New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-07
MORE LAND BR|BE OFFERS
Continued from first page.

They thought it would be better to get
some Of the money than none of it."
Are they in hurry to get money!"
YES, they certainly are. They need
/ it, They are poor. for they have been
living on promises for SO. long"
why do you Indians have so many
| lawyers"
Because we want to get the money!
| Can you estimate how much your
tribe has paid out in attorneys fees in
the last ten years?'
| Our tribe in that time has paid out
about $500. 600"
Curtis at tho White House.
| Among the developments Of the day
were:
| Senator Curtis told Of having been
summoned by telephone to the White
| House to discuss there with President
| Taft and Vice President Sherman the
merits of the McMurray contracts. Pres
| ident Taft had expressed the belief that
/. the 10 per cent fee was too high, and his
visitor agreed with him. This, the Sen
| ator thought, sufficiently refuted the i'm
putation that he was interested" in the
| land deal. The Senator knew McMurray
| for years, and had never known of his
attempting to Influence legislation.
Senator Curtis also testified that he
knew of no animosity existing between
himself and Senator Gore. except that
Mr. Gore had remarked that Curtis was
| 'meddling too much In Oklahoma affairs
by fair means and by foul
creaser Attacks Hamon.
Congressman C. E. Creager, of Okla
homa. attacked the testimony previously
given by Hamon, whom he accused of
having suggested that he might obtain
an Interest in the contracts, but which
Harmon denied. Hamon had asserted
that before the conference at Washing
ton Creager had called him up on the
telephone and made the appointment
Creager in a long, circumstantial narra-
tive of riding on streetcars, meetings at
a restaurant and going to the Occidental
Hotel, emphatically asserted that Hamon
had called him up and that the meeting
was at lannon's solicitation.
Congressman Mcguire denied he ever
was interested" in the contracts, or had
sought their approval by Congress. He
said he knew McMurray and Hamon.
Hamon had sometimes stopped at his
suite at his hotel in Washington. Nc
Murray had asked him If he had opposed
the contracts. and on his answering he
had not, he agreed with McMurray to
tell President Taft that the entire Okla
homa delegation was not opposed to the
contracts, He asserted he never had
been improperly approached in regard to
the contracts, and he never was inter-
ested in them ito the extent of one
penny"
r. L. Murray. of the Chickasaw tribe,
said Governor Johnson of that tribe had
urged him repeatedly to induce as many
Indians as possible to send kilograms to
Washington to have the contracts ap-
proved, which he had refused to do.
D. c. McCurtain, who described him
self as 3 delegate to Washington for the
Choctaws, preceded his father on the
stand. He testified that before the dis
approval OF the old tribal contracts by
President Roosevelt in 1908, and while
preached by MeMurray in the lobby OF
the Raleigh Hotel, at Washington. Nc
Murray had been talking with Cecil
Lyon, Republican National Committee
man of Texas, but Lyon went away be-
fore the subject Of the $4,000 vas dis
cussed.
The Alleged Offer.
d. c. McCurtain testified: Il met Mr..
McMurTay in the lobby, and he said,
You know we have a contract for the
sale of the lands. I said, L heard 1t,
but have never seen copy Of the con-
tract He said, We have decided We
will give you $4,000 If you will not OPP
pose the contract
He said IF the Secretary of the Int
rior approves the contract in It's present
form we will give you $4,000. If he
scales the contract, then the $25Ocn
probably will be cut down accordingly.
I want to talk to you further about this
matter
Il did not see McMurray fog several
days, but in the mean time l got to
thinking about the proposition and
knew that they were going to bring pow
erfuI political influence to bear in sup
port of that contract. | thought maybe
II didn't manifest too much opposition
to that contract 1 would be in position
ultimately to defeat it, but if I became
too antagonistic I might have no oppor-
tunity to get my forces together and
that they might in some way secure the
approval OF the contract.
Several days after that i saw Me-
Murray in the capital and said, I have
decided to accept your proposition But
1 didn't learn anything more about the
contract by that means. The matter
went on for some time and no effort was
made to get the contract approved. Then
the matter went along until the consti-
tutional convention of oklahoma APP
pointed q committee to investigate
whether il were possible to purchase the
coal lands from the Indians.
"McMurray became active again. He
wanted to appear before this committee
as the representative Of the CnoctaW
Nation. He endeav ored to obtain a writ
ten statement from Governor McCur-
tain to the effect that McMurray repre-
scented the Choctaws, and they-so recog-
nized him. McMurray came to my house
to see me. He stated he thought he
was in a position to do the nation great