The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-04-28
BEFORE THE JUDICIARY


Several witnesses Examined Yesterday
Statements by mmisstOner Belts
CounseI-Hearsay Evidence Excluded
by the Committee-The State Board of
control.
An adjourned hearing on the house
1oint resolution No. las, regarding the
legal expenses of the insurance commits
sioner and the history and final settle
ment of the suit against the Aetna Lille
Insurance company, was held before
the judiciary committee of the general
assembly in Hartford yesterday after
noon.
A number of New Haven gentlemen
were present, among them being Mayor
Farnsworth, Attorney ]. B. Goodhart'
Attorney 3. Il. Lynch, Attorney James
T Moran James e. Mccain and Attor-
new Isaac Wolfe. Attorney John w. Al
ling and Judge Hungerford appeared as
counsel for Mr.. Belts. Subpoenas had
DeGn Issued IOI l6Il NililCSoNH' bNN O-N''
five were present.
Attorney General Phelps opened the
hearing by stating that in accordance
with the power given to the commlttee
he had been called in to assist in the
case and that Mr.. O'Su!livan had given
him an outline Of his evidence that ne
might make Intelligent inquiries Of the
witnesses He had found that the evil
dence of the witnesses present would
be circumstantial, and that the wit
nesses not present would be the ones
who would testify to important facts.
Three OF the important witnesses were
not present, and he agreed with
Mr.. O'Sullivan that without them 1T
would be impossible to get at the facts
and difficult to establish Mr.. OSulli-
vans claim. 1ie said he stated that
to the conmitte so that 1t could take
such action as it deemed advisable.
Mr. Kenealy-"As / understand you,
these subpoenas were not served that
service was impossible owing to the alb
sence Of the witnesses"
Mr.. Phelps-"I understood from the
return of the subpoenas that the wit
nesses could not be found"
that the committee agreed that it would
still, in the absence of witnesses, be the
duty of the committee to proceed with
the investigation, not of any charges
but supplemental matters. He said:
1--WE should commence with the be-
ginning Of the action. and thus go on
to the supplement, but if witnesses are
here to testify to that we can proceed
without the witnesses that you name.
I spoke to Mr.. Alling a few days ago
and he said that Mr.. Belts would be
ready to make an explanation and in
fact desired to-"
Mr. Alling-"We, counsel for Mr..
Belts are ready to explain the whole
history Of the suit at any length that
the committee may desire to hear. One
thing is Of more Importance than that.
The suit was a matter which goes back
into ancient history in the case. I
found In that suit that Mr.. Belts was
anxious to carry it through. We new
err forgot that the stockholders were
entitled to consideration. Now there
appear charges against Mr.. Belts. We
are helpless in the hands Of the COM
mittee, and It has been a great trial to
an officer who has served the state
magnificently and who has achieved a
great success that he should be met
with charges from an onerous source
] do say to this commtte that he is
an officer Of the state. His reputation
Is dear to him He will take no step to
prejudice that. But do think that
this committee should at some time put
an end to this personal attack. An Of
T. 1t
sib1e way. He can have no investiga-
ton, and 7 request this committee to
make an end to the investiga ton Of Mr.. |
O'Sulliver's charges"
Mr.. ,Alling then referred to the pro-
gress Of circumstances which led up to |
the suit against the Aetna Life Insur-
ance company and how the question !
arose as to how the company had earn |
ed 100000 in the stock department and |
how 1t was learned that this had been |
earned in the mutual department and |
how Commissioner Stetton went as far
as he could in an investigation of the
matter. The contention that the mu-
tual department had earned these sums
was always bone of contention to the
time when Mr.. Belts began the investi-
cation of the company's affairs. The
Aetna company was one of the first |
that he had to investigate, each COM
pany being investigated once in four
years. His attention was directed to
the stock and mutual department and
he believed that they had not been con-
Quoted on business principles In 1895
he had greater powers than Mr.. Stetton
ever had, and it was concluded that the
insurance commissioner had power to
bring the action which he did bring.
When the suit was started there was
some doubt as to whether the investi-
cation could go back to 1865. At the
time the suit was brought the first OBJ
ject we had was to compel the mutual
and stock departments to be conducted
on business principles. The complaint
was that the company had transferred
its paid up business in the mutual de-
partment to the stock department and
that paid UP policies were then issued
from the stock department We receiv-
ed suggestions of compromise in April
1895 We had sustained so far as the
supreme court could, that we We're en-
titled to investigate the company since
1866 Then our troubles began. AT the
least calculation it would have taken |
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