The Washington herald., 1910-03-25

New York. March 24.-Letters Of a lob
byist figured prominently at the fire in
surance hearing to-day. William H.
Buckley. former deputy superintendent of
insurance. wrote them at the Albany ses-
sion of 1d3. One was written to George
p. Sheldon. chairman of the legislative
committee Of the New York Board of I'm
derwriters. showing Sheldon how wise it
would be for the committee to hire him
for work up at Albany.
From February ?, until the legislature
adjourned on April %, Buckley kent up
an almost daily correspondence. detailing
the progress OF legislation. 1t was his
second year as lawyer and his first
year as legislative agent. He was avid
for retainers. writing down to Sheldon
to get him more clients as the session
proceeded.
Had Things His Own Way.
In once instance Buckley wrote that he
and Gen. Fields got together. and in
one evening chloroformed two noxious
bills by getting them recommitted- He got
Sheldon's hearty congratulations. He
predicted tho death Of bills almost to the
dot Il have arranged with the commit
tee on rules 10 block its passage he
wrote concerning another, and so 1t
went on until he sang a requiem at the
adjournment One letter reports the
death of the McKeon- Foley bill to tax
unearned premiums and Of all other hos
tile-to-Sheldon interests, and incloses his
little bin for $500
Mr. Hotchkiss didn't get far enough
in the correspondence TO take In the year
that followed. when the Grady reinsur-
ance bill was up. and when Buck
ley's income from insurance companies
amounted TO $1,000. but he intimated that
these would be reached at the next
hearing.
Mr. Buckley was so busy that year
and seemed to know so accurately just
what the legislators were going TO do
that Mr.. HotchEiss was moved to ask
hin II he ran the legislature
Courts Under His Thumb.
Not alone was Buckley busy with
legislators. but 1t would appear that he
had. o. thought he had, access TO the
opinions Of the Court of Appeals before
they were made public Mr. Sheldon,
this correspondence showed. felt very
aggrieved over the fact that Buckley
hadn't let him know what the decision
in the franchise tax case was going TO
be two weeks in advance of its being
handed down by the court, so that he
and his friends could have made some
money in the market Buckley said
that he had known Of this decision two
weeks in advance. and said that In the
future Sheldon could rest assured that
no one can get ahead of Us in such
matters"
Those loans Of Buckley's from the
Phoenix in 1900. while Buckley was still
third deputy superintendent OF the in
surance department. were touched upon
to-day, and Mr.. Hotchkiss stated that,
from the~way that checks of Edward F
Mccall now Supreme Court justice, had
figured in them. 1t appeared that he had
assisted Buckley In deceiving the insur-
ance department. From the correspon-
dence produced it would seem that the
Phoenix had arranged for Buckley to
N-AAD ~ D4tN u ttaS Atdi4AS 1lk a SHORT time
so that the loan wouldn't appear in their
annual statement to the insurance de-
partment.
Judge Mccall Explains.
Judge Mccall says that the loan Of
Buckley, in which his name figures, was
an ordinary business transaction. involv-
ing the transfer of loan from one COM
pany 10 another. He intimated rather
strongly that he would like 10 be called
as a witness.
Before Buckley left the stand to-day,
Miles NJ. Dawson, the lawyer and insur-
ance actuaTy. accused him of having
asked Dawson for money with which 10
bride legislators in 1905. This Buckley de-
MED.
Ex-convtct Sues Representative.