The Republican., 1924-05-22
E CHARGES AGAINST MIR.
zIHLMAN ARE UNFOUNDED
Maryland Congressman Given
Complete EXOneratiOn After
Probe BY House Committee

reSentatlve Frederick n. Zihl-
man, Republican, of the Sixth
Congressional District of Mary
land accepted a bribe was not
established by evidence present
ed to the House Investigating
Committee, the House was in
formed last Thursday, as was
forecasted i'll The Republican of
last week.
All five members of the Com
mittee concurred in a report
which said mo further action is
required or should be taken by
the House" with regard to Mr..
Zihlman.
THE evidence is conflicting and
sharply contradictory" said the re-
port, ''and the question of the cred
ibility of the individual witness has
frequently arisen" Also as to the
charge that Zihlman accepted a bribe
the report says: Taken as a whole
in the opinion of the committee, the
evidence does not establish truth of
the charge"
THE committee has considered the
Zihlman case. 1t has secured the tes-
timony of all persons supposed to
have any direct or indirect knowledge
of the charge against him. 1t has
,,,tV,aI t,t-N IxritrnScnc. onI
a number of documents and the print
ed records containing some S2S pages
accompany this report. The evidence
is conflicting and sharply contradic-
tory, and the question of the credibil-
ity of individual witnesses has fire.
quently arisen.
Taken as whole, in the opinion
of the committee, the evidence does
not establish the truth of the charge
against Representative Zihlman, and
accordingly, the committee recon-
mends that so far as he is concerned,
no further action is required or should
be taken by the House"
The report touched also on the
charges against Representative Lang
ley, Republican, Kentucky, who is un-
der a two-year prison sentence as a
result of his conviction for alleged
violation of the prohibition law. The
committee said no further action on
its part for the present at least was
advisable in view of Mr.. Langley's an
nounced intention of absenting him
self from the Capitol until his appeal
has been passed upon by the higher
courts.
The purpose of the committee in
quiry was to determine whether eth
er Zihlman or Langley, mentioned
several months ago in the report of a
federal grand jury at Chicago has
been guilty of wrongdoing warrant
ing forfeiture of their seats in the
House.
A verbatim report Of the evidence
presented under oath to the commit
tee shows that Elias H. Mortimer, Of
Philadelphia and New York, was the
principal witness against Zihlman.
Mortimer was "star" government wit
ness before the Chicgo grand jury
which investigated ALLEGED Veterans
Bureau frauds and which referred to
"two members of Congress" in its re-
port.
Mortimer testified that during the
summer of 1921 he went to Baltimore
with Zihlman and that they callel at
the Federal Drug Company Offices to
confer with Edward D. Robinson, its
proprietor.
Shortly before this time, the com
mittee was told, federal agents had
confiscated $50 gallons Of alcohol from
Robinson, who wanted to regain pos
session Of it. Mortimer testified that
Zihlman, Robinson and he discussed
means of recovering the alcohol and
that Zihlman agreed to use his infiu-
ence to obtain the necessary govern
ment permit.
Later Mortimer said he went tc
Baltimore alone, obtained $1,000 from
Robinson, of which he gave $4,000 tc
Zihlman, retaining $4,000 Not long
afterward Robinson notified him Nor
timer said, that the deal was off anc
that he wanted his money back.
Mortimer testified that he returned
the $4,000 in his possession to Robin
son and urged Zihlman to return the
$4,000 which he said the Maryland
representative had received. Zihlmar
refused to make a refund for som'
time, Mortimer declared, but finally
repaid in cash and he in turn reim
bursed Robinson.
In his testimony, Robinson said re
covery of the alcohol had been dis
cussed at bis Offices with Zihlma,
present but not participating in th'
conversation. He said he had Psi;
Mortimer $1,000 hos had no dlsoc