The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 28, 1919, Page 8

H i i § troduction to Mr. Hurtz i ! another of the men behind the investigation. ‘the fight. He said the ha. ' heavy contributor. My Story By o Spy for the Interests No. 4—How Palmer Worked—State Council of Defense Plans to Halt League Meetings—League Wins Suit Against Body BY RALPH A. MOORE ALMER was very careful to hide his tracks when he over- stepped legal boundaries, as in raising mobs. He made free use of the telephone, telegraph and mails for transaction of the usual business 'connected with the investigation, but in affairs like the Grand Island mob plan, which failed, he always went either in person or sent one of his trusted helpers. me that his reasons for doing this, despite the extra expense incurred, was to avoid leaving any incriminating evidence behind him. He remarked more than once that “this mob stuff is dangerous at best and I and my clients can not afford to be caught.” Palmer frequently was dissatisfied with his treatment at the hands of his employers. He fre- quently complained to me, and one Sunday night he telephoned me from the .Lindell hotel, Lincoln, asking me to meet him a block south of the hotel. He said the hotel iiself was full of League mén and it would be best for me not to come there. I met him about 9 o’clock at the appointed place. We sat on the steps of the Congregational church, and Palmer started immediately to unburden him- self. He said that he was short of money. Most of the business men supporting the investi- gation were rich, he declared, but all of them, in reality, “a cheap bunch of sports.” “They pay me only $300 a month,” he complained, “and we know that our work has been well done. Believe me, I intend to collect a little something on the side from this business.” I answered that I felt there was no reason why we should not have a bonus of some kind for our help. Some time later Palmer informed me that he had talked with a number of the business men and that they did not feel like giving .any more money. e said he had just donated $500 to the Ord Journal, of which Horace M. Davis was editor. “The money you and I are getting out of this uc... 1S a very small part of the real expense in- curred in this fight,” he declared. “The business men who are conduct- ing this fight-are hand- ing out hundreds of dollars each day to dif- ferent newspapers throughout the state. This Ord affair is just one; but I could men- tion scores of others.” WHOSE MONEY PAID FOR INQUIRY? MR.W.H.WARE -Pe0.BOX 466 KANSAS CITY,Mo, DEAR SIR, Of course everybody back of the investiga- tion was contributing money regularly to the work. When 1 first came ‘to Omaha, Mec- Grath informed me that the Omaha Business Men’s Protective asso- ciation was financing service would get its money from Joe Bark- er, a wealthy retired business man of Oma- When MecGrath gave me a card of in- of the Lincoln Tele- phone & Telegraph company, he intimated that Hurtz was another He also mentioned Corliss, president of the Waterloo Creamery company, as He { said that Corliss was hiring six or seven other il 4 Thiel operatives to check up on union labor. Pal- i of Omaha only once. i one Sunday morning. Palmer told me later that mer told meé that Herbert Gooch, editor of the Lin- | i coln Star, also was-a contributor to the anti-League fund, but declared that he was of no further as- . sistance in the fight, as he was too hot-headed and - unreliable. to take an active part in an important matter .of this kind. ? I met Senator Ollis of the Federal Land bank That was in Palmer’s office T He told intends putting R.B.HOWELL of Omaha up for governor. Ollis was very much interested in the investigation, but he did not wish any one to know of it. When I left Lincoln in September, 1918, Mc- Grath told me that the business ‘men of Lin- coln and Omaha had arranged to have Ollis gather information that I had been furnish- ing them. McGrath said that Ollis pretended to be friendly with some of the League officials and also had many friends among League farmers, and that he probably could gather considerable information by reason of that fact. McGrath and Manager Ware were very angry when they lost the investigation. Just before I was transferred from Lincoln in September, Me- Grath came to Lincoln from Omaha and ordered me, before I left, to write a letter informing the League officials that Ollis was spying on them and carrying what information he could back to the Omaha Business Men’s Protective association. “If they don’t use any of our men, we will see to it that they don’t get any information,” Me- Grath told me. Before the state convention of the National Non- partisan league last summer, the League officials sent out notices for the holding of a League cau- cus in each precinct of the state where there was a League organization. Each caucus was to send a delegate to the state convention. After sending out these notices, we learned in the League offices that the state council of defense, through the county councils, planned to forbid the meetings and if necessary stop them with the home guard. Mr. Evans sent for Atterney Sorensen and asked his advice in regard to the matter. The next‘day Mr. Sorensen submitted an opinion to Mr. Evans and Mr. Olson suggesting that injunction proceedings be instituted to restrain the state council of de- fense from interfering with the meetings. Mr. Evans and Mr. Olson agreed that this -plan was the best and instructed Mr. Sorensen to proceed with plans for the case and to hire another attorney to assist him in the case. - When I learned this, I hurried to a telephone and got in touch with Palmer, informing him of the plans for the suit. Palmer came to Lincoln | ) . MORE EVIDENCE - | OMAHA,July 28th,1918 The clients continue to insist'that we obtain a 1list of .the League members,and there is also some new developements,;n that the League Palmer requests that operative induce one of the League officials to write HOWELL a letter whicfi would involve him with the League, it is so I believe the intention of Palmer and Max,V,Beghtol of Lincoln,who are acting in behalf of S,R.Mckelvie to tangle Howell up with the League in such a way as t; discredit him during the coming prifiary election, Kindly advise 1f you wish operative Moore to take part in this matters Very Respectfully, The above letter, another of the series that passed between J.-P. McGrath, Omaha agent of the Thiel detective service, and W. H. Ware, Kansas City " branch manager, regarding the investigation of the League in Nebraska. How these men planned to foist on the League a gubernatorial candidate for their own purposes is told in this. story by Mr. Moore: PAGE EIGHT » immediately and got in touch with Strode and Beghtol, attorneys for the state council of de- fense. Palmer told me that during the trial it was advisable that I meet them in their offices in the Bankers’ Life building. Upon arriving there, I met Palmer, Strode, Beghtol and Cal Emery, a court reporter. A few minutes later Herbert Gooch came into the office. They talked principally of the fact that Attorney Flansburg had been em- ployed to assist Sorensen in the case, and the plans first discussed were for methods of erippling the League case by inducing Flansburg to withdraw. ATTEMPT TO CRIPPLE LEAGUE IN SUIT ‘Tt was at first suggested that the men work through Judge Flansburg, a son, but Emery said that the plan already had been tried and that Judge Flansburg had refused to interfere. Judge’ Flansburg, Emery reported, said that he saw noth- ing wrong in his father taking the League case. Then it was suggested that Flansburg be ~ap- proached by someone who would call his attention to the fact that his son had been recently killed in France, and to use this as a leverage to urge him to drop the case. After talking it over, how- ever, they failed to decide on any one who would approach Flansburg. Palmer then suggested that one of the judges in the case be approached. He wanted to “go and fix things so they would be sure of where they - were at,” as he expressed it. Beghtol and the other attorneys balked at this. Palmer said he realized that his suggestion was out of order and that an attorney might be disbarred for attempting such a move, but declared that he felt sure enough of the results to take a chance. But Beghtol and Strode were unwilling to go to the lengths sug- gested by Palmer, and it was agreed that it was best that another attempt should be made to.ap- proach Flansburg. Even this matter was left open when the meeting ended. It was arranged at this time that Beghtol was to call at my home during the trial whenever he wanted information. As a matter of fact, when the case was in progress, Beghtol and Palmer vis- ited me every day and sometimes two or three times a day. I tried to find out what the League plans in the case were, but was un- successful in this. to the opposition when Attorneys Manahan and LeSueur came to Nebraska from the League offices in St. Paul to assist Sorensen and Flansburg in the case. Their arrival seemed to upset the og- position’s plans. Pal- mer declared that he was very much dissat- isfied with the way Beghtol were handling the case, and declared, after the League won the fight and was granted the injunction, that they 5 should have made a - better showing. After the trial Pal- mer said that he was J : sorry he had not pro- ceeded with his plan to “fix” one of the judges. He complained that the League got credit for winning the suit and that the state council of defense had lost prestige. He declared -angrily that Metcalfe and Gooch had made fools of themselves. Beghtol told me during the trial that he was attorney for the gas and electric company, the Burlington railway and several other large. corporations, and that it was to the interests of his clients to keep the League out of Busi- ness. He said he was not getting any fees for handling this case. At the time I was in his office, Beghtol asked me what I thought of the fact that Campbell, a G 3 I I R It was a big surprise - and Strode . - o W i i e