The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 28, 1919, Page 9

League organizer, had been bound over to dis- trict court' in Dundee ° county. He said that he had got the county judge to bind him over as the result of an- opinion he had got from Attorney General Reed, holding that organizing farmers was a crime under the state sedition act. “That opinion ought to be pretty good, be- _ “cause 'I wrote it my- “Self,” Beghtol boasted. He was very anxious to learn what fees Flansburg and Soren- sen got for fighting the case for the League. 1 - told him I understood they got $700. Beghtol was very much inter- ested in the primary campaign. He said that -he was a close personal friend of Mec- Kelvie and wanted him to win in the primary. He said Howell was the most dangerous man in Nebraska,.and if the got the nomina- - tion McKelvie and the rest of them would be beaten. He declared that something must be done, and he wanted - me to help him in “framing” something on Howell. He got up a letter, couched as though it came from the League headquar- ters, and ifvolving Howell with League af- fairs. He wanted me to write it on League stationery and get Ol- son, a League official, to sign it without knowing . what it was. However, niefore I had the oppor- tunity to ask Olson to sign the letter, Howell withdrew from _ the race. After Howell had withdrawn, Begh- tol wanted me to get the League to indorse Bryan, because, he said, Bryan would be much Mr. R. A. Moore, and Manager Ware of the Thiel Detective agency regarding the investiga- tion of the League. The depths to which the men behind the investigation O N THIS page are presented other letters which passed between Mr. McGrath would stoop to gain their ends is shown in these letters. Mr. Moore will conclude his story in the Leader next week. There will be more letters, fully as interesting as those already presented. The letters: Omaha, June 3, 1918. Mr. W. H. Ware, P. O. Box 466, Kansas City, Mo. Dear Sir: I attended a meeting this after- noon at J. P. Palmer’s office. Several business men were present, including Joe Barker and Corliss. These fellows, including Palmer him- self, deem it absolutely necessary that they have the membership list of the Nonpartisan league This list, so Operative Moore says, is kept at the Lincoln office, The client has asked that we have operative take lists from the office files. Personally, I think this is rather an unwise move to make just at this time. Not knowing what attitude you would take in regard to this matter, I have asked the clients to wait until I could hear from you. Kindly advise me in regard to this by early mail. . Very respectfully, (Signed) J. P. M. Kansas City, June 7, 1918, P. O. Box 691, . Lincoln, Neb. Dear Sir: I am in receipt of a letter from General Agent McGrath in which he says ‘the client has asked you to take from the League offices a copy of their membership lists. Al- though we would like to’ please this client and do any and everything for’ him that we can, I suggest that you make some other arrange- ment regarding this membership list. Try, if possible, to obtain the names a few at a time. In this way we may be able to satisfy the client and at the same time not put the service " in a compromising position. Our St. Paul of- fice has been conducting an operation- similar to this one, and it is my understanding that they have had considerable success by work- ing through the. janitor. If you are careful and use good judgment, you may be able to accomplish something along ‘these lines in Lin- coln. This is merely a suggestion, however. An operative must work these out to the best of his ability, and in this case I am going to leave it entirely up to you, but remember, do not place either the service or yourself in a compromising position. ' , Respectfully, (Signed) W. H: 'W. ' my hands. : Kansas City, July 1, 1918, Mr. R. A. Moore, P. 0. Box 691, Lincoln, Neb Dear Sir: General Agent McGrath informs _ me that you were in Omaha Sunday, June 23, riding about the city in an automobile with J. P. Palmer. He also states that on this date there was a meeting of some kind held in Palmer’s office and that it was arranged that you introduce certain parties to the League i ls at Lincoln. It seems to me that your ‘pastexperience would prove of some value in matters of this nature. In the first place, you know better than to be seen in company with the client; in the second place, you know enough not to agree to do anything which would in any way place either yourself or the operation in jeopardy. In the present instance, you have shown very poor judgment in both cases. In future I insist that you interview client only in the presence of General Agent McGrath. * Kindly govern yourself aceordmg to these instructions. Respectfully, (Signed) W. H. W.~ Omaha, July 15, 1918. Mr. W. H. Ware, P. O. Box 466, ° Kansas City, Mo. Dear Sir: Yours of the 12 inst. at hand. I note - what you say in regard to Operative Moore calling on Palmer and others and agree with you that this is not altogether for ‘the . best, but personally I do not think that this is altogether Moore’s fault. As a matter of fact, I am inclined to believe that the client is fi'ymg to take this operation entirely out -of Different things have happened here in Omaha which have convinced me that Palmer is not to be trusted. Palmer makes regular trips to' Lincoln to see Moore, and as far as I can see there is no way to-avoid this. ,_,Bgrt tomorrow I shall have a talk with Joe ‘Barker, Corliss and Mr. Davis and as you sug- gest will call on L. E, Hurtz of Lincoln. Per- sonally I feel that Moore is all right and fully believe that he will remain loyal to the service. Palmer, however, has political ambitions and of course can not be trusted, but I shall keep a close check on all his movements and assure you that he will not get away with anything on this end of the line. § Very respectfully, 4 a from the League files a card index of all the League members of the state. I objected, de- claring that I did not care to take any chances of getting in- to jail. Palmer laugh- ed at my fears and re- plied that the League had no influence in the courts and that he could get me -cleared in any court. He said that he and his clients had succeeded in get- ting the public to be- lieve that the League farmers were disloyal and' that anything could be done to stamp out the League without getting into trouble. TOOK LIST OF LEAGUE MEMBERS . He kept on insisting from time to time that I obtain the list of members which he asked; in fact, he an- noyed me so much with these requests and made two trips to Lin- coln to urge me fur- ther, that finally, to satisfy him, I took a list of the Lancaster . county members from - the ‘files when mno one was looking and took them to Palmer in Omabha. I took the list on Sat- urday and on the next day I carried it to Omaha. Palmer and two girls worked all Sunday afternoon copy: ing the list, and then took the orig’.al ‘bac to Lincoln, replaox ) in the office files Afl on Monday. - From tjme to time I furnished Palmer with such lists of names as I could get hold of without creating sus-, picion. He said he was’ - especially anxious that I get a list of Valley county members, be- cause, he said, Thull, a ‘them out of Nebraska. " the next day and he told me that he had sent easier to ‘beat than Neville. : I. met Herbert Gooch for the first time in Beghtol’s office when the council of war met, but I saw him several times after that. A day or two after this meeting, Gooch came to me with Begh- tol and wanted. to know whether I knew where an organizer named J. W. Bissell and another * named Bowen were working. I told him that both were working near Alliance, Neb.” Gooch replied that he would send a man or two out there to run I saw Mr. Gooch again two men to Alliance and had hired other persons who would “take care” of Bowen and Bissell. He said that was a dangerous part of the state for League organizers. GOOCH TELLS OF PLANS TO MOB ORGANI?ERS “I wouldn’t be surprised,” he remarked, “to hear of Blssell and Bowen being shot; trees are scarce out in that count’ry and they just shoot them down like dogs.” On another occasion Gooch came to me laughing oveg ‘having: had to admit that he had contributed $50 toward the fight against the League. * “If Manahan only knew what I really contributed he’d have something to talk about ” Gooch de- clared. At the time of the state falr, Wolf a reporter for the Star, called me on’ the telephone and asked me to come to his home. I had met Wolf a few days before in Beghtol and Strode’s office. I gave Wolf a story about the League members . being dissatisfied and about ‘League money being sent to St."Paul. Just before I left, Gooch came in, and, ‘on seeing ‘me, declared that they had the League about whipped. So far as I know I was the only person employed to spy on the League, but those responsible for the investigation tried several times to bribe some- one connected with the League to furnish informa- tion. Palmer often spoke to me regarding the ste- nographers and asked if it would not be possible to get one of them to give me more information and to get for me the membership index ecards, which I had refused to steal. He asked particu- larly about the patriotism of the girls working in the office, and I told him that as far as I knew the girls were all patriotic and loyal. I gave him the names of the girls employed as sténographers at the League offices, and he re- plied that he believed he knew one of them, a Miss Desmond. He said he would either approach her himself or have someone in.Lincoln who knew her sound her out as to the possibilities of winning her over to the League opposition. I later learned from Miss Desmond that she had been approached by. 2 man whom she described. From her descrip- tion I judged that the man who'had talked with her was Palmer. I was allowed a very liberal expense account, which ranged from $5 to $7 a day. My method of working was to spend this money on any organizer “who happened to be in town and very often on the stenographers, taking 'them to lunch, and in this way I gbtained considerable” information re- garding the number of League members in the state. and ‘other data of the same kind. = Palmer asked me frequently to._ steal for him ; ; PAGE NINE . ~ (Signed) J. P. M. League organizer, had been -arrested there for being engaged im a e nonessential occupation " and that he did not wish to take a chance of having a member of the jury who belonged to the Nonpar- tisan league. I was relieved of my operation: against the League in Nebraska in September, 1918, as the result, I believe, of a disagreement between Gen- eral Agent McGrath at Omaha and Palmer. Mec- Grath told me that he had informed the business - men at Omaha that Palmer was inefficient and - that he could do the work much better than Palmer. " He urged the business men, he said, “to put the en- - tire investigation into his hands. In the meantime Palmer learned of McGrath’s action, and in order to pay McGrath back in his own coin decided to dispense with the Thiel detec- tive service entirely. I was then transferred to the Kansas City office. Before I left Nebraska Palmer called me into his office and told me that he would like to have me resign my position with the Thiel agency and assist him in his work of fighting the League. ¢ He said that if everything worked out «s he. planned we could get rich from the money we could collect from the operation. He outlined a - plan to organize a national association to oppose . the League, and to collect money from every state where the League was organized. He toJd me he had already written letters to persons in South Dakota and Minnesota. He promised to raise my wages if I would stay with him. I knew, however, of his reputation of being financially. irresponsible and McGrath had .told me that there were pros-. pects of Palmer being eliminated and the Thiel agency again taking up the investigation,