The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-30
Cotton King Must Answer the Charge of Conspiracy In
 the Federal Court
COTTON LEAK IN 1900
 STARTED THE TROUBLE
Three Other Men Are Indicted With Price and Must Answer to the Law for Tampering With
 the Government.

New York May 29.-Theodore H. Price. at one time known as the Cotton King" because of his trades in the staple, and more recently president of the Eagle Fire Insurance company, was indicted today by the federal grand jury after long i investigation after startling leak of the cotton crop statistics contained in a gov- i ernment report which had not been made public. The grand jury found two in dictments against Price, one charging conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and the other bribery of a government official. Three other persons were indicted with Price, and warrants have been issued for their ar rest as they are out of the Jurisdiction of the federal court of this district.
 With the handing down of the indict- ments MT. Price. who had apparently anticipated the action taken against him, appeared at the federal building and sur rendered himself. He was arraigned be- fore Judge Hough and pleaded not guilty. Bail was fixed at $5OoO which was furn- ished, and MT. Price was released after the court had set June 19 as the date for the preliminary hearing.
 MT. Price, in statement made public after his arragnment, asserted that he was entirely innocent of the charges. The statement follows:
 MT. Theodore H. Price made the fol- lowing statement in regard to the indict- ments handed down in the so-called cot ton leak case. He said that while an indictment was of course an extremely dlsagreeable experience to undergo 1t was an accusation, and not proof, and he is aware that the government has con sidered 1t necessary to uake this action be- l fore the matter became outlawed on Juno 3. or thereabout. He feels no doubt what ever of the issue.
 "The original cotton leak charges Jaade l some three years ago were based on the statement of Van Riper. a bucketshop operator, and set of self-confessed par ticipants and beneficiary with others of the alleged cotton leak and who con ducted his account with Messrs. Hubbard Bros. & Co. and not with MT. Price,
 While MT. Prices career has lacked the sensational features which marked MT. Sully's brief tenure of the cotton throne he has been considered the most prom inent operator in the New York cotton market since the days of John Inman. He first attracted international attention a member of the firm of Price, Mc- Cormick & Co., which failed on May "A, 1900 The firm failed for about S1S,0000O0. but Mir Price at once set about re- habiltating his fortunes and succeeded so we'll that during the past three or four years he has paid off his individual DOT ton of the firms remaining indebtedness, amounting to over $l00,000, notwithstand- ing the fact that the claims had been through bankruptcy and moreover, had been outlawed
 It is said that no one in the cotton business has ever spent so much time and money in securing information from the south concerning the progress of the crops during the growing season and the attitude of interior holders. During his career he has conducted many successful campaigns in cotton and at times he has been credited with very large winnings.