"UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE MEN BY NAME"

FIVE MEN MADE $33 MIL IN OIL DEAL SAYS ROXIE STINSON

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 26, 1924, "a hint of an oil deal...was brought by the (Harry) M. Daugherty investigating committee...by Roxie Stinson, divorced wife of the Attorney General's...political lieutenant Jess W. Smith."

According to Miss Stinson's testimony, "five men made $33,000,000" in the deal which occurred in the fall of 1922.

She said she learned this information from her former husband, Mr. Smith and "had to do with stock in the Sinclair (oil) interests which leased Teapot Dome*."

Miss Stinson was unable to identify the five men by name.

*Teapot Dome was a bribery scandal involving the administration of Warren G. Harding 1921-1923.  Before Watergate, it was "the greatest & most sensational scandal in American history."

Secretary of Interior Albert B. Fall was found guilty in 1929 of accepting bribes in the scandal. 

SOURCE

"$33,000,000 Profit In Oil Deal Hinted By Roxie Stinson," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 26, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Teapot Rock, Wyoming

Historic Postcard

"MISS STINSON TESTIFIES BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE"

DAUGHERTY ALLEGED TO BE 'INFLUENTIAL FACTOR' IN 'WHISKY' DEALS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 23, 1924, The Sunday Star reports Miss Roxie Stinson* testified before a Senate investigating committee yesterday about "a 'deal' at the 1920 republican convention to nominate (Warren G.) Harding," and told "of more whisky 'deals'" in which Attorney General Harry M. Daugherty was "an influential factor."

Miss Stinson denied charges from the Attorney General that she had attempted to blackmail him as a price for her silence.

The 'deal' she described as a promise for a cabinet position offered to a "former Oklahoma millionaire oil operator" in return for helping to get Harding the presidential nomination.  Miss Stinson allegedly obtained this information from her former husband, Jess Smith**, who was a "constant companion" to Mr. Daugherty.

*Roxie Stinson (1889-1973) married 35 year old Jess Smith in 1908 when she was 19 years old.  The couple divorced in 1910 but remained close friends.  RS remarried in 1926 & lived in Washington, D.C. for the next 45 years.

**Jess Smith was depressed & in poor health at the time of his death.  His death in Harry Daugherty's apartment on May 30, 1923 was ruled a suicide.  Roxie Stinson held the AG 'morally responsible' for her former husband's death. 

SOURCES

"Daugherty Linked By Woman To 1920 Deal For Harding," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., March 23, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

"Looking Back:  Remembering Roxie Stinson," Record Herald, April  3, 2018, www.recordhearld.com/

 

 

Roxie Stinson's Fortune Told

March 27 1923

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