Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-15
Loan Of s685,0o =was Used to sad Of
0bisctionabl SsuitI and Buy ,ct
UNION PACIFIC SYNDICATE is E! LAlStO
officers Higu Peel Agreement Witbou
Consr ling the DirsCtO
CHARGES AGAINST FRlcK AND ,RNl@A
MIR. Hyde Accuser Them Of Pretending
10 he Friendly TO Him while
Doing All They Can to
Injure Him.

NEW YORK. Nov. IA James Hyde. /
former vice president Of the Equitable Life /
Assurance society. whose resignation fol- /
owed the sensational disclosures IN that |
company last spring which led 10 the in I
'sstigation Of insurance company methods
~ the Armstrong committee Of the legs. .
ature, the man whose presenre as a wit /
less before this committee has been looked ;
onward to I'm tho expectation that it would
lroduce the greatest sensation of the in
,estigation appeared before the commits
'ion today.
Mr. Hyde's manner on the stand was ons |
VI composure and dellberation, and his re-
plies to questions of counsel were calm and
deliberate and oftimes studied. lie was
fortified with statements and data and was
very frank in his explanati tions. Frequently
he would become bitter in his reference to
some Of his associates, while his entire
testimony of deep interest and cleared
up many points that have heretofore re-
mained in the dark, 1t was not until late
in the day that the sensational features OF
his testimony were developed.
Mr.. Hyde was called to the stand shortly
after the session opened this morning, and
he was under examination all day until a
few minutes before adjournment was taken.
III dnllClpdlou VI MS 1ItSt'ltf ar a. VIII
ness there was a greater crowd than has
attended the sessions of the committee here
tofore and extra police were stationed In
tho corridor without the committee room to
keep order.
Mysterious Account Cleared Up.
Mr. Hyde cleared up the matter of the
s6S5OOO loan of the Mercantile Trust COM
pany which appeared on the books of the
Equitable Life under the caption of the
j. w. Alexander No account" This ac-
count has been under investigation on sew
eral previous occasions but none of the
witnesses heretofore examined had been
able TO explain 1t.
Mr.. Hyde first heard of this account in
the fall of 1902 when IL was called TO his
attention by President Alexander, who said
that he and Mr.. Jordan had incurred the
loan to, take up stock that being bid
up to'ictitiouE values TO the detrment of
the company. to settle suitssthat we're ham
pering the business of the society and for
campaign contributions. This contribution
was the one to the last campaign and was
. asked by No Frick who suggested it for
the benefit of the society. To procure this
money Mr. Alexander and Mr.. Hyde wrote
a letter to the president of the Mercantile
Trust company and this letter practically
placed him in the position of a guarantor
was forced, Mr.. Alexander and Mr. Jordan
raised all they could toward 1t. The
stock purchased with part of the loan was
sold to Thomas #. Ryan for $212.9oO and
the balance, S212,5OO, Mr. Hyde paid per-
sonally. He did this because he under
stood that Mr.. Alexander was financially
embarrassed and in a bitter tone said.
Notwithstanding the strained relations
with these two gentlemen alexander and
Jordan) felt bound TO that the debt
was liquidated by reason Of the letter
Mr. Alexander had extracted from me"
Mr.. Hyde's salary.
Mr. Hyde said he first received a salary
of $4,000 seven years ago. In 1902. when
he became chairman OF the finance COM
mittee, this was advanced to $4,000. and in
1903 II was advanced to 100000. at which
Il remained until he resigned as vice
president of the society. Mr.. Hyde pre-
sented a statement showing that in the
seven years OF his connection with the
Equitable Life and the allied corporations
his average income had been only little
more than $4,000 a year This was figured
seven years salary from the Equitable
amounting TO $4,000, from which he de
Quoted his losses I'm syndicate transactions
amounting TO ,6l5 and the S2l25OO paid OF
the s6S5OO0 loan, which left balance OF
tl9S,ss4, OF an average annual income Of
t27697 TO which was added the averag,
Income from his ofice in the trust com
panies OF Sl0.5O0
Witness said he presented this statement
TO show that he had been misrepresented
The instruction OF Mr.. Jordan to A. c
Fields, the Legislative generalissimo." a.
Mr. Hughes referred TO him today. Mr.
Hyde knew nothing about. He said ht
never consulted Mr. Jordan about legisla
fKuaW aYaa I,aV . a. H. .g,
tive measures affected him or his Interest;
In any way The syndicate operations o
J. II. Hyde and associates We're gone int,
taoroughly and Il was shown that il
twenty-three syndicates Mr.. Hyde sus
tanned personal losses OF s2S6l5. Mr. Hyd
sscribed the apportionment of the Eqult
able's allotment in syndicates TO the Gus
toms and usages OF Wall street. OF Ia
formation Of J. H. Hyde and associates
syndicate Mr.. Hyde said MIR. Alexande
suggestod 1t FOR the convenience o
bankers.
UhiOn Pacific Pool.
OF the S5O.O0OOOO Union Pacific pool MI
hyde said Mr. Hartman originated II an
explained that It was to be a holding syn
dcate for 1--WE years. IL was understoo
that this was for the purpose OF controllln
the Union Pacific. Mr Hyde signed IN
syndicate agreement with MIR. Hartman
slgeestion and talked only with Mr.. Harr
man on the subject. The executive commi
tee was not informed OF this operation q
Mr.. Hyde said that Mr.. Alexander did nc
think II necessary aud that Mr.. Harrima
requested that the committee be not il
formed OF H. He said that Mr. Harrima
even refused to give a statement OF n
purposes OF the pool 10 the superintendent
of insurance when he clamoring Il
IL last spring
Eclipsing all this sensational testimon
were the statements Of Mr., Hyde oonceri
ing former Governor Odell and Mr.. Harr
man relative to the settlement OF the Sh
Building company suit against the Mercal
tile Trust company. Mr.. Hyde said IN.