Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-27


to the taking up timber lands in washing
ton The existence OF this contract was
brought out during the cross-examlnaton
OF Barr. Brandeis declined to give up the
paper unless directed to do so by the com
/ mittee.
'I desire a ruling Of the committee he
insisted.
The committee thereupon ruled that the
eaereement be produced prior to the next
session.
Statement for BalIinEer.
Mr.. vertrees here began to read his
statement Of what the defense expects TO
prove.
Mr.. vertrees began by telling the commit
! tee that the evidence which his side would
present "as you will discover, is of two
lxinds-first evidence that has no direct
relation to the acts, personal or official, OF
Mr. Ballinger, but which bears upon par
| tioular collateral statements of witnesses,
like CLAWS, Barr and Jones, and second,
| evidence which does relate directly to
those acts Of Mr.. Balllnger which CLAWS.
Pinchot and company have sought to as
sail and impugn'
Mr.. Vsrtrees declared he would show the
evidence OF CLAWS, Jones, Barr and others,
with respect to certain specific collateral
facts, ito be so grossly false as to convince
the committee that in these respects 1t
was deliberately fabricated and consciously
false" For example, the evidence OF the
witness Jones as to the manner in wn.oh
Mr.. Sheridan conducted the hearings in
the Cunningham cases and exposed his case
TO his Rdversafies is such a perversion Of
the truth as to leave no doubt It was de-
liberate and the evidence OF CLAWS as
to the relations and conduct Of Mr. Behrens
and Mr.. bennett Is equally false.
Charges Against CLAWS.
'It will also be shown" continued Kr
Vertrees that Mr.. CLAWS endeavored to
have an accounting agent Of the govern
ment, Mr.. spalding. deliberately falsify the
account he (Glavis) had rendered In order
to restore S55 expended as stenographers'
fee for preparing the report to the presi-
dent, which he and Shaw as the agent
of Mr.. Pinohot prepared-the first open
attack upon Mr.. Ballinger's good name.
1T will then be shown that in September
1909. Claws surreptiiCusly and corruptly
concealed among his own private belong
ipgs papers, the property Of the govern
ment, which he knew really were not in
furious to Mr.. Ballinger's name, but which,
being hidden, could be made the foundation
of a malignant and slanderous accusation,
and that, conoeiving this to be the sltua-
tion. he called upon this committee to re-
quire Mr. Ballnger to produce those papers
with q view OF falsely asserting that they
were not produced because they would in
culpate him"
Entire Day Lively.
The day was replete with interest. The
growing bitterness between Attorneys Yer
trees and Brandeis manifested itself in sew
eral sharp exchanges.
The demands of MT Brandeis, first S..dJ
Mr.. Ballinger appear as a witness to be
examined as a part Of the case for the
prosecution and later that he be re-
quired to appear as the first witness for
the defense" called out lively discussions
between counsel and among members of
the committee. The first request was
unanimously denied The second request
made during the afternoon was considered
in executive session for forty minutes, at
the end of which time It likewise was
! denied.
The vote on the second proposition stood
eight to four and was taken to Indicate
| by many, how hopelessly the committee is
divided and as presaging in the end a ma
jority and minority decision. Representa-
tive Madison OF Kansas. ''lnsurgent'' re-
| publican, voted with the democrats. Sena-
tor Purcell of North Dakota, democrat,
voted with the republicans.
Representative James put the motion that
Mr., Ballinger be compelled to take the
stand as the first witness on his side OF
the case and it was on this, that the vote
| was taken.
Senator Purcell declared he thought it
only just, as lawyer, that the defense
should be allowed the same liberty in call
ing witnesses and arranging the order Of
its testimony as had been granted to the
prosecution.
Secretary Balllnger probably will not
testify until toward the end of the pro-
ceedings.
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