The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-30
OIL EXPOSE
HELD BASIS
SMITH CASE
Blakemore Produces Copy
Of Letter Written to
Geneseo Citizen.

Renewing his denial of any.
attempt to figure in an al
legged blackmail scheme
against George r. Smith of.
Geneseo, Herbert D. Blake
more, Rock Island attorney,
today produced a copy Of
the letter which is said to be
the pivot point in the sensa-
tional charges.
Smith, who conferred with Chief
Investigator H. s. Mosher yester-
day, named Blakemore as the author
OF a letter to him demanding $1,000
to circumvent the publishing of an
article in the Rock Island News.
According to Mr.. Mosher, Smiths
account of the case savored strongly
Of blackmail, and the Geneseo man
was instructed to return to Rock
Island with the evidence.
Blakemore declares that the let
ter contained not the slightest ref
erence to a money settlement, but
that in reality was notice served
upon Smith and H. e, Haley, who
with Smith was one Of the promp-
ters Of the Texas-Eureka Oil COM
pany, that an article attacking the
Texas-Eureka company and the
Grayson Oil company as invest
ments would be printed in the News
on certain date, and if there
were any imperfections in the
charges against the two oil con-
Germs it was up to Smith and Haley
to call attention to alleged misrep-
resentation.
According to Blakemore, the let
ter in question read as follows:
&c. R. Smith, Geneseo. Ill.
H. +. Haley, Chicago. Ill.
II am enclosing to each Of you o
story which will appear in the is
sue Of the Rock Island News on
Oct 4. As / am not particular
about concealing the fact that am
the author of it, l am very anxious
that the story of the facts are above
accusation. For this reason I am
enclosing copy to each CT you and
il have stated anything in the ar
ticle which is not true, I will
gladly make the correction, if it ac-
cords with my knowledge of the
facts, before it goes into the paper. :"
This letter, according to Blake
more, was dated Sept. %. 1919, and
after an exhaustive examination Of
lis entire correspondence he de-
clares that it is the only communi-
cation he had with Smith which
possibly could be the letter in
question.
''Of course I said the article
would appear in the News on a Ger
tain date" Gays Blakemore, "but
really was not certain as to that.
In fact did not really know the
article would receive attention, but
my object In attacking the Texas
Eureka and the Grayson compan-
les was merely to warn my friends
against an investment which ]
considered dangerous.
No Reply to Letter.
II sent the article to Dan Drost,
who was then publisher Of the
News, by my SON. did not receive
a reply to my letter from either
Smith or Haley, but as a matter
Of fact l saw both men personally
in Moline a week later, and I again
called their attention to the article.
Two or three weeks later the story
appeared in the News. Drost in
formed me that he received many
letters in appreciation Of the arti-
Gle, commencing the writer for his
stand. and Drost asked me to write
some more. I did furnish two or
three more articles after that, all
on the subject Of oil investment.
Now, il my communication to Smith
in any way can be considered
blackmail, he's welcome to try"
Smith could not be reached at his
home in Geneseo either yesterday
or today. This morning it was re-
ported that he was temporarily out
Of the city. Whatever the state OF
federal authorities do in the matter
necessarily depends upon the ma
teriality Of the evidence which
Smith told Investigator Mosher he
has.