| OCR Text |
Show Al'MURRAY DENIES tVERY CHARGE ' SULPHUR, Okla.'j Aug.' 1rt.i''t has been charged thai you. through Jake U Haraon, offered Sen.itor'T; P.' Gore $23,(100 or 550,000 as a bribe to Influence Influ-ence him In congress to'-. withdraw his opposition to the approval of your contracts. Did you, or did you not, I offer Senator Gore such a bribe?" ) 'j .1. F. McMnrtay answered "No" to i that question in the hearing . lefore the congressional committee investigating investi-gating Indian land affairs today. Mr. McMurray, who holds contracts with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians In-dians for the sale of .J30.000.00U worth of their lands in this state on a 10 per cent contingent fee basis, was on the stand all day. The Questions were propounded to him by Cecil II. Smith, , his counsel. Did Not Mention Sherman, "Did you ever tell any one that Vice Tresident Sherman bad an Interest In-terest In your contracts?" I never did," answered McMurray. "Did you authorize Hamon to say Mr, Sherman was Interested?" "I did not." "Did Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas Kan-sas ever have aay Interest in the contracts?" con-tracts?" "He never d.d and I never told any one that he did " "Did yu ever tell any one that Congressman Con-gressman B. S. McGuire had any Interest In-terest in jour contracts?" "1 never did." Hamon Was Not His Representative. "Did you over authorize Hamon to represent you before any member of congress or any one else?" "I did no" "Has any member of congress, or any employe of any department of the. government any interest in your contracts?" con-tracts?" "They have not." Describing his contracts as a plain business proposition, Mr. McMurray told of hi relations with the Indians, which he said began in 1899. In the first contracts for the gale of the land, Cecil Lyon, national Republican com m.t iceman of Texas, was a partner. part-ner. McMurray said: "These contracts con-tracts were disapproved by President Roosevelt In 10OS and Mr. Lyon ceased to be connected with them." Mr, McMurray 9did he then employed em-ployed as counsel former Senator J. M. Thurston of Nebraska, former Senator Sen-ator C. I. Long or Kansas and Rlch-aru Rlch-aru C. Adams of Washington. Denied Offering a Bribe. The witness also denied bo ever had offered $25,000 as a bribe to D. C. Mc-Cortain, Mc-Cortain, a Choctaw lawyer; McCur-tain McCur-tain testified the offer had been made to him In connection with the old tribal contracts. Senator (lore has testified that Hamon offered him a bribe In the senator's private office In Washington on May (i last. Mr. McMurray Mc-Murray today testified mat he twice had called on Senator (Jose after that dale and the senator had made no reference ref-erence to the alleged oiler of bribery until his speech In the senate on Junv 4th. Jake L, Hamon, mentioned by Senator Sen-ator Gore as being the man who offered of-fered the bribe In McMurray's behalf, took the stand two weeks ago and denied de-nied that he had ever made such an offer. The examination of McMurray will be continued tomorrow. |
