The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-11
MIR. ROGERS
 SEEKS DELAY Attorneys Before New York Supreme Court. HADLEY URGES DECISION Oil Magnate's Refusal to Answer
 Questions. Justice GiIdersIeeve Intfmates that He Is Aware that Contentious of
 Standard OH Counsel are
 Merely Captious.

New York, Jan. i0-The hearing be- fore a commissioner in the quo war ranto proceedings brought by Attorney General Herbert s. Hadley of Missouri. to oust three oil companies from that State, was put over until afternoon to- day. This was done in order to allow MT. Hadley and his counsel and counsel for the Stateard oil Company to appear in the Supreme Court and make an ar- gument on the order issued by that court to H. H. Rogers instructing htAn to show cause why he shall not answer the questions asked him by Mir. Hadley. The questions In the main were in- tended to bring out whether or not the Standard oil Company of New Jersey owns or controls a majority of the stock of the Waters-Pieroe oil Com pany of Missouri, the Republic oil Company of New York, and the Stand ard oil Company of Indiana
 The hearing was adjourned by Justice Gildersleeve until Friday.
 Mfr. Hadley was present before the court, but was represented by Henry Wollman as counsel.
 Lawyer W. N. Rowe, representing Mir. Rogers. said that he has had no oppor- tunity to confer with his associates since receiving notice of the order to show cause. The questions involved were serious and complicated, he said. and he could not possibly prepare an answer or be ready to argue the case in less than two weeks. He declared there is no occasion for haste as the original case in Missouri cannot be tried for several months; that the taking of testimony here is only an incident fin tho general proceedings and that he did not want to prejudice his clients by hurying the matter.
 Opposes a POstponemenf.
 Mir. Wolman in answer said that no postponenlent should be granted. All that is sought. he said, Is delay and the questions involved are simple. He declared that any lengthy adjournment will break up the present proceedings before Commissioner Sanborn. The ob- Jections. he asserted. are only captinun- He opposed any adtoufnment further than tomorrow. He introduced Attor- ney General Hadley, who. while not a member of the bar here, was accorded the privilege of addressing tho court.
 MT. Hadley said the only privilege Mir. Rogers claimed in refusing to an- swer was the advice of counsel The question is. said Mir. Hadiey. whether a witness can refuse to answer ques- tions simply becouse of claiming the privilege that he or his counsel did not think they should be answered Mfr. Hadley said there are proceedings pend ing in Missouri that will be helpful in determining the present case.
 MT. Hadley asked for as speedy a determination as possible under the rules of the court.
 Frank Hagerman, counsel for the Standard oil Company declared that the whole proceedings were Q fishing ex- cursion." The officials of Missouri he said are seeking to find out the owner ship of the stock in three companies and tho federation if any between them.
 MT. HadIey's Objections.
 MT. Hadley addressing the court again, said that all the questions in- volved had been admitted in testimony in the State of Missouri. What he ob- iected to was that the witness should set up his own judgment on what he said or should not answer without giv- ing any further reason for declining to so answer.
 Mir. Rowe made another request for delay. The court always gave the fuil- est time to prepare their defense, he said and in this instance he asked ad- equate judicial protection against the office of d foreign state.
 Justice Gildersleeve said that the counsel for the respondents ought to be familiar with the facts They are en- titled to reasonable delay, he said, but the question ought to be disposed of He then set the argument for Fri- day morning.
 The adjournment of the hearing be- fore Commissioner Sanborn until Frf- day again was agreed to by counsel