The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-18
n John q. Seymour when the latter took
the stand following Mr.. SXaY2e.

che stand following Mr.. Swayse.
mo-" said Mr.. Seymour. except from
hearing Mr.. Swayzc this morning"
well. what were the circumstances
Which led your brother to 20 to District
Attorney swami"
II saw In the newspapers that our
Sviroo had .beeu tapped and a dctccta-
phone Installed IN our Office. Two men
IRON the Va, O'tarrell detective agency
came TO our office about six weeks ago
and said our wires had been tapped.
We didn't believe IT. IT was said that
che Burns people had put a d~etectaphono
IN n The O'Farrcll men investigated
for several hours. but found no hldicd-
tiono Of q d~etectaphone. Then they went
20 Mr.. Swami. Mr.. Swami sent for Burns
and II is said that Burns admitted
putting a detectaphone In there. Then
W. didn't believe g."
well. let me tell you,' said Mr.. Moss.
THAT your telephone wire was tapped.
] sav the request by the Police Commits
sioner 10 tap 1t. Your name ~ on tho
iiOG"
that's a revelation to me-"
snow. the interest of this committee
10 70 fnd out whether the police tapped
your wire presumptively on suspicion OF
detecting crime. when in reality II was
not for that reason
"Why, of course IL wasn't to detect any
crime. Not the shadow OF one. There
Wao q large business transaction-a mu-
nitions transaction for the Allles--wiuh
large interests on both s'des. IN our
office"
sDdd o'Farrcl say who employed
0urnsY"
mo. but that's what We want to IND
out. There could have been but two
interests who would have desired 10 put
= detectaphone In our onice--two com
moPcial interests. The District Attorney
oayO a ~detectaphorc was put III ana the
wires were tapped. He has promised
70 prosecute II We make u complaint. We
have asked the building agents to ascer-
rain whether any one tapped our wires
end they are now making III invosti-
Uo&10n with counsel"
No Crime Involved.
SNhn s. Seymour is a quiet little man.
A0d his surprise ~ the proof that his
wires had been tapped was written all
over his face. He has been a lawyer
for thirty-eight years, he eaid. "A Yale
nan OF the class Of rs and Law rs.
He was a deadlock session Senator from
Connecticut and a United States com
miosioner Of patents under President
Cleveland. He has practised law before
The Supreme Court Of Ghe United States
ond the State courts Of New York and
Connecticut. His brother. Frederick.
VINO did not come to the tand until
afternoon. s~ubstantiated his version OF
the incident Il month or more ago.
Does the transaction that was In
your Office" asked Mr.. Moss Of Fred
erick Seymour, Involve any crime which
detectives or the police might desire 20
Spy upon
II don't know Of anything" hc All
oWered. Il am sure there is nothing
In our office Of "A criminal nature-no
criminal cases. no civil cases involving
my conduct that would lead any one
% suspect a crime. There is nothing
there in which any crime was involved
directly or indirectly"
"The matter was entirely commercial
and business
There could he no other but a COM
Oorcial or business motive
"Could there he that motive"
Yes"
II think said Mr.. Moss to senator
Thompson, that that is as far as | am
prepared to go into the wire tapping
now"
John l.. Swayzc described wire tapping
~ bridging over or 'cesoring." He
said there had been listcnings in by the
OsSS aiu Nv iouIi Io fNt'Tu VI shDN
otter tappipgs. although information
about tappings had been asked by the
District Attorneys OF New York and
Kings counties and there was talk some
LINE back of l%isteninss in by the District
Attorney.
suppose the individual were a re-
soectable woman. not socially prominent.
ana her home were put under surveil-
lance by the police. do you look into the
HADA pa AQnafpr 'Chpn,ysnp 1sLaI
I'VE do not. How to draw the line as
"a people We should inquire about
dent know. Fortunately we have never
BEEN called upon to do So
suppose II were "A law Arm, a re
soectable Arm that had never been be-
fore the Bar Association"
We'll. II it did not occur frequently or
put the tap on"
Suppose II were Dc I.ancey Nicoll cor
Mr.. Moss i~nterpolated Mr., Swayze),
would o ask questions
YES. OF course. II is an inaccurate
in~ethod-not in the proper shape, The
hr9t step We took was to get the W
thortty OF Police Commissioner Woods.
a we have watched the police and
found that they are not using It un-
reasonably. There arc $50. 900 telephone
subscribers and there have been only $50
taps In the last year and "A half. You
must also consider that there are $40. DOT
public telephones IN the city and onl,
twenty-five taps now on We realized
belore the tapping troublc broke out OF
certain wires recently that some wires
should not have been tapped without
making an inquiry. Then the matter was
brought to me and decided To make
I'm inquiry IN the future in every case
Assistance Most Valuable.
Why did you think an inquiry was
necessary in this particular case?'
Because the person affected was n
man who occupied a professional posi-
ton. which III or Of itself should have
led US to maxi" an inquiry Not that this
professional position relieved hum Of any
suspicion OF crime"
you think this was 4 case that should
not have been interfered with
u cannot say. We know nothing OF
h results OF wire tapping except AS
We read in the newspa pers that arrests
have been made after listening in. A
letter comes to us from the Police Com
missioner. We put the tap on and until
Il Ia removed W. know nothing about
what passes over the line. We are
simply notified that they no longer wish
IN ttSa tho linz aud 1.a .,.n.A. Tho ar,