The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-17
Superintendent of Insurance Replies
to Criticisms.
SAYS CHARGES ARE FALSE
EXPLAINS WHY HARTMAN DID
NOT TESTIFY.

vestigatiOn of the Equitable Life As
surance society, and his preliminary
report thereon, is made in an extended
statement issued from the insurance
department tonight. Incidentally the
SUPERINTENDENT publishes a letter ad
dressed by him to his deputy, Robert
II. Hunter, at New York. instructinS
him to deliver his copy of the Equit-
able testimony 10 District Attorney
jerome.
Affidavit Included.
The statement includes an affidavit
by William A ComstOck, Superintend-
ent Hendricks confidential stenograph-
er, certifying that he alone did the
stenOgraphic work and transcribing Of
notes in connection with the taking Of
the testimony and the preparation Of
superintendent Hendricks preliminary
report, and that he personally knows
that no change or omission was made
in the testimony or the report; that
outside of the persons officially en-
plOyed in the conduct of the inVesti-
cation no person heard, read or saw
the report or the testimony or report
excepting Governor Higgins and his
counsel, Cuthbert w. Pound. The
statement is as follows:
Denounced as False.
The statement made in certain
newspapers that my report and the
testimony taken was edited and altered
in the interests or at the suggestion
Of certain individuals is unqualitiediy
false No person except those en-
plOyed by me in the conduct of the
I investigation read or had access to the
report prior to the time il was deliV-
cred TO the printer. except Governor
Higgins and his counsel Cuthbert w.
Pound No suggestion was made by
either of them as to any modification
Of the report and no change was made
aT-fnTl "a rEan T1E
report as printed is in the exact form
in which il was finally drafted by me
and my counsel.
Failed to Get All the Facts.
AT the interview with the governor
and his counsel l was asked by the
governor whether 1 had been success
fui i'm securing the facts relating to all
matters under investigation. l stated
TO him that / had not: that the inves-
tiSation was still necessarily incOm-
plete- that among other matters which
had not been fully covered was one
which deemed of utmost Importance,
but concerning which l had been UNI
able TO procure the facts. by reason
Of not having learned of it until the
preliminary investigation was about
completed 1 then stated to him that
/ had been informed that the Equitable
society was carrying a loan in the
Mercantile Trust company of 1868 OOO
books as a liability. The governor
stated to me that he believed that a
further effort should be made to thor
ouShly investigate that subject In ac-
cordance with that suggestion I then
directed my counsel to make a further
investigation and explanation relative
TO that item, and by reason of such
action my report was delayed until the
conclusion OF his effort.
Tried Again and Failed.
"Our efforts in that particular were
unsuccessful At that time we were
unable to secure the facts relating to
the matter, and consequently my re-
port remained unchanged.
With reference to the criticism that
my report does not fully cover all Of
the facts brought out in the testimony
L never intended that it should specif-
caIly refer TO everything that was de-
NelOped by the testimony. on the con-
trary, I stated a the outset that il did
not; that the report was preliminary i'm
character and covered only such mat
JerS as ! deemed of immediate imDoT-
lance to policy-hOlders- If ! had un-
dertaken to cover all matters referred
to in the testimony it would have de-
layed issuing the report at least sixty
days, and the report would COMPRISE a
volume of at least 200 or 300 pages
Three Copies of Testimony.
The further charge made that some
OF the testimony taken was suppressed
or edited in the interests of certain in
diVidualS is likewise unqualifiedIv false
Every word of the testimony given and
taken was transcribed by the stenog-
rapher in the transcripts of the testi-
mOny absolutely without change No
person except those employed by me In
conducting the vestigation saw the
transcript testimony or asked TO see it
or made any suggestions with reference
10 il. directly or Indirectly. Only three
copies Of the testimony were tran
Scribed and they were delivered to me
personally by the stenographer who
transcribed them, and each copy was
separately wrapped up. marked and
placed in the private compartment of
the department vault at Albany"
instructions to Deputy.
Mr.. Hendricks goes on to say that
on July he sent a copy of his report
to Attorney General julius NJ. Maver
at Albany and one to Robert II. Hunter.
his deputy in New York CITY tran
scripts OF his letters to these officials
appearing in his statement. The other
remained at all times in the department
vault
In his letter to Mr.. Hunter. SuDerin-
tendent Hendricks says:
should the district attorney desire
access 60 this evidence you are at lib
to examine it. The statement con-
tinues:
The charge that a copy of the tes-
tlmony was procured by any other per
son from this department is absolutely
false and without fOundat ton. At the
time of the publication in the newspa-
pers Of a part of the testimony the copy
in the New York Office was intact and
the seal upon the same had not been
broken. The other copy had not been
from the vault in the depart
ment at Albany.
Why Report Was Withheld.
I have at no time had any desire
TO keep the evidence from the public |
II seemed 10 me that in view of the
fact that the attorney general and the
district attorney Of New York county
might determine to use the evidence
as the basis of prosecutions, il was due
to those officials, and public policy re-
quired, that they should be first apprised
of its contents. When that was done !
unless in their judgment the demands of /
justice required that its publication be
delayed, there WAS no reason why it !