New-York tribune., 1908-10-06
OIL ANSWER
Call attention to Dismissal By Ohio
Supreme Court.

Supreme Court.
Cleveland Oct 5-s. H. Toles. member of the
firm Of Kline. Toes Gof. attorneys for the
Standard Oil Company. issued the following state
n,ent tonight. giving the Standard Oil Company's
side of the charges OF attempts to bribe r D
MOnnett, formerly Attorney General Of Ohio.
The charge that Mr. Monnett had been offered
and had declined a large sum Of money 20 drop
his prosecutions against the Standard OH Company
was first made public by one George Rice, in an in
terview at Marietta. and given to the newspapers
March 3, 1899. The charge that time received
no credence Mr.. Monnett himself was at first
reported to have denied he charges, but afterward
made some general intimatons that there might be
truth in them. The particulars of the attempt
were carefully concealed by him.
The public press began to demand that
he name the guilty person or persons. and on
March 90 1899, not having done so, Messrs Elliott
and Kline. behalf of the Standard Oil Company.
wrote him the following open letter;
New York March 20 1899
| The Hon. F S. Monnett Attorney General If Onio.
On March @ & Gfo5se k5Se @ s ON s 10 ~, ,n
| sion mad been offered you TO induce you stop
| delay proceedings against the Standard Ol.
ohio. io.'a'''' '-O" 'el'-'''s IL '.
ledO the Rice story, but by the time you arrived
! Columbus, the evening Of the same day. you
| in various newspapers or the evening Of the Stn
instant made the statement that the s Sanda5d h
| offered You $4,000 to influence your action with
compsnies in I'M the Supreme court Of ohio
Feputabl newspapers Of the STATE nota6iyy re
ohio State journal" have called upon you to dis dis
close the Of the friend who thus corrupuy
You are reported in The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Of the 7th instant as saying that N you were %
give out the Of your friend heIt a doIen & ae
parments Of the trust you'd & 6e aer % rsoda 7 al hin
fn keen his mouth shut" -,
by YOU for refusing TO disclose the name OF your
+La n
Commissioned offer you $+O90po. ana thereloI T
Won must have known that the alleged friend ma de
tb offer to you the authority or knowledge
OF the Standard on coWPanIHy TP1IH On tho 9th instant
YOU ep9rted as y&Ig ing that hat {5g 5g h4a You T6H
me Inc x9ns him until public interest demanded IT"
In another interview In The Cincinnau @ ma t ON :
nT as saving that your friend had agreed to pro
60 seems TO he mutual -,
ioss; so far as any connection n the Standard OIL
Comnanv with any attempt to bribe you IS con
You have the names or claim to have not C1. only
of the friend who approached you but also .i oI
The ofbers acting with him. because, on the l+th
I0s1 insTaR M,rs g'H teesTahnF @ YOU from New
While nothing in YOUR story has directly con
ter,Tted bribery You have desired the public to
slIa IeilRreu sgrb connection We now demand that
as i've the name or names Of the person per
sons who made such offer 70 you claiming to
axe stems to quiet this last most vicious Of the
many false and sensational stories 70 which you
have given currency '''~Sf & ELLIOTT,
Attorneys for Standard OIL Company
After waiting until April Ia. period Of twenty
six davs he filed in the Supreme Court Of Ohio a
document styled A BIZ of Information This was
merely rambling statement that somebody had
approached him with a suggestion that there would
b ., Iaos+ the sum Of 100000 for him # he would
agree 10 discontinue proceedings against the stand
ard on Co-npanv He stfn named nobody. giving
the reason
t.7-be a+t-rTevs for the Standard Immediately filed
rr1Or Attorney
General 10 name the man who he claimed had ap-
,ro7cbed him and 10 appoint a dsinterested person
to investigate and report promptly TO the Supreme
Court upon the truth falsty Of the charges
After waiting twenty-five days he filed sec I'D
document in which ne names his friend who
had attempted bribe him c B. SquireS twho
had never in any manner been connected WIN the
Standard Oil Company. formerly OF cleveland. out
then of New York The friend named promptly,
and Of his OWN notion publicly denied the charge.
He further said that after the Supreme Court sus-
tained the demand CT the attorneys f-r the stand
ard oil COMPANY that the name OF the alleged
briber be made public. Mr- Monuett came TO him.
stated that he was in corner. ana ASKED tHe
privilege Of naming him as the briber-
..Nei;her OF the documents flied with the Su-
nrene Court directly charged the Standard OIL
c, rnpany. or any Of its officers or agents. with
anv completely in the alleged bribery The amend
r1elt siulpIv stated that the said Squires had
claimed to represent certain 01 IN Sc o1nciaIs.
No cbanrses having been made upon which II
could act the Supre me court tleleI' tt on the
18Th dsv Of December. 1928 entered order upon
its journal follows:
ordered That the Information herein fled by
rba Attorney General the 18th day or April, -
d 1899 he stricken the files. not appearing
thai there is any competent cvIden,e to connect the
defendant with the alleged offer to the Attorney
General
This WIS the action not Of single judge. but OF
the entire court
THE statement also appeared emanatinG
NJ that twCuty-three boxes Of da
hooks and ladgers rad been burned This statement
is absolutely false There was no evidence at any
time that single daybo1k, ledger or account book
OF any kind whatsoever, had been burned at all
and the depostioHs which Mr. Monnett took in his
effort To establish that fact utterly failed in theil
purpose
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