Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-01


ciety back on its feet. When began
it first dawned upon me that some
thing serious had taken place during
1.-THE combination. 1 discovered that
the 1000 reserve fund had been
stolen-there is no other way of put
ting it. 1 reported the facts to the
state insurance department, and with
its assistance L secured the return of
the full amount. l learned that the
greater part of the reserve fund had
been used by the officers of the Amer
lean Home Circle in buying the offices
of the F'raternal Tribunes.
Piece of Bold Work.
at was a bold proceeding, to say the
least. I used the $4,000 in satisfying
the death claims of the Fraternal Trib-
unes, and there are only few of these
that have not been satisfied in full.
did not figure that the Fraternal Trib-
unes was in any way responsible for
the obligations of the American Home
Circle. and accordingly these were ig-
nored by me as the head of the for
mer society" OF those indicted the
following were officers of the Frater-
nal Tribunes at the time of the mer-
ger; Whitman, supreme tribune; rex
dale, supreme secretary; Craig, SUI
preme physician, and Weld, supreme
attorney They conducted negotia-
tons on the part of the Tribunes for
the merger, it is said, agreeing to re-
sign and give the Home Circle officers
| control of the societies. For this they
received, it is declared, $4,000. The
officers of the Home Circle who pro-
NOTED the deal and who took charge
after the others resigned were Wilson,
supreme tribune; CARRIER. secretary;
McIlvain, treasurer, and Walters,
medical examiner.
Hatfield Promoter.
! Hatfield is a Chicago insurance man
who it is said, was employed by the
Home Circle officers to open negotia-
lions with the Tribunes for which ser
| vice, ii is alleged, he received $4,000.
Kenney is an attorney who is alleged
to have been employed in the same
connection; Franckel, Margaret Nell
vain and Caldwell are alleged to
have been holders of dummy notes.
States Attorney L. NJ. Magill declin-
ed TO make a statement today on the
rulings of Judge Gest. He said that he
expected to be prepared by tomorrow
| to do so. Mr.. Magill did admit, how
ever, that the ruling holding that the
grand jury had not been drawn accord
ing 10 law invalidated all of the indict-
ments returned by that body, although
it would not affect any of the accused
who had already been tried. Mr.. Ma
gill estimated that there were at least
fifteen of the indictments other than
those applying to the insurance scan
dial that had been invalidated.
Ends Proceedings Here.
1t is understood that the statutes of
limitations will prevent a reindictment
of the accused insurance men by the
Rock Island county grand jury. But
this does not mean that these individ-
uals are yet free from punishment by
law. in the event of establishment Of
their guilt. An investigation along
the same lines as followed here has
been in progress before the grand jury
of Sangamon county at Springfield,
and II is rumored> that indictments
will be found there. States Attorney
Burke of Sangamon county has had the
cooperation of States Attorney Magtll
in his investigation. The crowd of in
surance men referred to had headquar-
tiers in Springfield and all of the mer-
ger negotiations were carried on from
that city.
Expensive for the County.
It is appropriated that the investiga-
ton of the insurance scandal here has
cost the taxpayers of Rock Island
county upwards of $4,000 to So,
900. only TO have the prose-
cution come to naught through
strictly technical error in the
calling of a meeting of the county
board at which the indicting grand
Jury was selected. If the men indicted
are guilty of wrecking society in
which thousands of widows and or
phans had entrusted their future pro-
lection, it was hoped that they would
be made to pay the penalty for their
wrongdoing right here where many of
the sufferers have their homes.
Usual Procedure Followed.
County Clerk H. B. Hubbard made
the following statement today follow
ing his being told of the decisionSland-
ed down by Judge Gest: Until learn
ing of Judge Costs decision, felt sure
that the meeting of the board had been
perfectly in accord with the law, and
I am sure that the usual procedure was
followed in calling the board together.
l see. however. that technically the
meeting could be disqualified because
the place of meeting had not been as
signed in the call. and as l had pre-
viously interpreted the law, this was not
deemed necessary. About eight years
ago 1 remember having looked into
the legality of a meeting called in a
similar manner, and on that occasion /
the lawyer with whom l counseled as |
sured me that everything was perfect !