Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-12-13

Washington, Dec. 12.AHearings on
Impeachment proceedings brought
against Attorney General Daugherty
by Representative Keller, Republican,
Minnesota, were opened today before
the House Judiciary committee. They
were marked by frequent clashes be-
tween members of the committee and
Jackson H. Ralston counsel for Mr..
Keller, first as to the method of pro-
cedure and second, as to- the relevan-
cy of testimony.
The Minnesota representative won
the first skirmish, the committee vot-
Ing in executive session after an hour
and half of wrangling in the open
to hear first evidence of three of the
fourteen specifications designated by
Mr.. Keller instead of taking the
charges up in the numerical order in
which they were presented originally.
Another decision was against the
summOning of Chief Justice Taft,
whose presence had been requested
by Mr.. Ralston for the purpose Of
confirming a letter which Mr.. Taft
wrote in 1912 while President, to the
then attorney general, Wickersham,
and which read into the record during
theday. The committee held that
confirmation would be unnecessary.
This letter and one written to Mr.
Taft by Mr.. Wickerslyam, constituted
the principal evidence submitted to-
day. They both dealt with a pardon
for Willard N. Jones, convicted in
Oregon in 1907 of alleged fraud and
referred to alleged activities Of Will
Lam J. Burns, appointed last year by
Mr.. Daugherty as chief of the bureau
OF investigation OF the Department
of Justice in connection with the
drawing Of the jury in the JONES
case
The purpose of their introduction
into the record, Mr.. Ralston explain
ca, vas to support the charge in the
Impeachment specifications that Mr..
Daugherty had appointed to positions
'of great Importance and large fin
ancial and moral responsibility" mon
who ARE Enthusiastically. corrupt and
dangerous to the liberties of the peo-
pie of the United States"
In the Wickersham report to the
president. it was set forth that Mr..
Burns, who then was employed by
the government under Francis j.
Heney, as special prosecutor in the
land fraud cases, obtained in advance
list of prospective petit jurors who
n hn oo11n1 ~, <~;a L1r
Judge Gilbert and that after 600 of
the $500 names had been found sat
isfactory from his standpoint, their
names had been allowed to remain
in the jury box.
President Taft, replying TO Mr..
Wickersham and approving a pardon
for Jones, declared the methods des-
cribed constituted "the most bare
faced and unfair use of all the ma
chinery for drawing a jury" which
had been disclosed to him in all his
long experience in the federal courts.
He added that this condition "givcs
sufficient reason to justify a pardon"
for Jones as we'll as 'justifying con-
demnation of the methods of Hency
and Burns'
Paul Rowland of Cleveland, Ohio,
who appeared as personal counsel for
Mr.. Daugherty. developed from James
a. Finch, pardon attorney for the
Department of Justice, who prepared
the report in the land fraud case, that
both Mr.. Burns and Mr.. Heney had
denied the charges with regard to
the drawing Of the Jones jury.
Guy H. Oyster. confidential secre-
tary to Samuel Gompers. president
OF the Amer. IAN Federation of Labor.
testified that Mr.. Gompers had called
the Wickersham document to Mr.
Daugherty's attention last July be-
fore announcement was made of Mr..