The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-29
LARCENY IN THE
FIRST DEGREE
George ". Perkins Taken Into Gus
tody for Contributing Insurance
Money to Republicans.
HABEAS CORPUS SECURED
FINANCE COMMITTEE DEEPLY
INVOLVED.


' '
New York March 2S.-Despite =
the action of Mr.. Jerome in ap- y
plying for a warrant for Mr.. Per =
= kins and thus taking the matter y
to the higher courts of the state. =
Judge O'Sullivan in the court of =
y special sessions today again ad- =
dressed the grand jury which is =
= considering life insurance matters =
and instructed them that it was y
= their duty to continue the inves-
tigation to the end. He told the =
grand jurors il was their right to =
y demand that the district attorney =
= subpoena witnesses to be exam =
ined before them in any matter =
they may have under cOnsidera- y
ton.
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New York, March 2S.-George w.
Perkins. member of the firm of ]. P.
Morgan & Co. and formerly vice-presi-
dent of the New York Life Insurance
company, was placed under arrest to-
day in the proceedings which District
Attorney Jerome has begun to test the
legality of political contributions by in
surance companies. The warrant was
issued upon information presented 10
Police Magistrate Moss and the ale
cation upon which il was based was
the transfer of s4S 7O2 of the funds Of
the insurance company to Cornelius W.
Bliss, treasurer of the Republican ma
ttOnal committee in 1904. 1t is charged
that Mr.. Perkins received the money
from the insurance company and paid
it over TO Mr.. Bliss Immediately af-
ter his arrest Mr.. Perkins, through his
counsel, Lewis A. Delafield. secured a
writ of habeas corpus from Justice
Greenbaum of the supreme court, by
which Mr.. Perkins was released from
I'll
rectly to the supreme court Argument
on this writ was adjourned until Fri
day next.
Arrested in Lawyers Office.
Mr.. Perkins was taken into custody
while in the office of his attorney by a
detective from the office of District
Attorney Jerome. He did not appear
before Police Magistrate Moss, who
had issued the warrant, but went di-
rect before Justice Greenhaum. There
the district attorney -recited the legal
<Steps that had been taken but did not
go into the charges against Mr.. Per-
kins. Mr., Delafield, however, declared
that the Offense charged against Mr..
Perkins was purely technical and asked
for a postDOnement Of the case. He
described the payment of the $4S, 702 by
Mr.. Perkins to Mr.. Bliss in 1904 and
said that the payment had been au-
A
mer president of the New York Life
The arrest of Mr.. Perkins and the sub
sequent issuance of the writ of habeas
corpus will have the effect of having
the highest courts Of the state pass
upon the legality of campaign cOntri-
buttons by insurance companies. Much
attention was directed to this matter
at the recent legislative insurance in
- vestigatiOn and il was shown that sew
eral of the larger companies on more
than one occasion had contributed to
such funds.
Prisoners Testimony
Mr. Perkins, before the legislative
committee. testified as follows con-
corning a check signed by Treasurer
Randolph of the New York Life In
surance company, calling for the pay
ment of S4S, I02 to J. P. Morgan & Co.
That was money" said Mr. Perkins
paid TO Cornelius y. Bliss. on account
of the Republican national committee
campaign fund of last year. We had
agreed to pay him s5O.O00-as much as
that-Mr. Mccall had-if he wished it.
That was all he finally called for, and
1t was paid in that way, as cash to him.
Mr.. Bliss made various calls from
time TO time. for amounts I paid my
self and when the accounts were made
up toward the end of the year this
amount was the amount found TO be
due, and that amount was paid back to
me. tt was not paid 10 J. PieTpOnt
Morgan & Co, but to me. l had per
sOnally advanced the money. This
check for the campaign drawn to the
order of J. p. Morgan & Co. had no
significance whatever. The money was
ordered paid by the president
Others Equally Guilty.
In his argument before Justice Green-
baum on the writ of habeaus corpus,
Mr.. Delafield declared that the by
laws of the New York Life Insurance
company permitted President Mccall
10 make the political contribution al
legged, and that he submitted il to the
finance committee of the company
which approved of it.
If any Offense has been committed
by Mr. Perkins, said Mr.. Delafield,
then the hOnOred names of the men
who composed that committee are
equally involved with that of my
client"
The attorney also stated that Mr.
Perkins had made a full statement of
the entire matter to District Attorney
Jerome and supplied him with the
testimony he needed
Mr. Perkins was paroled in custody
of his counsel
When the matter was taken to Jus
tice Greenbaum for argument District
Attorney Jerome informed the jus
tice of the issuance Of the warrant for
Mr.. Perkins arrest and the writ of
habeas corpus.
Argument of Mr.. DeIafieId.
Mr.. Delafeld. Mr.. Perkins counsel.
then said:
George ". Perkins. a man of IN
impeached character, has been placed
under arrest this morning pursuant to
a warrant issued by Joseph A. Moss
as a city magistrate. by which he is
charged with what I conceive to be a
purely technical offense. / shall not
Continued on Page 2.