Evening star., 1935-07-19

General. who was also attorney for
Silverman. The latter is widely
known dealer in surplus Army sup
niles and was barred from further
contract negotiations with the War
Department Just before the grand jury
convened.
speicher eventually was located by
the Federal Bureau Of Investigation
in New York City and was brought
back as a voluntary witness before the
House Committee several months ago.
His testimony in executive session was
turned over to the War Department
and resulted In the court martialing
recently of Col. Alexander E. Williams,
former assistant quartermaster gen.
eral of the Army. williams was con-
victed of receiving a $2,500 loan from
Speicher.
Ryan declared that Speicher and
Col. williams had a conference in a
New York hotel before the court
martial proceedings. Speicher was
chief witness at the trial. Silverman
also testified before the court of gen.
erals. Col. williams faces dismissal
from the Army.
Money Thought for Information.
McSwain expressed surprise that
Ryan, a lawyer, should have talked
with Speicher over the phone and
given money to his lawyer when he
knew that the Department Of Justice
was looking for him. Ryan said he
was under the impression that the
money was going to Speicher to pay
for information which Silverman or
Palmer was turning over to the House
committee. He said he understood
the information was going to Edward
E. Goss, then a Republican member
OF the committee from Connecticut.
Ryan also gave detailed account
of conferences at the War Depart
ment on March 3, 1882, in which
Silverman obtained from former As
sistant Secretary Of War Frederick
H. Payne a signed modification of
a surplus goods contract, permitting
Silverman to resell Army materials in
this country.
Interrogated about the money trans
actions with Schneuer. Ryan said he
handed one envelope to him on an
afternoon in July of 1884.
He called six or seven other times
and got envelopes containing money
that Silverman had turned over to
me-" Ryan said.
Blue Envelopes Shown.
McSwain displayed a handful of
blue telegraph envelopes and asked
Ryan if they looked like the ones
which contained the money. The
Witness said they looked similar.
How much did those envelopes con-
tain?" McSwain asked.
"Oh, about a hundred dollars apiece,
I guess. I never looked into them,
but Schneuer opened one and I be-
lieve it had about that amount in it.
I should Judge he got $500 or $700 in
an-maybe more than that don't
know"
"You understood this money was to
60 to Speicher?" the chairman asked.
II was just acting as sort of a clerk
or agent for Silverman and Palmer, "
Ryan declared. 81 knew Schneuer was
in touch with Speicher, but couldn't
swear that Speicher got it. I was told
the money was being paid for infor-
nation which Speicher was sending
indirectly to your committee"
Didn't Know His Whereabouts.
McSwain pointed out that the COM
mittee at the time was asking ]. Ed
gar Hoover, director of the Federal
Bureau OF Investigation, to use every
possible resource at his command in
q hunt for Speicher and that 1T was
In all the newspapers"
II didn't know where Speicher was,
Ryan said. when Speicher called
me several times he told me about
being in trouble and being hunted,
and I always told him to give him
self up."
why didn't you communicate at
once to the Department of Justice or
this committee that you were In tele-
phone touch with Speicher?" Nc
swain demanded. "As an attorney.
don't you think you should have done
that?. The witness reiterated he
thought the committee was receiving
information from speicher through
Schneuer
Ryan was questioned at length