Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-01
HEARING IS ENDED
BouieII Committee Finishes lis Session Win a Confession
 From One Whitney.

| l the record of the case. The house
 committee adjourned, satisfied With | it's work and certain that the truth ! had been established. It's conclu-
 sion can be stated in advance with
 out inspiration. It will be to the effect that the charges brought by l Representative Lilley of Connectl- | cut against the Electric Boat com
 pany of corrupt practices to pro
 cure exclusive legislation from con
 gress and of gaining about $l'- | 4OO,O0 excessive profits in IFS gov .ernment contracts for submarines are without foundation. It will show | the semblance of plot in which l idle rumor was adroitly used to force the attention of congress.
 Representative Lilley probably will not be placed ill the position ol
 having any conscious connection with the propaganda of partisans of
 a rival company when he introduced his resolution in the house on Feb
 ruary 20 and forced the investiga- tion that followed MT Lilley col lapsed under the strain of develop
 ments and responsibility which rest
 ed on him to prove his statements
 and he went south by steamer TOT
 rest and to be away from it all sew eral days ago. Before leaving he had acknowledged himself beaten as well as worn out.
 A theatrical climax to the inves- tigation was supplied in a written
 confession by Fred Brown Whitney, formerly clerk of the naval commit- tee of the house, once a vice-presl-
 dent of the Lake Torpedo Boat
 company and until now closely asso-
 ciated with Simon Lake in his work
 abroad, where he is building sub-
 marines for European governments.
 MT Whitney signed his confession in
 the. Garfield hospital in this city.
 where he is i'll in bed The com
 mittee tried for three weeks to get
 him in the witness chair, but certi-
 ficates from attending physicians
 showed that he was unable to ap-
 pear.
 MT Whitney confesses that he was
 the man behind the scenes. It was
 he that wrote the anonymous letters
 in which accusations were made prior to their presentation to con
 gress by MT Lilfey and It was. he that gave to certain newspapers the early articles of sensational na- ture. Mr. Whitney directed an at focI n,, nanraeapt tf,ya ovd IF tb,. naval committee, for which he is now sorry. and he made the figures represented as graft in the contracts that appeared mysteriously in vari- ous places. The motive is given in Mir Whitney's own words in his con fession, which says:
 "Deponent says of his own initia- ton he undertook what appeared to him at the time to be not improper methods to have brought to the at tention of congress the methods which he had believed had been pur- sued by the Electric Boat Go in their endeavor to secure through congress sional action what might he termed exclusive legislation which would shut out competition and prevent the Lake Torpedo Boat Co from com peting in the United States for sub marine torpedo boat construction.
 MT Whitney recites the institution of his work by writing the anony- nous letters to Jesse Carmichael. correspondent of the Detroit Free Press, in which he foreshadowed the that was to be sprung in congress and the later unsigned note to Frank Edinborough, state senator of Michigan. in which the integrity of Representative Loud was attacked and course of publicity outlined.
 At this time he supplied repre- of New York newspapers with typewritten statements in which his fictitious figures represent | ing graft were used. Tn one case ] the figures found their way into print. These figures were Mir Whit ney's undolng. He used them too | often. They were put In one of Mir Lilley's resolutions in document [ that Mir LiIley presented as evidence 1 and ih the letter to Edinborough. l experts discovered that I they were all written on the same | typewriter. Abner B. Nef. Wash | Ington manager of the Lake Torpedo | Boat Go. identified two of the Iegiti- l mate productions as having been written by him on his typewriter in { he eompany's ofice and he recalled I that the figures were supplied by Mir Whitney. The anonymous writer vas then known.
 NIT Whitney explains that he had sccess to the Lake Co.'S office and he rrote the baneful correspondencc unknown to any one ie acquits simon Lake and all others af having my knowledge Of his acts antil after he handwriting experts had testi- led. Penitence for his action against Loud Is expressed In Hr whitney's confession iu these Fords.
 That said deponenf sent safd communications and said siagements o said newspapers believing that Loud had voted for In exclusive appropriation for sub marines of a certain type. but that le subsequently learned taEt Repre- 'entstive Loud voted for submarines without conditions. and he deeply re- yrets the wrong and injustice co done 'y him to Representative Luud. vho vas innocent Of all suspicious enter sined hy deponenf eonreraiug him
 In two vsys Represeatzflve LIlley . piace4 is an awkward usasiffon by 'ne part of Mr Whftaey-s confession Ffrxs- MT I1Eiey hsd dsnted repeated r that any person sad xnowre6rz ron hfz of kts intention 70 start sn