The Montgomery Advertiser
- RECORDS BURNED TO PROTECT CAMPAIGN FUND JURY IS TOLD
- COTTON HOLDING GAINING GROUND THROUGHOUT STATE
- FERRY BOATS USED IN MAIN STREET OF FLOOD SWEPT TOWN
The front page of October 8, 1926, led with closing arguments in the New York conspiracy trial of former Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty and former Alien Property Custodian Thomas W. Miller. Daugherty's lawyer, Max D. Steuer, told the jury his client burned bank records "in a moment of madness" to destroy records of the Harding campaign fund, not to hide a bribe in the American Metal case. Closer to home, the paper reported that the cotton-holding movement was slowing rail shipments across Alabama ahead of a regional agricultural conference in Montgomery on October 12. An AP dispatch described Beardstown, Illinois, cut off for thirty hours by the Illinois River flood, with a ferry carrying people up its main streets. The opening of a story on Commander Richard E. Byrd's tour promoting commercial aviation also appears in the Daugherty column.
Translation
RECORDS BURNED TO PROTECT CAMPAIGN FUND JURY IS TOLD
Attorney For Harry M. Daugherty Asserts Former Attorney General Acted in Moment of Madness
ADMITS CLIENT GUILTY OF VERY FOOLISH DEED
Government Charges Effort Made to Obliterate Evidence in Conspiracy Case
NEW YORK, Oct. 7.—(AP)—It was "in a moment of madness" that Harry M. Daugherty burned bank records which the government believes would prove him a conspirator against the nation he served, his [?]sel told a jury in federal cou[?]y. Daugherty's purpose wa[?]troy records of the Harding c[?] fund and not to wipe out any [?]ion that he had been bribed [?] American Metal case, his cou[?]ed. Daughert[?] was attorney general in th[?]g cabinet, and Thos. W. Mill[?]en property custodian at the [?] time, are on trial for consp[?] defraud the government of thei[?]vice in permitting release through their offices of $7,000,000 impounded assets of the metal company.
William Rand, counsel for Miller, completed his summation this morning and Max D. Steuer, Daugherty's counsel, then summed up for five hours and a half, court being kept in session until 6:30 in order to permit him to complete argument today.
Steuer reviewed testimony of Mal S. Daugherty, Harry's brother, that Harry had admitted burning ledger sheets recording bank accounts to the brothers and of Jess W. Smith, the former attorney general's political handyman, in Mal's bank.
"The burning of those records," (Continued on Page Eight)
BYRD BEGINS FLIGHT TO BOOST AVIATION
Commander of North Pole Expedition Arrives at Mitchel Field on Tour
MITCHEL FIELD, N.Y., Oct. 7.—(AP)—The powerful Fokker airplane in which Commander Richard E. Byrd flew over the north pole, today completed the first leg of its scheduled country-wide tour to promote public interest in commercial aviation.
Carrying eleven persons, including [?]
COTTON HOLDING GAINING GROUND THROUGHOUT STATE
Constructive Fearless Independent
14 PAGES Price 5 Cents
Railroad Officials Report Effect of Move Noted in Volume of Staple Shipments For Period
FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE TO ATTEND CONFERENCE
Receipts and Shipments Show Gain in Montgomery For Week
Effect of the movement launched for the holding of cotton in an effort to check the slump in the price of the staple and restore the price to a normal level, is already becoming manifest, according to information Thursday from railroad officials.
The movement of cotton over the lines of the various Alabama carriers operating in this section, at the present time, is limited. Normally, they claim, the movement of cotton now should greatly exceed that recorded for the same period a year ago.
The Montgomery cotton exchange reported Thursday, however, much heavier receipts and shipments of cotton for the past fiscal week than during the same week in 1925.
Interest in this section concerning cotton price prospects is now centered in the forthcoming regional agricultural conference, which will convene in Montgomery next week. Secretary of Agriculture W. M. Jardine has wired he will be unable to attend, but indicates that another department official may attend the meeting.
Edward A. O'Neal, president of the Farm Bureau, wired Secretary Jardine inviting him to the conference and upon receipt of that wire, F. M. Russell, assistant secretary, stated Secretary Jardine got in touch with officials of the United States Chamber of Commerce who will attend the conference in Montgomery on October 12, "and detailed to [?]
FERRY BOATS USED IN MAIN STREET OF FLOOD SWEPT TOWN
…about as low a minimum as is recorded for any county in the United States, it was ascertained.
Beardstown Isolated For Thirty Hours; Eat Food Uncooked; Waters Receding; Newspapers Suspend
BEARDSTOWN, ILL., Oct. 7.—(AP)—Isolated for thirty hours by the flood waters of Illinois river and Lost Creek, Beardstown ate uncooked food today, used a ferry to get up and down the main streets and went by boat to establish contact with the outside world by trains which were halted two miles from the island city.
The flood, after reaching a crest of 25.8 feet today, had receded four tenths of a foot tonight, but with the slight wane of the waters came an increasing swiftness of the current, which carried jetsam against windows of residence and business blocks and broke panes not barricaded, admitting water to interiors previously kept dry.
One hundred and fifty extra men were put to work by the public utility company which furnishes Beardstown with electricity and gas, to keep the town lighted. Telephone communication was maintained despite the high waters, which stand ten inches deep at the highest point of egress from the town.
Furnaces are flooded and the only heat is provided by improvised stoves. The dampness has added to the suffering from cold, and many of the inhabitants were without dry clothes.
Row boats plied today from the town to the points where trains stop and supplies are being brought to the needy.
A Beardstown newspaper abandoned publication today for the duration of the flood when its mechanical department was submerged in four feet of water.
The ferry which plied across the Illinois river in normal times was pressed into service today for carrying up the principal streets those bound on urgent business. The stage of the water
Context
How seized German stock became the American Metal bribery case
The "$7,000,000 impounded assets of the metal company" in the Daugherty story were the German-owned 49 percent of the American Metal Co. The government seized that stock during World War I under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which had the President appoint an Alien Property Custodian to hold property in the United States owned by enemy citizens; Custodian A. Mitchell Palmer held the $7,000,000 stake as trustee. After the war the German metals executive Richard Merton sought its return. The prosecution alleged that Jess Smith put Merton in touch with Miller, by then the custodian, and that Miller pushed the return through in 72 hours. Merton said he paid a $441,000 block of bonds to the go-between John T. King in 1921, and the government's case was that part of that money reached Miller and Daugherty. This is the conspiracy charge the paper names: defrauding the government of the two officials' service in releasing the assets.
Who Jess Smith was and why his name runs through the case
The paper calls Jess W. Smith the former attorney general's "political handyman," and the prosecution painted the same picture. In its opening, the government told the jury that Smith never held an appointment in the Department of Justice yet had an office there a few doors from Daugherty's, and it alleged that Smith was the man who brought Merton to Miller. Smith could not answer for himself at the trial, because he had killed himself in the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington when news of the scandal began to reach the public. Mal Daugherty's testimony, which Steuer reviewed in his summation, concerned burned ledger sheets that included Smith's account at Mal's bank. The dead man's finances therefore sat at the center of the dispute over the destroyed records.
Why the burned bank records mattered to the prosecution
The "moment of madness" plea answered the most damaging evidence the government had produced against Daugherty. Time reported at the start of October 1926 that bank records for October 13 and 14, 1921, had disappeared, along with the accounts of Harry and Mal Daugherty and Jess Smith; the front page places those accounts in Mal's bank. Mal then testified that his brother Harry had burned the missing records. Merton had said he paid $441,000 to John T. King in 1921, and prosecutor Emory R. Buckner was following that money through bonds and documents, having already traced $49,000 to Miller. Steuer's argument, as the paper reports it, conceded the burning as a very foolish deed but said its aim was to destroy records of the Harding campaign fund. That motive is the defense's account, which the paper relays rather than confirms.
What became of Thomas W. Miller
Miller, who had been Alien Property Custodian from 1921 until 1925 and whose counsel William Rand finished summing up on the morning described in this report, was convicted in 1927, the year after these summations, on two counts of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government. He served 18 months in prison, was paroled in 1929 and was pardoned by President Herbert Hoover in 1933. During the 1926 trial the prosecution had traced $49,000 of the money to him, and by the start of October Time described the government's case against Miller as practically complete before Buckner turned to Daugherty.
Original
RECORDS BURNED TO PROTECT CAMPAIGN FUND JURY IS TOLD
RECORDS BURNED TO PROTECT CAMPAIGN FUND JURY IS TOLD Attorney For Harry M. Daugh-erty Asserts Former Attorney General Acted in Moment of Madness ADMITS CLIENT GUILTY OF VERY FOOLISH DEED Government Charges Effort Made to Obliterate Evidence in Conspiracy Case NEW YORK, Oct. 7. - (AP) - It was " in a moment of madness " that Harry M. Daugherty burned bank records which the government believes would prove him a conspirator against the nation he served, his [?] sel told a jury in federal cou [?] y. Daugh-erty's purpose wa [?] troy records of the Harding c [?] fund and not to wipe out any [?] ion that he had been bribed [?] American Metal case, his cou [?] ed. Daughert [?] was attorney gen-eral in th [?] g cabinet, and Thos. W. Mill [?] en property custodian at the [?] time, are on trial for consp [?] defraud the government of thei [?] vice in permitting release through their offices of $ 7, 000, 000 im-pounded assets of the metal company. William Rand, counsel for Miller, com-pleted his summation this morning and Max D. Steuer, Daugherty's counsel, then summed up for five hours and a half court being kept in session until 6: 30 in order to permit him to com-plete argument today. Steuer reviewed testimony of Mal S. Daugherty. Harry's brother, that Harry had admitted burning ledger sheets recording bank accounts to the brothers and of Jess W. Smith, the former attorney general's political handyman in Mal's bank. " The burning of those records, " (Continued on Page Eight) BYRD BEGINS FLIGHT TO BOOST AVIATION Commander of North Pole Ex-pedition Arrives at Mitchell Field on Tour MITCHEL FIELD, N. Y., Oct. 7. - (AP) - The powerful Fokker airplane in which Commander Richard E. Byrd flew over the north pole, today com-pleted the first leg of its scheduled country-wide tour to promote public interest in commercial aviation. Carrying eleven persons, including [?]
COTTON HOLDING GAINING GROUND THROUGHOUT STATE
Constructive Fearless Independent 14 PAGES Price 5 Cents COTTON HOLDING GAINING GROUND THROUGHOUT STATE Railroad Officials Report Effect of Move Noted in Volume of Staple Shipments For Period FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE TO ATTEND CONFERENCE Receipts and Shipments Show Gain in Montgomery For Week Effect of the movement launched for the holding of cot-ton in an effort to check the slump in the price of the staple and re-store the price to a normal level, is already becoming manifest, ac-cording to information Thursday from railroad officials. The movement of cotton over the lines of the various Alabama carriers operating in this section, at the present time, is limited. Normal-ly, they claim, the movement of cotton now should greatly exceed that recorded for the same period a year ago. The Montgomery cotton exchange, re-ported Thursday, however much heav-ier receipts and shipments of cotton for the past fiscal week than during the same week in 1925. Interest in this section concerning cotton price prospects, is now centered in the forth-coming regional agricultural confer-ence, which will convene in Montgom-ery next week. Secretary of Agricul-ture, W. M. Jardine has wired he will be unable to attend, but indicates that another department official may at-tend the meeting. Edward A. O'Neal, president of the Farm Bureau, wired Secretary Jardine inviting him to the conference and upon receipt of that wire, F. M. Rus-sell, assistant secretary, stated Sec-retary Jardine got in touch with of-ficials of the United States Chamber of Commerce who will attend the con-ference in Montgomery on October 12, " and detailed to [?]
FERRY BOATS USED IN MAIN STREET OF FLOOD SWEPT TOWN
about as low a minimum as is re-corded for any county in the United States, it was ascertained. FERRY BOATS USED IN MAIN STREET OF FLOOD SWEPT TOWN Beardstown Isolated For Thirty Hours; Eat Food Uncooked; Waters Receding; News-papers Suspend BEARDSTOWN, ILL., Oct. 7. - (AP) Isolated for thirty hours by the flood waters of Illinois river and Lost Creek, Beardstown ate uncooked food today, used a ferry to get up and down the main streets and went by boat to es-tablish contact with the outside world by trains which were halted two miles from the island city. The flood, after reaching a crest of 25. 8 feet today, had receded four tenths of a foot tonight, but with the slight wane of the waters came an increasing swiftness of the current, which carried jetsam against windows of residence and business blocks and broke panes not barricaded, admitting water to interiors previously kept dry. One hundred and fifty extra men were put to work by the public utility company which furnishes Beardstown with electricity and gas, to keep the town lighted. Telephoning communi-cation was maintained despite the high waters, which stand ten inches deep at the highest point of egress from the town. Furnaces are flooded and the only heat is provided by improvised stoves. The dampness has added to the suf-fering from cold, and many of the in-habitants were without dry clothes. Row boats plied today from the town to the points where trains stop and supplies are being brought to the need-ed. A Beardstown newspaper abandoned publication today for the duration of the flood when its mechanical depart-ment was submerged in four feet of water. The ferry which plied across the Illi-nois river in normal times was prsesed into service today for carrying up the principal streets those bound on ur-gent business. The stage of the water
Source: Holding institution