I’ve written several guest columns for newspapers about Carl Magee’s life. A few have recently been published in Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Each column focuses on how Magee’s story was tied to the local community, but all are pegged to the 100th anniversary of the Teapot Dome scandal.
Carl Magee testified before the Senate Public Lands Committee in late November 1923 and early February 1924. His testimony changed the Naval oil lease investigation from a political dispute into a bribery probe. On January 22, 1924, oil mogul Edward Doheny appeared before the committee and admitted “loaning” Interior Secretary Albert Fall $100,000 while they were negotiating drilling in the federal reserve. A week later, the Senate passed a resolution calling on President Coolidge to appoint a special counsel and to begin court action to cancel the Naval oil contracts. Three days after that, Interior Secretary Albert Fall came before the committee and refused to answer any more questions on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.
The investigation wrapped up over the next couple of months. The committee adjourned in May 1924, and in June, Fall, Doheny and oil tycoon Harry Sinclair were indicted.
Jack McElroy Books 