The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-11-18
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Jury Scandal Causes Mis-
trial in the Falls-Sin-
clair Case.
BY EDWARD W. PlckARo

MISTRIAL in the case against AL
AVA bert B. Fall and Harry Sinclair
In Washington was declared by JUS
tlce Siddons and the jury was dis
charged, because of alleged attempts
to fix one or more of the jurors and
because they all had been subjected
to shadowing by operatives of de-
tective agency. Both the prosecu-
ton and the defense agreed that
continuation Of the trial with the
present jury was improper. The grand
jury Immediately began investigation
Of the matter and it was expected
that several indictments would be re-
turied.
The fixing charges were based
mainly on seizures made in raid on
a hotel room where 16 Burns detec-
tives assigned to shadow the jurors
had had headquarters since the trial
started, and on affidavits attributing
to one juror, e. L. Kidwell, state
ments that he would come out of the
trial with car a block long" and
that the jury would not agree on a
verdict The raid disclosed that re-
ports were made daily by the detec-
tives to A. Mason Day, head Of the
Sinclair Exploration company. Mr..
Day refused to testify before the
grand jury on the ground that he
might incriminate himself. Kidwell,
waving immunity and declaring the
charge against him was frame
up" told his story to the grand jury.
Fall issued a statement to the effect
that neither he nor anyone acting in
his behalf had any knowledge of or
connection with the alleged attempts
to tamper with the jury.
Collapse of the trial came when the
government had practically completed,
Its presentation of strong chain of
circumstantial evidence to prove that
Sinclair paid Fall $230,500 in Liberty
bonds for the Teapot Dome lease and
had traced by score or more of wit
nesses the passage of the bonds from
the treasury of company in which
Sinclair was interested into Falls
bank account. 1t was thought unlike
ly that the new trial could begin be-
fore January /, owing to the necessity
for reassembling the governments
witnesses from all over the country.
q ECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
= MELLON, backed up by Under
secretary Mills, presented to the
house ways and means committee his
plan for tax reduction program.
making recommendations that would
result in a cut of approximately $685.
100000. His specific recommends
lions were:
A reduction of the tax on corporate
income from 1914 to II per cent.
Amending those provisions Of the
law that apply to the tax on corporate
income so as to permit corporations
with net income of $4,000 or less and
with not more than ten stockholders
to file returns and pay the graduated
individual income tax as partnerships
at their option.
A readjustment of the rates ap-
plicable to individual incomes that
fall in the so-called intermediate
brackets, the effect of which would be
to cut taxes for all persons with net
incomes of $4,000 and more.
On succeeding days the committee
heard from various business groups
which urged more extensive tax re-
duction than Mr.. Mellon recommend
ed, and from agriculture, as repre-
sented by the American Farm Bureau
federation, objecting to even so much
of cut as favored by the treasury
and advocating applying surplus
funds instead to the retirment of the
public debt. The majority Of the COM
mittee seemed in favor of the Mellon
program.
A GRICULTURAL leaders from the
"A corn belt and the Southwestern
states held a two-day conference in
st. Louis and before adjourning
adopted resolutions strongly indors-
ing the McNary- Haugen farm relief