Warren Harding was elected president in 1920, on the basis
of a promise of strong support for Prohibition, but an equal promise not
to enforce it, especially in the White House. He kept his promise, so far
as it applied to the White House, but not otherwise, and an enforcement
system went into effect, staffed by federal agents.
Gaston Means was an agent and investigator for the Justice Department's
Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner of the FBI). Means made $83 a week
at his government job, but he made far more as a member of a political
gang (the members of which I will sometimes call the conspirators). The
gang was led by Harry M. Daugherty, the Attorney General. The gang installed
Means in a palatial house, situated at 903 16th Street, N.W., in Washington,
D.C. There Means moved in, with his wife and children and there, he spent
most of his time. He had at his constant disposal a $5,000 Cadillac and
chauffeur. In the back yard, he constructed an underground safe for the
keeping of monies, derived from a number of scams including (but not limited
to) Prohibition graft, sales of Federal Judgeships, dismissal of civil
and criminal actions against industrial plants, sales of pardons and paroles,
sales of government lands, etc. Members of the gang included Secretary
of the Interior Fall; Jess Smith, Harry Daugherty's Man Friday, who lived
with Daugherty in Washington and spent much time at 903 16th Street; Gen.
Sawyer, the President's physician; C.F. Cramer, the attorney for the Veteran's
Bureau; John T. King, a lobbyist and politician; Col. T. B. Felder, an
attorney who served as adviser to the clique; and many others.
Publicly, at least, Warren Harding was an amiable, kindly man. He was incredibly
handsome and attractive to the opposite sex, and it was generally known
that he had numerous affairs with a variety of different women. Florence
Harding, Warren's wife, was older than Warren. Unlike Warren, who was not
an ideologue, Florence was a fervent suffragette and crusader for women's
rights. She was also a scold, and made her husband s life miserable with
her constant nagging.
Early in the Harding Administration, Florence Harding summoned Gaston Means
to meet with her. She had heard, she explained, that a vile rumor was circulating
in Washington that her husband had sired an illegitimate son by a woman
named Nan Britton, who lived in Chicago. She asked Means to investigate
the rumor and prove that the story wasn't true. Means, who fancied himself
a great investigator, accepted the assignment. She promised to pay him.
Alcohol Prohibition was a great source of profit to the conspirators who
formed the gang. For a price, government officials could provide papers
which allowed people to withdraw quantities of whiskey and gin from bonded
warehouses. Also, for a price, bootleggers could purchase protection from
federal agents who might otherwise interfere with their business affairs.
Means, himself, frequently travelled to New York to handle these transactions.
There, he would rent two adjoining rooms in a first class hotel, e.g.,
the Vanderbilt. Each bootlegger seeking protection for his business activities,
whether they be in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, or wherever, would be
instructed to come to one of the rooms at an odd time, e.g., 11:42 AM,
2:26 PM, etc., and to bring with him the required sum of money. In the
room there would be a large glass jar, with a large sum of cash, e.g.,
$10,000 or $50,000 already deposited therein (so as to reassure the client
that he was not alone; that others were also purchasing protective services).
Each bootlegger would then deposit the required sum of money in bills,
while Means watched through a peephole in the adjacent room to make sure
that the money already in the bowl was not removed, and that the required
payment was made. Not once was he short-changed, such was the honesty of
his clients. In this manner and over time, Means brought in $7,000,000
from the New York operations, and similar large sums from Detroit, Chicago,
etc.
While all this was going on, Means' investigation of Nan Britton proceeded.
Through nefarious means, he managed to gain admittance to the apartment
in Chicago where Britton was staying, and to actually steal letters which
Harding had written to Britton, confirming his affair with her. Means also
found numerous gifts which Harding had made to Britton s son, e.g., a ring,
a baby carriage, etc. Thus, the investigation did not serve its intended
purpose: it confirmed, rather than disproved the rumors. It also led to
the suspicion, in Means' mind, that the conspirators were using the affair
to blackmail the President into signing executive orders, transferring
certain government oil leases from the Navy Department to the Secretary
of Interior, who, as a part of the conspiracy, sold them to private interests
(the Teapot Dome Scandal ).
Eventually, Means reported what he had found to Mrs. Harding. She demanded
that he go back to Chicago and actually steal all of the gifts which had
been given to the baby. Incredibly, he did exactly that, returning with
all of them except the baby carriage.
Mention has been made of Jess Smith. He was a former haberdasher
who had come to Washington with the Hardings and Daugherty, from Ohio.
As time went on, rumors began to circulate of possible indictments. Jess
Smith was a frequent visitor to the residence on 16th Street and, on the
occasion of one of his visits, he revealed that he was fearful for his
life; that he thought that he might be singled out by the conspirators
for knowing too much. He had heard that there was a little white powder
which was sometimes slipped into the food or drink of suspected traitors,
to kill and silence them, and this worried him. He disclosed, however,
that as a protection, he had kept detailed records of all of the relevant
transactions carried out by the gang, including the Prohibition payments,
etc. When word of this reached the conspirators, they were filled with
fear; everybody had agreed not to talk, but nobody was sure that Smith
wouldn't talk; he was considered a weak link.
On May 30, 1923, at 4:00 AM Means received a telephone call from one of
his superiors, telling him to come to the Wardman Park Hotel. When he arrived
at the Hotel, he was confronted by one of his superiors at the Bureau of
Investigation who advised him that Jess Smith had shot himself. It was
believed that Smith was carrying on his person the papers which were his
insurance. Means was told to search the body and retrieve the papers.
Entering the apartment, Means saw Smith's body lying on the floor with
arm extended, a revolver on the ground just three or four inches beyond
the outstretched hand. This surprised Means very much, because he knew
that Smith had an extreme aversion to guns and had never fired one in his
life. Furthermore, nobody in the hotel had heard a gunshot. Means wondered
whether Smith had been killed by a little white powder and then shot and
moved to the hotel. Whatever the case, Means searched the body and found
a shoulder harness, holding a large cache of papers. He removed them and
gave them to his superiors. Thus, another crisis was averted.
There were, however, other crises. Florence and Warren Harding had been
preoccupied with winning a second term. But Mrs. Harding began to become
even more preoccupied with Nan Britton. Ms. Britton had come to Washington
to be closer to the President, and she began seeing him in both the White
House and friends' homes. Mrs. Harding became aware of these visits and
became increasingly agitated. At a meeting at the White House Florence
Harding confronted Means. She had heard that there was a little white powder
which could be slipped into a person's food or drink and would induce death.
She demanded of Means to know where she could get some of this white powder
but, according to his account, he did not tell her.
In July, 1923, the Hardings departed on a vacation trip to Alaska. Coming
back, in Vancouver, the President was taken ill with what appeared to be
food poisoning, although no one else in the party became ill, despite having
eaten the same food. The party continued from Vancouver to San Francisco
by train. When they got to San Francisco, the President and the First Lady
checked into a hotel, where the President was attended by his physician,
General Sawyer, and by his wife. There, the President suddenly died.
Returning to Washington for the funeral, Florence Harding summoned Means
to a meeting at the home of a friend. There, Means relates the following
conversation:
"She continued: 'and one day, he [the President] was writing a letter.
I casually asked him - to whom he was writing. He replied that he was writing
to his old father - in Marion. He lied. That letter was to Nan Britton.
I intercepted it...No - I have no regrets. ...............
I was alone with the President... and only for about ten minutes. It was
time for his medicine...I gave it to him...he drank it. He lay back on
the pillows for a moment. His eyes were closed...He was resting...Then
- suddenly - he opened his eyes wide...and moved his head and looked straight
into my face. I was standing by his bedside.'
As she paused, I could not refrain the question:
You think he knew?
'Yes, I think he knew. Then - he sighed and turned his head away - over
- on the pillow...After a few minutes, I called for help. The papers told
the rest.'"
After the funeral, Mrs. Harding went to live for a time with the family
of General Sawyer in Ohio. While she was there, General Sawyer died, suddenly,
in a manner very similar to President Harding. Some months later, Florence
Harding also died.
The Harding administration and its aftermath were littered with the corpses
of people who might have revealed many secrets but were silenced. G.F.
Cramer, attorney for the Veteran's Bureau allegedly committed suicide.
Lawyer Thurston, an independent Boston attorney who collected Alien Property
graft, died suddenly in Boston. Col. T.B. Felder, who served as adviser
to the Harding clique and as Means' personal attorney, died suddenly in
Savannah, GA. John King, a politician and lobbyist indicted with Daugherty
in the Alien Property scandal, died suddenly in New York. C.F. Hateley,
an Agent of the Justice Department who was close to Daugherty, died suddenly
at the Burlington Hotel in Washington.
In October, 1923, Means, himself, was indicted. The conspirators devised
a scheme: Means was to plead guilty, saying he was solely responsible for
the acts charged in the indictment. He would not talk to prosecutors or
the press and, in return, it would be arranged that he receive a large
monetary fine, but no jail time. At the last moment, for reasons which
Means does not make entirely clear, he changed his mind, and testified
against the gang in Senate hearings. At that point, the deal fell through
and, when he entered his guilty plea, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment
in Atlanta Penitentiary. He served all three years, and was released July
19, 1928. He did, however, live to tell his story.
http://www.forces.org/evidence/colby/harding.htm
Related link: The Teapot Dome Scandal.
Albert Fall, was at the center of The Teapot Dome Scandal
http://kol-ami.org/sermon3.htm
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