Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-19
JEROME ON HEARST
District Attorney Questioned in
His Suit for 100000.
CAMPAIGN FUND SECRET
Refuses to Reveal Names of Contrib
utors Unless Directed by Court.
MIR. M0RSE's $4,000 RETURNED
Similar Amount Accepted From Sam
uel Untermyer, Who Was ATTORNEY
for J. Il. Hyde.
lR. M0RSE's $4,000 RETURNED
From the New York Herald

From the New York Herald
your client was one of the persons
deemed as hostile to me and mendacious
ana who made divers attacks on mo n
eoihpei me TO tell who contributed to nv
campaign 1und. L will not furnish These
names 10 your Client because l don't want
iiiii " OBTAIN through a lawsuit what he
iaiieo 10 accomplish by vituperation and
aouse III MS newspapers. Unless the court
oiiee's Will not furnish the names of the
Contributors, l don't know more than three
VI iour OF them, for l purposely RETAINED
from asking who had contributed. and 7
"ouio not make the names public of N.Y.
seiI without getting the permission Of the
contributors"
After oomng his jacket and calmly light
ing cigarette District Attorney Jerome
liaoe This answer yesterday to Clarence ].
ehearn' personal counsel for William r.
hearst Whom he is suing for 100000 for
aleged libel In articles published in the
new YORK American and the Evening Jour
mai ana attacking Mr.. Jerome's integrity a :
district attorney. At the end of an avsri
natlon lasting nearly three hours Mr..
Shearn said the question Of the production
OF the list of campaign contributors would
pe piaceu oeIore Judge Dayton in the su-
s. l.
nation of Mr.. Jerome will be continued
Mr.. Shearn sought delay on the prelim
mary examination of Mr. Jerome. but WIN.
Rand, 1r, for Mr.. Jerome, declared there
snouio De no postponement, saying that If
Mr.. Jerome were guilty Of the conduct at
tr1buted to him in the alleged libelous arti
cles ne should not remain in office a min
ute longer.
Tells Campaign Secrets.
Mr.. Jerome told some things concerning
MS campaign that never have been known
before. One was that Samuel Untermyer
mad contributed 5000 to the fund, and he
was counsel for James Hazen HYDE. vice
president Of the Equitable Life Assurance
Society, whose conduct the district attor-
ney knew he would have to INQUIRE into
he saw no improperly in taking this
money. Mr.. Jerome said. as Mr. Untermy-
er was a warm personal friend. and Mr..
Jerome understood that If any action were
taken against Mr.. Hyde he would be de-
Tended by De Lancey Nicholl.
Morse had handed five 81 900 bills to Mr..
Rand, who then was Mr.. Jerome's chief
Of staff, to be added to the campaign fund
when Mr.. Jerome was Informed of this he
directed that the money should be returned
to- Mr.. Morse because of his connection
with the Morse-Dodge divorce case and the
prosecution Of Abraham H. Hummel
Talking Of Andrew c. Fields, the "legis-
ance Company, Mr.. Jerome said he had
ascertained that large sums of this COM
pany's money had been expended for pur-
poses OF legislation. criminal offense.
But Fields had never told him that any
such money was expended in this state by
him.
In this connection Mr.. Jerome spoke of
governor of another state, who, 1t is said
had been retained by Fields to work for
the Mutual, and who, after getting a COPY
Of his contract, had inserted the words
lit Is expressly understood this shall not
include any services in the nature of
the nearest thing he ever obtained in the
nature of confederation of Fields state
ments, for he found the contract in the
Mutuars vaults
Total Was $e5, 900.
About $4,000 was contributed for his last
campaign, Mr.. Jerome testified, but the
contributors were known only to Howard
s. Cans, then on his staff, and to William
F. King, formerly head of the Merchants
Association. He never had inquired as to
the contributors, as he did not wish to have
any one who might afterward have bust
ness with his Office to believe their treat
ment was the result of a contribution to
the fund or their failure to contribute
Il feel 1t would be a breach of confidence
to publish the names of the contributors
without their consent, and that would be
"A Tammany leader told me he had sent
in $25, and II he had not told me 1 wouldn't
have known 1t. He has a decent re-
spectacle hotel. and If his name was made
run his business long without police in
reference. Another man, a distinguished
f1nancier whom 1 have never seen. but who
is a friend Of a warm friend Of mine sent
me his check for $1,000, saying it was his
first political contribution. 1t might be
embarrassing to him to have 1t known he
had done this. as he might be importuned
by others for contributions"
Asked about the Armstrong investigating
committee and its work, Mr. Jerome said
he had told the members of the committee
that he would take no action until it's work
was ended His impression then was that
he would have to inquire into the conduct
Of Mr.. Hyde. But he had not presented
to a grand jury any evidence concerning
Mr.. Hyde's participation in syndicate
profits or other matters, nor had he asked
that Mr. Hyde be indicted, as that was
not his custom with q grand jury, to which
he merely presented evidence.
II do not think Lewis L. Delafield con.
tributed to my campaign fund" said Mr.
Jerome, but it would not be strange if he
did. for although he was counsel for George
w. Perkins of the New York Life Insurance.
Company, he has been my warm personal
friend for years"
As to Perkins Case.
This brought Mr.. Shearn to the course
laheh ny MI. Jerome IN regard to the S4S,-
wv contribution to the republican campaign
fund made by Mr.. Perkins for the New
YORK Life. The district attorney went
through the whole story saying:
Il gathered from what 1 read in the
newspapers that the public had eager
desire to see some one put in jail, but /
would absolutely never have permitted the
indictment of Mr.. Perkins for larceny In
that matter when believed no crime had
been committed, unless l had been in
structed to do so by the higher courts"
Asked why he had taken the matter to
the court of appeals, Mr.. Jerome caused a
laugh at Mr.. Shearn's expense by reply
ing:
II stood alone in my contention there
was no crime in this contribution. Other
able lawyers told me / was wrong You
yourself told this to me on several occa-
sions. So wanted to test the matter, and
that I did wisely was proved by the de- |
cision of the court OF appeals"