Omaha daily bee., 1906-05-11
SURPRISE IN BEcHTEL CASE
Insurance Man says He Paid $1,000
In Marked Bills 10 Former
Minnesota OmciaI.

MINNEAPOLIS. MINI May 10.-The at
torneys tomorrow will begin their summing
up in the case Of state against w. F.
Bechtel, former president of the North
western National LAfe Insurance company,
who Is charged with grand lsrcency in hsv-
ing appropriated to his own use $3.50 of
the funds OF the company. The cross
examination of Mr. Bechtel was completed
at such a late hour this afternoon that
the court ordered an adjournment until to-
morrow before permitting the attorneys
to begin their arguments.
The testimony given by Mr.. Bechtel in his
direct examina ton and the Information
ELECTED from the witness on cross-eXamina-
tion by Attorney Dahl sensational in
the extreme. The charge Mr.. Bechtel mad4'
that a former insurance commissioner OF
Minnesota had accepted bribe of 5000
for favorable report on the proposed con-
solidation of the Northwestern Mutual and
the National Life association. had been con-
sidered by the grand jury which brought
the indictment against Mr. Bechtel and in
its report the grand jury severely repro
bated the alleged conduct of the insurance
commissioner. but said that he was eN-
empt from prosecution because of the stat
ute limitations.
The amount~ a I through Mr.. Bechtel
for the ref = ,ment" of Dr. ]. F.
Force. former ent of the National
Life association, = ing to the testimony
brought out, aggk S1135OO, Of which
no record is foun the Northwestern
Nationals books
Other sensational ents made by
Bechtel while on the related to per-
sonal profits made by>,%< actions sup
posedly carried on for nefit of the
company. The company cted to re-
imburse an Iowa company, out instead of
doing it Bechtel turned the contract over
to a California company at a profit of
$4,000
The Minneapolis auditorium building,
which the Northwestern National Life
erected, also was gone into and it was
shown that Bechtel owned the site selected
for the building and that it was sold to
the company at a profit to Bechtel of
$4,000
Sensational testimony was given late yes
terday afternoon by w. F. Bechtel in the
district court, where he is on trial on a
charge of having misappropriated $500
Of the Northwestern National Life Insur-
ance company's funds
Bechtel went on the stand in his own de-
Iehse ana tOlu OF paying AO,VO0 IN marked
bills to former State Insurance Commits
sioner o'shaughnessy in a room In the
Ryan hotel in st. Paul. Mr.. Bechtel said
o'Shaughnessy had demanded the money
saying: I'm not in the business for my
health" and Remember. there are two OF
u.s."
Bechtel said he and his associates in
tended to have o'Shaughnessy arrested as
soon as he accepted the money, but they
abandoned the plan.
Mr.. Bechtel was cross-examined at the
afternoon session. He said he kept no re-
cord OF the funds of the company in rela-
tion to his personal accounts. He per
sisted in maintaining that the $500 had
been used in the company's service and that
he had simply reimbursed himself for a
legitimate expenditure
Attorney Dahl introduced letter written
by Bechtel to Albert H. Reed, Boulder
Colo, In which he made the statement that
he had used $500 to reimburse himself for
money paid for the good of the company
as legislative expenses, during a session Of
the Legislature