Evening Star
- GOVERNMENT WINS TEAPOT DOME LEASE CASE ON APPEAL
- CREW MAY REACH 43 IN MINE TODAY
- WORLD COURT DEAD TO U. S.; MANY HOLD
The Evening Star of September 29, 1926 reported on an unfolding lawsuit, rescue operation and diplomatic impasse. Its Teapot Dome report described the government's appellate victory, the court's condemnation of Fall's dealings with Sinclair, and orders for cancellation, an injunction and an accounting of extracted oil. At the Pabst mine, a bulletin announced that all the trapped men were alive, while the longer dispatch explained the hazardous approaches rescuers were attempting. David Lawrence argued that incompatible American and foreign conditions had brought United States participation in the World Court to a political dead end.
Translation
GOVERNMENT WINS TEAPOT DOME LEASE CASE ON APPEAL
GOVERNMENT WINS TEAPOT DOME LEASE CASE ON APPEAL
Federal Court Assails Fall in Document, Which Fills 65 Pages.
CORRUPTION, COLLUSION AND FAVORITISM CHARGED
“Trail of Deceit, Subterfuge and Bad Faith Runs Through Case,” Judge Declares.
By the Associated Press.
ST. LOUIS, Mo., September 29.—The Teapot Dome controversy again has steamed into view, with the Government today holding the latest victory in a long career of court procedure.
Declaring “the entire transaction is tainted with favoritism, collusion and corruption, defeating the proper and lawful functions of the Government,” the United States Circuit Court of Appeals here late yesterday ordered canceled the lease on naval oil reserve lands in Wyoming held by the Mammoth Oil Co. The decision was based on the grounds that the lease was fraudulently obtained by Harry F. Sinclair, oil magnate, from Albert B. Fall, former Secretary of the Interior.
The decision, which reversed and remanded a decision of Judge T. Blake Kennedy in District Court at Cheyenne, Wyo., in June, 1925, further instructs the lower court to enjoin the Mammoth Co. from trespassing on Government lands, and to ask the company for an accounting of all oil and petroleum products taken from the reserve during the tenure of the lease.
Opinion Fills 65 Pages.
The opinion, received here from Presiding Judge William S. Kenyon of Fort Dodge, Iowa, consists of a 65-page document, and was concurred in by Circuit Judge Arba S. Van Valkenburgh of Kansas City and District Judge W. A. Cant of Duluth, Minn. Saying that “a trail of deceit, falsehood, subterfuge, bad faith and corruption, at times indistinct, but nevertheless discernible, runs through the transactions incident to and surrounding the making of this lease,” the lengthy opinion of the Federal Appeals Court takes up in detail the steps leading to the setting aside of the Wyoming land for naval oil reserve, and the transactions connected with its leasing by Fall to Sinclair.
Absolving other Government officials of blame in the transactions, by stating that “there is no corruption in this case as to any officer of the Government except Albert B. Fall,” the opinion sets out:
“It has been the theory of the Government that former Secretary Fall received from Harry F. Sinclair, organizer and owner of the Mammoth Co., a pecuniary consideration which influenced him to grant the company a lease for Teapot Dome.”
Reviews Legislation on Oil.
Devoting considerable space to a resume of congressional legislation designating the Wyoming land as a naval oil reserve, and its leasing, the opinion declares:
“That Secretary Fall, as to this matter, dominated Secretary Denby, Admiral Robison and other Government officials, and practically controlled the action of the Navy Department as to the leasing of Teapot Dome is a conclusion difficult to escape under this record.”
The latter part of the document is devoted to a consideration of the transfer of $25,000 in Liberty bonds from Sinclair to Fall soon after Fall had retired from office in May, 1923, and contains the statement that the transaction “reveals an intimate re-
(Continued on Page 4, Column 5.)
J. W. HENDERSON DIES WHEN CAR HITS POLE
CREW MAY REACH 43 IN MINE TODAY
Nation, which would care for her to the utmost meaning of the word. But as the Queen elected to see the United States “on her own,” is paying her expenses, arranging her itinerary, etc., her status is that of a “tourist.”
CREW MAY REACH 43 IN MINE TODAY
Rescuers Pierce Bottom of Shaft From Another Working Beneath.
By the Associated Press.
IRONWOOD, Mich., September 29.—Communication was established at 1:55 p.m. today with the miners entombed in G shaft at the Pabst Iron Mine since Friday by Oscar Olson of Ironwood, a miner.
They were all alive.
By the Associated Press.
IRONWOOD, Mich., September 29.—Fate of 43 men entombed since last Friday in the depths of the Pabst Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Co. here may become known today. Possibility that one of the efforts to pierce the barrier of rock and earth in the shaft to the eighth level where the men are imprisoned 880 feet under ground may be crowned with success today did not, however, deter men engaged in three other rescue attempts.
Today's hope lies in making an entry from the bottom of the shaft, clogged midway by the cave-in. Admittance to the lower levels of the mine is gained by connections from the shaft of an adjoining mine. Working upward, rescuers had penetrated the twentieth level after several days of hazardous efforts. Completion of timbering will permit easy egress to ladders of the shaft, which were intact as far as rescuers could see upward today, giving hope that they might climb up to or nearly to the eighth level.
Must Climb 1,200 Feet.
It is 1,200 feet from the twentieth level to the eighth level, where 40 of the men are believed to be. The shaft is clogged from the first level, 327 feet below the surface, to a point somewhere between the eighth and twentieth levels.
On the eighteenth level, 257 feet above the twentieth level, a mine inspector is believed imprisoned. He faces the possibility of rescue first. Above him, on the thirteenth level, two other inspectors are believed to be waiting.
The other succor efforts are:
A diamond drill starting from the second level, 327 feet below the surface, early today was calculated to
WORLD COURT DEAD TO U. S.; MANY HOLD
Lutheran Church Wedding.
The wedding will take place in the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Raleigh Saturday morning at 10:30 o'clock and the couple will leave
WORLD COURT DEAD TO U. S., MANY HOLD
Friends in Washington Believe Fight Was in Vain; Change Improbable.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
The World Court, so far as the United States is concerned, is dead. Friends of the court are discouraged. President Coolidge plans no more to resuscitate the issue and when the various powers deliver their diplomatic notes they will be advised that their reservations do not constitute an acceptance of the American reservations. And that's all there is to it.
If the foreign governments want the United States to enter the court, they must modify their reservations. This is considered here unlikely, for the American Government did not ask for a position of equality but special privileges of veto. There is no disposition here among World Court advocates to ask the foreign governments to recede from their position and permit American entry. Senators who made a valiant fight to get the Senate to adopt the protocol with reservations say they have done their utmost and that nothing more can be done.
Change Is Not Probable.
Thus ends a movement which reached a point of intensity a year ago after organizations had been developed throughout the country to secure the assent of the Senate. The reservations attached were considered very complex, but it was hoped Europe and the rest of the world would take them. It was contended by foes of the court that Europe would accept anything; that foreign countries were so anxious to inveigle America into
(Continued on Page 2, Column 8.)
Radio Programs—Page 22.
Context
Cancellation opened the way to possession and an accounting
The appellate victory converted a dismissed government suit into directions for concrete civil relief: cancellation of the lease and supplementary agreement, an injunction against further trespass, and an accounting for petroleum already taken. These remedies addressed both continued occupation and past extraction. The Supreme Court's October 10, 1927 decision later confirmed this procedural history and affirmed the appellate decree. It also held that cancellation did not require proof of government financial loss and did not decide whether Fall had been bribed. The court could therefore undo the fraudulent transaction and require an accounting without first determining that Fall had accepted a bribe. This explains why the article's detailed condemnation of his dealings accompanied orders concerning the land and its oil. [Supreme Court decision](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/275/13/)
Connected workings offered a route beneath the obstruction
The Star describes a rescue problem shaped by the mine's connections: an adjoining shaft gave access below the blockage, allowing crews to work upward toward surviving ladders. Completing the timber supports would give them easier access to those ladders. A separate September 29 report in the Oklahoma City Times describes simultaneous efforts from below and from the neighboring Aurora mine, plus a diamond-drill hole intended to deliver concentrated food. It reports an engineering estimate of 24 hours per 100 feet of drilling. Together, these accounts explain the multiple approaches: existing workings offered possible access for people, while the narrow bore offered a supply route through rock that was slow to penetrate. [Contemporary rescue report](https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark%3A/67531/metadc2048256/m1/1/ocr/)
Advisory opinions exposed the disagreement over a veto
A central difficulty was the fifth reservation's demand that the court obtain American consent before entertaining requests for advisory opinions concerning disputes involving the United States or questions in which it claimed an interest. Lawrence regarded foreign acceptance as politically improbable. A September 20 diplomatic telegram nevertheless described efforts to reconcile American demands with the court signatories' interests. A later British note embodying the September conference's conclusions offered an equivalent blocking right wherever a state represented on the League Council or Assembly possessed one, while questioning whether every request for an advisory opinion required unanimity. Its proposed protocol also provided for public opinions, American participation in judicial elections, consent to statute amendments and withdrawal. These proposals help explain Lawrence's reference to special veto privileges: the dispute concerned how broadly American objections could block advisory proceedings, even as foreign governments sought terms for American participation. [September telegram](https://history.state.gov//historicaldocuments/frus1926v01/d26), [British response and proposed protocol](https://history.state.gov//historicaldocuments/frus1926v01/d32)
Original
GOVERNMENT WINS TEAPOT DOME LEASE CASE ON APPEAL
GOVERNMENT WINS TEAPOT DOME LEASE CASE ON APPEAL Federal Court Assails Fall in Document, Which Fills 65 Pages. CORRUPTION, COLLUSION AND FAVORITISM CHARGED " Trail of Deceit, Subterfuge and Bad Faith Runs Through Case, " Judge Declares. By the Associated Press. ST. LOUIS, Mo., September 29. - The Teapot Dome controversy again has steamed into view, with the Government today holding the latest victory in a long career of court procedure. Declaring " the entire transaction is tainted with favoritism, collusion and corruption, defeating the proper and lawful functions of the Government, " the United States Circuit Court of Appeals here late yesterday ordered canceled the lease on naval oil reserve lands in Wyoming held by the Mammoth Oil Co. The decision was based on the grounds that the lease was fraudulently obtained by Harry F. Sinclair, oil magnate, from Albert B. Fall, former Secretary of the Interior. The decision, which reversed and remanded a decision of Judge T. Blake Kennedy in District Court at Cheyenne, Wyo., in June, 1925, further instructs the lower court to enjoin the Mammoth Co. from trespassing on Government lands, and to ask the company for an accounting of all oil and petroleum products taken from the reserve during the tenure of the lease. Opinion Fills 65 Pages. The opinion, received here from Presiding Judge William S. Kenyon of Fort Dodge, Iowa, consists of a 65-page document, and was concurred in by Circuit Judge Arba S. Van Valkenburgh of Kansas City and District Judge W. A. Cant of Duluth, Minn. Saying that " a trail of deceit, falsehood, subterfuge, bad faith and corruption, at times indistinct, but nevertheless discernible, runs through the transactions incident to and surrounding the making of this lease, " the lengthy opinion of the Federal Appeals Court takes up in detail the steps leading to the setting aside of the Wyoming land for naval oil reserve, and the transactions connected with its leasing by Fall to Sinclair. Absolving other Government officials of blame in the transactions, by stating that " there is no corruption in this case as to any officer of the Government except Albert B. Fall, " the opinion sets out: " It has been the theory of the Government that former Secretary Fall received from Harry F. Sinclair, organizer and owner of the Mammoth Co., a pecuniary consideration which influenced him to grant the company a lease for Teapot Dome. " Reviews Legislation on Oil. Devoting considerable space to a resume of congressional legislation designating the Wyoming land as a naval oil reserve, and its leasing, the opinion declares: " That Secretary Fall, as to this matter, dominated Secretary Denby, Admiral Robison and other Government officials, and practically controlled the action of the Navy Department as to the leasing of Teapot Dome is a conclusion difficult to escape under this record. " The latter part of the document is devoted to a consideration of the transfer of $ 25, 000 in Liberty bonds from Sinclair to Fall soon after Fall had retired from office in May, 1923, and contains the statement that the transaction " reveals an intimate re - (Continued on Page 4, Column 5.) J. W. HENDERSON DIES WHEN CAR HITS POLE
CREW MAY REACH 43 IN MINE TODAY
Nation, which would care for her to the utmost meaning of the word. But as the Queen elected to see the United States " on her own, " is paying her expenses, arranging her itinerary, etc., her status is that of a " tourist. " CREW MAY REACH 43 IN MINE TODAY Rescuers Pierce Bottom of Shaft From Another Working Beneath. By the Associated Press. IRONWOOD, Mich., September 29. - Communication was established at 1: 55 p. m. today with the miners entombed in G shaft at the Pabst Iron Mine since Friday by Oscar Olson of Ironwood, a miner. They were all alive. By the Associated Press. IRONWOOD, Mich., September 29. - Fate of 43 men entombed since last Friday in the depths of the Pabst Mine of the Oliver Iron Mining Co. here may become known today. Possibility that one of the efforts to pierce the barrier of rock and earth in the shaft to the eighth level where the men are imprisoned 880 feet under ground may be crowned with success today did not, however, deter men engaged in three other rescue attempts. Today's hope lies in making an entry from the bottom of the shaft, clogged midway by the cave-in. Admittance to the lower levels of the mine is gained by connections from the shaft of an adjoining mine. Working upward, rescuers had penetrated the twentieth level after several days of hazardous efforts. Completion of timbering will permit easy egress to ladders of the shaft, which were intact as far as rescuers could see upward today, giving hope that they might climb up to or nearly to the eighth level. Must Climb 1, 200 Feet. It is 1, 200 feet from the twentieth level to the eighth level, where 40 of the men are believed to be. The shaft is clogged from the first level, 327 feet below the surface, to a point somewhere between the eighth and twentieth levels. On the eighteenth level, 257 feet above the twentieth level, a mine inspector is believed imprisoned. He faces the possibility of rescue first. Above him, on the thirteenth level, two other inspectors are believed to be waiting. The other succor efforts are: A diamond drill starting from the second level, 327 feet below the surface, early today was calculated to
WORLD COURT DEAD TO U. S.; MANY HOLD
Lutheran Church Wedding. The wedding will take place in the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Raleigh Saturday morning at 10: 30 o'clock and the couple will leave WORLD COURT DEAD TO U. S., MANY HOLD Friends in Washington Believe Fight Was in Vain; Change Improbable. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. The World Court, so far as the United States is concerned, is dead. Friends of the court are discouraged. President Coolidge plans no more to resuscitate the issue and when the various powers deliver their diplomatic notes they will be advised that their reservations do not constitute an acceptance of the American reservations. And that's all there is to it. If the foreign governments want the United States to enter the court, they must modify their reservations. This is considered here unlikely, for the American Government did not ask for a position of equality but special privileges of veto. There is no disposition here among World Court advocates to ask the foreign governments to recede from their position and permit American entry. Senators who made a valiant fight to get the Senate to adopt the protocol with reservations say they have done their utmost and that nothing more can be done. Change Is Not Probable. Thus ends a movement which reached a point of intensity a year ago after organizations had been developed throughout the country to secure the assent of the Senate. The reservations attached were considered very complex, but it was hoped Europe and the rest of the world would take them. It was contended by foes of the court that Europe would accept anything; that foreign countries were so anxious to inveigle America into (Continued on Page 2, Column 8.) Radio Programs-Page 22.
Source: Holding institution