Show = FOR CLARI falter W Bictfori Appears Ap-pears Before Senate i Conlltne I i I II II I I I WAS EATO9S FED r Specially Interested in Last I Montana Campaign I I I CONTRADICTS SPEAKER STIFF I I i Likewise Senator Myers Representative I Representa-tive Sullivan Dr Ector Mr Cowen and OthersHe Explained the Purchase of Timber Lands Owned by Representative McLaughlin Mc-Laughlin Prior to the Meeting or the Legislature Ho Contended the Property was Worth More than Had been Paid for it and that the Timber was Necessary in Mr Clarks Business On CrossEs ainination Mr Bickford Stated that He was Counsel for Mr Clark but Refused to Say what Fees Were Washington Feb 7 Walter M Blck ford was practically the only witness before the Senate Committee on Privileges Priv-ileges and Eelectlons In the Clark investigation inves-tigation He was one of Senator Clarks special friends in the last Montana Senatorial caVnpalgn Mr Blckford contradicted much of the testimony of I Speaker Stiff Senator Myers Representative Repre-sentative Sullivan Dr Ector Sir CcriJSerituid othersr He > hower rid I mitted tendering to Dr Ector 5700 with which to lift the Indebtedness of Representative Rep-resentative Woods of Ravalll county saying he had not Intended that Mr Woods should know of hit doing this and his only purpose was to control the debt so that the Daly people could not get hold of it and thus force Woods into voting contrary to his Inclination He received the money from Senator Clarks son and when it was not accepted ac-cepted for Mr Woods by Mr Ector he had returned it to Mr Clark Mr Blckford also explained the purchase pur-chase of timber lands owned by l Representative Rep-resentative McLaughlln prior to the mectng of the Legislature He contended con-tended that the properly was worth more than had been paid 1 for I and that the timber was necessary in Mr Clarks business In his deal with I McLaughlln witness had never talked with him concerning the Senatorial situation sit-uation nor tried to influence him In that connection to vote for Mr Clark On his crossexamination Bickford stated that he was counsel for Mr Clark but after saying that he would not tel what his fees had been he said that all told t Clark had paid him WOO as counsel Ho also wild Mr William Wil-liam McDermott had refunded to him the money expended in the campaign and he thought Mr McDermott was engaged In Mr Clarks Jnteixst CHECKED BY COMMITTEE George E McGrath of the Civil Service Ser-vice commission located at Chicago was the first witness called He was in 18fl and ISiS editor of a newspaper in Butte Mont which lie wild sup ported Mr Daly He was also secretary of the Democratic State central committee com-mittee An attempt was made by counsel coun-sel for the defense to Investigate the Montana Senatorial election of 1S03 but it was checked Statements were made by i exSenator Faulkner and Mr Foster showing that they expected to prove by McGrath hat I in 1S93 he had been In a caucus of Dulys friends and that Daly had then suggested time defeat of Mr I Clark for tho Senate by i getting some one to go to Mr Clark for money and failing to accomplish this purpose to put up the money himself for an exposure This it was claimed by counsel was the scheme carried out by Mr Daly through Mr Whitcsidc in 1890 showing malice tenaciously held by Daly Tho point was argued at length by counsel on both sides and the committee went into executive session to decide it Mr McGrath being temporarily withdrawn from the stand When the doors were reopened Chairman Chandler Chand-ler announced that the committee had decided to exclude for the present the testimony relating to the Senatorial campaign of 1S93 DENIES WHITESIDE RECTOR STORIES Powell Black a member of the Montana I Mon-tana Legislature was then recalled testimony of White He denied all the testmony rhle Hide and Rector connecting his nama l with bribery and efforts at bribery In connection with the Senatorial contest He said in contradiction of Whltesido that it was not true that lie had been fixed by MI Steele and he denounced al fxed Rectors stories concerning him as untrue ONE OF CLARKS AGENTS Walter M Blckford was next called I Ho had been one of Mr Clarks agents lo tie Senatorial campaign of 1S9S09 and t1 name next to that of Mr Well come had been most frequently mentioned men-tioned by time prosecution Mr Bick ford said he was at present a resident of Butte but that he had formerly lived at Missoula where he was a law partner part-ner 11ssouJC Stiff Speaker of tho House of Representatives and n prominent witness for the prosecution In the Clark case BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS I Blckford was first asked concerning I Mr frt alwl 111 emcnt of Mr Stiff coming his engagement 111 str to examine Un title of the property I owned by H lw V McLaughlln of the Montana Legislature which property I afterward purchased by Mr Clark was arelart said Blckford The latter through Mr later business transac ordinary it was an or i employed because tion Mr Stiff being it was inconvenient for him the wit = ness to perform this service himself Mr Blckford said that a subsequent time ho had talked with Mr Stilt concerning con-cerning the latters candidacy l for time House Speakership Tie had Mover however at any of these conversations told Mr Stiff that there was an understanding under-standing that McLaughlln should vote for Mr Clark for the Senate HAD TALKED ABOUT CLARK He had at one time I prior to the Mc Laughlin transaction talked with Mr SUn concerning the Senatorial clcc ton He had broached the subject and Inquired of Mr SLim how he felt on the subject I i asked him how he felt toward to-ward Mr Clark nil Mr Blckford and he replied that he knew of no reason why he could not vote for Mr I Clark if j ho should be the nominee of the Democratic legislative caucus STIFF HAD ASPIRATIONS Mr Stiff told me he had aspirations for thu District Judgeship of Unit district dis-trict and said he wanted to so shape his course as a member of the House as not to Injure Ills chances for the nomination two years hence I then thought him friendly to Mr Clark The witness denied that he had suggested sug-gested to Mr Stiff that If he would support sup-port Mr Clark for the Senate the later would appoint him as attorney to represent rep-resent some of his interests MLAUGHLIN TRANSACTION The McLaughlin transactIon was explained ex-plained at length the witness explaining explain-ing that tho timber land owned by McLaughlln was especially favorably located and Uhat Mr Clark being a large use of timber had found it necessary ne-cessary to establish mills in order to protect himself against monopoly A I recess was then taken until 2 p 1 j CONTRADICTS STIFF Mr Bickford continued his testimony In the afternoon session He contradicted contra-dicted Mr Stiffs statements in detail He had not told Mr StlfL that the fee of 500 paid for examining the title to the McLaughlln properly was for himself him-self and not for the firm the price paid for the land was below its value and not above McLaughlln was engaged I as manager of the lumber company i formed on the basis o the purchase I from him because he was a millinan and not to Influence his ote for 11 Clark for the Senate I DENIES MAKING OFFER I understood Mr Stiff to say you had offered him 10000 to withdraw from the Speakershlp contest and support sup-port Mr Clark for Speaker Is that true asked Mr Faulkner I Is not true responded the witness emphatically emphati-cally I never made such an offer to I I him or to any other man Nor had heel he-el offered to get employment for Mr Still from Mr Clark on a salary SLut had promised I to vote for Clark If he was the nominee of the party and hek had not considered I necessary to speak to him PURE FABRICATIONS Mr Blckford contradicted some or the statements made by witness Cowen among other that Blckford had told him that Mr Clark would pay 15000 for the support 0 Mr StliT for tbe Senate Sen-ate He said he had had one conversation conversa-tion with Cowen on the Senatorial situation situ-ation On that occasion Cowen had I soutrht airinterview and had told Him that through some knowledge of the private affairs of Mr Campbell and Mr I Stiff he could control their actions of fering to do s for a consideration The witness said he had declined the proposition propo-sition He admitted he had paid Cowen Sf or 100 for remaining in remaining I Helena during the legislative session The witness contradicted practically all the other statements made by Cowen I saying that they were all pure fabrications fabri-cations cotlonstTO I ASTO ECTORS TESTIMONY Mr TJlckford also testified concerning the evidence given by Mr Ector He I said he had gone to Ravalll county to assist Mr Woods the Democratic candidate can-didate for the Legislature because lie I had heard that gentleman was to be sacrificed by the Daly interests In accordance I ac-cordance with Mr Woodss request he had engaged Dr Ector to assist in the I campaign He had sent 200 or 300 to Ector to be spent in the campaign He admitled that he had made an arrange mcnt with Charley Clark son of the I Senator to take care of 700 indebtedness indebted-ness of Mr Woods for fear It would I fall into the hands of the enemy Dr Ector had advised against the payment pay-ment of the mot to Mr Woods and In accordance with this suggestion he had taken it back to Butte He had never told Mr Woods of his intention and he had intended to give him the money no matter who ho voted for Just so ho did not vote for tho Daly Interest His motive was to prevent Mr Woods being controlled by this indebtedness i in-debtedness so as to force him to vote for 1 man to whom he was unfricndlj l He had understood Mr Woods Intended to vote for exGov Toole Mr Clark being his second choice WOODS KEPT IN THE DARK I Then said Senator Hoar your In ten Lon was to ret > the vote of Mr Woods for Clark No sir replied the witness It was not If plans had been J my carried out lie l transaction would have been entirely en-tirely secret and Mr Woods would have known nothing of It With regard to lirturs testimony that he had an understanding with Blckford that ho was to have 10 ncr conl oC Bickfords own compensation Mr Blckford said that Ertor had himself him-self made the suggestion that he Bick ford had told Eclor all rl h you can have It I could very well promise 1 he said for I was getting nothing I was not to get any compensation and have not got any He said he had paid Ector S50 for his services in the campaign cam-paign and he considered this all they were worth CHANDLERS LITTLE JOKE fl Turlcy expressed interest in the expression in one of Ectors letters to Blckford that It was well to get the strings on our friends I is nil explained ex-plained in the last two flues of the doctors doc-tors letter said Senator Chandler interrupting in-terrupting He says there I will keep you posted In this fight for true Democracy I Mr I Rlrkford said he did not know what Ector meant by the expression Ho recalled the conversation with Representative Rep-resentative Sullivan of Granite county to which that gentleman had testified but his version was very different from that given by Sullivan SULLIVAN WANTED BIG MONEY Blckford said ho had pone to see Sullivan Sul-livan at the latters solicitation to talk over the Senatorial situation Sullivan then said to him that thorp ought to be some money m the Senatorial fight for him adding that ho thought he ought to have nbout 20000 I am told said Bickford that this was nonsenjo that ho 1 was a Democrat and ought therefore to vote for Clurk that If he wanted money he would have to bee some ono olso bCI Mr Blokford also denied promising State Senator Myors to get him a position posi-tion in connection with Mr Clarks mines at Bridges Ho admitted that he had talked with Myers on the subject sub-ject but sad the matter had not been pressed on either side Dr Mlnshall had suggested Myerss employment I COULD NOT EXPLAIN CHECK On crossexamination Mr Blckford I said he did not know how Chnrloy Clark had happened to send a cheek for 500 to Senator Myers J had been sent without his knowledge He pronounced I pro-nounced as incorrect the report of the testimony taken before tlc grand Jury of Lewis and Clark county saying It wan potion up to influence the Senate committee Mr Blokford said he had returned the 700 obtained to lift Mr Woodss mortgage mort-gage to Charley Clark after Dr Ector had declined to receive It Ector had told him there ins no further necessity neces-sity for the transaction as Dalya friends were making no further effort to control Woods by this means Reverting to the I work done by Cowen the witness said he had paid Cowen out of hla own pocket WAS COUNSEL FOR CLARK He said lie hal been employed a3 counsel for Mr Clark llrst in July lS Shut S-hut was not permanently engaged until the Cal of that year Did you get a retainer 1 at that tlmcV asked Senator Burrows I did 1 < < How much I am not going to tell you When the year was made up were you again retained I was At the same rate At an Increased rate Mr Bickford saId he hid been reimbursed reim-bursed by William McDermott who was looking after the campaign in the I Interests oC Mr Clark for his expenditures expendi-tures during the campaign but he could not be sure of the amount During Dur-ing tho session of the Legislature he had spent 500 to 000 In Mr Clarks interest In-terest This money had been supplied by Mr McDermott He had paid his own expenses EMPLOYED PROFESSIONALLY I In responoe to questions from Mr Chandler Bckford stated that all told he had received about S2 D for counsel fees since his first employment and he I inulstcd that he had never been employed em-ployed in any other capacity than professionally pro-fessionally by Mr Clark Whatever1 elae I may have done for him said he hI did of my own accord ac-cord He did not consider himself an agent for Clark He said he had not brought his bank book with him not supposing the committee would desire to enter lulu an investigation of his modesl bank tccounl 1 did not consider I con-sider it either the committees duty or privilege to do so he added LETTER ABOUT ECTORS SERVICE Mr Blckford said he had talked with Clark only two or three times about the Senatorial election and had no conversation with Clark concerning Representative Woods Later when a letter from Senator Clark was produced pro-duced he said this was only with reference ref-erence to Ectors services In the cam palgn He thought Senator Clark had written to Ector In very general terms Adjourned as he often wrote to correspondents |