New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-20

commission from the Barber COIlPdH1'
Mcclure could only mention desuitory
conversations with John ~ Carlisle ana
MIR. Kicker and Mr.. Burleigh" in that
department and the talk with Governor
Sulzer.
Gave $500 to SuIzer.
His manner on the witness stand ho
less than his actual words, left Governor
Sulzer standing in this position 10 lhe
Barber Asphalt Company-that he h"u
solicited and accepted a $500 contribution
from Mcclure for his personal campaign
(the $500 that was paid in the bathroom
Of the Onondaga Hotel in Syracuse); that
he had solicited and accepted 500 con-
tribution from Mcclure for his direct
primary campaign fund; that he had So
licited and accepted a $3.50 contributor
from Mcclure for his investigation ex-
penses after his impeachment, and that
Sulzer had, while Governor, conferred
with Mcclure, a stakeholder and sales
man for the Barber Asphalt COMPANY
as TO ways and methods for giving the
Barber company a virtual monopoly OF
the states highway repair business so
far as all its products were concerned.
McGuires testimony further put 1t up
TO Governor Dix. for the first time since
the Mack Fowler Reel conference on
"sandbagging' has been mentioned. TO
explain whether he was present, and IL
clinched still further the previous evil
dence as TO the fact Of that conference
and its sinister import.
Mcclure made an attempt 70 shield the
Barber Asphalt Company, although Whit
man forced him to admit that he had told
Hennessy that that concern made 5000
contribution TO the "bagman's' fund. Ac-
cording to the record of the case, he told
Hennessy about this contribution from
that company last summer, at a time
when he was still drawing commissions
from the company for its sales 10 the
state.
Mcclure at first claimed that he had
received only $50 in commissions from
the Barber company; later he added to
that a commission check Of $500 from the
United States Asphalt Refining Company,
which he said came under the same gen.
eral Arrangement he had with the Barber
outfit.
Later still. however. he swore that that
SAINT StJv CltCh Ndu DttU al BIT IiOhi
johnson. the Barber sales agent. to help
him out on his $3.50 contribution 10 Sui
ger, and in his succeeding and varying
explanations he finally became so in
volved that he could do little more than
writhe helplessly in the witness chair,
Topping from one attempted explanation
to another as fish hops from side to
side on dry ground
Glares at Hennessy.
Through it all MCGUIRE stared with a
hypnotized glare at John A Hennessy,
who was sitting in the courtroom. He
appeared 10 be trying 10 guess and gam
bic with his own safety on his guess as
10 how much information Hennessy had
given to Whitman, and as the prosecu-
tors succeeding questions disclosed more
and more of the matters that Mcclure
had evidently thought were secret be-
tween himself and Sulzer, he became
more and more cautious and guarded In
his answers. until finally he was insist
ing that he couldn't recall" no matter
what the question was.
When Mcclure took the stand he was
evidently under the impression that he
was to be permitted TO read off a care
fully prepared statement he held in his
hand. This statement was detailed re-
view of his previous testimony, week
ago, correcting each answer fraught with
perjury possibilities.
Referring to pages and lines, in the
record of the John Doe inquiry, Mcclure
would read from this statement: my an
swer, L have not should be corrected to
read, 1 have; and my answer. L did not
say that should be corrected to, I did
say that He read out these rending ad-
missions in a husky voice, and with a
visible physical trembling.
1t was plainly apparent that his coun-
sci. Henry A. Wise, who had advised him
TO tell the truth and purge himself OF his
previous perjury, had laid upon him a
task that for a man in his weakened
physical condition was a terrible ordeal.
Mcclure was disappointed 70 find that
he was not TO be permitted to read his
statement as soon as he took the stand.
and he even made weak attempt to in
tercede with Chief Magistrate McAdoo,
but was cut short
Whitman began by asking him whether
he had been in Cooperstown, on July 5,
and after Mcclure admitted that he had
been there 'once this summer" he was
asked whether he met Governor Sulzer
there. He said he had not, and in answer
10 further questions denied having seen
Hennessy or Lynn J. Arnold there.
Have you had any conversations with
Governor Sulzer about the Warner-Quin-
Ian Asphalt Company" Whitman asked.
"No-uh-well, / can't recall"
He admitted under pressure that he
owned stock in the Barber Asphalt Com
pany and that his brother. James X Nc
CURE. also owned some of the stock
Whitman led him then to the point of his
talks with Sulzer on asphalt matters, and
after numerous contradictions OF himself
the witness finally admitted that he I'M
derstood that under the specifications for
highway repair materials the products of
the Barber company would enjoy prac-
teal monopoly.
Had Selling Commission"
In the same way the witness fought
warily around the point as to whether
his brother was in the employ Of the
Barber people. and while at first he in
sisted that his brother had left the en-
ploy Of the company in 1911 he later ad-
mitted that he had some selling commits
sion" arrangement all the time.
IT II. IL