Evening star., 1928-11-21
STEWART ACQU|TTAL.
ENDS LONG SERIES.
Oil Magnate Frankly Happy
= When Jury Finds Him Not
Guilty of Perjury.

w. Stewart, chairman of the board OF
directors of the Standard Oil Co. of In
diana, when it acquitted him of charges
of perjury growing out of his appear
ance last February before the Senate
oil investigating committee.
AS a result of his acquittal, after
deliberation of less than an hour, Col
Stewart stands cleared today Of The
last indictment pending against him
Previously the oil magnate had been
acquitted of charges of contempt of
the Senate, based on his same appear
ance before the Senate committee that
gave rise also to the perjury indict-
ment.
Thanks Jury Members.
Frankly and exuberantly happy at
tho outcome of the trial which stretched
through a week and a half, the oil man
with his chief of counsel, Frank j.
Hogan of washington, at his side, was
surrounded by throng of friends Of
fering their congratulations. He
| thanked the members of the jury in
dividually and bestowed upon each OF
| the three women who served on the
| panel hearty hug.
! For Mr.. Hogan, who brought about
the acquittal of Edward l.. Doheny
and Albert B. Fall, former Secretary of
the Interior, of the conspiracy charges
| involving them through the leasing OF
| the Elk Hills, Calf, oil leases, the ver-
dict of mot guilty" returned by the
| jury yesterday was his second big legal
victory growing out of the Senate's FAR
| flung net. Harry F.. Sinclair, who fig
ured in the leasing of the Wyoming
naval oil reserves, faces jail sentences
pending the outcome of cases now on
appeal.
| Col. Stewards alleged contempt of
| the Senate and his appearance before
| its public lands committee completed
| the long record of sensational suits
emanating from the investigation OF
| the naval oil land leases. Facing sum-
mary punishment by the Senate for his
defiance of its oil committee, Col
Stewart, held under arrest, took his
case to court on February 4. His coun-
sci obtained his release on a writ OF
habeas corpus, pleading that the oil
man was being illegally detained.
Incident Produces FurOre.
The incident produced furore at
| the Capitol, for at the hour that Stew
art threw his legal forces into the fray
| the Senate galleries were packed With
visitors awaiting the summoning OF the
| oil man before the bar of the Senate.
| Just then the attorneys emerged from
| the chambers of Justice Jennings
| Bailey with an order which called upon
| the Senate sergeant-at-armS to release
| Stewart. who was placed under bond
| of 81 900. His bond was signed by Rob-
ert v. Fleming, president OF the Riggs
| National Bank.
The legal move stunned the Senate
| for the time being and released storm
| of abuse that was heaped upon the OIL
mans head by Senator Walsh or Mon
tana and Senator Hef1in Of Alabama
and others who were clamoring for his
punishment.
The perjury case was given to the
| jury at 2:30 pm. yesterday, win IN
structions from Justice Jennings Baliey
| to consider first of all whether there
was a quorum present at the session OF
the Senate committee at which Stewart
gave his testimony. This point was the
subject Of a bitter dispute from the very
beginning Of the trial.
Based on Quorum.
In his instructions to the jury. Justice
Bailey ruled that before meeting OF
Senate committee can become valid a
majority of it's members must be &C
tually and physically present. With a
majority present at the outset, he said.
one or more might withdraw without
impairing the validity of the session,
unless a specific point of lack IT a
quorum should be raised.
f01I fIo fn Cattle
rum question first of all, and, If 1t was
agreed that these requirements were not
| fulfilled, 1t need go no further, but
return a verdict of acquittal at once.
What happened in the jury room re-
| manned secret, guarded closely by the
members of the panel. One said that an
agreement was made before reporting
the verdict, under which all promised
not to reveal how the discussion went OF
how many ballots were taken.
The perjury indictment was based
| upon three questions, which, the Gov
| ernment asserted, we're propounded by
| the committee and which, it was charg-
! ed, Stewart answered with deliberate
! falsiflcations.
These questions were whether he
knew anything of the distribution of the
| Liberty bond profits of the Continental
| Trading Co., Ltd, of Canada, which
| the committee was attempting to trace;
whether he received any of the bonds,
| and whether he had had any converse
| ton or had any knowledge That would
| lead him TO believe that any individual
| or organization had received the Securi-
| ties.
1t was charged that Stewart answered
all three questions in the negative when,
as matter of fact, the president OF the
| Continental had given him bonds to the
value of $759,500.
Part Later Traced.
Part of these bonds were later traced
| to Sinclair and Fall.
While the Stewart trial was winding
I'D Yesterday, the oil case was breaking
out in other spots.
Almost coincident with the Stewart
verdict Senator Walsh OF Montana said
| that he intended to ask the Senate
| TO inquire into the reasons OF DR..
I Hubert Work, former Secretary OF the
Interior for renewing least in the Salt
Creek oil field to Sinclair Crude OH
Purchasing Co. This lease was recently
J declared invalid by the Department OF
/ Justice.
The District of Columbia Court of
Appeals asked the Supreme Court for
| interpretations on five points involved
in the appeal of Sinclair from sentence
for contempt of the Senate, and Sena-
tor Borah of Idaho, it was announced,
has begun returning $4,000 which he
received as part of prospective fund
of $3.50 900 which he intended to return
| to Sinclair.
/ Sinclair gave the $16O,000 to the Re-
| publican party in 1920 and when the
circumstances of the gift came TO light
Senator Borah said he felt that party
morals demanded it's return. He an
nounced that he would receive volun-
tary contributions to purge" the SIN
clair contribution.
"NOt Charging for Services"
That was some months ago. He be-
gan parceling out $4,000 to $40 persons