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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, December 21, 1914, LAST EDITION, Image 30

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1914-12-21/ed-1/seq-30/

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BIG BUSINESS HIT AS HOYNE AIMS FIRE AT
TOM WEBB OF TAX BODY
ThomasJ. Webb of the Publ-Webb
coffee coxnpanya business man, and
Thomas J. WebUr--member of the
board of review and a politician, took
the spotlight today.
A $20,000 a year coffee contract
with the Palmer house; the Rock
Island railroad and the St. Paul rail
road and a $25,000 a year coffee con
tract with the Congress hotel are all
ready to be presented to the grand
jury, along with figures showing
whether the big customers of Thomas
J. Webb, coffee wholesaler, were able
to. get lower tax assessments from
Thomas J. Webb, board of review
member, than those who told Webb
they don't want to buy his coffee.
State's Att'y Hoyne gave out a
statement last night which kicks a
hole in a confession given out yester
day by the McGuire & White detective
agency. George W. Lyons of 1369 E.
62d st "confessed" that he couldn't
sleep because of the wrong being
done to Thomas J. Webb. '
"In the employ of' the Burns detective-
agency I got a job as a salesman
for the Puhl-Webb coffee company,"
said Lyons. "I tried to get the taxes
of customers of the. company fixed by
Mr. Webb on the review board, but
couldn't do it Two firms I got for
customers complained before the re
view board their taxes were too high.
Mr. Webb refused to make a reduc
tion. That showed me how square a
man Mr. Webb is."
The McGuire & White agency
through Tom McGuire said: "Lyons
worked for the Burns agency nine
months' under the personal direction
of Raymond Burns. He was ordered
to get the goods on Mr. Webb, so the
Burns agency could bring him
(Webb) to their office and sweat
him."
Hoyne's statement -Is that the ac
tl9P of Webbj Lyons and Maguire
the last two days are meant to throw
a smear of discredit over the tax
investigation. He then gave a short
history of why his office began look- i
ing into whether there is a game on
by which big coffee customers get
their taxes knocked off if they give
out their coffee contracts in the
"right" way.
"About six months ago a coffee ""
wholesaler of St Louis came to my
office," said Hoyne. "He told me that
Webb was getting big coffee orders
from railroads, hotels and restau
rants and leading clubs in exchange
for favors from the tax office, where
Mr. Webb is a member of the -board
of review. He asked me whether I
would use any evidence in uncover- '.
ing tax abuses that he would present.
I assured him I would. He said he
had the Burns agency on the job sev
eral months.
"At a meeting'in the Palmer House
W. J. Burns, his son Raymond, the
St Louis wholesaler and his Chicago
representative met men from .my of
fice. Reports were. "read, showing the
methods used, or supposed -to be
used,, by Mr. Webfr In getting" bfg'con
tra'cts. Names of gentlemen , from
whom business was obtained hi this
way were mentioned, we found what
we believed to be enough evidence to
make the story stand up."
"The Burns agency Tvas not in the
employ of my office. I have never
seen this man Lyons. His story
seems to be one of the detective who
couldn't keep still. Some six weeks
ago Hayden Bell, assistant in care of
the tax investigation, told me there
was a sudden change in the reports
of Lyons and that he was satisfied
Lyons was double-crossing his
clients.
"Bell said he believed Lyons- had
been bought or reached? I told Bell s
to interview Lyons. direct. He did. .
He set a trap' for him and caught I
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