The sun., 1910-02-15
NEVTURN In BALLINGER CASE
COPIES or IMPORTANT PAPERS
FOUND IN GL.AVISS BOX.
CLAWS Denied That He Ever Had the Let.
ters After he Delivered ais once %
Isls successOr-"Frameup." Ne Says
-WrangIe Over Their Disposition.

-MrAngle Over Their DlSposiuOn. |
WASHINGTON. Feb. IA.-Speoial agents |
Of the Land Office broke into a box con- |
tanning certain private belongings Of
Louis r.. CLAWS. which he had left in u
room in'the Post ONCE Building at Seattle.
They found. so it is alleged. copies Of
number OF important letters and tslea
grams that we're missing from the otiioiRl
files OF the Office which CLAWS had then
turned over to his successor.
This fact came out in the course OF the
Ballinger-P Pinchot inquiry to-day and
created sensation. 1t led to a sharp di-
vision Of opinion in the committee and a
wrangle among the lawyers. CLAWS denied
absolutely that he ever had the letters
after he had delivered his office and
ifs belongings TO his successor. A. G.
Christensen. He denounced the episode
In Seattle as "a frameup.'
Several OF the letters were in u list
published by Golfers Weekly last fall in
one Of the attacks made by that news
paper on Secretary Ballinger. When the
vestigation by the joint committee OF
Congress began Louis ID. Brandeis, attor-
ney for CLAWS. requested the committee
to call for a number OF letters and doou-
IUUUtS, anu tulb Alsb iuCiuoN0 hOot VI thSoo
which were to-day in dispute.
John j. Vertrees of Nashville. Tenn,
attorney for Secretary Ballinger. who
to-day conducted the cross ss-examination
OF CLAWS, explained to the joint oom-
mittee that Secretary Ballinger called on
the chief of the field agents at Seattle
to furnish certain letters. The frat
reply to the request was that the docu-
a.. 80 Aa R,,k
received yesterday by the Secretary OF
the Interior from Seattle. accompanied
by an explanation from Glaviss successor
in which it was said that they were re-
covered from the box of personal be-
longings.
1t is q frameup!" exclaimed CLAWS.
-It makes me indignant for any one TO
assume that ! would have been foolish
enough to have put those letters in q box
and left them where they would have been
accessible to the very men who are trying
20 make case against me. 1t makes me
indignant to think that subordinates OF
the Secretary OF the Interior would stoop
20 such methods in order to serve Mr.
Ballinger.'
CLAWS denied ever having placed the
letters in the box. He told the committee
G4t3b nc DcucNou Nuhb akcuNS oh tuc hA4hu
Once had taken them from the ONCE files
and placed them there for the purpose OF
making it appear that he had distracted
them from the files and had refused to
give them up.
nished the letters or copies OF them to
Collier's the witness replied that he did
not.
do you know where Golfers got the
letters?-
Il have a supposition but no definite
Information the witness replied.
-When you read them in Collier did you
recognize them as letters that had been
IN the hles in your ONCE in Seattle?'
The witness admitted that he did
did you give a copy OF those letters
TO anybody else?' inquired Chairman
Nelson.
-Yes, gave a number OF letters to the
forest service
The letters in dispute were some that
had been delivered by the local Land Once
at Juneau, Alaska. to Special Agent
CLAWS at Seattle while he was yet in the
service. They arrived in Seattle while
Claws was at Beverly laying his case
against Ballinger before President Taft
On his return to Seattle he went over the
documents and became acquainted with
( their contents.
Attorney Vsrtrees proposed to submit
the letters and the accompanying sxplana-
Z ton from A. G.. Christensen. the special
agent in charge at Seattle. but vigorous
objection was made. Chairman Nelson
and Senator Root insisted that the docu-
ments should go into the record, but this
FIetcher and Representatives Madison,
James and Graham. Representative Madi-
son made the point that inasmuch as the
author of tho report, Special Agent
Christensen, was to be called later a. a
witness the letters and his report on the
way they were obtained should not be
received IN evidence until Mr.. Christen-
sen Was present TO identify them and be
croes-examined in regard to them.
Before this question had been disposed
Of Representative James OF Kentucky
voiced his indignst ton at the manner in
which the letters had appeared in the
committee room. He pointed out that they
had been called for at the request Of
Attorney Brandeis and that under the
instructions OF the joint committee il
was the duty OF Secretary Ballinger to
have sent the letters to the clerk OF the
2 committee to be submitted to counsel
on both sides for Investigation under
Injunction OF secresv as to their content
and that only such OF them were to be
admitted as evidence as had first been
inspected and passed by the committee.
Attorney Brandeis then made q spirited
I protest against the way in which Secre-
tary Ballinger had turned over TO his
attorney for submission to the COMMITTEES
az evidence letters that the committee had
called for under instructions as to their
custody. Mr.. Brandeis said that il was
the duty OF the Secretary OF the Interior
to have sent the letters to the committee
first. The attorney was very much in
earnest over the matter and his face was
white with anger as he denounced the