Evening star., 1925-08-02
@ errors SEEN
! IN OIL DECISION
u. S. Charges Judge Kennedy
Erred in Filing Appeal
in Cheyenne.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press
CHEYENNE. wyo., August L.
The Government filed it's appeal in the
Teapot Dome naval oil reserve case
today The appeal contends that
Judge T. Blake Kennedy of the Un;Gad
States District Court for wyoming
erred in virtually all the conclusions
set forth in his decree dismissing the
Government suit for annulment or
the lease held by the Mammoth OIL
Company.
The petition for appeal to the Eighth
Circuit Court OF Appeals. which was
allowed by Judge Kennedy, sets forth
in detail Ga alleged errors by the trial
Judge.
The first II errors assigned to the
court by Government counsel bear
upon Judge Kennedy's Judgment con.
cerning issues of the suit. The next
80 involve the exclusion by the court
OF testimony and exhibits offered by
the Government and objected to by
the defendant. including the courts
refusal to compel M. T. Everhart TO
testify. Everhart Is q son-in-law OF
Albert B. Fall, former Secretary Of
the Interior.
The evidence, the exclusion OF which
the petition for appeal asserts was
erroneous. relates to certain Liberty
bonds, which the Government charges
found their way from Harry F. SIN
clair. president of the Mammoth Oil
Company. to Fall, then Secretary OF
the Interior. pursuant to collusion
and fraud alleged in the granting Of
the lease.
This testimony and these exhibits
have to do with the purchase by the
Continental Trading Co., Ltd, of Lib
erty bonds, which are shown later to
have been in the possession of Fall or
Everhart. The governments conten-
tion was that certain of the bonds
passed into possession OF Sinclair and
went from Sinclair to Fall to Ever
hart. Council for the Mammoth COM
pany objected to the admission Of this
evidence on the ground that 1t related
10 transactions between parties other
than those involved In the annulment
suit. Judge Kennedy sustained the
objection.
Everhart Silent.
Everhart, when called by the gov
ernment to testify concerning the
Liberty bonds. which found their way
into his possession, declined to testify,
asserting to do so would "incriminate"
him. The petition for appeal assigns
error to Judge Kennedy's decision
because the witness was not com.
PEELED to testify.
On February 26, 1925. eleven days
before the date for trial of the suit,
Judge Kennedy denied a petition by
counsel for the Government for a
postponement of the trial In order that
the Government might procure the
dispositions Of II. S. Osler of Toronto
and others concerning transactions Of
the Continental Trading Co., Ltd
The Government contended such
evident was essential to prove the
Governments charge that the ne
gotiation and consummation of the
Teapot lease had been marked by col
lusion and fraud. Denial Of the peti.
ton was error, the petition for appeal
asserts.
The petition for appeal assigns error
TO Judge Kennedy's decision that the
question Of the validity or invalidity
Of the executive order of May 81, 1921,
lis immaterial and may be largely
eliminated from consideration: to the
finding that there was no fraud in
procuring the executive order" and to
the finding that the contracts here
involved were not negotiated or exc
cuted in pursuance Of or In reliance
upon said executive ORDER