Evening star., 1924-03-06


w. +. Wiley's telegram"
Smithers. the White House telegraph
operator had been hired
81 was told to ask Smithers, who
knew lots of operators. about work
ing the wire DucksteIn said, ''and
Smithers, when ] talked to him over
the telephone, said he'd Ike to get
the job and make some extra money
by working overtime
Mclean had told DuckStein to put
himself an position to decode tele-
grams" the committee was told.
How did you do that?" Senator
Walsh asked.
Got Code From Burns.
II simply went to Burns and asked
him, because I knew Mr.. Mclean had
a department code book" Duckstein
said Burns told me, here's an old
code book, so ahead and use it,
so YOU put Yourself in position to
decode by asking Mr.. Burns for the
-. ,tiivtI .U,.e:
Yes. Mr.. Burns said it was an OBJ
Solete code"
Did you hire Mr.. Smithers. as one
of these messages says. so that you
could get easy access to the White
House.? put in Senator Dill, demo-
crat, Washington.
The witness laughed "I never had
the slightest idea Of that" he said
i've never met Mr.. Smithers before
didn't know of such a telegram"
Senator Dill returned to the code
question, and Duckstein said he had
never taken the code book out of
Burns office.
DO You know who 'AppIes.' Cher
rvs or 'Apricots' were?"
haven't the slightest idea"
Lean safety deposit vault. to which
Duckstefn said he held the KEYS.
MIR. Mclean told me 10 get a box"
he said. and later gave me some
tsa Sseaied l. envelopes. saying: Bill. put
these III your deposit box"
There were three or four "packages
or envelopes" in the deposit box,
Ouckstein explained. but he knew
nothing of their contents The whole
ttoinihittee joined in queries about the
poA, and then excused the witness
Starck Called to Stand.
FRED Starek. director of the War
Finance Corporation and a former
washington correspondent for Nc
Lean Cincinnati Enquirer. was
called to the stand. He had bean
mentioned in one of tne Major ,aIa-
grams as desiring to get in to,,cb
with Mclean.
maine mas Deen mentioned in
one of the kilograms to Mclean" said
senator Walsh. "Will you tell ms
about it?" US
Last summer or early last fall
had conversation, with Mr.. Mclean
about the purchase of the reuse
per-" Starek said. II wanted tn get
IN touch with him about il, and Mr.
Major volunteered to send a mes
sage
Expected Mclean CuIl.
And what you wanted to see Nc
Lean about was a prospective pur-
chase of the Post?"
Yes. 1 thought 1 would get a
telephone call from Mr.. Mclean, but I
never did"
The committee then went into ex-
ecutlve session to go over further
kilograms.
One of the messages read at the
open hearing was sent from Palm
Beach by Mclean December %. to
Francis McAdoo, care Miller, Otis &
Co.. New York city. 1t said:
out statement for me today. 1 will
have it read to you from Washington.
II you approve Of it tell them to
make it public.
resenting Fall and Sinclair, and l do
not want to have myself used for
their benefit. Wire me results.
a telegram sent to Mclean at Palm
Beach, January 26, signed J. V. Fitz-
gerald, Mclean employe, was read
by Mr.. Walsh, with the explanation
that the committee had decoded it on
the advice of another telegram from
Fitzgerald for Mclean to omit every
other word" Omitting every work
the telegram read:
. understand Montana man has
stories printed yesterday, one telling
your illness and the other that you
had been DiegePs partner when he
broke course record Friday. Ii you
want plan to straighten out what
may be embarrassing tangle advise
me. Harrington Hotel, and I'll put
1t on WIRE"
Fall Telegram Rend.
From Palm Beach on January IL
Fall sent this telegram to Gus T.
Jones, Department of Justice Agent,
San Antonio, Tex"
Get In touch with Buckley imme-
diately. Ask him If he can come here
at once as my attorney and adviser.
This is very important. Must see him
before he sails
On February. 13 telegram to Mr..
Mclean, signed "E. l. b." was sent
from Washington which read:
Have appointment to see party at
o'clock today"
The following morning, February
IA, a telegram, signed 3D." was sent
Mr.. Mclean. 1t read:
'Wil1 have conference with H. D.
on January IS a telegram signed
John" was sent to Mr.. Mclean at
Palm Beach. 1t read:
'Zey testified that he had loaned
Fall S25,000 for European trip. Willis
ho n fn tar
New Messages Read. :.
More telegraph records received
from Palm Beach were read into the
record.
On January % Johns" sent a mes
sage to E. B. Mclean at Palm Beach
saying subpoena for Fall today.
Returnable Friday"
Another Mary" message in code
was presented. Like the other il
was addressed to w. o. Duckstein. a
Mclean employe at Palm Beach.
Burns states" the message said.
lawyer friendly to department said
that an inquiry was on foot to as
certain whether Mclean was regular
appointed dollar year man and asked
him to find out.
Department LAWYER came to Burns