Arizona republican., 1905-11-22

 PFNSIONFR
The 'RambunCtiOuS Friend
 Up the River
Senator Dspew Couldn't Recall Him
 but His Name and Connection w.th
 the Company Disclosed Yesterday.

New York. Nov. 21.-The identity Og Senator Depew's "cantankerous~ anu "rambunctiOus friend up the river was disclosed in the session Of the state legislative insurance inVestigat- ing committee today by the testimony of John A Nichols. lawyer under re tainer by the Equitable Life Assurance society. MT Nichols had written Sen ator Depew a letter referring 10 an individual in the above terms. and this letter was read at the session of the committee on Friday when Senator De pew was on the stand.
 The senator was unable to recall who was meant by the "cantankerous friend" but today MT. Nichols disclOs- ed series of payments to w. .. Man ming of Albany, a former actuary who had been connected with the investi- gation of insurance companies in 1S1s. MT. Hughes inquired as to a report that Manning had been in possession of information that was suppressed during this investigation and that would have been detrimental tO the Equitable. MT. Nichols could not re- call the suppression of information. but he detailed the payment of sums of money over a considerable period to Manning as an inducement to give uR his business as actuary. in which ca- pacity he believed Manning was a menace to the Equitable.
 Aside from the disclosures made by Nichols on the witness stand. ths. fsa- ture of the day was the appearance 0f
 United States Senator Thomas C-,
 Platt, who did not hesitate to tell es the contributions of insurance eompaa-
 ies to state campaigns. The EaUlt- able, the Mutual and the New YarS Life were the only insurance companies that made contributions. The Equit- able contributed regularly SIO.000 tsl the state campaigns. the Mutual ths same sum frequently and the New Tors
 Life a sum not as large and ecca- sionally. These moneys were always delivered in cash to Senator Piatts | office by a messenger. and he turne,l
 them over to the state committee. The senator said he was expected sO influ-
 ence the legislature when any legisla- ! tiOn appeared that was hostile tO the companies. Senator Platt said he had asked President R. A McCuriy of tho
 Mutual Life for contributions when the needs were very great. He had. how ever, never been asked to use his in fluence on any measure before the legislature nor had he ever done so. He knew nothing about contributions to the national campaign
 Gage Tarbell. the second vice pFesi- dent of the Equitable was also a wlt-
 ness again today. His testimony an
 Friday was interrupted by the adjourn ment and today he continued his eN- planation of the agency system. ef
 which he had charge. and the manaer
 of arriving at the commissions. Oas
 part of his testimony caused much amusement to the committee. as well as the spectators. when he described fight with the New York Life over
 the taking of agents. In this statemeHt
 Mir. Tarbell told how he had won over general agent and 200 substitute agents of the New York Life in this city without the cost to the Equitable
 of so much as one dollar. The only In- ducement offered was that the ageuss could make more on a commission basis
 than on salary. MT. Tarbell de- tailed this scheme in detail and said h.
 closed the deal on a Sunday.