El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-10

Z IT. HOMAS O'KEEFFE went on the
) stand Friday afternoon and Sat
4 urday morning in the 34th dis
( trict court and told of buying the
/ e. Paso Times for H. J. Simmons
Frank Powers, J. F. Williams ana
/ others. Mr. O'Keeffe is suing the
owners Of the Times, on the ground
that he built up the property for
| them on the understanding that he
was to be a partner in the business,
but that after TWO years work they
refused to let him in The defendants
are contending that Mr.. O'Keeffe was
merely hired to manage the paper for
The Times was taken over by Mr..
! Simmons and associates at ume
when it was violently opposing the
sale of the international water GO S.
plant to the city. Mr.. Simmons was
! president of the water company. Inc
purchase of the paper was not an
nOunced at the time as being made IN
behalf of Mr.. Simmons, but the pun
lie was led to believe that Mr.. O'Keeffe
had bought it. The ownership Of the
paper and the facts OF Is purchase
were never made public until Mr..
O'Keeffe filed his suit q few months
ago Immediately after the paper
came into the supposed control oI
MI O'Keeffe, it begCn advocating the
sale of thessEarer pIalI1t -lle-clly ana
continued such advocacy untlt~ the
plant was sold
Mr.. O'Keeffe, during the examine
ticn, carefully refrained from alludN
ing to the circulation of the Times
and refused to answer the question as
to what the circulation was when he
took charge. However, attorney w
II. Burgess for the defence, asked him
if it were not a fact that on May =,
1913 the Times circulation was $3.50
al @ ~
came disassOciated with the Tlmes)
and if he did not know II mad IN
creased over 5000" since Ihen- MI
O'Keeffe assented to the first figures
but could not say anything about the
increase.
Mr.. O'Keeffe said he was sorry ffor
tthe way in which things are now at
the Times" and told Mr.. Burgess that
heewould not have an interest in the
paper-With the people now owning and
Operating-it, if henCould get It.
Mr. O'Keeffe said he had offered to
put in land which he valued at S35,-
600 for stock in the paper at the time
it was bought but that the offer was
refused. Mr.. Burgess got an admission
from Mr. O'Keeffe that he did not
pay but $4,000 for the land.
Frank Powers, on the stand Satur-
day, could not name all the stOckhold-
ers of the p2per. He, 1T was, accord
ing to Mr.. O'keeffe'S testimony, VINO
engineered the deal and represented
buy the paper
O'Keeffe's Testimony
Thomas O'Keeffe, the plaintiff in the
suit, the first witness, testified: First
the chamber of commerce My brother
called me out and asked me If L
thought we could get an option on the
Times. I said I did not know. L went
down TO the office and saw Capt Hart.
I did not obtain an option then. 1
did obtain an option from Capt Hart
and Beverley Thomas later.
Capt. Hart wanted TO know who
were the purchasers. told him ]
was not authorized to tell him that.
I reported that matter to Mr.. Powers.
We had meeting, 1 think that night
H J Simmons and j. F. Williams were
there The meeting was in Mr. Pow
er's office I told Mr.. Powers Capt.
Hart wanted $4,000 and wanted S25,-
GOO paid for the option. I also told
Mr. Powers, that Capt Hart said he
would not turn over the paper until
100000, the first payment was made.
Mr.. Powers said that Ernest said /
KOhlberg. Mr.. Powers said that 1
was so enthusiastic I ought to go in
and. besides, I knew the conditions in
FL PasO.
The Times is Bought.
st had just bought piece of land.
I told Mr.. Powers I would turn that
in for 49, 000 He said that sounded
good. He said that he would have
to borrow money. Jack would, too,
:'AIr. Powers told me to tell Capt.
Hart that ] would be one of the prin-
cipal owners, everything would be al
right, and the paper would always be
a Democratic paper.
Ct finally got the option. I was told
to show the contract to W H. Burgess. !
He said the only thing to worry about
was the Associated Press franchise
/ showed him copy Of the bylaws
Of the Associated Press. I told him
that the franchise went with the pa.
per, whoever owned it.
Several days after the purchase,
I signed the deed transferring the
property to the FL PasO Times com.
pany I don't know whether the char
ter was obtained or not.
yes in the beginning, we elected
officers (Hr. O'Keeffe did not state
who were the officers elected
Undertook Big Job.
THE idea was that I was undertake
ing a big thing. We all said more
or less, that I would make a success /
of it if I stood behind it; also that
the paper was not ever to be sold;
that il was to be run solely in the in
terest of FL Paso-buiIding it up.
Il understood from all this. that the
paper was to be solely in my charge. !
Mr.. Powers said: I guess you could !
build that thing up and make it pay,
couldn't you, Tom% I said I Thought |
I could. / told him I wanted TO urO in /
big. [ told him I did not have anv !
money, but that had land worth |
$4,000. I wanted to put SIS. 900 in
I met H J. Simmons and Mr.. Pow (
ers at Mr.. Powers office. Mr. Sim /
mons had yellow pad and was MAX /
ing list of those who were going to !
have stock. There were to be $780,
600 in bonds and 100000 in stock !
mr.. Simmons looked at me and asked: /
What are we going to put YOU down 1
fOr%' I said wanted S35, GOO I told him /
I had not disposed of that land. There |
was nothing said about taking my /