The Washington times., 1922-05-25
7 To
TRIAL
FOR FRAUD
Man Accused In War Graft
Case Among First Up
for Prosecution.

One of the first so-called war
fraud cases to be taken up for
trial will be that Of Trafford
Hewitt, who was indicted in jan
uary, 1919. for conspiracy to de-
fraud the Government. and who
a few days ago was surrendered
by his sureties and is now in the
District jail. Hewitt had located
out West, and his bondsmen, 1t is
alleged, had for q time lost track
Of him. which fact caused them
to give him up.
~. $4,000 Involved.
An attempt to exact a commits
sion Of more than s25, 900 on q
Government contract by false rep
resentation OF special influence
with the Navy Department II
charged In the indictment, which
also names Warner L. Churchill.
Both men are said to be residents
OF New York.
The contract involved was for
metal supplies for which the Navy
Department accepted a proposal OF
the Penn Brass and Bronze Works.
OF Brooklyn. N. Y. The contract
price was $5l4 4,332.7o, of which, II
Is charged. the accused demanded
s per cent. claiming he had influ-
ence with the Navy Department
and that through his influence the
contract was awarded.
Chief Justice Mccoy, OF the Dis
trict Supreme Court, today accepted
ten OF the twenty-three men who will
constitute the additional grand jury
which was recently authorised by
Congress to investigate war contract
frauds.
Ten Accepted As Jurors.
The ten accepted jurors are John J.
Schwartz. Noble d. Larner, David B.
Fegan. Chris J. Gockeler, F. E. Mark,
Joseph Loughran, Corcoran Thorn,
Philip Happ. e. A. OLeary and J. ].
Dickerson.
The court directed the jury com.
mission to summon seventy-five ad-
ditional talesmen to report tomorrow
morning at 10 o'clock. From this
number the remaining thirteen need
ed to complete the panel will be
chosen.
A petition for a writ Of habeas
corpus for the release OF Edwin
Morse, son Of Charles w. Morse,
under indictment with eleven others
for conspiracy in connection with
ship war contracts, was filed today
in the District Supreme Court by
young Morse's attorney, w. Bissell
Thomas.
Morse was arrested here on a
bench warrant from the New York
authorities who want him on an
indictment recently returned In
New York. He was taken before
United States Commissioner Mac
Donald for hearing yesterday
afternoon who granted the request
OF the New York authorities for the
surrender Of Morse.
Morse's attorney contented he
had committed no crime and also
attacked the legality Of the indict-
ment. Commissioner Macdonald re-
fused to hear argument and said
the indictment was conclusive.
Morse is in the custody OF the
United States marshal.
The fight in the House for
Congressional Investigation OF the
gratters who robbed their Govern
ment OF hundreds OF millions dur
ing the stress Of war rapidly ap-
preached a climax yesterday.
A statement by Chairman Camp
bell OF the House Rules Committee.
who for three weeks has refused
to carry out the mandate OF his
committee that he call up the reso-
luton providing for an in
quiry, that the soldier-Congress.
men. Woodruff and Johnson. and
Senator Caraway are backing a
scheme to aid the war grafters and
profiteers drew sizzling reply
from Woodruff.
After denouncing In vigorous
terms the attack Of the Rules Com
mittee chairman. the Michigan Con-
gressman announced that the next
move Of those sponsoring the in
vestigation will be effective, not
withstanding Campbell, Republican
Leader Mondell, Speaker Gillett,
and other @. o.. p. chieftains are
striving to block the investigation.
The ranks Of those. in the House
Continued on Page I, Column ~