New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-26

examine the accounts tbs snanea
and verified before any disposition was fsis note on
mittee and produced the $1,000 which had oeeb
in Kingston 500 NY share my w PrGgg9T14n;
81 the State committee. said he was willing 70
Contribute $500 Of it, and he drew his check for
to te GO on with my work. turned the money and
ehek oY tSat 70 the H last You know Of W Ahat is
the last 1 had 10 do with it. ii,
Q-You did not pay the notes yourseifz Al uio
o. And had nothing more 10 DO with the payment
A-No sir contributed my share toward II.
10 Close II up without having It stand any longer.
/ want to say that so far as Mr. Keenan, was con-
until met him that night knew OF course. he
he County Democracy member rom TINS
that note was in fact paid? Al do not.
Mr.. O'Brien's testimony differed somewhat
from Judge Parker's. He said on the stand
that he knew nothing OF the note Parker had
keenan, discount until he returned from his
home in Duchess County after the election
He said they raised 5000 at the committee
meeting. $4,000 or $1,000 from the members.
and the rest being collected outside.
Judge Parker held the money" he continued.
JIliIlh ne pdS5eu luc IIOuey ONCiB % AAC NSA~
me, to Judge Muller II along for two
or three months after that and then Muller
came to me and said that that money he had
paid out for other bills"
THE Parker money!" was asked.
1.-THE Parker money" answered the witness
land he wanted me to raise s., 200 TO meet the
other note. and drew individual note and
asked me if l would indorse that. did so,
and raised the money in Rhinebeck-
He testified further that he drew draft for
$1,000 and sent John c. Craft. of Kingston. TO
Montreal TO find keenan,. He had some trouoio
locating him and getting the note, but finally
came back with it. He said they had sent to
Canada several times for the note. but failed
to get it until Craft succeeded.
II am always willing" observed General
Tracy that my creditors should hunt me up
any necessity that was pressing for getting
this note out of Keenan's hands?"
Nothing more than L guess the note was
due about that time" was O'Brien's answer
Don't you know that Keenan, was holding
the note and declining TO part with it. and II
was thought essential TO get the note out of
his hands and have it taken up?'
Mr.. O'Brien did not know. He said that he
had not paid and did not expect TO pay the
note given to take up the note Judge Parker
signed He said that Muller was paying 1t on
gradually.
The $4,000 note signed by Governor Hill and
discounted by OBrien at the Mount Morris
Bank taken up when due by a new note
Endorsed by O'Brien & Clark. the firm which
on the first award secured more than $500
bers of the firm testified that the $4,000 was
considered as OBrien's personal contribution
to the campaign fund and had no bearing or
the aqueduct contracts.
A contractor named Flynn. who inter-
ested in some OF the aqueduct contracts with
o. Brten & Clark, testified that he knew the
fact that there was some Indebtedness result
ing from the action OF the Democratic State
Committee. which II believed proper for
Clark & O'BrieL. to pay. Il contributed" he
said. Il believe, my proportion OF 1t by refrain
ing from taking any action in Section II Zone
OF the aqueduct COntracts), that the profits
thereon could be used for that purpose"
Judge Muller testified that OBrien had asked
him TO go to see Controller Loew in order to
secure contracts for Sections Il, Is and ii OF
the aqueduct. He said that when he went 70
O Brien for Governor Hilrs note for $4,000 the
contractor handed 1T over 10 him saying: That
note has been paid" Judge Muller considered
that O'Brien had done a generous act. he
had done before when it was question Of
campaign funds and he asked questions
TO how the money had been raised.
When the Senate committee finally finished
its Investigations two reports were made. The
majority report. signed by Messrs Fassett,
Hendricks and Van Colt, read in part:
In endeavoring to discover whether there
was a corrupt connection between the letting
of the contract for Section u 70 OBrien &
Clark and the payment OF the note by OBrien
the committee examined number OF witnesses.
point that ne was asked to and did relnquish
his interest (one-sixth OF the prohts) In Section
l. that the note might be paid.
1t was not denied that Mr.. Muller. who was
an indorseT. had personal interview with the
Controller and used his influence TO secure the
contract. Both Mr.. Muller and Mr.. O'Brien
denied that there any connection between
the letting Of the contract and the paying OF
the note"
A minority report signed by Messrs. Pierce and
MCNauEhtou contained this protest:
There is evidence from which any one
conclude that the Governor had any knowl-
edge whatever TO how the note to be
paid. and. in fact. it was paid by John O'Brier
out Of his private funds. The profits OF Section
II did not even accrue 10 the firm OF O'Brien &
Clark until long after the note was discharged.
The transaction was wholly a polit-
zeal one
The minority held that the majority had no
right TO reflect on the campaign managers
contractors by Incorporating the paragraphs re-
garding the notes in their report The major
fly. however, refused 10 make any notifications
IN their report.