Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-06
WAR DEPARTMENT
CODE EXPERTS AID
OIL LEASE PR0BERS
Mclean Messages Decipher-
ed for Committee -Prepa-
rations for Questioning
Burns Near Completion

w <AkSIIlIN11oANs O.-1lpllSA
experts of the war department who
have been translating code messages
found in the Mclean kilograms, will
be called first tomorrow when the
senate oil committee resumes its
public hearings.
Senator Walsh, Democrat, Mon
tana, said today translations of the
kilograms by the government ex-
perts did not differ materially from
the paraphrases furnished the COM
mittee last week and arrived at by
the use Of an old code of the depart
ment of justice.
William j. Burns, chief of the de-
partment's bureau of investigation.
will be questioned by the committee
Tomorrow as to how employees Of the
Washington publisher came into pos
session of this code and whether Nc
Lean is OIL the roll OF the special
agents of the bureau at salary of
81 q month.
Burns also will be asked about the
Mary code message sent to one
of McLean's confidential men at Palm
Reach in which reference was made
to Burns and to the Mclean investi.
CATION"
Women to Take Stand
Mrs. Mary Duckstein, former pri-
vate secretary to Burns, and now an
operative in the justice department,
who sent the Mary" kilograms tc
= her husband. w. o. Duckstein, prob
ably will follow Burns on the stand.
Mclean may be called before the
committee before the end OF the
week. He returned from Florida
8 early last month in response to a
summons, but, unlike other persons
under subpoena, has not been re-
CURED to make daily appearance at
the hearings.
Preparations neared conclusion to.
day for the first step in the oil suits
to be instituted by government coun-
a,
tees disclosures. Some announce.
ment is expected tomorrow or We'd
nesday, but meantime those prepar-
ing the suits will make no statement
as to their precise intentions.
More kilograms Sought -
More kilograms exchanged between
Edward 3. Mclean, publisher of the
Washington Post, and his employees,
ara being sought in the files of the
Western Union and Postal Telegraph
companies here, along with messages
received by or sent to Albert B. Fall,
Ell. Doheny, Harry F. Sinclair, and
j. w. zeve.y, Sinciair's personal at
torney. In addition, the committee
has subpoenaed kilograms to and
from Fall, Sinclair, Zevely, Robert
Stewart, of the Standard Oil COM
pany of Indiana, and H. M. Black
mer, of the Midwest Refining COM
pany, on record between January /,
1921, and March 1, 1924, at Three
Rivers, n. M, where Falls ranch is
situated.
Meanwhile, the government spe-
cial oil counsel are ready IL initiate
court act;la III the lease cases tais
week. The civil proce sding5 will be
under the dire2tion chiefly of Alice
Pomerene, former senator from
Ohio, while Owen j. Roberts, of
Philadelphia, will devote his atten-
ton principally to matters requiring
action under criminal statutes.
Civil proceedings looking to the
prevention of further extraction of.
oil from the naval reserves in Cali
fornia and Wyoming and annulment
Of the leases held by Doheny and
Sinclair, will form the first activities
of the special counsel, criminal &C.
ton being withheld pending indie
~ pendent investigation and more de-
tiled study of evidence adduced by
me senate committee.
New Counsel Considered
President Coolidge also is consid-
ering the names of attorneys espe-
cially versed in land laws for ap-
pointment as special counsel to in
stitute proceedings for recovery to
the federal government from the
Standard Oil company OF California,
of sections 16 and Sc in the Elk Hills
reserve in that state.
The oil committee adjourned sat.
urday after considering behind
closed doors of long distance tele.
phone calls from Washington to Nc
Lean and others, and is expected,
when it reassembles tomorrow, to,
resume it's questioning of the pub
lishers employees in an effort to shed
light on the numerous messages
sent to and from him at Palm Beach
while efforts were being made to
kee phim off the stand.
Among other things, the commit
tee wants to know low a code once
used by agents of the bureau of in
vestigatiou of the department of JUS
tico. which was employed in the mys-
ferrous telegram signed Mary
came into possession of McLean's
employees, and it has asked William
j. Burns, chief of the bureau, to APP
pear in this connection. He also is
to te questioned about reports that
Mclean is one of the 81 a month
special agents of the department
and. as such, has been furnished a
copy of the bureaus present code.
Attempt to Get Walsh
Senator Wheeler, Democrat, Mon.
tana, presented the senate today two