The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-26

my house sone day in Stockbridge, and asked me what was the status Of the 1negotiations, and told him from my standpoint that I could not yield
 to the terms, and he said he thought slthey were too severe and he was go- ling to see MT. Do1an, as understood it. and I presume he did, and be- E1eve ft was the call of Senator AI- I resulted in the resumption of the ne i tgotiatfons. How much inuf7ence he Ihad, or how much action he took, I do not know.
 c. Did the interview with an ex-
 Senator at that time have anything l A. With me?
 F. @. Yes A Not the slightest e. What interest did he have? A. think he was a large stock holder. think it was purely a dues-
 ton of financial results to Senator AL Idrfch personally. That is the way I
 have always understood it.
 e. What did he say to you that
 caused you to take up the proposi-
 ton of the Rhode Island trolleys? l He did not cause me. He caused a resumption of the negotiations which l were broken off In the inception @. What did Senator Aidrich say to you that caused you to think he had financial interest in the Rhode
 Island troI1eys
 A. It was fhe general common i'm
 pression- do not think he ever told
 me he held any particular amount or lstock, but it was the general impress l sion abroad-as great many things that are talked about, that this man. that man or the other man has large interest in bank or trust company l or trolley company, and assumed without any question: do not know but what assumed wrongly-bat I was under the impression then, and am of the impression now, that he had
 Rhode Island.
 e. will read you letter dated August 20. 1906. from myself to Sen ator A1drich:
 My dear Senator:
 Am wrong in the impression that I was to hear from you again re- garding the matter we discussed at Iour last interview before taking any action? It was my understanding that you were to get some de1g:te as- lsurances that were to be transmitted to me which I could use as a basis for presentation to my directors for taction, and I handed you 8 copy of the trust that had been provided for in the handling of this and other sirn- liar matters, and since my return tc my office I sent you copy of the contract by which the New York, New Haven 6 Hartford Railroad Company becomes the guarantor of all the pre- ferred shares that were to be issued l by said trust. I have taken nc ac- ton on the understanding I was to hear from you further but the delay has been so long | am in doubt whether or not there is some nisund er- standing as the result of our inter view.
 Yours truly.
 "c. $. MELLEN.. What was that definite assurance that MT. sAldrich was to transmit to
 your board of directors through you A. MT Aldrich was going to bring about a resumption of these negotia- tions, and the trust that is referred to there in that letter was a copy of the New England Investment & Secur- ity Company trust, voluntary asso- citation which had in mind might be utilized in connection with this pur- chase. That was afterwards abandon
 ed and the Prevalent Securities was
 used
 Paying $24,OO0 .0ooo For ss,ooO, 900. e. What was the total value of the
 Rhode Island trolleys at that time-s
 about fss, ,0o0, 900?
 l A. Somewhere in that vicinity I think we paid about-we paid over twice the value.
 Q. You paid ozer twice the value2
 A. Yes. sif. I e. You paid about $2e, ,ooe, ,eoo. 1 A, It was a little less than that. e. You paid about SIC. .00o, 600 too
 much-s10. 000, coo more than the prop l erty was worth. did you not2