Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-05

| terested in these contracts. You omit
ted his name.
Mr.. Gore-I say again that 1 should
very much prefer not to name him. L
am, however, subject to the will of the
| committee.
Mr.. Burke-The committee is here to
| get the facts and we must have all of
| this conversation.
Mr.. Gore-He suggested that Vice
| President Sherman was interested in
| the contracts.
Thomas H. Owen, counsel for Mr..
! Gore-In that connection you spoke of
an article appearing in a Kansas City
| newspaper that two gentlemen had
called on the vice president; 1 wish
you would say who was mentioned in
that article.
Mr.. Gore-In the newspaper of April
| IA Vice President Sherman and Sem
ator Curtis were uamed as having
called to discuss the segregating of
coal and asphaltum lands. l think be-
| fore the senate met the next day the
| information came to me.
Senator Gore explained that he be-
| lieVed Vice President Sherman was fa-
vorable to the contracts, and a short
| time later he introduced a resolution in
the senate that would require further
action of congress before the contracts
could be approved.
CREAGER ON STAND
Congressman Creager did not take
! the stand until late in the day. Asked
if he had ever met Hamon, he replied:
| "Yes: | met him by appointment in
| his rooms at the Occidental hotel in
! Washington. He invited me there, say
| ing he wanted to talk over little
matter. At that time efforts were be-
ing made to have the president ap-
prove the McMurray contracts. L al
| ready had gone on record as being op-
| TO bai T
got to the hotel and was sitting in a
room with Hamon, he began to urge
| me to withdraw my opposition. He sug-
gested I might have an interest in the
| contracts"
Congressman Miller: Were any fig
ures mentioned? Did he say how much
| interest you might have?
| Mr.. Creager: No; 1 did not let it go
as far as that. l made my language
pretty emphatic that 1 was opposed to
| the contracts, and would not be influ-
| enced.
Congressman stephens: You mean to
say that you regarded the offer of such
| character as to arouse your indigna-
| ton?
Mr.. Creager: Yes; that's it. I re-
garded it as an offer to influence my
attitude toward the contracts. 1t was
even suggested that 1 cali together all
the officials 1 could and defeat the
measure opposing the approval of the
bills.
Congressman Miller: What kind of
rooms did Mr.. Hamon and Mr.. Nc
Murray have at the hotel?
McGUIRE's ROOMS
Mr.. Creager: oh, three or four front
rooms. Representative MCGUIRE of Ok
lahoma occupied part of the Hamon
and McMurray suite. 1 met Hamon
later at different times. When he heard
[ was coming to testify before this
committee he urged me not to. He eX
pressed the hope that would mako no
statement before this committee.
Recalled to the stand, Senator Gore
was asked to mention the name of the
employe of the department of justice
who had told him that another employe
or an official in that department was
interested in the contracts
"That 1 could not do" replied Senator
Gore. "The matter was impaired to
me in confidence, and regret that it
was mentioned here at all"
Nov, senator" interposed Congress-
man Campbell, don't you think it un-
fair to go so far before this commit
tee and yet not tell all you know? You
know we are here to learn the truth,
and we would like to have all of it
made known"
mo, would rather not. 1t is well
known that heretofore employees of that
department. nave lOSL their POSITIONS
for giving information, and 1 would
rather that this feature of the inves-
tigation be dropped"
Explaining what led up to his OPP
posing the approval of the contracts
with the Indians, Senator Gore, in his
testimony, asserted that as far back
as 1905 he wrote a letter to Senator
LaFollette calling attention to the
great wealth of the coal and asphalt
lands owned by the Indians He said
the United States geological survey had
estimated the mineral deposits to be
worth 160,000,00O.
In 1905, he said, McMurray had OBJ
tanned contracts with the tribes. of In
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