, 1879-02-09


from Aug II, 1872, Till Oct. 2, 1876; ant
that, during all that period, the ring O.
stockholders, with the aid Of lawyers ant
purchasing g-agents, succeeded in buying "
the great bulk of all claims at prices ranging
from to 12 cents on the dollar, which were
always worth the 80 cents on the dollar thn'
was finally realized The testimony before
the KNOTT Committee on Saturday revealed
oil this.
The nodus opernndi by which this nent
little speculation was carried ont can scarcely
fail to have an interest for those unfortunate
! policy-aolders whose local pride Ind be-
| trayed then, into tho hauds of this local
company. and who finally parted with their
claims at from onc-six.h to one-fourth OF
their actual value, III despair of ever recetv-
| lug any more. It seems that lodgment IN
the Baukrupt Court was regarded us per-
tnnnent nbiling-piace There was no sched-
ule Of assets, no inventory of the estate, and
no prospect that the retitioning creditors
Ind any Intention Of insisting upon these
usual and rather essential incidents OF
bankruptcy proceeding In tue meantime,
the quiet purchase Of claims progressed
famo11sly. Ouce in while q shIcWd attor-
neo, " smelling MICE" would flo motion,
and the Court would enter rule, requiring
tie bankrupt company to schedule or be
attached for contempt. Such ordor having
been entared III behalf of any particular
creditor, the stockholders or their agents
would pay that person all his claim WIS
worth, and he would assign it to them; the
new owner of the claim would allow
the rule to lapse, or get an order
from tho Court vacating the rule for
a schedule; There were numerous npp!ica-
t'ons of this kind, and one utter another they
were hushed up III ono way anu another,
aud the desired scheduling Of assets was de-
layed until nearly all the claims had beon
gobb!ed up at n small percentage of their real
Value. Some Of The former creditors Of the
Garden City Insurance Company may now
comprehend for the first time why their de-
votion to this particular homo institution
was SO poorly rewarded.
Alr. HOMER Cook, nm attorney for clai,n-
ants, All assignee Of claims, speculator i'll
clnims on his own account aud by proxy,
and finally m agent for the ring Of buyers
aud an attorney for tho defunct Company,
was particularly active in these transactions.
It was difficult to follow this spry gentleman |
in a}i the ramldcations through which he was
led under the Bkillful and iaughable cross
OF Gen. STILES. He would have |
saved himself a good deal Of torment, and
the public considerable mystifcntion, if he |
had admitted at the outset that he was or t
both sides at the same time,-acting pnrtly
for tho creditors, partly for the stockholders.
but chiefly for himself throughout his outire
with this scalping business. In
failing to set out with this confession, md
IN his desperate effort 10 avoid the poiut of
Gen. STILES quick and penetrating ques-
lions, he left q jumble Of testimony, adnlis-
'ions, explanations, aud other explanations
# previous explanations, which is simply
ne1tricnble. It may sorve to nystify the
leeced and deluded creditors Of the Garden
City Insurance Company as much as they
we're before, and leave them only the poor
consolation Of knowing that they received
rom one-slxth to one~fourth as much for
heir claims as they would have received had
here been e prompt and complies show Of
ssets from the start.: