Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-04
FLORIDA MESSAGES
ARE FOUND WRITTEN
IN SECRET j. s. CODE
Head of Secret Service to Be
Called to Give Testimony
on Use of Private Cipher
in kilograms

WASHINGTON, March 2.-The
long. long trail of the oil inquiry led
into the department Of justice.
A cipher message signed Mary
and found among the celebrated Nc
Lean kilograms carried it there, and
/ the oil committee Immediately made
plans to follow it wherever it may
go.
F'EoD1 William J. Burns, chief OF
the departments bureau of investiga-
ton; Mrs. Mary Duckstein, a special
agent of the department, and others,
the Oil Investigators will seek to
I learn:
The truth about reports that Ed,
ward B. Mclean, publisher of the
Washington Post, and a central fig.
ure in the inquiry, is himself a de-
| partment of justice agent, and in
| possession of the departments code.
Whether Burns directed Mrs.
! Duckstein to send message to her
| husband, who is one Of the Mclean
| employees, saying that the Mclean
| investigation is under way by spe.
! cial agents Of the justice depart
| ment' and that he believed the lin
| formation is important"
| How Duckstein and other repre-.
sentatives of the publisher came into
possession of u copy, Of the code.
Whether all of the code messages
| found in the Mclean file of tele-
| grams are, like the MARY" message,
| in a cipher code once used by the
bureau of investigation.
Sent From Washington
The Mary message was sent
| from Washington on February 2, to
| w. o. Duckstein, described to the
| committee as one of McLean's conf
Dental men, at Palm Beach, Fla.
A paraphrase of it, furnished to
| the oil committee, reads:
Sent for by Burns, who told
me to say Mclean investigation
is under way by special agents
of justice department. He be-
lieVes information is important"
The message was sent by Postal
Telegraph and at the bottom ap-
peared this notation: "Chge. Post. A.
ID. M. for Mr. w. O. Duckstein.'
Arthur D. Marks is business mana.
ger of the Post.
The paraphrase furnished to the
committee bore the signature
MARY" (Quigley. chief telephone
operator Of Washington POST.
Asked today how her name be
came confused with that OF Miss
Quigley, whose name appeared in
one of the Mclean kilograms, Mrs,
Duckstein said:
"Oh, very few people knew that
my pet name is Mary" Her
a ic Mre. TaScio T01oIycfaiT,
Mrs. Duckstein was then at the
oil committee hearing room in re
Spouse to a subpoena, and she de
chned to discuss the reference to
the Mclean investigation" in her
telegram.
Code of Department
Expressing his willingness to
tell the oil committee all he knows,
Burns said he understood the code
employed in the Mary" messagesI
was used at one time by agents of
the justice department.
1.-The department of justice" he
said, never had anything to do
with the oil scandal or Teapot
Dome. I never gave any tips to
Mclean The only telegram to Nc
Lean that [ know about was all
right. 1t contained no tips of any
kind"
Burns would not deny the report
that Mclean was on the roll of spe-
cial agents of the bureau of investi-
cation at a nominal salary of ST. a
month, and that he should be fur
niGhed with an official badge and
a pistol. There have been reports
that in the past a number of per.
nTrnl1oI ~ a
Eat such a salary, with an under
standing that they would give only
part of their, time to departmental
work"
After learning that the Mary" mes
sage was in a one-time department
of justice cipher. Senator Walsh,
Democrat, Montana, the dominant
figure of the oil investigation, sent
to the department for an officia!
copy At first his request was re.
fused on the ground that his agent
was not sufficiently identified, and
the senator then wrote a formal let
ter to the department.
4 formal subpoena for Burns was
withheld, Senator Walsh saying
that he would be "invited' to APP
pear in the course customarily fol-
lowed in the case of government Of
ficials. He will be examined after
the committee resumes its hearings
next Tuesday.
Would Question President
Advertising the code matter in the
senate, Senator Caraway, Democrat,
Arkansas, charged Attorney General
Daugherty with responsibility for
use of a department of justice cipher
in kilograms sent on behalf of Nc
Lean.
Il would like to ask the president /
himself, said Senator CaraWay, |
whether he had any communica- |
ton with those people in Florida. He |
ewes an explanation to 100 600 600 |
people as to why Mclean had any |
right to a quick and easy access to !
the White House.
The oil committee examined John (
F. Major, author of most of the Nc |
Lean kilograms and John J. Spur |
geon, managing editor of the Wash /
ingtOn Post, as to McLean's private |
wire to Florida. but got little add /
tiOnal information
Closing the committee-room doors. /
the Investigators examined a new |
batch of telegrssms and records of /
the Chesapeake and Potomac Tele- |
phone company. 1t found additional /
code messages and that three mys- I
ferrous telephone calls had been made /
10 Albert s. Fall at New Orleans !
from the New Willard hotel here.
Officials of the telephone company |
will be asked why the name of the /
person or persons making the calls I
do not appear in the records.
After the committee had adjourn /
ed until Tuesday, subpoenas were is