The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-10
MOONEY AIDS
SEARCH NATION
FOR PERIURER
Reward Offered to Spur
Hunt for Vagrant Who
Lied at Trial.
VANISHED YEARS AGO
John Macdonald Holds Key
% Fate of Prisoner
in California.

BIZ ScrfpDa-H0rdrd NetcsDaDer Alliance
SAN FRANCISCO, July 10.-A
nationwide search for John Mac
Donald. in whose hands the fate of
Thomas j. Mooney and Warren K.
Billings now rests, was launched
mere today, when the San Fran
cisco News a Scripps-Howard news
paper, offered $500 for information
leading to his discovery.
Macdonald is the waiter whose
testimony helped send Mooney and
Billings 70 jail. Afterward he said
his testimony was perjured, but
Governor Young of California is not
satisfied as TO which statement was
the truth. All other testimony In
the case has been ~discredited. Young
says hope o. a pardon now depends
on finding Macdonald and getting
the truth from him.
Macdonald has not been heard Of
since 1929. when he was in Balti-
more.
te was liz looking and emaciated
ven at the time of the trial in 1916.
He had been an acrobat and had
been injured seriously.
Faces Perjury Charge
If he is living, Macdonald is SIS
years old. He is five feet seven
inches tall. At the time of the trial
ne weighed 80 pounds. His hair was
brown then. and thin. 1t is probably
gray now, and still thinner. His eyes
are black. He had a thin face, and a
slight body.
IN San Francisco. before the trials,
he eked out a precarious existence
with odd jobs requiring no great
physical strength. He frequently
was cared for by the Salvation
Army.
The San Francisco News will pay
$500 for information actually lead
ing to the apprehension or sur
render Of Macdonald. 1t will pay
his expenses to San Francisco. And,
to aid in the search. it will furnish
newspapers in all parts of the coun-
try with pictures Of Macdonald as
he appeared at the time Of the
trial.
Macdonald, if he is alive, may be
unwilling to be found, since he faces
prosecution for perjury if he con-
vinces officials the story he told at
the Billings and Mooney trials Is
untrue.
Confessed He Lied
In 1921, when he confessed to
Frank p Walsh. chairman of the
National Labor board, that his tes-
timony had been false. Macdonald
vas unwilling to repeat his story in
San francisco unless he was
promised immunity. The San Fran
cisco grand jury refused to grant
this.
Now Governor Young. who has
suggested in his statement denying
a pardon, that Macdonald be founG
and examined by the California SUI
preme court, says he has power to
grant immunity to Macdonald.
The attorney general of the state
mas said that Macdonald is liable
for prosecution unless he can prove
that he lived in California for a
total Of three years after testifying.
II he has done so. the statute OF
limitations would protect him.
Macdonald was n of the first
persons to appear at District Attor-
new Fickert's Office after the San
Francisco bombing, to offer testi-
mony about the bombers. He came,
with a story to tell, after large re-
wards had been posted for the cap
ture Of the guilty persons.
Identifies Mooney
The district attorney was work.
ing on the theory that Mooney and
Billings were guilty, at the sug-
gestion of Martin Swanson, private
detective for several California cor
po~rations. who had been watching
the labor activities OF the two men
for years and had attempted to Sc
cure their conviction for various
other crimes.
Macdonald was shown a picture
of Mooney. the only n available
at the moment, with a large mus
tsche he had orn some years
before.
MdlDOlldAQ SdAQ AC NOA@0
he had seen that man at Stuart and
Market streets. where the explosion
occurred, and Mooney promptly was
arrested, along with Billings and
others.
Almost entirely on MacDonald's
testimony. Billings was convicted.
When Mooney was put on trial,
Macdonald told a different story OF
the events at Stuart and Market
streets.
LOS ANGELES. July l0.-The
Los Angeles Record said today II
had interviewed persons who had
identified Tom Vernon. convicted
train wrecker. as John Macdonald,
KEY witness in the Tom Mooney and
warren Billings cases.
Vernon nov is in Folsom peniten-
tiary under a long-term sentence.
The Record said that former friends
Of Vernon. upon viewing photo
graphs of Macdonald, had said
there was a positive likeness be-
tween the two men. The record also
said that one of Vernon's closest
friends claimed Vernon spoke often
Of the Mooney-Biliings cases
Vernon was employee as a waiter
the friends said. which was Mac