The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-09
DISCOVERY OF MISSING
LETTERS IS IMPORTANT
tcontlnued From Page one.)

government service he had no right TO
the papers.
In response Claws returned some pa
pers to the office the following day
After this the witness said he found
mat twenty-four letters mentioned in
receipt of papers were missing from
the files
Correspondence read by Christensen
az the afternoon session showed that
CLAWS had sent q large number Of
original letters from the Seattle land
ONCE TO the forestry service at Wash
ington and that there was talk OF
prosecuting forestry officials when A.
= Shaw, assistant law officer of the
forestry bureau, returned the docu-
ments. Shaw said they had been in
advertently" sent by CLAWS to the for
est service.
In one OF his letters to the depart
ment Christensen declared CLAWS
showed IAN utter disregard for the
truth, and that nothing he said could
be relied on. He also said it was use
less TO interview Claws alone; that
The only way to talk to him was to
nave a stenographer present to take
down all that was said
Long Search for Letters.
Mr.. vetrees read from weekly paper
printed copies of some OF the twenty
four missing letters. According to the
correspondence read by Christensen it
appeared that the search for the let
ters covered four months.
In the contemplation of bringing
criminal proceedings against CLAWS for
embezzlement Of the papers ii ap-
peared that list of possible witnesses
had been prepared for grand jury use.
This list included the publishers and
editors of the weekly paper in question
Christensen said that prior to the
discovery of the papers ne had become
convinced that CLAWS had either sent
them direct TO the weekly or that he
had sent the papers to the forestry
service. and the officials of that service
mad furnished the letters to the weekly.
CLAWS already had admitted sending
copies of the letters to the forestry
service, but denied sending them TO the
paper. When he had concluded with
the correspondence, Mr.. Christensen
told of the search among Claws eff
fects in the federal building in Seattle.
His account conceded with that of As
sistant Custodian ONeill. Prior to the
nnding of the papers on Feb. Chris
Jensen said he had no knowledge of the
wherea bouts of the documents At the
time he discovered the papers, the wit
ness said, he was searching for other
papers requested by the investigating
committee
6randeis Starts Ructlon.
The witness then was turned over to
Brandeis for DISCRIMINATION, and
the attorney attacked him In charac-
terlstic fashion, which brought a quick !
protest from Attorney Vertrees.
When you telegraphed Schwartz on |
February about the finding of the let |
tiers, you made certain false statements, |
didn't your" asked Brandeis.
I did not" fared back the witness. |
The only thing said In that telegram |
that was a mistake was that the box |
in which the papers were found was
broken open, as the top was loose. We |
broke open several other boxes 1t is |
easy 20 make mistake like that"
1t is easy to lie" shouted Brandeis.
Senator Sutherland protested against |
this, saying it was not only offensive /
10 the witness. but to the committee as
well. Attorney Vertrees said he de-
sired TO protest generally against Mr..
Brandeis' method with witnesses He
declared no member of the committee
had ever observed such an ''unseemly,
repsehensible or improper course"
Either the witness should be pro-
tected or allowed to protect himself"
concluded Mr.. Vertrees.
Coal of Low Grade.
Christensen thereupon was excused.
and Alfred II. Brooks, a miner expert
Of geological survey, was called to the
stand to testify as to coal conditions in
Alaska
Mr.. Brooks saio the total area of
Alaska is $4,000 square miles. OF coal
bearing rocks there are known to be
about 1900 square miles. Only about
one-tenth of the coal area is known to
be underlaid with coal seams. About