The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-09
John Rockefeller, Head of the Standard Oil Trus,
Accused of Attempted Bribery.

safety deposit box in New York and the
key given to the attorney general If he
would agree to allow the Standard Oil
litigation to lapse by default.
The negotiations that led up to the
making of this proposition commenced
at the Windsor hotel, in New York. The
man who came from Cleveland to CO.
lumbus to close these negotiations is a
personal friend of Mr.. Monnett. 1t was
this intimacy which protected him in
submitting the roposition, and it is, in
part because of this friendship that the
attorney general declines to make a full
and complete statement of the grounds
upon which George Rice, of Marietta,
made the charge published this morning
that Mr Monnett had refused a bribe to
stop the case against the Standard.
But there is another reason for his re-
ticence.
CANNOT SPEAK PREJUDICIALLY.
The Rice story bears upon litigation
pending in the supreme court, and the
attorney general thinks it would be i'm
proper for him to make statement
which either the public or the court
itself might interpret to be prejudicial
to one of the parties to these cases.
When he returned from Ann Arbor.
Saturday, Mr.. Monnett did not deny
the truth of Mr.. Rice'S statement.
II do not deny it," he said, but you
must not expect me to make any public
statement about it now"
This diplomatic denial, however, did
not prevent the discovery of the main
facts in the case, and when these facts
were presented the attorney general did
not deny their truthfulnesS.
During the second week in January
the self-styled intermediary at Cleve-
land attempted to make an appointment
with the attorney general by telephone.
He was told that Monnett was going
east on business connected with the
Cleveland Bank cases. He said he wish
ed to see Mr. MOnnett on a matter of
great Importance, and referring to the
Standard cases, said: Don't do any
thing until I see you.
According to his own admission after
ward, the Cleveland man jumped to the
conclusion that the attorney general
intended to deal directly with the Stan
New York parties, whom he assumed to
represent, demanding that, per agree
ment, they should leave the matter in
his hands and not attempt to approach
Mr.. Monnett themselves.
These New York parties were three
in number and were not officers of the
Standard Oil company, so the Cleveland
man said, but were to have had a COM
mission out Of the transaction. The at
torney general returned to Columbus
January 10, and on the following Tues
day the Cleveland man appeared. He
talked with the attorney general in the
back part of the office and alone.
Mr. Monnett, as soon as he perceived
the drift of things, insisted that his
interview. Smith Bennett, his assistant
counsel was introduced as the Secre-
tary. and the Cleveland man sat down
on the sofa.
The intermediary is said to have care
fully refrained personally from making
an offer. Such a direct proffer would
have made him liable to prosecution. He
merely informed his hearers that such
a proposition was open. This technical
distinction which may be a little vague
to the lay mind, led the Cleveland man
to recite how he came to be the in
formant selected and then to state the
proposition The latter was in sub
stance that the attorney general was to