Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-02-21
NJ. T.. TRAPP CLAIMED HE COULD
NOT MAKE EXPENSES IN
OFFICE, WITNESS SAYS.
TOLD TO COME THROUGH
Leslie Niblack Alleges that lie Tried
ExtortiOn-Tryned Down Lead
cr's Claims.
BY j. 4. MkEE\ ER
(Staff Correspondent,)

OKLAHOMA CITY. Feb 2O-tSpe-
-Testifying for the respondent
at the impeachment trial of Giles W.
Farris, state printer, Leslie q. MD
lack. president Of the Leader Print
ing Company of Guthrie. swore that
NJ. r. Trapp, while state auditor,
complained to the witness that the sal
ary of the office was not suihclent
to meet his living expenses, and want
ed him (Niblack) ITO come through
Conveniently Lost"
The testimony was in relation TO
various printing claims hled by the
Leader company with the state audi
tor. which the Leader management
declared were conveniently lost, in
the auditors office and TINS, potn
Nihlack and Henry Derw'n, another
official of the corporation testihed' ac'
counted for duplicate claims being
sworn to. one of the claims In ques'
ton was for thirty-fve hundred cop
les Of the state constitution for whlcn
Niblack collected from the state hfty
centy n copy. The duplicate claim
WAS approved by Farrls as state print
er. although ne was not In office when
the work Is alleged to have been done
In his testimony Tuesday, former Au-
ditor Trapp swore that he refused 10
permit the claim to go through be-
cause he charged the copies furnish
ed. If not all, were Of the lot origi-
nally ordered by the constitutional
convention and for which the state
had already paid. He further testi'
fled that he had turned down thous'
ands of dollars in claims presented py
the LTder Printing company OF
Guthrie" and that the difference be-
tween himself and the Leader man
agement arose when he blocked the
Leaders attempt to raid the state
treasury.
Niback was asked by the respond
ents attorney today what gave rise
to the feeling, to which objection was
made, but the court admitted the tes-
timony since alleged practice of the
Leader Printing company had been
brought into question by the former
auditors testimony.
Due to MaliciOusness.
II know the loss Of the claims was
due to malciousness of the former
State Auditor NJ. +. Trapp." testified
Nih'ack in answering Attorney Gid
d!ngs Of the defense.
do you know why?"
This man." replied the witness
referring to Trapp. did his utmost to
harass and make trouble. He left nc
stone unturned. This man Trapp at
various times said the salary Of the
office was not sufficient to meet his
living expenses"
Objection by Manager Pinkham
was overruled. the witness continuing:
1T was not q question Of rejecting
claims, il was one of not paying them
due to extortion on his part. In
short, he wanted me to come through
which | refused to do.
Precisely what the witness meant
by the term come through was not
elucidated to the senate. 1t was un-
derstood tonight that the house man.
ayers would recall Trapp for further
testimony on the part of the state.
Niblack explained in detail how
claims were put through under the
departmental system, saying that So
many of his company's claims were
piling up or lost that he sought to
have differences adjusted between
himself and Trapp. but failed. At
various times he laid the quarrel be-
fore Governor Haskell and Attorney
General West with the hopes Of get
ting a settlement but failed and that
after Trapp went out Of office he fill
ed duplicate claims and got the
money. The witness denied that he
ever paid Farris any money.
on cross examination he explained
how the claims bore one date but
were made out on forms Of later
date by saying those were the only
forms available at the time he filed
the duplicates.
"You say you never paid Farris any
money!" the witness was asked.
NO, sir" he responded.
Signed His Note.
'Didn you sign Farris note at the
Guthrie state Bank2"
YES" the witness responded. but
Farris has always kept UP the inter-
est.
Henry Derwin was cross examined
today by Manager Pinkham who
brought out the fact that the $500
copies of the constitution which the
state charges were part Of the orig
inal 100000 paid for by the consti-
tutional convention. bore the same
typographical errors as the originals.
The witness explained this by saying
hot hn M nj
both.
Former Lieutenant Governor Geo.
BellamN testified that he saw Seth
Gordon in Oklahoma City early In
the winter of 1912. and at that time
ne had plenty Of money. Assistant
State Printer MacGill was on the wit