of $541.66 on October 28, 1966, and a similar check, except for the amount, $112.56, and then the third check is dated July 29, 1966, to the order of the Committee on Education and Labor in the amount of $197.15, bearing the purported signature of Adam C. Powell. The fourth check, same date, same payee, same amount, bearing the signature Corrinne Huff. Now, I ask you if you sent those checks to the House Administration Committee with a voucher to reimburse the Government for the cost of certain air travel made by Mr. Powell and Miss Huff and perhaps other members of the committee? A. Yes, sir. Q. Do you have any way of identifying which tickets were being reimbursed by each of those checks? A. Yes, sir. Q. And how would you go about telling us which tickets are related to each check? Is it from your records? A. Yes, sir. Q. Would you take the first check there, give the date and the amount, and the name of the drawer and tell us which ticket that is for? A. October 28, 1966, $541.66 over Adam C. Powell's signature. A. Yes, sir. Q. With his authorization? By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Do you hold a power of attorney on his account? A. Yes, sir. This is for reimbursement of a ticket purchased August 5, Washington to Miami, $112.56 by C. Sumner Stone. Purchased August 5, Washington to Miami, $168.20 by C. Sumner Stone. August 5, Washington to Miami, $168.20, purchased by C. Sumner Stone. August 5, Washington to Miami-now, can I go off the record just a moment to explain this? Mr. HAYS. Yes. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. HAYS. If you don't mind, we would like to have that on the record. The WITNESS. The fourth purchase, on August 5, Washington, D.C., to Miami, in the amount of $168.20 by C. Sumner Stone, of which $75.50 was refunded on August 20, which left a balance on this $168.20 purchase of $92.70, making a total of $541.66, which reflects the purpose of this check. By Mr. TAYLER: Q. That check then was made up by you at Mr. Powell's direction? A. Yes. Q. To pay for the tickets you had mentioned? A. Yes, sir. By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. When did you receive the instructions to make up that check? A. October 26. Mr. HAYS. Can you tell us when the bill came in for that, Mrs. Dargans? The WITNESS. I received the bill in my office on September 21. Mr. HAYS. Was it processed through this wasn't a repayment? It just wasn't paid until October, is that correct? The WITNESS. That is right. By Mr. O'CONNOR : Q. You indicated that these purchases were all by C. Sumner Stone? A. Yes, sir. Q Let's take the $168.20 items. Weren't they round-trip tickets from Washington to New York and New York to Miami rather than Washington to Miami? A. They may well have been, but I took this information from the Eastern Airlines statement which simply indicated Washington to Miami. Q. Did you have any discussion with Mr. Stone before you drew this check for $541? A. My instruction came from the chairman by way of Mr. Stone. Q. What did Mr. Stone tell you at the time you had the discussion concerning these? A. Mr. Stone sent me a memo. Q. Do you have the date of it, please? A. I received it-the memo itself is undated. I received it on October 25. Q. Would you like to read the memo into the record? A. [Reading:] To Mrs. L. M. Dargans. From Chuck Stone. There are 7 trips checked with a red pencil next to charges on the attached Eastern Airlines bill. Please pay for those 7 trips with a personal check from the Chairman to Eastern Airlines. These are his instructions. Q. May I see what you are reading from there, please? (Document provided.) By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Do you know who were the actual travelers on these tickets? (Document returned to witness.) The WITNESS. Yes, I have the names noted. By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. Who are the actual travelers? A. When you ask me who were the actual travelers, I can give you the names which appear as the travelers. Q. Give us the name of the one appearing as the traveler and who the actual traveler was. A. Well, I assume that the name appearing as the traveler was the actual traveler. Q. Do you know who the actual traveler was? A. No, I don't. I just take it from the records. Q. What are the names of the reported travelers then? A. On August 5 for $112.56, C. Sumner Stone. On August 5, $168.20, C. Sumner Stone. Q. What is the actual traveler? A. That is the name listed on this Eastern receipt. Q. I know it is listed. I asked you these are all purchases with Stone's travel card? A. Yes. Q. Who traveled on the $168.20 item? A. I would have to go to look at the coupon to see that a traveleraccording to my records Stone is the traveler, as well as the purchaser. Q. Go to the third then. A. The third one is Cleomine Lewis, $168.20. Q. Cleomine Lewis? A. Yes, sir. Q. Go ahead. A. And the last one is Givens, and I am sorry I don't remember her first name. Q. Does the name "Clark" appear among those? A. No. Mr. DICKINSON. What was the last amount? The WITNESS. A $168.20 ticket, of which $75.50 had been refunded. Mr. DICKINSON. That was Sylvia Givens? The WITNESS. Sylvia Givens, that is right. By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. The refund was on the Givens A. Yes. Q. Let me see if I follow you correctly. The three tickets, one for $112.50, insofar as you know, the traveler was Stone? A. Yes. Q. The $168.20 ticket purchased on August 5, the traveler was Stone? A. Yes. Q. Would that be Mrs. Stone? A. I don't know. I saw C. Sumner Stone on the Q. There are two Stones on the committee? A. No. Q. The $168.20 in the last item is Miss Lewis? A. Yes. That is on this $541 check. Q. You indicated that memorandum from Mr. Stone said the seven trips checked? A. Yes. Q. You have given us four trips. Mr. TAYLER. There was another check I think she said. By Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. The memo from Stone said seven trips. A. If I may explain that, some of the trips-three of them I gave you Q. Maybe I shouldn't get into that. Are they covered by additional checks that you have there? A. Some of them are covered by refunds. Mr. O'CONNOR. You proceed, counsel, because I think you are going to cover that. By Mr. TAYLER: Q. Would you now tell us what tickets are covered by the second check? That is Gray exhibit 1. The second check being also signed by Adam C. Powell, per L. M. Dargans, in the same amount as the first; is that right? A. No, $112 Q. That is for $112? A. And 56 cents. Q. What tickets are covered by that check? A. That covers a ticket purchased by Mr. Stone on August 5, Washington to Miami, and the name of the traveler appears as Emma Swann. Q. Is there any way you can tell when the travel was performed; the tickets having been purchased August 5? A. No. Q. Do you have the coupons from the tickets in your file? A. Yes. Q. You have to check the coupons in order to determine the actual date of the travel; is that right? A. Oh, no. No. I wouldn't have the coupon from the ticket. I would only have the coupon from the purchase which the airline sends in when they send the statement in for payment. Q. Does that form show when the travel was actually performed? A. No; it just shows the date of the purchase of the travel. Mr. HAYS. This is my understanding around here from what I have seen. It would be perfectly impossible for someone to purchase a ticket, lose it, never use it, and you'd pay for it and not know the difference, wouldn't it? The WITNESS. Yes, sir. Mr. HAYS. Or any other members of the staff, because there is no certification from the airline that the ticket was ever used. Only that it was purchased. The WITNESS. I am trying to think. What you said is most important. Mr. HAYS. I think what I said is right, from my experience with the Foreign Affairs Committee. The WITNESS. And you are right, Mr. Hays, because we pay on the coupons when the tickets are purchased. We have no way of telling whether or when a ticket is used unless a voucher comes in, a per diem voucher comes in-no, even then we wouldn't. By Mr. TAYLER: Q. You pay on the transportation receipt? A. Yes. Q. That is what you mean by "coupon"? A. Yes. Yes. Q. Not one of the coupons that you tear off the ticket? A. That you have left; no, no. So that is Q. So you can't tell when the ticket was used or if in fact it was ever used? A. That is right. Q. And from what records you process, you can't be certain that the person who is listed on the transportation receipt as the user was in fact the person who used the ticket? A. No. Q. Is that right? A. That is right. Q. Now can we go on to the third check dated July 29, 1966, in the sum of $197.15, from-yes-from Adam Clayton Powell to the Committee on Education and Labor? And will you tell us what tickets are covered by that check? A. This check covers a ticket purchased on the credit card of C. Sumner Stone, Washington to Oklahoma City, July 27, in the amount of $191.57. The check is $6 more $6 and change more than the actual ticket charged-price of the ticket as it appears on the statement. Q. How do you account for that, if you can? A. I can't. Q. Does that transportation receipt indicate that Stone was the traveler as well as the purchaser? A. I am not looking; I don't have the transportation receipt. I am just looking at the bill. Q. You are looking at the bill received from Eastern Airlines? Q. So you can't tell who the traveler was? A. Not from the bill. Q. Would you have that information on your T-4? A. No. Q. Would you have made a T-4 for these tickets? A. No. Q. Now let's go to the No. 4 check, same date, July 29, 1966, $197.15, again, to the Committee on Education and Labor, bearing the signature Corrine A. Huff. What tickets are covered by that? A. A ticket purchased by Mr. Stone, Washington to Oklahoma City, July 27, in the amount of $191.57. Here again the check is-well, it is six dollars and change over the actual amount of the ticket. Q. Did you receive that check from Miss Huff? A. I received these two checks from the chairman. Q. The one bearing Miss Huff's signature, did you have any conversation with her about that check? A. No. Q. Do you have any information as to who made the trip for which that check pays reimbursement? A. No. Q. Do you happen to know Miss Huff's Washington address? A. No. Q. Do you have that in your files anywhere? A. No. Q. During the period in question here, Mrs. Dargans, to your knowledge were any of the staff members ever sent out of Washington on trips to obtain Congressman Powell's signature on any papers? A. Not to my knowledge. |