Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23
SINCLAIR SENTENCE
SLASHED BY MONTH
Mandate Permits Two Penal
ties to Run ConcurrentIy
for Oil Mangate.
~ the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
The nine months Harry r. Sinclair
was sentenced to serve In District jail
was cut short by one month yesterday
as q result Of the District of Columbia
Supreme Court permitting the two
sentences imposed upon the millionaire
oil man to run concurrently.
sentence upon Sinclair for contempt Of
court for jury shadowing in the Fall
Sinclair conspiracy trial failed to order,
that the six-month term begin at the
expiration In late July Of the three
month sentence he now Is serving for
refusal to answer questions asked by
Senate committee.
simultaneously with imposing the
new sentence upon Sinclair the court
sentenced H. Mason Day, vice presi-
dent In one of his oil companies, to
serve four months for conviction in the
jury shadowing case, and also imposed
a fne Of 81 900 upon w. Sherman Burns,
head Of the Burns Detective Agency.
Elder Burns Freed.
william j. Burns, father of Sherman
and former head Of the detective bu-
reau, recently had removed by the
a sentence Of is days imposed by the
lower courts
With the two sentences running con-
currently Sinclair, with time OF for
good behavior, will complete his jail
sentences about November ~. Had
the court ordered the sentence In the
jury shadowing case to run after the
expiration of the sentence in the Senate
contempt case. Sinclair, with time on
for good behavior would have remained
In Jail until about December a..
The Supreme Court mandate In the
jury shadowing case reached the Dis
trict attorneys ONCE yesterday, having
been expedited about one week by order
OF Justice Sanford, at the request Of
counsel for the convicted men, who ex-
planned that Day was anxious to begin
serving his sentence. He Is expected to
surrender tomorrow.
The jury shadowing sentences were
imposed by Justice Siddons after one of
the most protracted legal contests waged
In local courts In years. The trial be-
gan In December, 1927, and lasted IL
weeks.
Sentenced for Contempt.
Sinclair and Day were sentenced on
charges Of criminal contempt Of court
after being found guilty Of having EN-.
ployed operatives Of the Burns Interna-
tional Detective Agency to shadow the
members OF the jury which was hearing
the charges Of criminal conspiracy
against Sinclair and Albert 3. FaiI
which grew out Of the Teapot Dome
lease
The trial had been under way 10 days
IN November Of 1927 when Justice Sid-
cons suddenly declared q mistrial after
agents of the district attorney had
raided . room occupied by the detectives
ana seized the records Of the surveiI-
lance Of the Jurors.
The espionage was discovered when
one OF the jurors was heard to declare
while In o near-beer saloon that after
the trial was over he expected TO have
an automobile o block long. No &C.
ton against the juror, Edward KID.
well, was pressed, though he TESTIFIED In
the contempt trial as q Government
witness and charged that an assistant
district attorney had threatened to
bring charges against him unless he
Identified Burns detectives as the men
who approached him.
The cases Of Sinclair and Fall.
charged with conspiring to defraud the
Government In the Teapot Dome lease.
were separated and Sinclair acquitted
BY o jury last April. The trial OF Fan
Is set for next September.