Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-29
Illinois Representative Ois-\
putes Charges Made by i
MuIhaA and McMichaeI. n
REFERS TO INVESTMENT :
IN AIRSHIP VENTURE
Admits He Borrowed Money and Ex-
plains Why-Statement Today
at Lobby Inquiry.

A general denial OF the charges mad.
against him by Martin NJ Mulhall and
1. II. McMichael was made today by
Representative James T. McDermott be-
fore the Garrett lobby investigating COM
mittee Of the House. Mr. McDermott
was placed on the stand by his attor-
ney as the star witness in the elaborate
scheme of impeachment testimony
against Mulhall and McMichael. He de-
MED categorically item after item in
the charges made by Mulhall and Mo-
Michael
McMichael the witness said was never
his secretary. but was general COM
panion." McMichael never had charge
of his correspondence. he said.
McDermott said that there was no
truth in the statement by Mulhall that
McDermott had received $1,000 from John
A. McDermott OF the Brewers Associa-
ton in the 1910 campaign.
That is dreams. just dreams" hel
sneered, chewing vigorously on q mouth
full Of chewing gum.
The witness said that on December D.I
1910. when Mulhall said he gave a dinner,
to McDermott and McMichael. he was in
Chicago. He said he never attended
such a function.
Invests in Aeroplane.
McDermott told Of becoming interested
in an aeroplane venture in the winter OF
191O-11. He said he put about 5000 into
the scheme and got to point where more
money was needed.
At this point, he said. McMichael
| brought Mulhall to him as guy that
had a lot of cash" Mulhall gave a let
| ter to J. NJ. Murphy. the inventor OF the
machine. introducing him to some Con-
| nectcut manufacturers. This brought no
| results McDermott said. and later Nc
Michael got him a letter from Mulhall TO
J. p. Bird. which he and McMichael took
| to New York and presented, also with
out result.
| him deeply in debt, and while he was
| covering drafts drawn by Murphy, he
said, he was continually forced to borrow
money. He made many loans from
George d. Horning. a local pawnbroker.
| II borrowed from him not as pawn
broker, but as a friend" he said. He
told at length of his intimate friendship
| with Horning. At times. he said. he owed
! Horning $4,000.
Mulhall and the "Secret Room"
The question of the so-called secret
| room used by Mulhall in the Capitol was
| taken up. McDermott said he secured a
/ Key 10 the TOOUu luTOuSH Ills WOfA Oll tfc
committee on expenditures in the Depart
ment Of Commerce and Labor. He left
| this key with McMichael while he was
out of town in June. 1911. he said, and
he supposed that at that time McMichaell
gave Mulhall the use OF the room. OnI
only one occasion he went to that roomI
with Mulhall. he said. Then he went overl
the disputed Burns afidavits.
Muihall told him he had done labor a
great deal Of harm and that he wanted
to right himself with God and man." Nc
Dermott said he took the affidavits to
Samuel Gompers, who would have moth
ing to do with them.
Duplication of Checks Explained.
McDermott's testimony was interrupted
| to allow Clarence E. Estes, cashier of the
Merchants Loan and Trust Company, to
produce the records Of his bank relative
to the Harold Mccormick check. These
showed that the original check given Null
hall was covered for the Baltimore bank
which cashed it on April 10. 1910. The
duplicate check given to McDermott was
cashed, however, on April 20 and on April
| S payment was stopped on the original
check. Estes said that McDermott had
paid the $3.50 represented by the check
cashed by Mulhall.
Walter f. Schopen, auditor of the Sher-
man House, Chicago. produced the regis
ter Of the hotel for March and April 1910.
and ledger accounts showing that Mulhall
left the hotel on April 5. 1910, instead or
April 10, as he testified
When Representative McDermott re-
sumed the stand he said that he paid $50
still owing Estes on the two-hundred-
and fifty dollar Mccormick check on the
day that the Mulhall charges We're pub
lished.
Denies the Charges.
The witness said he never made any
effort to influence the so-called loan
shark bill in Congress, and he denied
that any one had ever attempted to IN
fluence his vote on the measure. lie SAID
that loans made to him by George ID.
Horning were purely personal and had
nothing to do with the loan shark bill.
McDermott said that he had never
planned with Mulhall to expose the Null
hall lobby charges, and Indignantly de-
MED that he, Mulhall and McMichael had
ever drawn a lobby investigation reso-
luton to be introduced in the House
The witness said he did not know thar
McMichael had advanced SO TO send
Mulhar to Chicago, and that he had not
authorized the advance.
McDermott's Campaign Expenses.
In his 1910 campaign. he said, Null
halls collection of funds did him little
good. His campaign was principally
made, he said. on $1,000 contributed by
his mother and his aunt and 1000 con-
tributed by his wife. He said that
contribution of $500 from John A. NC,
Dermott of the Brewers Association mao
nothing to do with any LEGISLATION De
fore Congress, but was given because
John A McDermott was a personal
friend.
McDermott reviewed the circumstances
under which he cashed the duplicate Oh
the Mccormick check. He said he be-
iieyed that Mulhall had the original
check in his pocket when he left chi
cago.
He came out there to get money ana
he decided he would take this cheek
the largest we got. and be on his way.
In addition to the other characters OF
fact and fancy that have been Drawn
into the lobby investigation, Mr.. Dooley.
fictitious name of barroom phiios-
opher, featured in the testimony OF
George A. Fleming, brother-in-law or
Representative McDermott. yesterday
afternoon Mr. Fleming undertook to
discredit very nearly everything that NC I
Michael had said about McDermott: par,
ticularly the statements OF McMichaei
that he had been inundated and per-
suaded to give testimony friendly to Nc
Dermott. Speaking of Mulhalfs entry
into McDermotts congressional oistrict
in Chicago, Fleming said:
He told me he knew all the prominent
men in the district He said he was par.
ticularly well acquainted with Mr..
Dooley Of the Archer road"
did he not mean Finley Peter Dunne!'
asked Representative Stafford.