| Show chalcey spoke to roosevelt and received a rebuff odell denies baydes statement with a so help me goda now york nov 16 B B odell jr i former governor of new york and a present chairman of the slate alcan committee was the first before the insurance investigating committee today before his mou was begun samuel chuu sel for james H hyde entered an 01 ejection jec tion protesting against the indea ti gation of the affairs of the unite stales shipbuilding company by ui committee air hughes counsel to the commie tee began by asking mr odell to tei the facts pertaining to the lu trust company charter and the wu ness said he would prefer to tell 01 the whole transaction leading up to the settlement it permitted mr dermyer protested anat it tho comoli tco permitted this it would take atheni far outside the legitimate line of in aulry senator armstrong referred the protest to air hughes who said ue would call it to mr odelas attention the fact of the matter which concerns the committee is dimply the question whether there was any political influence or pressure brought to bear upon the mercantile trust company directly or indirectly to induce a settlement there was not said mr will you state governor said sir hughes whether you had any information with legard to the introduction 0 a bill in the senate for repealing the charter of the mercantile trust company 1 I knew of it at the time yes who advised you of it 1 I knew 0 it before its introduction from whom did you get the information oh various people as to the propriety of the introduction of euch a measure did you suggest its introduction no did you request its introduction 1 I saeno objection to lt did yo ustate that you saeno 0 ejection to the introduction of the measure at the time it was introduced I 1 did yes to whom on to any one who asked me 1 have forgotten what was the ground for that action or approval simply because the scandal incident to the shipbuilding trust was uppermost in the people mind and it was claimed that the mercantile trust company had been behind 15 or 16 cor every one oc which had been insolvent and it waff time I 1 thought lucli matters in the state of new york should be stopped while mr odell was testifying senator depew entered the room continuing mr odell said the bill was intended to provide for an investigation of the mercantile trust company he could not recall that he had an interview with assemblyman fish with regard to the introduction in the assembly of a bill similar to senator amblers repeal bill his only interview with senator ambler about the bill was after it had been introduced at that time he had no suit pending against the mercantile trust company his suit was brought in august 1904 when the bill ft as introduced in march 1904 the witness said he still had every dollars worth of his shipbuilding holdings these holdings acro sold at auction and brought 43 csc against paid for them since their sale witness had had no interest in the shipbuilding company the sale was made because ht felt that there would bo matters of legislation como up affecting shipbuilding affairs and he felt that the governor should not be interested directly or indirectly in the bonds he contemplated bringing an action against the trust company in august 1904 he had no interview with J P morgan regarding his shipbuilding claim but did havo with charles M schwab his interview with mr sch wab was when the company was in the hands of a receiver did you make any statement to anybody in the city of new york that retaliatory measures of any kind would bo taken asked mr hughes never that any measures respecting the mercantile trust company or any one else would be taken if your claim was not settled never he never made any such statement to mr harriman nor did he ever have any interview with mr harriman in which it was suggested that harriman should use his influence to procure a settlement of witness claim against the mercantile trust then said mr hughes 1 I understand your testimony is that you never directly or indirectly used any threat to procure a settlement of that suit no sir was the legislation which was proposed by senator ambler in any way a topic of conversation when the settlement 0 your suit came up never excepting yes when I 1 had a talk with mr hyde he spoke of it and I 1 told him no matter what the outcome of our settlement might be whether I 1 should go into the courts or the case should be settled by the mercantile trust company that there was no tear 0 retaliatory legislation had anything occurred to change your mind as to the propriety of the of eccli measured yea bh tho tad the ilse calumny which mr hyde uttered here as been circulated in the papers and called senator ambler in and I 1 said bat as desirable as I 1 believed the gl I 1 feared that my anfor enate connection with the ig matter was of such a character bat it would be better for him to drop ais legislation that interview took aiace some time during the legislative assion of 1904 mr odell said he told james J hyde i their first interview that the ambler hlll would ba stopped by him that bere was no fear no matter what was lone about his settlement of any ro ali atory legislation he did not bother air harriman about the matter mr odell said he wrote the letter at he request of mr former alce president of the equitable in behalf of mr hydes candidacy tor the ambassadorship this had nothing DO do with the shipbuilding settlement the letter was written before the settlement tl we have had mentioned in the course of your testimony the subject of political contributions so you have stated that you never solicited any from an insurance company were any ever made to you voluntarily no did any ever come to you indirect lya possibly through the national committee and through senator platt the witness said he knew nothing of the efforts of insurance companies to prevent inimical legislation and knew of A C fields activity in the last year in that direction only by hearsay he did not know andrew hamilton he said no money had ever been placed in his hands directly or indirectly for political purposes or otherwise to influence legislation his was not the only shipbuilding suit settled said mr the claim was settled and so were others he felt that his claims were just al course said mr hushes you will under tana tha here to try out the ments of the chalm we are simply interested because define it threats were made that there is no truth in that statement so help me god when his settlement was under discussion cus sion mr hyde said to him that the equitable lite had always made political contributions mr hyde did not however give particulars here mr odell was asked to tell precisely the facts about the introduction of the ambler bill he replied why I 1 had prepared the introduction of that bill and brought the whole shipbuilding case before mr jerome the district attorney of new york and stated that he had better look into it and see whether there was anything connected with or anything in connection with the syndicate which had not been investigated by his office he had the case tor some time and he said to me after several weeks that he had gone into it very carefully care full and had come to the conclusion that there were no grounds tor criminal prosecution in the meantime such concerns as the whiting company and american bicycle trust and some fourteen or fifteen others had been mentioned as having been projected by alexander and green and presumably with the approval and support ot the mercantile trust company all of which had been failures and it was suggested that something ought to be done to stop it and in talking over the matter in conference with people who came in it was decided that some legislation some remedial legislation could be formulated as would prevent the unloading upon the public of these securities among other those which I 1 ave mentioned in the meantime the papers had taken entirely different and antagonistic views of the matter whether they had been inspired or not I 1 do not know but there was or less talk about it being a move to get even with somebody and when senator ambler came in to me and talked with me about it I 1 said to him that under the he better let ahe whole thing drop mr asked to cross examine mr but refused justice erastus P ransom tor george H squire was next called he said mr squire is a very sick man he presented a statement relative to the transactions in lawyers insurance stock and the george H squire trustee former president jacc W alexander of the equitable life assurance society asked squire to have the george H squire trustee carried under that title said judge ransom mr squire never knew ita purpose senator chaancey Chann cey M depow was then called the senator said ha had been a director 0 tha equitable since 1877 and was a member of the uve committee he had not heard of the various trustees accounts until this investigation he kew ottha campaign contributions only in a general way he did not know ohp amount contributed tri buted to the national campaign 1904 he hoped botu state and national legislators would pass alws prohibiting hi these contributions thought ohp contributions were in the interests of the assured at time but be thought the publicity given to the matter lo 10 athla th mand ot everybody senator dupew said lie was asked 0 o na A H alc unfilled various syndicates he had been in during years past and said these had netted him the sum of 1219 la these syndicates be had tied up most of the time and Is still tied up As to his retention as counsel by the equitable society senator depew said hl statement to superintendent hendricka covered tn field but he made an extended statement of his associations with henry B ayd and said he continued as counsel tor the society after the death 0 sir hyde because it was one ot sir dying injunctions to his son senator salary as counsel was a year from 1888 until last spring senator depew on the witness stand at the insurance investigation today testified that he was asked by james hazen hyde to use his influence with president roosevelt to secure mr hyde the ambassadorship to france that he spoke to the president about it and that the president said it was utterly impossible |
