Evening star., 1951-07-20
Mason 1estifies
|HeGot S1OO,000
For Influence
Admits No Tax Return
Filed Since 1929;
! FBI Record Cited
By Cecil Holland and
George Beyeridee

Sam D. Mason of New York, who
has long criminal record as al
professional confidence man." ad-
|mitted before Senate Investigators
today that he had received more
than 100000 from clients seeking
surplus Government buildings and
contracts.
He contended, however, that he
turned the money over to a mys-
Iterious and elusive person known
as "Eungart. who was supposed
to arrange the deal.
AS the investigation was brought
to a close shortly after noon,
Chairman Hoey Of the Senate In
vestigating subcommittee said the
entire testimony would be turned
over Immediately to the Justice
Department "for whatever action
the Justice Department or the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
will want to take"
Senator Hoey also said that the
subcommittee had been unable to
find any trace of a man named
"Eungart."
might Be i'm Australia"
AS the hearing ended, Mason
stood up and said he thought he
might be able to locate "Eungart." I"
He had persistently denied any
knowledge Of the whereabouts or
personal background of the mys-
teriouS individual, but at one point
said he thought the man might
be in Australia-he could be any
place"
IF you can find him." Senator
Hoey replied. bring him in at any
time. But regardless of Mr.. Eun-
Igart. this material will be turned
over to the Justice Department"
Mason, a short and pudgy indi-
v1dual, who lost leg in the Ar
gonne during World War I, testi-
fed as the central figure in a new
and amazingly bizarre story of
Washington influence peddlers."
He was identified yesterday by
two New York priests of the Greek
Catholic Church, Philadelphia
couple and a Boston contractor
as so-called Washington agent
to whom they paid thousands of
dollars and got nothing in return,
Fails to File Tax Returns.
/ The investigating subcommit-
tee has said that evidence indi-
Gates that Mason obtained about
$350.000 in the last three years
from gullible clients.
/ Mason matter -factly admit
ted he had filed no income tax
returns for 1948, 1949 and 1850
on the large sums he admitted
he had received.
l Did You ever file an income
tax return?" Senator Hoey asked
Il believe ! did-before 1929, u
Mason replied.
i Senator Hoey drily observed
that Hason evidently considered
as income only what he had left
over when he got through spend
ling.
The internal Revenue Bureau
disclosed that it has a man sit
ting in on the hearings. It said
this is the practice of the bureau
in any cases where possible tax
evasion might be forthcoming.
i Denies Using Artificial Limb.
Asked if bureau officials plan
to arrest Mason Immediately on
the basis of his disclosure he has
not paid an income tax return
since 1929, the bureau spokesman
said ordinarily they file a criminal
information with the cooperation
OF the Justice Department or pro-
ceed by grand jury indictment in
the jurisdiction where the return
was due.
The rotund witness provoked
an outburst of laughter when he
Indignantly denied he used his
artificial limb as a repository for
thousands of dollars turned over
to him, and said:
ut only has to be known to
one person and then you have
no leg and no money"
He acknowledged, however,
that $4,000 had been found in
his artificial limb back in 1925
after one of his brushes with the
law. But he insisted he had car
tSee INFLUENCE, Page A-3.)