Evening star., 1926-12-01

| the Secretary of the Interior na0 Au-
thority to enter into such q contract.
Bids were opened. however. In Fails
Office at noon, April Is. and were re-
| ferred to A. w. Ambrose, petroleum
! technologist, for report. The latter
| recommended the second Of two pro-
posals submitted by the Pan-Amer-
lean Co. be accepted. as 1t was the
most advantageous to the Govern
| ment from every standpoint, SAID
Judge Finney.
| On April II. the witness said. he
| sent this telegram to Fall at Three
| ltlvers, n. Mex; "Pan-American bid
best offered. Should be accepted. SuS'
| gest you authorize completion or the
contract. Why not make public de-
tails of all naval reserve contractS!
To which Fall replied that If Ad'
mira1 j. K. Robson and Secretary
DENLY thought best to "close deal and
make public entire contracts" The
award then was made to the Pan
American Co., after which Joseph j..
Cotter, it's attorney, called on Ffnney
and asked for some leases as "assur-
ance' that his concern would get
more. "It was agreed that the COM
| pany be given two leases" Judge Fin
ney said.
over the objection of the defense
Mr.. Roberts succeeded In offerlng IN
evidence a memorandum to employees
Of the Interior Department. dated
April 13, 1922, which stated that the
matter Of naval oil leases was being
handled by. the Secretary Of the Navy
and the Secretary of the Interior.
and no information about them was
available.
Testimony strengthening the de-
fense's contention that Fall, absent
from Washington at the time, prac-
tically had nothing to do with the
awarding Of the lease and contract TO
| the Doheny company was brought TO
the attention Of the jury last night.
Judge F'inney, recalled last night to
the stand, turned out to be a valuable
witness for the defense under the
adroit and persistent croSs-examlna-
ton conducted by Attorney Hogan at
the first evening session.
Finney Drew Contracts.
Judge FInney testified, in effect,
that the contracts were drawn up and
awarded by himself. the Navy De
partment, the Bureau of Mines and
petroleum experts of his department
while Fall was in or en- route to Three
Rivers, N. Mex. Another important
point brought out by the defense was
that secrecy Of the Interior Depart
ment in connection with the leases
was maintained at the explicit d1rec-
ton Of Assistant Secretary OF the
Navy Theodore Roosevelt because OF
the war plans Of the Navy.
Step by step, Hogan elected from
| the witness the negotiations leading
up to the award of the Pearl Harbor
| contract to the Pan-American Co. In
April, 1922, and the subsequent leaS-
| ing Of the Elk Hills, Calf, oil re-
serves to the same company In De
! cember, 1922. Hogan asserted in his
| opening statement that the defense
| would show that the Navy Depart
ment's interest in leases and con-
! tracts involving the naval reserves
precluded all possibility Of cOllusion
between Fall and Doheny in favor
| ing the latter's company.
| During the cross-examination he
developed that Fall had never given
| any instructions to A. w. Ambrose,
| petroleum technolQgist Of the Bu
reau Of Mines. or to DR.. Balm, as to
which bid should be recommended.
| defense attorney also brought out
that Doheny. then in Mexico, at no
time had sought to influence the de-
| cision.
| Mr.. Ambrose was said by Finney
| to have recommended acceptance Of
! the Pan-American bid, after which
| Finney called conference with Ad-
| miral j. X. Robson. then chief of
! the Bureau Of Engineering Of the
| Navy, before asking Fall to tele-
| graph for authority to accept It, Ad-
miral Robson approved the bid as
| in the interests of the Government.