Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-02-27

further
.Resolved, That the judiciary com
nittee be authorized to prepare 70
presentation to the Senate the eVl
dence in supper of the. said charge
and the presentation thereof and tina
subpoenas be issued under the hands
of the president and the secretary o
the Senate, to be served by the ser
ge~ant-at-arms upon such Witnesses az
may be recommended by said commit.
tee, and that the attorney general b,
requested To attend said hearing tC
examine and c-ross-examine witnesses
on behalf of said committee
RIdner Denies Charges.
II is now reported that Senator Fitz
herbert declared that he told DR.. Rid
ner that there had been much unpleas
antness in connection with the acety.
lene bills and that he had been in
formed that Ridner tried to kill then
for a consideration, 1t is said tina
Ridner denied this and aVerred that h6
was the injured party as he had beer
sent for by those interested in the bill
F~itzherbert is said t + VIC declared
his unwillingness to be il party to any
transaction that was not honorable and
AT his suggestion the bill was to have
Decn Withdrawn.
AS yet. Fitaherbert has not said that
Ridner was responsible for the bills.
The report of the Judiciary commit
tee is as Follows;
"Your committee fixed Monday. the
18th day of February, at II o'clock in
the forenoon, and the senate chamber
as the time and place for a public
hearing upon the matter of the said
charges. The parties advancing the
said charges were notified 70 be pres
ent with their witnesses and the Sena
tor affected by said charges was also
notified.
Your committee. having no power
to issue %subpoenas, could not compel
the attendance of witnesses and was
obliged, therefore, to rely upon the
voluntary appearance of the parties
concerned. A brief statement of the
charges, which were the subject of
this investigation, is as follows;
Senate bills Nos. 10 and Ito were
introduced by the Senator from Nor
lis County. No. 70 being marked by
request The subject matter of these
two bills is the regulation of the use
and manufacture of acetylene gas. As
yet your committee has received no
information concerning the person or
PERSONS at whose instance these two
hills. were introduced, their origin be-
ing left unexplained The u%ndouhte'l
effect of the passage of these two bills
would be to limit the operations as
presently conducted of the Commercial
Acetylene Company, among others, =
corporation OF his State with its prin-
cipal Office in the city of New York
and a factory at Harrison. N j
Accusations Against Ridner.
THE representatives of this
aver tina one RidEer made advances
to them by which he undertook to pro-
Sure either the. withdrawal or the de-
feat of these bills upon payment to
him of a certain sum of money and
that the Senator from Morris County,
either at the Inception of these nego-
tiations, or, at any rate, before their
conclusion, became cognizant thereof,
took part in the negotiations between
the said Ridner and the Commercial
Acetylene Company, and That whether
the said Senator was in fact to receive
a portion of this money so to be paid
or not, at any rate acquiesced in this
method of the disposal of this pro-
rcsed legislation with fun knowledge
of the transaction.
AT the hearing the representatives
of the Commercial Acetylene Company
appeared and testified as to the nego-
tiations with Ridner and ultimately
with the Senator from Morris County.
This taGtit1nnN HraS orrohnpafa1 hu
the statement of one Wishart. a repre-
sentative of the New York SUM-. The
statements made by the Senator from
Morris County before your committee
at its previous hearing upon these bills
were the subject of testimony by one
Underhill. a representative of the New
ark News. who had reported that
hearing, and one Gottfried, a repre-
sentative of The Newark Evening Star,
who had likewise been present. report
ing that hearing.
The Senator from Norris County
was present in person and represented
by counsel, who cross-examined the
several witnesses.
Fitzherbert lakes no statement.
al the conclusion of testimony adj
RaPRtAH Vi Sel0 1tidl 6tS
counsel for the Senator from Norris
County was asked If he desired to
make any statement or introduce any
testimony to refute the charges and
the testimony advanced in their sup
port. He contented himself with a
general denial of the truth of said
charges and requested that hi be given
an opportunity to present such evil
N in behalf of the Senator from
Morris County as might be obtainable
before the whole Senate.
Inquiry was then made il anyone
present had any information to ad-
vance concerning the matter, and, there
being no reply. the hearing was ad-
adjourned.
From all tile testimony ad-
vanced and from the admissions and
statements made by the Senator from
Norris County, himself. at a previous
session of the judiciary committee the