The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-21
Remember Furna cevhlle!

Now appears Mr.. FRANK S. BLACK,
counsel for Mrs. HANNAH ELIAS and
somewh hat widely known as an ingenious
practitioner of criminal and other law
with an amended defence of the Furnace
vile transaction and Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor HlGGINss part IN the same.
Mrs. ELIAss lawyer is the fifth person
to attempt this ungrateful job. Each at
tempted explanation is radically different
from the others The first was made by
ODELL himself He offered the brazen
statement that while there might have
been some ground for Attorney-General
CuNNEEN' s protest against the final allow
ance to the Hartman concern OF rock
rates for dirt excavation the fraudu-
lent paymem was, in effect, an indirect
method of settling another and entirely
distinct and legitimate claim OF HARR1-
MANS company namely, claim Tor
loss of prosl ecrve profits occasloned
by the States suspension of work on
the canal, and that this sort of ADJUST
ment was within the discretion OF the
Canal Board and a common expedient in
business. The falsity and impudence
OF the Odell defence was promptly ex-
posed by Mr.. CUNNEEN, who showed
from the records that the claim for loss
of profits was directly and separately
itemized and directly and separately
allowed by the Canal Board. Since then
Mr.. ODEIl. has not been heard from on
the subject of rock rates for dirt excava-
ton by his patrons company.
Next came the elaborate explanation
and defence prepared by Justice MILLER,
who as ODELLs State Comptroller had
sat on the Canal Board along with Mr..
HIGGINS and Mr.. CUNNREN, and had
voted on Furnaoeville with HIGGINS
and against CUNNEEN. The former
State Comptroller, of course, discarded
OpEILs ridiculous plea, but that which
he put forth instead was equally ineffec-
tive in influencing honest opinion.
Why, said Justice MILLER, "the fact is,
no such item las the $1s,8ls] was con-
tanned in the claim of the Furnaceville
Iron Company; no such item was rejected
by the preceding board; and no such item
was allowed by the succeeding board;
and he. proceeded with multitude OF
words to obscure as far as possible the
fact that the ques ton before the Canal
Board in 1902 and 1903 was not as to the
status in canal bookkeeping of the money
which had been paid to the Hartman
concern under a false classification of
the work performed, but as to the hon
esty or dishonesty of the original claim
and as to'the allowance or recovery OF the
s1s ,e1s on the final adjustment with the
withheld money more than
sufficient to cover that item still being
in the possession of the State. The Miller
defence, like the Odell defence, was at
once demolished by the Attorney Cen
eral in his Buffalo speech Of Oct IL.
of dates, it is interesting to
note that Justice MIXERS statement in
behalf Of HARTMAN, ODELL and HId-
GINS appeared on Oct. Ii. and that on
Oct. IS, seven days later, Justice MILLER
was designated to sit in Part II. Of the
Supreme Court of the First Judicial dis
trict, a transfer that raised his salary
from 5000 to $l7,5oo a year.
The third defence Of Furnaoeville
proceeded from the secretary and treas
urer of the Hartman concern. His
statement rapudiated the Oden state
ment utterly, asserted the honesty of the
claim for rock excavation under Contract
No. 0, pointed out that the engineers
employed by the State had certified to
(which nobody had questioned
declared that Mr.. HARTMAN knew but
little" about the business.
Fourth came Mr.. HIGorNs in his speech
at the Madison Square Garden night
before last. This is the first time, so far
as we know, that the Odell candidate
for Governor has referred publicly in
any way to the matter. He denounced
the charges of MIR. CUSNREN as "a wan
ton attack on my integrity" and as ma
licious falsehood" Mr.. HIGGINS merely
begs the question when he asserts that
"by the overwhelming weight Of evil
dence it was established that the COM
pany had excavated under its contract
1858 yards Of hard pan which could not
I've ploughed that there had been no
fraud or oollusion, and that no deduc-
ton on that account was justified His
friends are likely to restrain him from
further eloquence in his own behalf on
this special subject.
We have collected the various de-
fences of Furnaoeville preceding MIR.
BLACKS because they show, il they are
worth anything, first that the award Of
sls,8ls WAS fraudulent in itself, but really
innocent because it was only roundabout
way of paying another and legitimate
claim; secondly, that there was no such
item as the alleged sls,els; thirdly, that
Mr.. HARTMAN knew but little Of the
business. and fourthly, that the mud
was really rock, worth dollar a cubic
foot TO excavate.
But all these various and contradic-
tory explanations are to be superseded,
we suppose, by the simple and mastery
plea now brought forward at Troy by
Mrs. HANNAH ELIAs's lawyer. why
exclaims Mr.. BLACK, in substance, "it
was not ODELL and his official creatures
who did the thing for HARTMAN; the
rnSnCnsibiIity ie IN mo md adyo;n;.