The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-08-19

GUILTY Of
CONTEMPT I
ALLEGED KING BEE OF BOOT
lEGGERs SENTENCED TO FED
ERAL PRISON FOR A YEAR AND
A DAY.

king Of wholesale bootleggers in east
ern Oklahoma, in violation OF the fed.
eral prohibitory law, was found guilty
Of contempt of the United States
court Wednesday afternOCI. and i'm
mediately thereafter was sentenced
to serve a year and day at hard
labor in the federal penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kan.
At the same time w. R. Robson,
ex-sheriff of Muskogee county. and
J. d. Lane, Muskogee barber, were
discharged, but with a severe repri.
mand from the court.
The actions here grew out OF an
alleged bribery Of members of the
federal court jury which tied a con-
spiracy case against Creckmore and
twenty-nine other defendants, charged
with introducing liquor into eastern
Oklahoma, in a trial at Muskogee
last January The specific charge
was that Creekmore, through his
friends, Mr.. and Mrs. E. II. Braley
of Muskogee, working through Mrs.
j. II. Seymour, corrupted iaror ]. II.
Seymour by means of telephone con-
versations Mrs. Seymour was allowed
to hold with her husband. 1t was
charged also that Robson had cor
ruptly attempted to influence the
action Of juror ]. NJ. Seward, by pos
ing as friend of Creekmore.
Seward was not used as a juror
in the CreekmOre case, although
temporarily accepted. 1t was further
charged that Lane approached James
r. Talley, clerk in Seyruour's store,
with a proposition to divide 81 900
three ways and that Talley agreed
to work on Seymour. Talley, the tes.
timony showed, took Water Jacobs,
another clerk, into the pan, but ia
cobs failed to approach Seymour, al
, though he led Talley and Lane to
believe he had. Ben Green of Tulsa,
and j. o. zimmerman, Of Joplin, were
also included in the list ., defendants
but zimmerman was i'll and unable to
attend the trial and Green has never
been served with court process.
In passing on the case. Judge Ralph
f. Campbell, first took np the evi-
dence against Lane. "T1 my mind"
he said, 'it has been proven that the
transaction occurred just as the wit
ness Talley testified. seriously
doubt whether his action amounted to
contempt of court for the reason that
the juror was not actually approach
ed. Since Jacobs failed. since Sey-
mour was not approached, since JUS
tice was not obstructed, it is the
Judgment of this court that the de-
fendant j. d. Lane be discharged. His
conduct, to me, has all the earmarks
of the professional jury fxer, how
ever. 1t is not the less rerrehensible
because Of its failure, and | have the
utmost contempt for such a man"
Dealing with Robson, Judge Camp
bell said: THE evidence shows that
defendant Robson did approach the
juror, Seward, in a corrupt manner,
but We are trying Robson upon the
charge that he attempted to bribe
a Juror in the Creekmore case and
from the testimony | am unable to
say whether or not he intended to
influence the juror in the Creekmore
case or the Davis case, which fol-
lowed Immediately Robson was
wrong in talking as he did His con-
versation, too, looks like that of the
professional jury fixer.
Whenever you tamper with the
stream OF NstitG as It flows through
our courts, you tamper wiln he very
foundation of this repub!ia | think
! made clear my ideas Of jury fxers
and will say to the two Defendants
that if they persist further in the
course | believe they have followed.
it will not be long before the doors
of jails or penitentiaries will open
to them
Judge Creekmore then took up the
Creekmore case very briefly, outlining
what he believed to be the facts, sta
ting that there was no doubt in his
mind that statements made by the
witnesses for the government were
true. and closing, he said at is
therefore adiudged that William J.
Creekmore, for acts and conduct con-
trary to law and against the dignity
of this court, is guilty of contempt.
as charged and it is the verdict of
this court that he be imprisoned in
the United States pen;tcGtiary at
Leayeuworth. Kan. for one year and
cne day at hard labor, and the mar
shal is now ordered to take the de-
fendant in charge"
Counsel for Creekmore announced
they would appeal to the circuit court