AMERICAN JUSTICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20318, 28 January 1928, Page 11

AMERICAN JUSTICE

CONTEMPT OF COURT TRIAL.

SENSATIONAL CHARGES

(Pres. Association —By Telegraph—Copyright ) WASHINGTON, January 26. Sensational charges featured the resumption of the Sinclair-Burns contempt of court trial. The attorney for Burns told Mr Justice Siddons that Bonmn, the defence witness, had been struck in an hotel room and robbed of a letter bearing on the character of the State s star witness. Mr Justice Siddon stated that he assumed that the police would handle the charge later. Burns himself declared that the rooms of many of his operatives had been entered and documents stolen. — A. and N.Z. Cable.

At the original trial of Fall and Sinclair in connection with the, oil lease scandals, Mr Justice Siddons declared a mistrial on the ground that there was evidence of jury tampering. One of the detectives from the Burns agency, a former army man with a good, record, had been employed spying on the jury, and. finding it distasteful, decided to ask advice of some man in public life. He is a Pennsylvanian, and, learning that Governor Pinchot of that State was in Washington, ho called on him and told him that “ funny business ” was occurring Governor Pinchot advised the agent to reveal it to the Government counsel, Mr Roberts, who suggested that the agent should continue his duties and report back to him all that was occurring. It was disclosed from the agent’s evidence before the grand jury later that the detective agency’s allegations that the Government had been tampering with the jury wore false, and that the agency, when jury tampering was discovered, introduced much false evidence before the grand jury to clear itself and its detectives, and afterwards boasted that the Government “ was running around in circles and getting nowhere.”