Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-08
OIL TRIAL EXlES
YEARN FOR HOME
Blackmer and 0'Nell Are
Represented by Friends as
Being Weary of Paris.
BY ROBERT T. SMALL.

While the United States Govern
ment is doing it's utmost to get two
"exiled" witnesses back from France
for the trial of Harry F. Sinclair ana
Albert b. Fall in connection with the
Teapot Dome oil leases, the "eNlieS
have frankly admitted to their frleAds
that they are the most homeslck pair
in all the world.
Yet the chances of their coming
home at any time soon seem rather re-
mote. A special act of Congress was
PASSED to reach the wanderers upon
the face of the earth and Il penalty of
something like 500 900 or 50 has been
provided in case they fail to answer
to the Summonses which have been
sent across the ocean.
But Harry M. Blackner and J, f..
O'Neil, the missing ones, are rlch men
with fortunes gained in the oil buSl-
ness. and the heavy fines proposed for
them seem TO hold no terrorS. They
say they will not testify in the Sin.
clair proceedings and that is all there
is to it. They left the country at the
time of the senatorial investigation
and have been away ever since.
Ycarn for Broadway.
1t used TO De SAID tfldl WHeH Il tti
tain type of American died he hoped
he would go to Paris. Blackmer and
O'Neil have been in Paris, they have
done Paris to a turn, and they told
friends a few weeks ago that they
would trade all of Paris for just one
glimpse of old Broadway. Americans
love to travel They love to denounce
their own Government. They love 10
berate the eighteenth amendment and
say the United states is no longer tit
TO live in. But once tell them they
can't come back and they realize there
is no fairer land on the face of the
earth.
Friends of the far-away oil men re-
Gently returned from Europe have told
of their nostalgia, but say they are de
termined not to return until the Sin
clair case is disposed of.
The two missing witnesses are said
by the Government to possess import
ant information. They are wanted to
testify to certain transactions in
Some of these bonds have been traced,
but there is said to be a gap in the
evidence which only Blackmer, O'Neil
and H. s. Osler, a, Canadian, could fill.
May Postpone Trial.
There is little or no chance that the
trial, set for February 2. can go on at
that time. Secretary Fall is gravely
i'll with pneumonia in Eel Paso. Tex,
and even if he RECEIVERS it will be a
long while before he can stand a
Winter trip back to Washington for
his second ordeal before a jury of his
peers. This inevitable delay may give
the Government an opportunity to of
fer further inducements or to provide
further threats against the missing
witnesses.
The suggestion has been made re-
Gently at the Capitol that a further
act of Congress should be passed pro-
hibiting persons who refuse to come
home to testify from ever returning
to their native land. Whether such an
act would be constitutional is said to
be open to question, but nevertheless
it is seriously discussed and later
may be put through.
Although absent, the part Blackn1er
and O'Neil might play in the case if
present will be stressed by the prose
cution when the case comes to trial,
and the defense will have to explain
the missing witnesses, which may not
prove to be such an easy task. The
first effort of the defense will be to
keep the names of Blackmer and
ONeil entirely out of the case and
out of the minds Of the jurors.