Los Angeles herald., 1905-11-16

NEW YORK, Nov. 15.-E. H. Har-
riman, chairman of the board of di-
rectors of the Union Pacific railroad,
tors of the Equitable Life Assurance
society and connected with many rail-
roads and financial institutions, the
former friend of James Hazen Hyde,
against whom the latter charged acts
of an unfriendly nature in his testi-
mony yesterday, was one of the chief
witnesses before the Armstrong COM
mittee on insurance investigation to-
day.
Mr.. Hartman was called Immediate
ly after recess, and his testimony was
series of denials of the charges made
by Mr.. Hyde.
Mr.. Hartman said that Mr. Hyde
came to him about a month before the
Odell settlement was made and asked
him to use his influence to induce Gov
ernor Odell to settle his suit against
the Mercantile Trust company. Mr..
Hyde told him that the Odell suit was
dangerous to the Mercantile Trust
company in that it might induce other
suits to be brought by other people
who had subscribed to the bonds OF
the United States Shipbuildng COM
pany Mr. Hartman said he arranged
an interview between Governor Odell
and Mr.. Hyde which was held in Mr..
harriman's office. Governor Odell
seemed to be irritated after the inter-
view.
Some days later Mr.. Hyde and Mr..
Colby visited Mr.. Hartman and Mr..
Hartman promised to see Governor
Odell and "try to get him to do some
thing about settling the suit An
other interview between Governor
Odel and Mr. Hyde took place, 1t may
have been at Mr.. Harriman's house.
Afterward Mr.. Hyde told Mr.. Harri-
man that he was willing to pay $4,000
and asked him to try to get the gov
ernor to accept that amount.
Governor Odel told Mr.. Hartman
that If he CHarriman) advised it, he
tUdelD would settle for that amount
Advised Hyde to settIe
At told Mr.. Hyde after that inter-
view" said Mr.. Hartman, land said
to him that if l were in his place and
| had no advice to give as to whether
it should be settled or not I would
not stand on $4,000 on a settlement of
that kind. l would make it satsfac-
tory. l understood that Mr.. Hyde saw
him and payment was made, of which
1 had no further knowledge"
In reply to inquiries by Mr.. Hughes,
Mr.. Hartman said Governor Odell did
not tell him that a bill had been in
troduced in the Legislature to repeal
the charter of the Mercantile Trust
company, and that his first ntimation
of this came from his counsel today.
Did you say anything to Mr. Hyde
in any of these interviews as to the
desirability of settling tie suit be-
cause of the power that might be eX-
ercised against the company at AL
bany?" asked Mr.. Hughes.
mo, SIR"
did you make any mention to Mr.
Hyde of any attempts that had been
or might be made to repeal the charter
of the Mercantile Trust company"
mo- sir"
Mr. Hartman said that he made no
reference to the advantage of settle
ment i'm order to avoid an attack upon
the company and that Governor Odell
did not request him to use his infiu-
ence to obtain a settlement of the
said, had no interview with him to
bring about a settlement, but the re-
quest came exclusively from Mr.. Hyde.
Denies Hyde's Statement
A portion Of Mr.. Hyde's testimony
in which he said Mr.. Hartman had
suggested to him that an effort might
be made to repeal the charter of the
Mercantile Trust company was then
read to Mr. Hartman who said that he
did not make such suggestion to Mr..
Hyde.
Mr.. Hartman also denied having
said to Mr.. Hyde, as Mr. Hyde had
testified, that there was a possibility
of powerful interests at Albany doing
pany because OF the shipbuilding loss
He also denied saying anything to Mr..
Hyde about the repeal Of the charter OF
the Mercantile Trust company and de-
clared that he did not know OF any
rumor that bill was introduced to re-
peal that charter.
About year ago, Mr.. Hartman