Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-08-05

Dy tucSe CuitTiclS, lie Sdlu, ~ + :.
McMurray. an attorney and associate.
would receive 10 per cent Of the profit
on the sale of $4,000 acres Of gold
and asphalt lands belonging to the In
'iians. AS a New York syndicate stood
ready to pay $3O.OOO,OO0 for the lands.
the 10 per cent. to the McMurray inter-
est for attorneys fees" would realize
$4,000, 900. said the senator.
Senator Gore appeared before the
special investigating committee which
convened here Thursday as direct re-
suit of charges made by him in the
United States Senate on June "a.
When called upon by the chairman of
the committee, Charles H. Burke OF
South Dakota, to testify, Senator Gore
told his story.
I'm 190S." said Senator Gore. ''Presi-
dent Roosevelt refused to give his ap-
prOval to certain contracts which Nc
Murray had procured from the Indians
as bribes. Under the law the contracts
made with the tribes of Indians were
not valid until approved by the Presi-
dent. In the same year McMurray pro-
cured contracts individually with about
10000 of the Indians, whereby the In
gross receipts from the sale of their
lands.
"McMurray came to my office at
Washington and wanted me to support
his contracts. I told him l would not
do so and upon the other hand
thought is would be absurd for the In
dians to pay that vast sum of money
for services which the government was
III duty 'oonnd to perform. The Nc
Murray interests then went to Presi-
dent Roosevelt and 1 sent a telegram
to the President urging him not to
approve Of the contracts.
1T was notable how active were the
McMurray interests. When l called on
the Secretary Of the Interior Ballinger,
to protect against the contracts, / was
told not to talk so loud, as Ex- Senator
Long of Kansas was present and he
was interested in the contracts. I had
introduced in the Senate a resolution
requiring that all contracts made with
Indians should be approved by Con-
gress before they became valid. On
March 5 last the committee having it
| under consideration induced Senator
Hughes of Colorado to report it fav-
orably.
"On the very next day Jacob Ham,
mon of Lawton, came to my office and
said he had a telegram to visit me and
he was interested in the McMurray
contracts.
When he mentioned the name of an
official higher up in the government.
| and when l expressed astonishment
McMurray said. Well, you know there
ic lnt of in
will say the word l will arrange for
| $4,000. There will be no checks in
| this deal and no marked money 1t
will be all new clean money.
Harmon said, There's a lot Of
| money tied up in this deal and a big
fee for monopoly
He then explained he wanted me
to withdraw my bill or at least have
it reported unfavorably. 1t seems he
did not know it had already been re-
ported favorably."
When l told him he wanted me to
see Senator Hughes and agree not to
press the measure. There will, be
| $25, ,OO6- in it for you-or perhaps $780,
| 900 if you want it" said Harmon. He
| suggested that I call together the en-
tire Oklahoma delegation in Congress
| and have them remove all opposition
to the contracts.
In reply to all these offers, l told
him that $25, 200 or $4,000 was all the
same to me in afmatter of that sort
| and that / would have nothing to do
| with it. Harmon then mentioned a
certain senator and said he was in
| terested in the contracts.
What was the name of the sena-
tor?" asked Chairman Burke.
Il don't want to say-but it was the
same senator who had questioned me
short time before concerning the
contracts"
On being urged by the committee to
tell all he knew, Senator Gore said:
We'll, I might as we'll tell who it was.
1t was Senator Curtis whom Harmon
said was interested in the contracts.
While / am about it I might as we'll
say that he (Hammon) also mentioned
Congressman Mcclure as being inter-
ested in the contracts.
Senator Gore said Congressman c.
E. Creager, representative of the Sd
Oklahoma District, also had been ap-
preached in connection with the brib
cry offer.
Mr.. Creager told me So" said Sen
ator Gore. He also told me TO go
ahead and make the charges and he
would stand by me, giving his testi-
mony.
SPARKS FROM MAINE WIRES.