Evening star., 1927-10-24

terror dictated to him preamble to
the lease. This preamble, he eX-
planned, he handed over to d MIR.
Reeves, who was not in the Interior
Department, al the order of Ambrose.
Some question had arisen as to
whether Eddy's longhand notes CON
tanned all the provisions in the pre-
amble which F'all desired. After
turning over the prepared preamble
To Reeves, the witness testified, that
was the last he saw of it,
George Hoover. Sinclair's counsel,
cross-cNamincd Eddy and the wit
ness said he prepared practically all
leases in the Interior Department
under the general leasing act of
February p. 1920. He also said he
had conference with Amhl ose about
the formal parts of the lease as they
should appear under the general act,
Hoover then produced copy of the
lease asked Eddy To examine it and
tell what what part hr Was identified
with. The witness read the lease for
several minutes and then said there
We're a number Of suggest lions he
made rrlating To the wording in the
illfertut parts of the lease particular
ly with reference to article ;. in
order To bring them under the regula-
tionS which had been published re-
1atiVe to making leases. Article )
dealt with the operation Of drilling
ana production Of the property. TAX
ing UP article and referring to sue
ceednc articles through number 10.
Hoover asked the witness If each one
of those he mentioned conformed
with the leasing law regulations to
which the witness replied either posi-
lively or he Thought" they did.
Justice Siddons was following the
proceedings with a photostatic copy
of the lease and discovered a dis
crepancy between the two. The TWO
copies were compared and found not
to be the same. Whereupon Roberts
rose and explained that the court held
a photostatic copy of an original lease
on file in the Treasury Department,
while the copy Hoover held was one
of the three originals made.
Claims Page Numbers Changed.
Hoover then discovered that page
27 followed page - and that page 26
followed page 81 and said that some
time or other it has been changed.
Roberts objected to the attorney ''tes-
tifying' about the copy and Hoover
denied that he was 'IeStifying"
w men I<tUN SlS IISu IIlc report UN
Tallman he said he did not examine
all the records upon which the report
was based. lie was requested to pre-
pare a report upon the claims filed
on Teapot Dome, the action taken,
their status, the wells that had been
drilled, and whether there had been
any production. Nothing was said to
him, he said, in answer to lIooVers
question about leasing Teapot Dome.
as that was entirely out of the scope
Of the report.
William r.. Leahy, Falls counsel
requested the witness again to testify
on the orders he had received con-
cerning preparations of the Tallman
report. Eddy said Stafford told him
that he wanted that data ready 50
he could give it To the Secretary when
he returned from New Mexico" Then
in answer to further questions by
Leahy, lie declared he did not know
whether Fan ever asked that the
report be prepared or whether the
reports ever reached him for his
examination and study.
From bulky document marked
confidential in black letters an inch
high, Roberts then read to the jury
extracts from the report of Glenn f..
Morgan made three years previously
on the validity of the placer claims in
Teapot Dome.
This report of highly technical ma
ture traced the history of the claims.
seGresating them into groups.
Based on evidence obtained by
record and affidavit, Morgan report ed
that there are no valid titles to lands
in the naval reserve and stressed that
point repeatedly throughout his opin-
ions on various claims.
AS a result of his exhaustive re.
search, the geOlogist reported that
the present occupants are treSpasSers
and have no right to remain on the
reserve" His report declared further
thar the claims Of the various com.
panics were "without a shadow of
validity"
In conclusion. the Morgan report
pointed out that great danger eX-
lists in allowing operations to con-
tinue on Teapot Dome, adding that
these operations would result in prob.
able damage to the field.
Resuming crosse eXaminat lion Of the
witness, Mr.. Leahy asked Eddy if the
department had ever t;~Ken any steps
to invalidate placer claims on Teapot
up to January IL. 1920. "Not that ]
ever heard Of replied Eddy.
No suits were ever filed?" he was
asked. The witness replied that none
We're filed to his knowledge.