The times., 1899-03-21
THE STANDARD OIL HEARING.
1t Comes to n Sudden and Unexpect-
ed Ending.

New York, March 20.-No further testi-
mony was taken today before Master Com
missioner Brinsmaden in the proceedings
for contempt of court which Attorney Gen.
eral F. s. Monnett. of Ohio. has brought
against the Standard Oil Company OF Ohio.
The hearing. which was held at the re-
quest of the Standard Oil Company's at
torney in order that the defence might
take the dispositions of witnesses in this
State, was to have been continued at 10
o'clock this morning at the Hoffman House.
The Commissioner and all of the attorneys
were present, but there was no hearing.
Instead the attorney for the defence made
a formal demand upon Attorney General
Monnett to disclose the name of the in
dividual who is alleged to have approached
him with a $500, 600 bribe in behalf of the
oil company, about which there has been
so much said in the newspapers.
Attorney General Monnett was sitting
in the writing room with George d. Rice,
his principal witness, when Virgil P.
Kline. of counsel for defence, handed him
a letter making the demand, at the same
time stating that he had no witnesses TO
proceed at present. The Attorney General
read the letter and Immediately left the
hotel When asked later IL he would re-
veal the name of the friend he SAID that
it would come out at the proper time
he said THAT will depend upon the court.
| am an officer of the court and upon my
return to Ohio l shall report the receipt
of the letter to the court. After that
determination can be reached as to what is
to be done. The name, however, will
eventually come out
While this turn of affairs put a stop
to the contempt proceedings in this city
so far as the Standard Oil Company, OF
CT
Ohio Attorney General. who is also hot on
the trail of the Buckeye Pipe Line Com
pany. of Lima, which. according to the At
torney General, IS a part OF the Standard
Oil Trust, Just as he alleges that the
Standard Oil Company of Ohio is. Pro-
ceedings looking to the annulment OF the
piping company's charter have been begun
in Ohio and a hearing was set for
O'Clock this afternoon in the law office OF
Charles Edgar Mills. at 115 Broadway.
Mr.. Mills was appointed commissioner TO
take depositions for the State of Ohio.
At the appointed hour the Attorney Cen
eral Bennett, his brother -in-law, and w.
L. Flagg, Rice's private counsel, put in
an appearance. Messrs. Kline and Elliott
appeared for the Buckeye Company. II
was agreed between the attorneys that the
testimony of John D. Rockefeller taken
last October in New York should be con-
record, should it be adjudged competent
in this case
Then Mr.. Rice was put on the stand and
Mr.. Flagg began asking his questions.
Before he got through it sounded like
cross examination. The witness and his
lawyer quarreled for two hours each in
sisting that the other did not know what
he was talking about. To add to the con-
fusion the attorneys for the defence OBJ
jected to every question asked on the
ground that 1t had been gone over with
this witness in this case at Columbus
The gist of Rice's testimony was that
when he surrendered a certificate in the
Standard Trust he got back corporate
scrip from twenty other separately consti-
tuted but allied companies of which the
Buckeye Pipe Line Company was one.
This company did 90 per cent of the pip
ing of oil within its territory. but he did
not know that anyone else had ever tried
to get the business away from it, On his
cross examination he was merely asked
if he had not told all this on the witness
stand in Columbus. He said he had and
that wound up the day. Flagg then ad-
mitted that he had been talking against
time While he was questioning Rice. the
Attorney General was out chasing a man
whom the trust is alleged to have ruined.
He wanted to put him on the stand and
left the Commissioners Office to get him.
He was expected back momentarily. but
did not come and Flagg. who was in the
Buckeye case for the first time today, had
to keep things going as best he could until
time for adjournment. The hearing will
hs Cd ut ~ nt