Evening star., 1949-08-10
By GEORGE Kennedy

OF MS LIe.
AS he tried to clear up a num-
ber of public misconceptions about
himself he seemed almost hum
bled by the prominence thrust on
him through his appearance before
the Senate subcommittee investi-
eating five-percenters.
For one thing, he said. all the
stories about his being an old ac-
quaintance of President Truman
and Maj. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan
from his Kansas City days are
wrong. He first met them when,
acting as a passenger representa-
tive Of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail
way, he used to stop in Senator
Truman's Office and became a
close friend of Gen. Vaughan, who
was the Senator's secretary.
Not Born on Malta.
For another thing he was not
born on the British island of Malta
in the Mediterranean. That was
just an inaccuracy in a Drew
Pearson column, he said, that has
stuck to him since. He was born
on the Greek island of Santa
Maura near Corfu in the 1onian
Sea between Greece and Italy.
He has never made much
money, he said. He worked for
the Baltimore g. Ohio for $2,700
a year. He repeated his denial
of ever receiving a dollar for help
ing any one to business with the
Government. He lives in a mod
est 27-year-old bungalow at Nc
Lean, Va.
His was a story of an immi-
grant boy with sixth-grade edu-
cation in the old country, who
got leg up by being remarkably
helpful. It was his quick think
ing when he claimed ownership
of a Midwestern Senator's suit
case which was leaking gin
right in front of a policeman
that gave him his start.
Shined Shoes in Kansas City.
He took almost three hours to
tell the story, despite attempts OF
his attorney. Myron Ehrlich. to
hurry him. He was seated in Mr.
Ehrlich's Office before a group of
reporters. He had brought a big
file of congratulatory letters and
newspaper clippings-not to re-
fresh his memory but to prove
things he said.
| He told how he came to New
York in 1911 when he was IS. He
had an older brother. Hector. in
Kansas City. He went to railroad
labor agency on the Bowery and
was shipped west to be a water
boy for a construction gang on
the Union Pacific.
He worked as water boy, news
butcher. bell hop and bootblack
in his Kansas City period.
MY first job in Kansas City
was shining shoes at Twelfth and
Main Streets" he said, right next
to Sweeney's saloon"
He never was a money maker,
he said. He had to give up his first
job as a news butcher because the
| traif1men took so many cigars from
t1hs. basket that in three weeks he
MAD exhausted hts $50 deposit and
he could get no more merchandise
Claimed Leaking Suitcase.
It was the bell hop job at the
old Hotel Jefferson in Kansas City
that opened his eyes to the world
lof-politics. The-hetel--wss~ the
headquarters of Jim Pendergast
uncle and predecessor of Boss
Tom Pendergast.
He decided to come to Wash
ington in 1920. He was able to
buy a ticket and he had $135
In his pocket. On the trip a
man sat behind him recognized
him as a news butcher said:
Hello Butch, do you remember
me?"
Mr.. Maragon replied that he
did and an acquaintance was re-
newed. The man was a Senator
At Union Station a porter named
George Washington took their
bags and right in front of police
man one of the bags started to
leak. It was the Senator's bag
HE looked at me and I looked
at him." Mr.. Maragon recalled.
Whose bag is that?" the po-
liceman asked.
Young Maragon stepped for
ward and said:
Its mine"
Worked As Investigator.
That cost him a fine of $25 OF
$50 but won him the undyine
gratitude of the Senator, whom he
would not name.
HE gave me the money" Mr.
Maragon said. "He also gave mt
a letter for some job for which
was not fitted so I went news
butchering on the c. & 0. from
Washington to White Sulphur.
Later the Senator sent me tt
Rush Holland of Nebraska wht
was assistant attorney general anc
I was given a job in the Bureau o1
Investigation at 81 a day and 81
a day expenses"
Mr.. Maragon produced from hi.
file a letter of April %, 1928
from William j. Burns. the noted
detective who then headed the
bureau, confirming his appoint.
ment. j. Edgar Hoover. Mr.
Maragon said, was then deputy
director. He had obtained hi.
citizenship earlier the same year
His first assignment was at the
Hoboken docks during strike
which he said was IAN IWW
walkout." He refused to say what
he did. His next Job was as ar
investigator of the Shipping Blu.
reau. Although he held Govern.
ment jobs off and on up unit
1898, he said he never stayed al
one long enough to qualify fol