moon were deposited the
money was checked out by Palmer in
amounts from $500 to $4,000.
Former Senator A. @. Foster of Tacoma,
Wash, was on the stand for few min
utes He said Steunenberg called at his
Office and asked him to see Sharp. the spe-
cial inspector, about certain claims that
were held up. Foster said he sent Sharp
to see Campbell, and that was the last he
saw or heard of Steunenberg.