The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1922-04-07
OKLA. GOVERNOR IN
DlCTED IN BANK:
CRASH

| WAH
BRIBE OF $4,000 SPLIT
| CHARGE ON HIGH OFFICIALS
Okmulgee Financial Institutions Fail.
nres Start Action ON State Execu.
tive. Ex-Treasurer. Bankers and
Business Men.
OkmMgee, Okla, April 5-Csovern.
or j. B. A. Robertson of Oklahoma
| submitted to arrest here Wednesday
night ON an indictment charging that
he accepted bribe to permit opera.
ton of the Guaranty State bank of
Okmulgee while it was in an insoIy-
ent condition. The governor imme-
dlately gave bond of $4,000 for his
appearance at trial.
I The governors Indictment is a joint
return naming Fred G. Dennis, form
er state banking commissioner, as the
original recipient of the alleged bribe,
third of which, it is charged, was
conveyed to Robertson i'm the form
of an oil lease deal Dennis is accus-
ed of accepting a $4,000 check, con-
ditioned on the deposit of $15O.O0O of
state funds in the Guaranty State
bank of Okmulgee, then insolvent, a
condition kept from public knowledge
by Dennis, it is alleged.
For the alleged giving of the check
John T. Cook, former president of the
Guaranty bank, and John I'll. Rebold.
former vice president, are ais. in
dicted.
q in All Indicted
f1fty-one warrants were delivered
to Sheriff Frank Sewers by the dis
trict county clerk for the arrest of
persons named in % indictments re-
turned by the district court grand
jury after an investigation into the
failure of the Bank Of Commerce
here. A score or more prominent To-
cal men are understood to have been
named in the bills in addition to the
state and bank officials.
The indictment against the govern
or and Dennis charges that the money
was paid to them with tn stfelonious
intent to influence the acts, decisions
and judgment of them" after Dennis
had conducted an examination of the
bank affairs on same day and found
the institution to be in an insolyent
condition and that Rebold was liable
to the bank for money borrowed in
the sum of 100000.
Saved by Dying Mans Vote
The bribery charges against Rebold
and Cook in a joint Indictment, al
leges that on Septembe er 27, 1920, the
two men acting together, stdfd vii
fully, unlawfully, feloniously and cor
ruptly" give $4,000 in a cashiers
check to ]. B. A. Robertson, governor
OF Oklahoma, and Fred G. ~ Dennis,
former state banking. commissioner.
In a sensational report returned by
the investigation committee of the
house of the eighth Oklahoma legis-
lature of March 81 of last year, the
governor was charged with having
accepted bribe for misuse of his Of
flclal powers in connection with al
legged illegal transactions involving
the Guaranty State bank of Okmul-
gee. His impeachment was recon-
mended, but in a spectacular scene in
which a democratic member of the
house was brought to the chamber In
an ambulance to vote, the body re-
Jected the committee report, AZ to az.
Put State Casl, Into Failure
j. I. Perkins, of Oklahoma CITY,
who left his sick bed to vote against
the report, later died. The majority
OF the house were republicans and
the governor and his friends at the
time declared the attack on him was
political. Thg executive denied in de-
tail the accusations brought against
him.
The report charging the governor
with misuse of his official powers be-
gan with a report of an alleged trans
action between the governor, Fred
Dennis, then state banking commits
siener, and John f. Rebold of Ok
mulgee, vice president and a large
stockholder in the Guaranty State
bank. In this connection the report
declared that the Guaranty State
bank Of Okmulgee was nearing insol-
vency in the fall of 1920 and that
Fred Dennis in an attempt to save
the bank, deposited in it $3.50, 1000 Of
state money. The same day John
Kebold gave Dennis a click for $685.
600, Of which Dennis later gave the
governor one-third, according to the
report. The money paid Dennis was
said to have been for an oil lease sold
by Dennis and the governor.
OH Lease Held Snbterfuge
The report then asserted that the
committee was of the opinion ''thar
the lease sold by Dennis to Rebold
vas at that time, as both Dennis and
Rebold knew, not worth one dollar an
acre, and that the sale OF this lease.
If such sale was made, was pre-
text to cover up a corrupt transaction
IN which Rebold paid s25, 600 and in
which the governor participated to
have his bank passed without criti-
eism and to receive this additional
$150, 900 Of state money"
The report then .recounted the fact
that the banks condition became SO
serious that it was consolidated with
the Bank of Commerce, now defunct.
LOCAL MARKET
Wheat, No. / Dark Northern
Durun1, amber -..-..-...-..--............ 1.Do
Durum ..........-...........-. 1.l11
Flax OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 2I5
Rye --.-.-...-...-.--.... II
Oats, Mpls. market ....-...--..-......- .I8
Barley ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .B5
Flour .........-..........-.... 4.401