The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-05-04
THE TELEPHONE HEARING
ANOTHER SESSION HELD BY COM
MIITEE LAST NIGHT.

ANOTHER SESSION HELD BY COM
lIITEE LAST NIGHT.
No Substantial Progress Made Although
the Hearing Lasted Over Three Hours
Two witnesses Observation-Disclosures
HolbrooIS Cross Questioned Mt Length
and the End Is Not Yet-Anothsr Hear
ing Tonight.
The first matter which occupied the
attention Of the committee on ordinan-
ces at the adjourned telephone hearing
last night was that with reference to
the statement made at former hear
ing by Attorney Alling TO the effect
that Mr.. Breed, one Of the incorporators
of the petitioners, had recently failed.
Mr.. Alling said he was ready to re-
mort the result Of his Investigations with
regard to the same. Attorney Seymour
for the petitioners said that they dld
not care to hear it, that they simply
asked Mr. Alling to retract former
statements, but this he again refused to
do, and he maze no report
The first witness was B, J.. LaWton
of the Connecticut Telephone and Elec-
trio company of Meriden. The firm
with which Mr.. Lawton Is connected
has been in the business of making tel
ephones for the past five years, and In
that time about 25,0 900 Instruments have
been manufactured. They sell the in
struments complete, consisting of trans
mitter, receiver, battery, etc, for Sl3
They are in use in Derby and Ansonia
in this state, also by the Consolidated
railroad; in Des Moines, Ia, In Oswego,
N. Y. Paterson. N. j.. and many other
places. Mr.. Lawton in reply to Mr..
Alling said that in one place the instru-
ment were in use on line 200 miles
long nd were working in a satisfactory
manner.
q. A. Holbrook, who Is president of
the petitioning company, the Massa-
chusetts Telegraph and Telephone Co,
who was testifying when adjournment
was taken at the last hearing, was
called as the next witness He stated
that in the past week the Boston and
New York Telephone company of New
Jersey had been dissolved, and that
since then the Boston and New York
Telephone Co. of Delaware had been in
corporated in it's stead.
Mr.. Aling asked what had been done
with the 81 900 which was paid in when
the New Jersey corpora ton was organ
lied. Mr.. Hobrook said he thought it
had been paid to the attorneys. "They,"
he said, usually get everything"
At this point Attorney S. Harrison
Wagner, for the petitioners, called the
attention of the committee to the fact
that the following bill concerning the
use of streets and highways by private
corporations had originated in the jul |
dietary committee at Hartford.
He declared that if it passed the
Southern New England Telephone COM
pany would be the most grinding mo-
nopoly that ever existed in this state. |
He said that he thought it was time for
the people Of the state to be informed |
of the same, and that the members of |
the judiciary committee would have to
answer for their act to the legislature |
and their constituents Mr.. Wagner
was unable to understand why this bill |
had originated In the judiciary COM
mittee, and said that no one proposed ,
the bill and no one spoke for it.
Replying to this Judge Stoddard said
that he didn't think the statements !
made were entirely correct He said
that according to law the bill ought to
be passed and he hoped it would. The
committee on ordinances decided that
this matter had no bearing on the one
concerned in the hearing and that the
committee would decline to listen to it
any further. Continuing the examina-
ton of Mr.. Holbrook he said that the
Boston and New York Telephone Co.
Of Delaware had taken the contract to
construct the plant in Boston, and that
81, 600 900 would be expended on the
same. Asked again concerning his ed
ucation, witness said that he attended
the Yale theological school for nearly
three years, and when there had be-
come acqua nted with President Dwight
of Yale. He was given an M. A. in
1887, because of his literary efforts. Mr.
Alling asked him to name some of the
books he had written, and he said one
was on the evil Influence of Monopo-
lies" His financial standing and pre-
vious business experience was rehears-
ed at length
Attorney Benjamin Slade then asked
Mr. Alling if he would be willing to ac-
cept the offer made by Mr.. Wagner at
a previous hearing that he would guar
antee the city against losses by filing
a bond of indemnity signed by the
Union Trust company. This bond was
to indemnify the city against
any act of the company. Judge Stod- ,
dard asked If the individuals would
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