CHARGES AGAINST WILLIAM E. BAKER, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA SUBCOMMITTEE OF COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Wheeling, W. Va., January 21, 1925. The subcommittee this day met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Leonidas C. Dyer (chairman) presiding. Present of the subcommittee: Messrs. Foster, Hickey, Kurtz, Dominick, and Bowling, and Guilford S. Jameson, clerk to the Judiciary Committee, and Joseph G. Rodgers, Sergeant at Arms, House of Representatives. Also present: Hon. William E. Baker, judge. Counsel for Judge Baker: Mr. John J. Coniff, Mr. Frank W. Nesbitt, Mr. Harry H. Byrer. Hon. Thomas A. Brown, complainant. Counsel for complainant: Mr. J. B. Handlon, Mr. Charles J. Schuck, Mr. H. O. Hiteshew. Mr. DYER. The committee will be in order. Mr. SCHUCK. Gentlemen of the committee, I want to call Mr. Fred Clayton. I understand he has been served and that the Sergeant at Arms received a telegram from him in answer to the service, 297 saying that he would be present. Is that correct, Mr. Sergeant. at Arms? The SERGEANT AT ARMS. Yes. Mr. DYER. The marshal will call Mr. Clayton. (No response to the call of the marshal.) Mr. SCHUCK. I will call Mr. Pierce. TESTIMONY OF MR. WALTER B. PIERCE, WASHINGTON, D. C. (The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.) Mr. SCHUCK. What is your name, please? Mr. PIERCE. Walter B. Pierce. Mr. SCHUCK. Where do you live, Mr. Pierce? Mr. PIERCE. Washington is my headquarters; Washington, D. C Mr. SCHUCK. What is your occupation or business? Mr. PIERCE. I am with the Department of Internal Revenue, special agent. Mr. SCHUCK. Special agent in the Prohibition Department? Mr. PIERCE. Yes. Mr. SCHUCK. Of the internal revenue? Mr. PIERCE. Yes. Mr. SCHUCK. How long have you been so engaged? Mr. PIERCE. Since 1923; I think since June, 1923. Mr. SCHUCK. June of 1923? Mr. PIERCE. I think that is when I took office. Mr. SCHUCK. Were you also a member of the bar there? Mr. SCHUCK. Yes. Mr. PIERCE. My application is there, yes. I have not taken the oath. But that is because I have not been present. Mr. SCHUCK. I will ask you whether you were present here in West Virginia, in Clarksburg, during the last April term of the Federal court? Mr. PIERCE. I was. Mr. SCHUCK. How long were you there at that time? Mr. PIERCE. I was there a month. Mr. SCHUCK. Doing Government work? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. I will ask you, while you were there, if you became acquainted with and knew Judge William E. Baker, the judge of this district? Mr. PIERCE. I did. Mr. SCHUCK. While in Clarksburg, I will ask you whether you saw him a number of times during the month that you were there, both off and on the bench? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. FOSTER. What month was that? Mr. PIERCE. April. Mr. FOSTER. Last year? Mr. PIERCE. 1924; yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. I will ask you to state now, Mr. Pierce, whether during your stay in Clarksburg and while the Federal court was in session, you ever saw Judge Baker in an intoxicated condition; and if so, when, and describe it as fully as you can. Mr. PIERCE. Well, this was, I suppose, about 9 o'clock in the evening, the first week of the court. The court convened on the second Tuesday in April. This was either Wednesday or Thursday evening of that week. The judge came downstairs with some friends, the clerk of the court, the United States commissioner-I do not know who the other gentleman was. He was noticeably under the influence. Mr. SCHUCK. Who do you mean by he? Mr. PIERCE. The judge. Mr. SCHUCK. Judge Baker? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. Proceed. Mr. PIERCE. And the clerk was particularly so; much more so than the judge. Mr. SCHUCK. By the clerk you mean Mr. Coffman? Mr. PIERCE. Mr. Coffman; yes, sir. I would not say that the judge was drunk, but he was noticeably under the influence. It attracted my attention. He and the party attracted my attention. Mr. SCHUCK. What caused you to conclude he was under the influence? Tell us everything you saw and noticed? Mr. PIERCE. Well, his general appearance, the manner in which he was talking, the height and pitch of his voice, and the condition of his companions. You usually can tell when a man is under the influ ence. Mr. SCHUCK. What was the condition of the clerk of the court at that time? Mr. PIERCE. He was under the influence also, but more so than the judge; more noticeably than the judge. Mr. SCHUCK. And what was the condition of Gordon, the United States Commissioner there at that time? Mr. PIERCE. He was carrying his liquor well. He was with the crowd. Mr. SCHUCK. And where was that in the city of Clarksburg, if you recall? Mr. PIERCE. The Waldo Hotel; they came from upstairs. Mr. SCHUCK. The Waldo Hotel? Mr. PIERCE. Yes. Mr. SCHUCK. And what time did you say it was? Mr. PIERCE. I should say it was about 9 o'clock. Mr. SCHUCK. In the evening? Mr. PIERCE. In the evening; yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. Where did they go from there, if you know? Mr. PIERCE. They went out, I think, automobile riding. I would not be positive of that. I did not follow them. Mr. SCHUCK. Did you see them again that night? Mr. PIERCE. No, sir. Mr. DYER. What time of the day was it? Mr. PIERCE. It was at night, about 9 o'clock in the evening. Mr. DYER. Was it at the courthouse? Mr. PIERCE. It was in the lobby of the Waldo Hotel. Mr. SCHUCK. Just tell the committee, in brief, where the Waldo Hotel is situated, speaking with relation to the courthouse or the post office building there. Mr. PIERCE. The Waldo Hotel is two blocks, I presume from the courthouse-probably more, two and one-half blocks. It is on Fourth Street. It consumes an entire block. Mr. SCHUCK. Was this during the time that the Federal Court was in session in Clarksburg, during a regular term of court there? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. I will ask you whether you were present some time later during a term of the Federal court at Elkins in this district? Mr. PIERCE. I was. Mr. SCHUCK. I ask you to state to this committee whether or not you saw a crowd or a party having a drinking party, and if so, where and when? Mr. DYER. I think that is improper, unless you mean to connect the judge with it. Mr. SCHUCK. I mean to connect the judge with it in this way. This issue may as well be presented now as at any other time. I mean to show by this witness now that a party took place in one of the hotels there a drinking party-in which the participants became intoxicated: that there was in that party the clerk of this court, a bootlegger who was on trial, another bootlegger who was waiting to be tried, and a fourth man whose name I do not now recall. I do not know his connection. That they got so loud and boisterous that they were put out of the hotel there at that time, and that they were later joined by Judge Baker. Mr. DYER. If he saw Judge Baker in their company, let him state that. Mr. PIERCE. I saw the judge join the crowd across the street afterwards. He went on down toward the Randolph Hotel, and I saw him go in the side entrance of the Randolph Hotel. He was not in the crowd when they were drinking up in the room. Mr. DYER. You did not see him drink, and you did not see him intoxicated at that time? Mr. PIERCE. No, sir. Mr. FOSTER. Or under the influence of liquor? Mr. PIERCE. No, sir. Mr. FOSTER. He was in their company after that? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. HICKEY. Were you one of the company to which you are referring? Mr. PIERCE. No, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. I ask you to state, Mr. Pierce, whether or not the clerk and the bootlegger who was on trial-who was the bootlegger on trial? Mr. PIERCE. Carl Thompson. Mr. SCHUCK. Was he in that crowd? Mr. PIERCE. Yes, sir. Mr. SCHUCK. I ask you whether he, together with the clerk, were very much intoxicated at the time Judge Baker joined them? Mr. PIERCE. The clerk was carrying his worse than the rest. Mr. DYER. Mr. Schuck, I feel I must admonish you that this committee is here at this time to hear testimony upon the following matters: First, charges of intoxication against Judge William E. Baker while on the bench or while in the discharge of his official duties. |