New-York tribune., 1910-09-08
SAY VREELAND GAVE
LEGISLATORS CASH
Graft Hunters at First Hearing
Probe Street Railway Infiu-
enCe at Albany.
BROKERS' BOOKS TELL TALES
Revolt in Committee Before
Hearing Begins Quickly Over
come by Chairman and
Counsel.

come by Chairman and
Counsel.
Testimony before the legislative graft
hunting committee az its first PUBIC
hearing in the AIdernanic Chamber yes
terdav shed new and curious light on
the old ther1e-the street railway In poll
tics Two important disclosures were
made
That the Street Railway Association IN
1898 had a deficit of about S1oUN. IN
Cured by contributing to the campaign
funds of both political parties ms
deficit vas made up by contributions
virtually assessments levied on the Met
ropolftan. the Brooklyn Rapid Transit
and the street railway systems OF Bu1-
faIo. Rochester. Syracuse. Utica and FL
mira and smaller cities
That Assemblyman Lou Bedell,
chairman Of the Committee on Rail-
roads of the lower house, who owed the
Legislative clearing house" Of El1ng-
wood & Cunnin CHAM several thousand
dollars. had TWO significant credits placed
to his account in 1900 and 1901 One
was for s.. .375. on the same day that a
IS 900 check from n. II. Vreeland was
apportioned on the brokers' books as
follows. l. Beden. $3.50. l. Goodseil.
$500; G. Tracy Rogers, $50. Senator
Lou" CfoodseH was chairman Of the SEN
ate Committee on Railroads Rogers
was president of the Street Railway AS
sociation and a special partner IN FL
Tngwood & Cunningham. The second
was a credit of S3.JOO for margins on the
same dav that H A Robinson deposited
q S3 $40 check with the brokers, which
was put through their books IN an item
marked L BedeH special" Henry A.
Robinson [or years was the general So
Iicitor for the Metropolitan
Roaers Sought legislators
The days testimony also showed thac
RoeArs was the whole thing IN tn7
Street Railway Association, altnousn rs
,s:d,,,+ nav much attention TO the stand
ardization of accounts, improvement q
continent and the Hke-thinss IN WHICH
+be o-1anization ostensibIy was greatly
;r.arastad Instead he testified. ne DE-
,oted much attention to gaining le5lS
Eerf q
.uo,p those whom he introduced 70
that primrose path to wealth oe7ioeS
Redau and C;oodseII were Senator JohH
Raines. now dead. Senator tTeors7
c-aan driven into political inactivity
.,,-o,,rb disclosures in the postal rraudS
several years ago; Senator
,ta1bv now a Representative IN con
.-.ess- lanes T. Rogers. once majority
leader of the Assembly. the late opeaHeF
- >-;or Senator lothian P Aids
and many others.
rba dav,s testimony did not snow
although Judge NJ Linn Bruce.
,,,,rni+tee's counsel. tried hard 20 orlns
o,,+ the evtdence-that the Street Fall-
vav Association had paid some e1o'''"
- E-T1ineyood & Cunningham Witnlh
-.a- ro Iio11fdate Indebtedness 20 Ger
+af, LEGISLATORS. Everything Of that was
established but the fact that the money
h,d gone u pay Legislators me con-
nectfon between the money and the peO-
pIe who got it may be traced next week.
when Judge Bruce hopes 70 nave certain
documents which may refresh the nienl-
ories of some of his witnesses
The first DAYS work OF the COMMITTEES
,-od,,ced some interesting affairs One
WAS 2 threatened revolt on the part OF q.
couple OF members of the COMMITTEES at
what they dubbed star chamber pro-
ceedfngs. Senator Robert Wagner. Dem
ocra+ and Assemblynan Fred Toombs-
PAnubIican. at an executive meeting OF
49, cor,r7frree before the hearing de-
r,anded information about the conteun-
,1.rad line of the examination
Saw They Were Not Consulted
They declared that they were duly
.IectAd representatives OF the people.
duIv appointed to membership on the
committee. but wofuuy ignorant Of JUST
what had been done and just what vas
1il.aIv 10 be attempted. This they at
--ibu+ed 10 the fact that Assemblyrnan
Merritt the chairman, and Judge Bruce
and his staff had done all the work
We're part of this committee. and vs.
want to do our share Of this investiga-
tion." they said We don't tnlnA i
ought 70 he anv two-man affair"
chairman Merritt and Judge Bruce
both said that nothing OF the sort mad
been attempted or desired The preEr1-
inarv work. they explained. had OF
necessity been handled almost entirely
bv the counsel They said that there
would hereafter be an executive meet
ing of the committee each day
Also there was a defiance of the COM
mittee's power OF subpoena by Leopold
Bache. of the brokerage firm of J. 5
Bache & Co. Accompanied by Henry
Wollnan, his lawyer, Mr. Bache pre-
senred himself before the committee. but
minus books and documents. more de-
sired than was he. Judge Bruce took a
peremptory tone at once when Mr.
Wollman tried TO read a long type
written statement setting forth their
contention that the subpoena was i'm
proper and Illegal.
The Penal Code. which makes IL
to disobey a subpoena
provides your proper forum, broke IN
Judge Bruce. II object 20 the accept
ance of any statement from any lawyer
on this You might make statement
before the Legislature OF this state, OF
which You are in contempt when you re-
fuse To obey the subpoena of this COM
mfttee''
p-,-,is. 20 P-o5uce Books