Mr. BAUMAN. When did Major Barrett want to close?

Mr. Lowe. He wanted to settle on August 5.

Mr. BAUMAN. Between the time of the signing of the contract and the time that the deal was ultimately called off, was Major Barrett ever present on the farm?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. How many times would you say that he was there? Mr. Lowe. I could not be dogmatic about the number of times he visited the farm. He was there nearly every day except over the week ends.

Mr. BAUMAN. You say he was on the farm nearly every weekday; is that right?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. And was he there alone on these occasions?
Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. Who would accompany him?

Mr. Lowe. Well, several different detectives came with him. Each time Mr. Shade came that I saw him on the farm; I was not present on the farm each time that he came and so I do not know exactly who came with him.

Mr. BAUMAN. Was he always accompanied by some police officer? Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. Now, the original contract contained a clause to the effect that, if either party defaulted, that party would have to pay a 10-percent forfeiture; isn't that correct?

Mr. Lowe. Correct.

Mr. BAUMAN. About July 25, Major Barrett indicated to you that he did not want to go through with the purchase of the farm any more; is that right?

Mr. Lowe. He indicated that to my attorney, but not to me.

Mr. BAUMAN. In any event, that was communicated to you.
Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. What happened then?

Mr. Lowe. I don't believe that I follow your question, sir. Mr. BAUMAN. What efforts did Major Barrett make to collect this $1,000 back from you?

Mr. Lowe. Well, he made several efforts by way of blackmailing me and my family; and, rather than become involved under such conditions, I personally went to his office in Washington and signed a release to give him back his $1,000.

Mr. BAUMAN. I show you this release which has already been marked in evidence, and ask you if that is the original.

Mr. Lowe. That is.

Mr. BAUMAN. Will you tell the committee what the nature of the attempted blackmail was, Mr. Lowe?

Mr. Lowe. Well, he sent a detective to Winchester, Va., to investigate my record there. He sent a detective to Frederick, Md., who spent an entire day in the courthouse trying to find out something about me. He sent Mr. Shade to Emergency Hospital, where my father is em ployed, and made very damaging threats both to me and to my father. Mr. BAUMAN. What was the nature of those threats?

Mr. Lowe. Well, he threatened to have my father fired from Emergency Hospital if the $1,000 was not returned. He threatened to

on me, and he threatened to publish much of my own personal life in the newspapers which would blaspheme my life and character, and I didn't propose to go through that embarrassment, and so I decided to give him his $1,000 back.

Mr. BAUMAN. Did Detective Shade ever tell you that Major Barrett wanted the original or your copy of the contract back?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. Tell the committee the circumstances pertaining to that.

Mr. Lowe. Mr. Shade told me in the major's office, on the day when I signed the release, that the major demanded my copy of the contract. I informed him that I was unwilling to surrender my copy of the contract until all three copies had been assembled in Mr. Boyer's office and destroyed at one time.

Mr. BAUMAN. Did you ultimately give that copy of the contract to anybody?

Mr. LowE. I gave it to Mr. Boyer.

Mr. BAUMAN. And do you know whether that copy was destroyed? Mr. Lowe. I did not check to find out, but I presume it was.

Mr. BAUMAN. In any event, you have never seen it again; is that correct?

Mr. Lowe. That is correct.

Mr. BAUMAN. I have no further questions of this witness, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Witness, please stand aside.

Senator WELKER. Just a minute. How old are you, Mr. Lowe?
Mr. Lowe. Forty-three.

Senator WELKER. Are you a married man?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. Have you ever been married?

Mr. LowE. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. In yesterday's testimony from Major Barrett, Mr. Lowe, he informed the committee that one of the reasons why he wanted the papers back was that he didn't trust you because of your past record with respect to dealings in matters of business and otherwise.

I am asking you this question: Did you at any time ever represent to Major Barrett, his attorney, or anybody else that they would be entitled to $2,500 from the State of Maryland which was due the prospective purchaser from the State of Maryland for a right-of-way or an easement to that property?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. You never had anything to say to him about that? Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir; but not in the amount of $2,500.

Senator WELKER. How much in amount did you say he was entitled to?

Mr. Lowe. I explained in detail to him that there was a case pending between the owner of my farm and the State road commission whereupon the State road commission would pay $1,539 less cost to the rightful owner of the property at the time the case was settled, and if Major Barrett was the owner of the property at the time the case was settled he would receive the $1,539, if so decided by the court, and I wanted to be perfectly honest with Major Barrett, and so I had

I could have left that out, and my attorneys have advised me that I did the wrong thing to include that, but I wanted to be perfectly honest and fair with him in dealing with him, because in the beginning I had no ill feeling toward him and trusted him implicitly as chief of the police force here in Washington, and so I wanted to give him everything that was due him.

He understood very clearly that the matter was to be decided by the court. The former owner of that farm was Mary E. Famous, who on September in the year before I bought the farm signed a contract. with the State road commission for that piece of property. In March of 1951 she conveyed that same piece of property to me under deed. I therefore felt entitled to the $1,539 and felt that it was mine instead of Mary Famous'.

Senator WELKER. Did you ever get the $1,539?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir; I did not.

Senator WELKER. And you knew-didn't you-at that time that the prior owner did get the $1,539 ?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. Who did get the $1,539?

Mr. Lowe. It was only about 2 or 3 weeks ago that I signed a release waiving my rights to Mary E. Famous.

Senator WELKER. And that was the prior owner?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. Why did you do that?

Mr. Lowe. Because I was under contract with another purchaser to buy my farm, and under the terms of my contract with him he was obligated to make the mortgage payments on the farm. He refused to make the mortgage payments even after being ordered to do so by the court.

Mary Famous ordered a foreclosure because she did not receive her $200 during the month of November. The only way that I could save the farm from being foreclosed was to offer to give her the $1,239 that remained.

Senator WELKER. You would rather give her the $1,239 than to get the $200 for the monthly payments in arrears?

Mr. Lowe. She would not accept the monthly payments, sir.
Senator WELKER. She wouldn't accept it?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. And you want to tell this committee that you waived away $1,239 by virtue of her going to foreclose on one monthly payment of $200?

Mr. LowE. That's correct, sir.

Senator WELKER. Now, did you ever say anything to the prospective purchaser, Major Barrett, about a $2,500 corn crop then growing upon the premises?

Mr. Lowe. I did, sir.

Senator WELKER. Did you salvage $2,500 out of that growing crop? Mr. Lowe. I did not salvage anything from it. After Major Barrett informed my attorney that he did not want the farm, the next day I signed a contract with a man by the name of Kirk who very shortly thereafter moved on the farm and failed to harvest the corn crop. Senator WELKER. As a matter of fact the corn crop netted exactly nothing?

Senator WELKER. It is true, however, that you told Major Barrett that there would be a valuable corn crop on the premises should he take the premises?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir; but I did not state any amount of money, because no one would have been able to ascertain the amount of money due from that corn crop. There could have been $2,500 worth of corn there one day and a storm could have destroyed it the next day, but I did not mention the $2,500 item.

Senator WELKER. Now you described who was present with you when this money transaction took place. You never received the money. Mr. Fisher took the money as the agent for the real-estate concern; is that correct?

Mr. Lowe. Correct, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlemen of the committee, I am obliged to leave to attend a meeting of the Sesquicentennial Commission at the White House. Senator Hunt, please preside until I return.

Senator WELKER. Will you read the last question.

(The last question was read by the reporter.)

Senator WELKER. Now I want to go for a moment to the transfer of money that was given to Mr. Fisher as agent for the realty concern. Who again was present at that time?

Mr. Lowe. Major Barrett, Mr. Fisher, and I.

Senator WELKER. Where were you standing?

Mr. LowE. We were standing inside of a 30-foot machine shed. Senator WELKER. And will you describe for the committee just how you were standing. Were you next to Major Barrett or where was Fisher?

I want the complete picture of this, sir.

Mr. LowE. We were standing face to face. I cannot recall the exact position, but Mr. Fisher and I were looking at Major Barrett as he took this money from a manila envelope.

Senator WELKER. And where did he get the manila envelope?
Mr. Lowe. Out of his pocket, sir.

Senator WELKER. What pocket?

Mr. Lowe. That I do not remember, sir.

Senator WELKER. You mean you were standing face to face?
Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. Saw him remove an envelope that later proved to contain many thousands of dollars, according to your testimony? Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. You don't know where he got it, from his hip pocket, his vest pocket, or his side pocket?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir; I do not remember.

Senator WELKER. How large an envelope was that?

Mr. Lowe. It was a large envelope, larger than a six and threequarter. I don't remember the size.

Senator WELKER. It wouldn't be as large at this?

Mr. Lowe. No.

Senator WELKER. The ordinary long-sized envelope, am I correct, Mr. Witness?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir: manila.

Senator WELKER. That would be the color of this, being slightly dark brown?

Senator WELKER. How did he get the money out? Did he count out the money first or take it out in a bundle?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir, he took it out-10 $100 bills.

Senator WELKER. You noted that very carefully?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. How did you happen to see the $1,000 bills?

Mr. Lowe. Well, I was looking at the envelope, of course, and when I saw him take the 10 $100 bills out, I noticed that he had some remaining money in the envelope, and it was open and I could see it. Senator WELKER. You saw the $1,000 bills very plainly?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. How could you do that? Did he hand it over to you?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir; but he had the envelope open in his hand. Senator WELKER. You told me that he didn't take all of the money out, that he counted out 10 $100 bills. Now I want to know how you saw what was left in the envelope.

Mr. Lowe. Well, he took his hand and just took out 10 $100 bills and had the envelope in his hand, and of course I saw the money in his envelope.

Senator WELKER. You saw two or three?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. They were side by side or on top of each other? Now how did you see the other two, if you saw one?

Mr. Lowe. Well, I presume that the other bills were thousanddollar bills.

Senator WELKER. Oh, you are presuming then.

Mr. Lowe. I saw two or three more bills in his wallet, and the first one that I saw was a $1,000 bill.

Senator WELKER. Now Mr. Witness, do you mean to come here testifying upon a very material matter for a human being, whether or not he be the ex-major of the Washington, D. C., Police Department or anything else, you are under oath testifying upon a matter that might send a man to the penitentiary, do you want to leave the impression with this committee that because you saw one $1,000 bill, you assumed there were two more?

Mr. Lowe. Well, of course, sir, I do not have proof that the rest were $1,000 bills.

Senator WELKER. As a matter of fact, then, this committee could well disregard your testimony about two or three $1,000 bills?

Mr. Lowe. As far as being positive about it, yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. You are not testifying to anything before this committee that you are not positive of, are you?

Mr. Lowe. It's not my desire to do that, sir.

Senator WELKER. You certainly aren't positive then to anything other than seeing one $1,000 bill, are you?

Mr. Lowe. No, sir.

Senator WELKER. Mr. Lowe, you have had some unfortunate experience with law-enforcement groups in past years, have you not? Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. You are a man with a police record?

Mr. Lowe. Yes, sir.

Senator WELKER. How many times have you been arrested?