Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-09-22
BY GEORGE KENNEDY,

lTanScr1pCS OF W4Xey GOf0OnS
tapped telephone conversations were
turned over to the Justice Depart
ment today by counsel for the Sem
ate War Investigating Committee
for possible perjury prosecution Of
the former bootleg baron.
Gordon, who recently became asso-
ciated with the brokerage Of surplus
war property in New York. testified
at length before the Senate COM
mittee yesterday and his testimony
did not jibe at all with the record
Of what he ssid in q telephone con-
versation reported by Committee
Counsel Rudolph HALEY.
According to records made by de-
tectives In New York Of every tele-
phone conversation from Gordon s
headquarters, Gordon had said that
he was in "a swell thing" and that
was buying and selling Government
surplus business" On the stand.
Gordon insisted over and over again
that he had nothing to do with Gov
eminent surplus commodities.
DAHcEcnt vCIblOn ulVCus
Committee members and Mr.
HALEY. through sharp questioning
made the record show q far differ
ent picture of Gordon's associates
in the surplus commodity deals than
the one Gordon tried to draw.
Two recently employed Govern
ment ofYicials were said to have had
personal dealings with Gordon s
associates. One, Ralph Hallenback
with Treasury Procurement, had
been employed by an associate of
Gordon's before going with the
Government, 1t was testified.
Another. M. K. Markham Of the
Foreign Economic Administration,
enabled H. Gordon Fisher, who lives
at the Hotel Roosevelt and who pur-
chased the goods that went to Cor
don and his group, to substitute 4
good check for q 'kited" CHECK for
5000 three weeks after its deposit
with the Government, Mr.. Fisher
testified.
Check Held Through Accident.
The check was good three weeks
later because the goods purchased
with the deposit had been sold, the
hearing was told. Mr.. Fisher testi-
fled that Markham, an associate
with him before going with the
Government, did not know that the
first check was not good and that
1t had been held up on q Govern
ment desk through accident.
A third Government employe was
mentioned as calling at the offices
Iof World Wide Mercantile Co. 81
Consolidated Industries, Inc, Cor
dons New York headquarters. He
Was P. T. Connell of the Treasury's
New York procurement ONCE. Tes-
timony was that he was asked to
stop in one evening and was offered
job with the outfit. He did not
take it.
The picture the committee en-
deavored to develop was that the
outfit with the imposing name was
Gordon's; that Albert Terry Fayhe,
who said he was Gordon's employer
and that he had fired him yesterday
before the opening Of the hearing
was just front; that the money
Fayhe said he borrowed to buy goods
from the Government either was
Gordon's or that Gordon got it.
Testimony Evokes Laughs.
Gordon told the committee the
Governments judgment against him
for unpaid income tax now totals
more than 5000 900. In 1893, he
was convicted and sentenced to 10
wears in prison by Thomas E. Dewey,
then United States attorney in New
York, for failure to pay tax on an
annual income alleged to be in excess
Of $1,000 900. Penalties and interest
have brought the judgment above
the 5000, 900 figure.
Laughter swept through the
caucus room in the Senate Once
Building there the hearing was held
while Gordon was on the stand.
One OCCASION was when Gordon re-
ferred to an accountant he had tele-
phoned as hes the man who makes
out my income tax"
The laughter annoyed the witness
He turned to the spectators and
asked, Whats 50 funny about
that?"
Another was when Senator Hatch
Democrat, of New Mexico was ques-
tioning him about a telephone con-
versation about the attempt by Cor
dons associates to sell some new
trucks. The transcript read, "Waxy
says it's got to be Is per cent above
ceiling"
Gordon assumed an air of in
jured innocence and said:
Senator, you don't think for one
minute that I'd do any black market
business?"
Name Is Wexler. Senator