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. Mr. HAYS. Mrs. Dargans, I think the purpose of that question is one-I am sure if you say you don't have any knowledge, you don't, but it is not meant to be an unfriendly question. It might be perfectly legitimate if the chairman were out of town and something needed to be signed and someone was sent to get it. Did you ever hear of that? The WITNESs. I don't recall. ADAM C. POWELL, JR. CCANGAN'S C dine, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully duties of offer on which I am about to enter: So help me God. EACH NEW EMPLOYEE MUST EXECUTE A "PERSONNEL AFFIDAVIT" By Mr. TAYLER: Q. If a staff member had been dispatched on such an errand, would you know or be aware of it, either before or after it happened? A. Not necessarily. Q. You are familiar with Mr. Powell's signature, are you not? Q. I am going to show you a clerk-hire allowance form dated January 4, 1965, designating Y. Marjorie Flores for a change in salary as a member of his clerk-hire staff which purports to bear the signature of Mr. Powell. Would you examine that and tell us whether or not you can identify that as Mr. Powell's signature. A. No. This is not Mr. Powell's signature. Q. How do you know that? A. It is my signature-it is my-I signed this for Mr. Powell. Q. Did you sign that particular form in question there at his direction? A. Oh, yes. Q. Did you have a discussion with him before you completed the form and signed his name to it and forwarded it to the Clerk of the House? A. Yes. I would have to or else I would not have done it. Mr. TAYLER. May that be marked "Dargans Exhibit 6" and admitted into the record at the appropriate place, Mr. Chairman? Mr. HAYS. Without objection, it will be admitted at the appropriate place. (The above-referred-to document was marked "Dargans Exhibit 6" and received in evidence.) Mr. TAYLER. Could I have the Flores paychecks, please? By Mr. TAYLER: Q. Mrs. Dargans, I am going to hand you a series of checks, I believe there are 19 of them, marked as "Gray Exhibit No. 2," which are drawn on the Treasury to the order of Y. Marjorie Flores for various dates starting in Januray 1965 through July 1966. And I ask you to look in the reverse side of each of the copies of those checks and ask you if you can identify the handwriting on the endorsement. First of all, would you for the benefit of the members of the committee-would you read what the handwriting says on the back of the checks? Mr. HAYS. Just on any one of them, I think. Mr. TAYLER. Yes. The WITNESS (reading): Y. Marjorie Flores, Adam C. Powell. By Mr. TAYLER : Q. Now, those checks indicate they were deposited A. You have the handwriting. The other is typed in: For deposit only to the account of Honorable Adam C. Powell, Y. Marjorie Flores, Adam C. Powell. Q. Do you know who endorsed Miss Flores' name on those checks and who endorsed Mr. Powell's signature on there? A. Yes. Q. Who was it? A. I did. Q. Would you examine all of them. Does your answer cover all of the checks that are contained in that exhibit? I see that you have separated them into, is it two groups? A. Yes. Q. So that we won't burden the record, which is the smaller group? Is that the group that you endorsed? A. No. This is the group that I did not endorse. Q. So I take it that you signed Miss Flores' name and Mr. Powell's name on all of the others? A. Yes. Q. Now would you give the dates of the ones that you didn't sign? A. A check dated December 20, 1965, November 30, 1965-as close as I can see, August 31, 1965. Q. What was the first one again? A. December 20. Q. Do you recognize the handwriting on those three checks, on the endorsement? A. I am not an expert, as you know, but it appears to be Chairman Powell's handwriting. Q. Now, with respect to the balance of the checks that you say you signed on the reverse side Mr. HAYS. Could I see those three checks? By Mr. TAYLER (continuing): Q. Would you tell us the circumstances under which you made the endorsements on those checks? A. Yes. At the instructions of Chairman Powell who would send the check over to me, I would endorse them and deposit them to his account. Q. Now, when did you receive for the first time such an instruction from Chairman Powell? A. I am sorry, I don't remember, it has been so long ago. Q. Did you get the instruction prior to the 89th Congress? Does it go back before the 89th Congress convened? A. I believe so; yes. Q. And was the instruction ever renewed or did you simply follow his orders? A. He would send the check to me each month, or with the exception of the checks that you have, whenever I got a check this was my instructions. I got the envelope with the check in it, "Max, deposit" or "Deposit" and it was sent over to me and this is what I did. Q. Did you ever have any conversation with him about why he was depositing Miss Flores' paychecks in his account? A. Miss Flores was Mrs. Powell. Q. Yes. A. Mr. Powell was my boss. Q. I am asking you if you had any conversations with him about it. A. No, sir. Mr. O'CONNOR. May I inject something here? Br. Mr. O'CONNOR: Q. I understood you to say you had a power of attorney from Mr. Powell. A. Yes, sir. 72-404 0-677 |