The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-08-05
Senator Gore Causes Sen- sation in the |nvestiga-
 tiOn at Muskogee
SEVERAL PROMINENT MEN
 ARE CONCERNED WITH CASE
Adds His Testimony to That of
 Gore and Corroborates the Charges

Muskogee, Okla. August 4-what hap pened in the private office of United States Senator Thomas Gore at Wash ington at noon May 6, last formed the basis of sensational charges involving the names of Vice President Sherman, Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas, Con gressman B. s. Mcclure of Oklahoma and others In hearing before special Congressional Investigating committee here today.
 | During the 30 or 40 minutes of a con- ference held In the office, Senator Gore testified he had been approached by Ja- cob L. Hammon. former chairman of the I Oklahoma territorial republican commit tee and also former chairman of the Oklahoma state republican committee. and that he had been offered a bribe of s25,oOO or s5O,ooo to remove certain legis-
 lation pending In Congress so that ss- 100000 might be paid to J. F. McNIurray, an attorney at McAlester, Okla. and his associates.
 The money was to represent attor-
 neys' fees of 10 per cent of $30,o0o.Oo0. which was to be secured from a New
 York syndicate for 45oo0o acres of coal and asphalt lands now owned by the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in this state.
 l Vice President Shermans name was mentioned by Mir. Hammon, Senator Gore testified, as being interested in the land deal to the extent of favoring the approval by Congress of what are known as the McMurray contracts with the In- dians
 Crenger's Story l What happened in another private | room in Washington and also where 1t was alleged Hammon made more over lures relative to the land deal was told by Congressman C. E. Creager of the Third Oklahoma district Congressman tCreager supplemented the testimony of Senator Gore. He said that on June 1e
 last, he had been invited by Hammon ts
 meet him at the Occidental hotel in
 Washington in a private room Having gone there MT. Creager was in- formed he could have a substantial inter- est in the land deal if he would with draw his opposition to the approval of the McMurray contracts by Congress | Asked the question, were any figures mentioned as to how much you were to receive" Mir. Creager replied: NO; I did not let it go as far that. made 1t plain I was not open to being played with that way"
 T had already gone on record as be- ing firmly opposed to the granting of | such an enormous fee to attorneys, he | continu
 Congressman B. s. Mcclure. who was | charged by Senator Gore with being in- terested in the McMurray contract. was said by MT. Creager in his testimony to- have been at the time of his visit an occupant of the same suite of rooms as Hammon and McMurray at the hotel. Clerks of Senator Gore testified 10 having been invited by McMurray to
 frog legs suppers at Washington ut which the Indian contracts were to have been talked over. These invitations, 1t was declared were all turned down. l On one occasion one of the clerks tes- tified Hammon said Senator Gore was | awfully hard on his friends.
 "CIean, Hard Cash. l Senator Gore, in his testimony, as- | serted that the offer of bribery went so far that Hammon had said that tho s25,0O0 or $5o.0Oo would not be paid In the form of a check but 1t would be all clean, hard cash.
 l The House of Representatives, he said, passed resolution about this time to investigate the McMurray contracts as they were declared to have been spurious and were made by Mir. McMurray with I turn over 10 per cent of the profits from the sale of land provided the contracts were approved by Congress to McMur- | ray. | The committee headed by Congressman | Charles Burke of South Dakota as it's | chairman Is composed of Congressman Phillip P. Campbell of Kansas. Charles B. Miller of Minnesota, John H. Stephens of Texas and E. W. Saunders of Virginia.
 | The initial session of the committee started today. Congressman Creager's | appearance on the witness stand followed l a series of sensational statements. Among l Senator Cores assertions were the fol- | lowing:
 Sherman's Name Used
 '"That Hammon told him a man higher l up in the government was interested in | the approval of the contracts and that | there was no reason why Senator Gore should not be; that when asked who was the man higher up Hammon had replied Vice President Sherman: that | Hammon told him Senator Curtis of Kan- | sas was interested in the deal that Ham mon told him Congressman Mcclure of | Oklahoma was interested in the deal; that an employe of the department of justice | at Washington was interested in the deal: | that Senator Gore knew the name of | the employe, would not divulge 1t nor the name of his informant, especially because the latter would lose his posi- tion that former Senator Long of Kan sas, acting as counsel for McMurray, had gone to President Taft on April 2S to urge the approval of the contracts. but that the President had said. It would | take good deal of argument to con vince him that the amount of fee asked | by McMurray was justified l" | Curtis today sent telegram to the committee denying that he was in any wise interested in the contracts and of fered to appear before the committee Chairman Burke said Senator Curtis would be subpoenaed to testify. Cores Testimony
 An account of that part of Senator Cores testimony referring to Vice Pres | ident Sherman follows:
 | MT. Burke: "In your conversation with MT. Hammon you stated he named a very | high official that he said was interested | in these contracts. You omitted his | name"
 l MT. Gore: 'T say again that I should