The Topeka state journal., 1905-07-13
ROCKEFELLER REPLIES.
Denies That He Robbed His Former
Friend, John Corrigan.

Cleveland, O., July 13.-Through
his attorney, Virgil P. Kline, John d.
Rockefeller today denied that he had
robbed his former friend and business
associate, John Corrigan.
In McClure's Magazine, Ida Tarbell
described the operations through
which Corrigan claimed he lost many
hundreds of thousands. Corrigan
sued and lost after a hard fought
battle. The result of the contest did
he should have won. Rockefeller de-
nies the serious charges, and sees
nothing wrong in his treatment or
Corrigan. The statement which was
given out goes into all the details.
Rockefeller says:
ION February 10, 1895. Mr.. Cor
rigan was indebted to Mr.. Rockefeller
in the sum of upwards of $415,000.
OF this sum over $25.000 was interest
past due, while a large portion of the
principal had also matured. Mr..
Rockefeller had also advanced on ac-
count of an iron mining company in
which Mr.. Corrigan was interested. 1t
was secured in part by Endorsements
money, he entered into a contract on
that date with Mr.. Rockefeller for
$500 shares of Standard trust cer-
tificates, so-called, at the then market
price of $16S per share, and out Of
the proceeds received $50. 900 in cash,
together with about 1850 shares of
his stock in the mining company for
his present use, the remainder of the
purchase money being applied, under
the terms of the contract, with cer-
tain securities to the ultimate working
out of the Indebtedness.
COrrigan'S Suit and the Decision.
tOn June 80, 1897, more than two
years thereafter, Mr.. Corrigan filed a
petition in the court of common pleas
of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, against
Mr.. Rockefeller, in which he charged
Mr.. Rockefeller. bearing a fiduciary re-
lationship toward him as trustee, for
the purpose of acquiring his stock at
less than its true value. had made a
lower condition of the Standard Oil
trust and the value of it's shares; that
he had also taken advantage of his
| ignorance of the real value of the
shares and of his embarrassed condi-
ton to obtain from him an unfair
bargain, and to induce him to make
the sale had represented to him that
the shares were not worth the price
| paid therefor" The decisions of the
courts and referees are cited. Con-
| tinuing, the statement says:
There could be no more complete
answer. nor from a more authorita-
tive source to the insinuations of the
Roekefeller's fairness and integrity in
this transaction. His treatment of
these certificates after he acquired
them fairly corroborates this view of
| the arbitrators, and shows that he did
not purchase for the purpose of hold
ing. He also put the certificates upon
the market, and within ninety days
| had sold nearly half of them at prices
very slightly advanced beyond that at
which he bought, and continued to
sell as the market would absorb his
offering until all were disposed Of
1.-The writer of the article must
| have taken the charges made in the
petition against Mr.. Rockefeller, in
stead of the testimony which appears
in the case, or she could have reached
no such conclusion as is expressed by
| her. Miss Tarbell puts in quotation
marks, as though she were receiving
the evidence in the case, in several in
stances, what nobody ever testified to
and of which there is not the slightest
| hint in the record