The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-02-15
Witness Declares Frame
Up" Was Prepared
Against Him.
CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY Is RE-
suMED--LETTERs USED IN GLA-
Ws's NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
WERE TAKEN FROM THE UNIT
ED STATES LAND oFFIcE-GAL-
LERiES WITH CLAWS.
BY Associated Press.

Washington, Feb. 14.-The Ballinger-
Pinchot congressional inquiry began
to bristle with interest today when
John ]. Vertrees, counsel for Bal
linger, undertook to cross-examine
Louis R. CLAWS, principal witness for
the prosecution. The climax came
when Vertrees announced that the box
belonging to CLAWS and left in the
grand jury room at Seattle was broken
into few days ago and a number of
letters were missing from the files or
the land Office there, copies Of which
recently appeared in a weekly paper.
CLAWS angrily declared that il any
letters had been found in his belong
ings, "frame-up" had been prepared
against him. His denunciation of the
federal officials, saying they would
stoop to such a trick to win favor
with their superiors, caused such de-
monstration of applause from the spec
tators that Chairman Nelson an
nounced that repetition of the out
burst would result in the room being
cleared
Throughout the hearing the SYM
pathy Of the spectators, many of whom
were women, was with CLAWS. Ver-
trees announced that G. E. Christian
sen, Glavis's successor, would be call
ed to testify regarding the finding OF
the letters.
The matter of receiving the letters
resulted in long wrangle in the CON-
mittee. The matter will be decided
tomorrow.
During the morning Vertrees drew
from the witness statement that he
llade no charge Of corruption against
Z t. L1 ,AE ,at~f-
tnent of the interior. CLAWS declared
that had he found that corruption
existed he would have taken the mat
ter to the grand jury instead of the
president. fe said that the facts war
ranted the opinion that BalInger ana
bennett had acted improperly and he
charged them with official misconduct.
Through the process of elimination
the witness cleared other officials of
wilfu! wrongdoing and asserted that
he was fully convinced that the facts
he offered warranted the Judgment
that neither Ballinger nor Land Com
missioner bennett was fit to hold an
office of public trust.
COMMITTEE ROOM CROWDED.
The committee room where the hear
ing was held was crowded. Most OF
the spectators, as usual, were elderly
women.
Attorneys Brandeis and Cotton, rep
resenting CLAWS and occupying the
pcaition of prosecutors" were opposed
today by Attorneys Vertrees and
Rasch, representing Mr.. Ballinger and
others of the interior department.
When Mr.. CLAWS was recalled to |
the stand Mr.. Brandeis announced
there were some corrections to be
made in the record of the witness
testimony. Chairman Nelson suggest
ed these be put in later, but Mr.. Yer
trees objected saying he did not wish |
in. the midst of his cross-eXamination
to be met by the statement that 1t was |
a mistake.
CLAWS thereupon proceeded to make |
the corrections, most of the mistakes,
1t appeared, having been due to his
drawl and lisp. His "R's" are always
pronounced "W', so in one place in
the, record of which his testimony
read, There is a parchment reef,
CLAWS declared he he said there IS
approximately" etc. Many of the cor
rections merely had to do with typo
graphical errors.
Mr.. Vertrees, who began the exam
ination, inquired first as TO the knowl-
cage MI. GIdNlS ddu DIS 10 LLie dHOuhI
of coal in Alaska. The Cunningham
claims, CLAWS said, covered but a
small part OF the coal areas of Alaska
about s city claims out of 900. Mr..
Vertrees drew from him that the Cum
ningham claimants were the first of
the Alaskan claimants to pay UP on
their claims and that in numerical or
der they were entitled to first consid-
Grafton by investigation.
THAT NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.
CLAWS said he wrote the article
which on November 13 appeared in a
weekly paper entitled The White
Washing of Ballinger; are the Guggen-
helms in charge of the Department OF
the Interior" but that he was not re-
sponsible for the heading of the sub
(Cnnfinned n Para Tia