As to the $5,000 hereinbefore referred to, and which amount George Sorenson hinted to McKinley and I would be sufficient to influence United States Attorney Hall to the end that the indictments against us would be quashed, we agreed with Sorensen to produce the amount named if he could give us any assurance that Hall would live up to the arrangement, whereupon he asked for time in which to consult with Mr. Hall, and on the following day he returned with the assurance that it would be agreeable to the District Attorney and that, if I would meet Mr. Hall in St. Louis, where he expected to spend his vacation in visiting the Fair, the money could be paid to him by me personally at that time. This I consented to do, but as McKinley neglected to fulfill his part of the obligation, the matter was dropped, as I did not feel justified in putting up the entire amount myself.
Some time after my conviction in the "11-7" case, the Federal Government indicted George Sorenson because of his connection with the $5,000 bribe referred to, and Mr. Hall himself, while on the witness stand during the trial of Sorenson, admitted that the latter had offered him the money, but was unable to suggest any excuse for his failure to have him brought to account forthwith for his conduct on that occasion.
At the time the indictments were returned against myself and associates, my attorney, F. P. Mays, advised that it was for the best, as it was sure to come, sooner or later, and that, with his friend John H. Hall in office, he could arrange with him to have the trials put off from time to time and would eventually have the matter quashed altogether. Mr. Hall at that time had full control of the situation, but when it developed later that the Government had appointed a special assistant to prosecute the cases, the status of affairs was materially changed, and more particuarly after Mr. Heney appeared on the scene to prosecute an investigation of the situation prior to the commencement of the trial. It was then, no doubt, that the thought developed in the minds of such men as F. Pierce Mays and Senator Mitchell, that McKinley and I were of little consequence, and then, too, in my opinion, that the plan was conceived to sacrifice us through arrangements made with Mr. Hall to that end.
To be sure, the unexpected, which always happens, occurred when Heney appeared unbidden upon the scene. He was the unknown quantity which is never taken into consideration, and which usually upsets all calculations; but that was no reason why Hall should have consented to make flesh of one and fowl of the other, nor any excuse for our old pals to turn their backs upon us, as described in another chapter, as soon as we were convicted.
It is true the Old Guard, with its political sway in Oregon covering a period of more than a quarter of a century, had endeavored in every possible manner to discount Heney in public estimation as soon as it became apparent that he was to have charge of the Oregon land fraud prosecutions, and kept up a constant anvil chorus with that idea in view.
United States Senators Mitchell and Fulton had registered a solemn protest with the Department of Justice against Heney's appointment, and in this scheme to nip the latter's ambition in the bud, and at the same time protect their friends, they were aided and abetted by Judge M. C. Burch, Assistant Attorney General of the United States, according to a statement made by Heney himself during the course of his argument in the Hall conspiracy case later on.
That Heney keenly appreciated the situation is evident from the fact that for the first three days of the trial, while Hall was keeping him in the background all he could, and trying to make it appear that the famous prosecutor was merely his assistant, Heney became warmer around the collar all the time, and kept sliding further and further under the big courtroom table until at last only the back of his neck was visible, and it resembled a brush heap on fire.
I was in high glee over his discomfiture, and we all came to the conclusion that the imported Government prosecutor was a false alarm, after all; but about the middle of the third day, however, after Hall had personally selectedPage 138
