Hogan contended evidence by the
Government In the trial court failed
to show any connection whatever be
tween the contract and the loan, made
between old friends who have slept
out under the stars together, upon a
promissory note. It was not cus
tomary in case of bribe-giving, he
said, to take promissory notes, and he
further held the policy of taking the
oil from the reserves had originated
In and been developed at the Navy
Department.
Fall Activity Denied.
He insisted that while Fall, most
of the time absent at his home at
Three Rivers, N. Mex„ was consulted
from time to time in the develop
ment of the policy, that he had no
active part in framing or promoting
jt_ There was abundant evidence to
show, he added, that Denby had not
been an "imbecile,” as the District
Court at Cheyenne stated In the Sin
clair case, he must have been if it
were true he did not know what was
being done.
Hogan argued Denby had main
tained close and careful scrutiny and
supervision in the development of the
policy advocated by Admiral Robin
son, who was described by Govern
ment counsel, he stated, as being a
super-enthusiast. Robinson's earnest
advocacy of the storage of the naval
oil was attributed by Hogan to his
zeal In looking after the welfare of
the Navy.
Prosecution of the cases was at
tributed by Hogan to a wave of
hysteria which swept over the coun
try prior to the 1920 presidential cam
paign.
“We are told that Fall and Doheny
secretly entered into a conspiracy,”
he exclaimed, “in which it was agreed
that Fall would deliver the contracts
and leases upbn the promise that he
would receive as a bribe $100,000.”
Fall Simply Consulted.
