New-York tribune., 1918-07-09
T hreat to Wifi G
Made Lyons Tell
OF OfO'l4eary,H He Says
Revealed Fugitive's Where
aboufs to Prevent Woman's s
indictment as Perjurer
Her Immunity Assured
Governments Witness Sticks
to Story He Told IN
First Trial

FIRST fJal
The threat of an indictment against
his wife for perjury finally persuaded
Arthur Lyons to inform the govern
mcnt of the whereabouts OF jeremiah
OJcary and full details Of the Sim
Fein leaders, sensational flight West
Such was the admission Colonel
Thomas B. Fielder wrung from the gov
crnment's star witness yesterday, when
the retrial Of John j. OLeary on the
charge of having conspired to aid in
Jercmiah's flight was resumed before
Judge Angus .us N. Hand in the United
States District Court here.
"Whcn got back here from the
Vast" said Lyons, my wife told me
a stcry that appealed to me very great
ly, and she urged me to tell all that
knew and get 1his whole ching square
While I'd been gone, she said, agents OF
the Department Of Justice had been
constantly questioning her, and that
for approximately twelve or fifteen
days she'd been brought over here to
the offices of the department and
questioned.
Also she had been made to go be-
fore the grand jury and testify. As a
result Of what she had said then, |
knew that she'd spend a term in Jail if
something wasn't done, and believe
me. I'd rather that the whole world was
sent UP for twenty years than that that
lltt,e woman had to spend single
night IN prison"
And so you told them where they
could find Jeremiah OLeary asked
Colonel Fielder
Jerry in Vancouver with me-" snapped
back Lyons.
But you told them the precise spot
where they could locate him ?" persisted
John O'Leary's counsel.
Yes, eventually" said the witness.
And you did this with the under
standing that your wife wouldn't be
prosecuted" ?"
"Yes, sir"
From a legal standpoint the session
yesterday was decidedly the most in
teresting of the entire case. Since his
original appearance at the first trial,
the testimony of Lyons had been fatty
contradicted in all its most essential
himself. At the retrial, Father Patrick
O'Donnell. the priest to whom it has
been shown Jerry made confession be-
fore boarding the st. Louis flyer. had
added other statements irreconcilable
TO the Lyons narrative, yet in the re-
telling. Lyons stuck item to item.
throughout his lengthy and infinitely
intricate tale to the version he origin
ally set forth.
on cross-examination, though Colo
mel Fielder read him ct length from the
conflicting minutes Of the previous
trial. he still maintained that he was
telling Che undiluted truth.
Jerry O'Leary gave him a SlOO bill
with which to buy tickets to ST. Louis,
not four twentles, as Jerry subsequent-
~ swore; John O'Leary, the defendant
IN the present action, was tire man who
actually purchased the tickets in ques-
tion; John O'Leary accompanied Jerry
and himself right up to the Pennsyl-
vania Station. and did not, as other
witnesses have testified, go instead to
ms own office. Nothing could shake
Lyons from these statements.
As at the first trial. however, Lyons
explicitly exonerated John from any
suspicion Of knowledge that Jerry in
tended--f he did-to attempt flight at
the time he left New York, presumably
bound for Reno. Tor the purpose. ac-
coHding to Isons, of trying a divorce
case.
Lyons also swore That John had in
nowlse been notified OF the proposed
attempt to escape after Jerry had de-
uermincd upon that course at-Lyons
says Ogden. Utah. SO strong were
ms statements upon this score that it
was the general expectation through
ho l,,% ~ MI
was going TO ask for a dismissal of the
entire case against John.
Instead, however, he veered about
and subjected the witness to pro-
tracted grlling on the methods pur-
sued by the Department Of Justice in
eliciting information. Later Colonel
Fielder asserted that he had adopted
this course in order to "show u2 the
system He added that Lyons had
committed himself to many incon-
sistencies, which Will be fully exploited
by the defence later, particularly those
With respect to Nine. Victorica. about
terday that led apparently nowhere.
When Lyons was finally excused
from the stand, his place was taken
by his wife. She corroborated hor
husbands story of his conversations
with her on the night before the leave
taking. After her the stenographer
who was to nave taken dictation from
} Jeremiah O'Leary, the man who sold
him pair of glasses shortly before
he boarded the train for the West and
the barber who shaved him earlier that
same morning repeated their testi-
mony Of the original trial.
An evidence Of the intentness with
which the jury is following the case
was gwen when, as the latter was leav-
ing the stand, juror No. 10 stood up
and said:
May add one question How
many men were there in the automo-
o, o,os you saw leaving your place that
Hornlng-two o. three ?"
rms is one of the important points
IN the case against John O'Leary.
lyons 5wears John was present at this
Ilme. John denies it. The whole room
leaned forward eagerly as the juror,
launched his question
80 tar as I saw returned the bar
Der, there were only two"