Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-31
SLICK MEASURE
SLIDES THROUGH
PROBE AT ALBANY SCRAPES
GREASE FROM BILL
State Senator, Lawyer, Lobbyist and
Others Well Cared for, and Leg
isIation Went Ahead
with Dizzy Speed
Associated Pressl

NEW YORK, March 30.-A new name
came into the fire insurance investiga-
tion today and another striking exam
pie was developed of the speed with
which legislation went through the
mills at Albany when the wheels were
we'll CREASED.
Superintendent Hotchkiss gave out
tonight the parentage and girth of the
American Bond and Mortgage Guaran-
tee company, which later became the
International Banking and Trust COM
pany, on 100 shares of which (par
value $4,000, William II. Buckley,
formerly legislative agent for fire in
surance companies at Albany. was able
to borrow $4,000 from the Phenix In
surance company (ire) of Brooklyn.
The parent company, the American
Bond and Mortgage company, was
promoted by Stewart Browne, a priv
ate banker of New York city. and
sincorporated in 1899 by five ncon-
spicdous persons of whom little Is
known. save that one of them was a
clerk IN the office of Edward Mccall,
brother of the late president of the
New York Life Insurance company,
and now a justice of the supreme
court of New York. The five incorpor-
ators were Ensign o. Beale, Daniel u.
Lynch, John Farrell. William S. Wad-
dy and John TT. McCrahon.
The bill of incorporation was intro
duced in the legislature by Senator
Louis F. Goodell. who represented
Orange county from 1899 to 1906. The
books of the company show Senator
Goodell received 100 shares from Stew
art Browne, and they are recorded as
paid for in full.
Senator Goodell said over the tele-
phone tonight:
Il remember / had 100 shares. / got
rid OF them quick"
He said he could not recall why he
introduced the bill, nor did he remem-
ber the charter
"I suppose" he said. "that some of
my friends from New York or Port
Jeryis must have asked me to-"
The charter was an extraordinary
document. 1t conferred on the COM
pany power to do almost anything
from conducting a pawnshop to estab-
fishing a storage warehouse.
The bill was introduced by Senator
Goodell and II went into the committee
. on rules. stayed there one day, was re-
ported out favorably and advanced at
dizzy pace. Its progress in the as
sembly was equally rapid and smooth
and in the closing days of the session
the bill became law.
Senator Goodell was not the only one
to whom shares were given. William
III. Buckley was allotted 100 shares, as
was Justice Mccall, then a practicing
lawyer. The companys books also
show on May 10. 1899. Mccall received
$1,000, and on June 10, 1899, $4,000 for
legal fees. making total of $4,000
equal to the par value of his 100 shares,
which. according to the records, he
paid for, as did Buckley Browne was
positive tonight the sums had not been
paid Justice Mccall, after the company
was incorporated, for legal services.
Any thought that the further course
of the investigation is to be merely
the threshing out of old straw was
dispeled by the announcement from
the office of Superintendent Hotchktss
tonight that he has sent out q request
to the presidents of forty odd American
fire insurance companies and to the
American managers Of foreign COM
panies TO produce records that show
in any way what sums they have paid
to legislative agents and to what
agents these sums went.