Sinclair Steps Out

It was midnight in the District of Columbia jail & asylum, the middle of the night for most convicts, the beginning of a new day for one, the beginning of the 200th day since he entered jail for contempt of court and the U. S. Senate. When the hour had struck, he, No. 10,520, stepped out to the prison yard and once more became Harry Ford Sinclair, a free oilman.

"Gentlemen of the newspaper profession" he intoned, grinning, to the talking newsreel machine, "I want to thank you for your kind reception tonight. I hope you will have another opportunity, and I know you will, for a little more training and then I believe you will show marked improvement."

Just what he meant by that he did not explain. His statement for the printed press was handed out--and mailed broadcast to smalltown editors throughout the land--by his Manhattan office. "Railroaded to jail. . . . Sins I have not committed. . . . A man of honor and integrity," were some of the things it said. Also:

"I am a victim of political campaigns to elect honest Democrats by proving how dishonest Republicans were."

Free at last of all charges growing out of the 1922 oil scandals, Oilman Sinclair spent the night in Washington, motored next day to seclusion on his Rancocas stock farm at Jobstown. N. J.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.