New-York tribune., 1913-11-20
Bond Agent, Writhing Un-
der Whitman's Queries,
Easily Forgets.
DID GIVE HENNESSY
"SANDBAGGED" LIST
Fails to Recall Who It Was,
Told Him of Lash for
Contractors.
HE GOT ASPHALT CASH
Testifies That Sulzer Solicited
and Accepted $500 from
Him as Barber Man.

dHQ ACCcptCu So,ooO AioW
Him as Barber Man.
George H. MCGUIRE, the Syracuse
bond insurance agent who gave John
A Hennessy information as 10 tho
"sandbagging" Of contractors for the
Tammany campaign funds in 1911 and
1912, took the witness stand In the
John Doe inquiry yesterday, and By
means Of an astonishing about face"
purged himself of the perjury which
has been hanging directly over hia
head for the last week.
Mcclure grovelled and squirmed IN
his anxiety to clear himself OF that
danger as few men have ever done in
public way, and after he had read
statement by which he admitted under
oath that almost everything vital he
had sworn to at the session a week
ago was lie, he brought into play the
best working lack Of memory" that
has been seen on the witness stand in
years.
With the danger Of perjury from his
lies under oath a week ago thus dis
posed of, he tried hard to give the an
swer II don't recall" TO every vital
question District Attorney Whitman
put to him, but his effort was unsuc-
cessful.
Admits Hennessy List.
Mcclure admitted yesterday-what
he had denied under oath a week ago
that he had given Hennessy the list or
contractors who had been sand
bagged," with the amounts, just as
Hennessy had previously testified. He
insisted, however, that he could not re-
call who had given him the information
which he had passed on to Hennessy.
Whitman pursued him on this point
with a relentless fury that threatened
TO throw Mcguire for a second time
into the collapse which terminated his
last session on the stand He de-
manded and redemanded Of the wit
ness that he explain why he had denied
and when Mcclure attempted TO ascribe
II to his physical condition Whitman
sarcastically inquired:
well, has the physical condition you
are now in anything to do with the fact
that YOU cannot now recall the name
of any one who supplied you with any
of this information"
Mcclure insisted It had not, and that
he was trying to tell the truth" but
fldgeted about in his chair, wiped his
face continually with his handkerchief
and ave his answers in halting,
lodging manner that caused Chief
Magistrate McAdoo TO comment that
he Is obviously a hesitating witness,
whether his mental processes are slow
or not
I'D tell you. il knew, Mr.. Whit
man." MCGUIRE insisted, because You
will find il out anyway"
In spite OF McGuire's attempt to for
get everything vital that Whitman
went after, and In spite Of the fact that
he did succeed in sticking doggedly TO
that don't recall answer on every
question as to the identity Of the men
who had supplied him with the infor-
nation he gave Hennessy Whitman
did get from him a series of damaging
admissions, which will ultimately have
decided bearing on the general in
quiry Standing out chiefly in these
admissions were these facts:
That Mcguire and his brother. James
X. Mcclure. had an arrangement with
the Barber Asphalt Company and with
the United States Asphalt Refining
Company, whereby they received a
commission on every gallon of asphalt
and asphalt oil sold TO the state. or to
the contractors who had state jobs,
during the Sulzer administration:
Brother OF on Trip.
That James X. Mcclure, who on ac-
count of the above admission became
one whom Whitman would have sub
ppnaed. had started on an extended
trim TO South America four days ago.
ferred with Governor Sulzer in the Ex-
ecutive Mansion over the question OF
keeping Highway Department con-
tracts rigidly to the specifications,
which were so drawn as to give the
Barber Asphalt Company, in which
both Mcguire and his brother held
stock. as we'll as from which they drew
a commission, practical monopoly In
the asphalt products used on state
roads.
That Mcclure had told Hennessy that
he had heard of the conference be-
tween Everett r. Fowler Norman f.
Mack and c. Gordon Reel at the Ex-
ecutive Mansion in 1911. when Dix was
Governor, when the ''sandbag system
was planned out.
And that Mcguire had solicited and
received from Arthur S. Johnson. sales