StevenWarRan Backstage

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Modern Renovation for Former Law Library Rooms

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2011-11-14T08:21:00.001-08:00

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New York State Capital.

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Asssembly Chamber.

West Facade.

Library Main Reading Room.

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Doesn't THE TIMES Sound Like a Cool Sadist?

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May 30, 1873, New York Times,
The Winston-English Libel Suit-The Defendant's Bail Reduced to $2,000.
In the suit for libel brought by Frederick S. Winston, President of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, against Stephen English, publisher of the Insurance Times and in which defendant was imprisoned in default of $20,000 bail, a motion was made yesterday on behalf of defendant for a reduction of bail. The facts of the case have already appeared in the columns of THE TIMES, not only when it has been before the Court, but also when the subject of investigation before the Legislature at Albany. Defendant, as grounds for the reduction asked for, stated that he had been in close confinement since the 23rd of January last; that he has suffered and is suffering great pecuniary loss and mental and physical hardship by his imprisionment; that his health and standing, his business and property have suffered already great injury, and that they will be ruined by the further continuance of his confinement in jail, and that he is unable to procure bail. It also appeared that he is held to bail on $10,000 in another suit brought by George F. Hope in the Supreme Court.

Judge Curtis, in deciding to grant the motion, said: The law, in requiring bail, seeks only to have security that the defendant's person will be within the jurisdiction of the court, to be amenable to its final judgmnet. There is no element of punishment in its requisition. There is nothing in the papers showing that the defendant will probably seek to escape beyond the jurisdiction of the court. On the contrary, it appears that he voluntarily came within its juruisdiction, and submitted to arrest, The plaintiff's counsel, on the argument stated that they did not desire to be considered as strenuously opposing the defendant's application for a reduction of the amount of bail. The defendant's counsel asked to have it reduced to $2,000. In view of these considerations, and without undertaking to pass in any degree upon the merits of the controversy, I think there should be an order reducing the amount of bail to the sum of $2,000.

Whatever happened to her passionate "our roots are growing together like the roots' of Aspens'" crap?

My handy inflation calculator, westegg.com which I always feared was extravagantly high and off-the-mark, puts Stephen's former bail at $359,617.10, in 2010 dollars--that is if you were buying goods and not freedom---while CPI the Inflation Calculator, which only goes back to 1913, spat out a not-collaborating $457,666.67. So did the search's at bls.gov, and John William's Shadow Government Statistic, give $457,666.67 going back only to 1913, while www.dollartimes.com, came to $438,358, and www.moneychimp even higher at $554,800, both again. extending back only to 1913. So what happened again, so earthshatteringly in 1913? Oh, yeah, I remember...and the great fire of London in 1666 too.

I guess I can take my Free Judy Miller bumper sticker off my truck now. 119 days of real incarceration in the Tombs sounds like it could break a man if not Judy.

If you want some kick-ass good reading, try the collected year for 1869 of Stephen English's The Insurance times: Volume 2. I've kindly made a Google Doc with many tens of thousands of words of perfected article transcripts, and a link-able index in progress. It's just my little contribution to the cause of digitalization. English was good-guy Elizur Wright's close partner and confidant---and boy, we can sure tell each other apart now, though I'm sure it was just as clear back then. I believe I read somewhere that Winston et al. finally broke English, but then gave him a $35,000 stipend in the slap-cuddle-hug-slap...which, let's see...that would come out to....

THE SAD FATE OF HOMEOPATHY APPLIED TO INSURANCE.

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April 22, 1887, New York Times,
DESERTED BY ITS FRIENDS. THE SAD FATE OF HOMEOPATHY APPLIED TO INSURANCE.
Upon the suit of Josephine H. and William T. Black, the Sheriff on Wednesday evening levied a writ of attachment upon the office furniture and fixtures of the Homeopathic Mutual Life Insurance Company at 117 West Forty-second-street. The suit is for $2,329.09, the alleged surrender value of a policy for $5,000 issued upon the life of William T. Black on March 22, 1878. The complaint alleges the insolvency of the company as the cause of the proceeding, and the affidacits filed upon the application for the injunction allege that one of the officers of the company said that $41,390 which had been contributed by certain stockholders in January last to keep the company going had since been returned to them, and that he saw no prospect that the requiaition of the Superintendent of the Insurance Department on the stockholders of the company to make good the impairment of its capital within 90 days would be complied with.

The Homeopathic Mutual Life Insurance Company began business in July, 1868, with a paid-up capital of $200,000. That was a few years later reduced to $100,000. It started out by giving low rates of insurance to parties who certified their faith in the homeopathic system of medicin and who employed physicians of that school in case of illness. During 1886 the company's income was $155,658 77 and the disbursements $215,593 24. The reported balance of assets on Jan. 1 was $521,328 38, against $717,999 41 on Jan. 1 1886. Insurance fell off during the year from 47,990 policies for $7,631,968 to 9,406 polices for $2,641,426.

When in the Spring of 1886 the Superintendent of Insurance of Massachusetts discovered that the capital of the company was impaired, he peremptorily ordered it to withdraw from business in that State. The company had been issuing insurance in homeopathic doses. In 1884 it began issuing policies for any amount above $100, and during the next 2 tears issued many thousands of policies at figures between $100 and $1,000. But the expense of doing this business was about as large as it would have been if eacj policy had been issued for thousands instead of hundreds, while the income derived was insufficient to pay expenses. The action of the Massachusetts Superintendent of Insurance led the Directors to curtail expenses and increase premiums. But the income was not yet sufficient to pay expenses, and in January last the company issued its last policy.

In the statement of the company made to the State Insurance Superintendent on Feb. 18 last, but which was dated Dec. 31, 1886, the company scheduled as part of its income for the year 1886: "Amount paid in by stockholders," $41,390. The Superintendent sent on an examiner, who reported that an assessment had been levied, and that by cutting expenses to 25 per cent. of the income the Secretary hoped to spend only $14,000 and to take in $60,000 during the first half of 1887. Upon this report the Superintendent refused to consider the $41,390 as assets, and on March 8 called upon the stockholders to make good within 90 days the impairment of its capital to the amount of $80,232 30. Mr. and Mrs. Black don't believe this will be done.

In regard to the prospect of an application for a Reciever, Stewart L. Woodford said yesterday that the company was in no sense insolvent, and unless forced into the hands of a Reciever it would, in his judgment, meet its obligations to those who have the courage to continue their premiums. It has all the reserve, he says, required by the laws of this State. Robert Sewell, Frank B. Mayhew, William H. Arnoux, Joel W. Stevens, H.R. Hollister, and E,M. Kellogg are some of the stockholders. Mr. Black's attorney says he expects that the Attorney-General will ask for a Receiver.

One potato, two potato, three potato...Hi!...Hi New York Times! How ya doin'? It's like takin' candy from a baby, isn't it!

June 7, 1885, New York Times,New-York Homeopathic Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Among the reliable life insurance companies of the city of New-York the Homeopathic Mutual stands deservedly high. Its general business is like that of the other companies; but it has made of its office a factory of policies in its specialty of $100 policies. In this business the unit or base is simply reduced to $100.

Parties take..one...$100....policy.
..."................two.........".....policies.
..."................five.........".....policies.
..."................six..........".....policies.
..."................ten..........".....policies

Thus the wants of all classes of our citizens in all their various grades of prosperity now or a few years hence are provided for. The company has denominationalized the life insurance policy. These policies are participating, non-forfeitable, secured, available. The Homeopathic has popularized its business by fair methods and vigorous management, and with this peculiarly American plan of the $100 policy is gaining largely in members and strength. It has been swarming, and in its purchase of property on Forty-Second-street near Sixth-avenue, for its future permanent home has made another innovation. It will remove from No. 257 Broadway to Forty-second-street as soon as it can complete its building.

Mammies in the kitchen, makin' shortnin', shortnin', Mammies in the kitchen makin' shortnin' bread!!!!!!!

Massachusetts Reports on Life Insurance,

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER. of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part II. Life And Accident Insurance.
BOSTON: Wright & Potter, State Printers, 1872

Policies Terminated in 1871.

Summary of Insurance Outstanding.

Aggregated summary of new business transacted by all the Life Companies represented in Massachusetts, during the last sexennial period, commencing with the extraordinary development of 1866:

Shameless Evidence of Foreknowledge

2011-09-28T20:46:00.001-07:00

February 7, 1912, New York Times, TAKES CARNEGIE VAULTS.
Mercantile Safe Deposit Company Receives Transfer from the Original Buyers.

In accordance with the plan announced last month in THE TIMES by which the Carnegie Safe Deposit's Company's vaults at 115 Broadway were bought by a group of bankers identified with the Chase National Bank, the Guaranty Trust Company, and the American Exchange National Bank, who later took over the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company from the Bankers' Trust Company, the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company has increased its stock and purchased the Carnegie vaults from the original buyers.

The Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, which was formerly owned by the Equitable Life along with the Mercantile Trust Company, passed to the Bankers' Trust Company when the Equitable Trust Company absorbed the Mercantile Trust. Since the Equitable fire, which burned out the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, the boxholders have to a large exteent transferred their patronage to the Carnegie vaults. The group of bankers who have turned over the Carnegie Company's old vaults to their recently acquired Mercantile Safe Deposit Company purchased the vaults from the State Banking Department, which is liquidating the bankrupt Carnegie Company, for $375,000. The vaults, which were built of armor plate by the Bethlehem Steel Company, originally cost in the neighborhood of $800,000, but until the Equitable fire were a losing investment. Attempts had been made by the State Superintendent of Banking Van Tuyl to sell them to the Guaranty Trust Company, which is building across the street, but engineers found that they were built so that they could not be taken apart and moved.

In reorginizing the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company under the new control the old President
of the company, William Giblin, who narrowly escaped death in the fire, has been re-elected, along with former Vice President John B. Russell. Lawrence A. Ramage was elected Treasurer and will have charge at the new location.

The Nation

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http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc52kcvf_592f3wvm5g5

Transcipts from: The Nation

April 16, 1868, The Nation, Editorial, Page 306, A National Bureau of Life Insurance.
April 11, 1872, The Nation, Report of the Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Massacusetts
December 12, 1872, The Nation, No. 389, Page 374, The Week, (Mutual's Proposed Reduction in Premiums)
January 2, 1873, The Nation, Correspondence , What Should We Pay For Life Insurance?
January 9, 1873, The Nation, The Magazines for January, "Savings-Banks Life Insurance," By Elizur Wright.
October 8, 1874, The Nation, No. 484, Page 228, The Week,
June 3, 1875, The Nation, Correspondence, Page 375, LIFE INSURANCE COMMISSIONS.
March 15, 1877, The Nation, Editorial, No. 611, Page 157, THE LIFE-INSURANCE FAILURES.
May 24, 1877, The Nation, The Week, Page 300, "The failure of the Continental Life Insurance Company,"
November 8, 1877, The Nation, Report, Page 292, Number 645,
April 5, 1883, The Nation, No. 927, Page 302, Book Review, Walford's Insurance Cyclopaedia,February 23, 1905, The Nation, Page 146, Vol. 80, No. 2069, Editorial, The Equitable Controversy,
June 15, 1905, The Nation, Page 472, Vol. 80, No. 2085, Editorial, The New Turn In the Equitable.
July 27, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2091, Page 68, The Week,
September 14, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2098, Editorial, Page 212, The Insurance Investigation,
September 21, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2099, Page 232, Editorial, INSURANCE AND POLITICS.
September 28, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2100, Page 252, CORPORATION ABSOLUTISM.
September 28, 1905, The Nation, Should Life Insurance Be Cheaper. Editorial,
November 23, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2108, Page 414, Editorial, A MISUNDERSTOOD STATESMAN.
November 30, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2109, Page 436, A LITTLE INSURANCE HISTORY.
November 30, 1905, The Nation, Vol. 81, No. 2109, Page 436, Editorial, "SOLICITOUS ABOUT NEW YORK."
January 18, 1912, The Nation, “THE EQUITABLE FIRE.”
January 18, 1912, The Nation, Vol. 94, No. 2429, Page 52, Fires and Human Nature.
February 27, 1913, The Nation, Vol. 96, No. 2487, Page 203, Literature. Precursors of Life Assurance. An Introduction to the History of Life Insurance.
May 20, 1939, The Nation, [Page 592] A Case Study in Reform,

January 15, 1912, Best's Insurance News, Volumes 10-12,

2011-09-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

"Editorial : Two Lessons of the Equitable Fire," by A.M. Best Company,

TWO LESSONS OF THE EQUITABLE FIRE.

The recent destruction by fire in this city of the home office building of the Equitable Life Assurance Society has many lessons for insurance men. It is noteworthy that the Society carried no insurance on this building, the stated reason for this action being that the directors had two appraisals of their property, one of which showed that without the building it was worth $300,000 more than with the building; in other words, that it would cost $300,000 more than the value of the material in the building to raze it. Without entering into any discussion of the credibility of this statement, we direct attention to the fact that the company in its returns to the various State Departments did not report that there was no insurance on this building, for the excellent reason that the Convention statement form, representing the combined wisdom and experience of the Insurance Commissioners of the various States, does not require insurance companies to report to the Departments whether or not buildings owned by them, and carried in their statements as assets, are insured. This appears to be one of those extraordinary oversights which are only discovered through such an occurrence as the destruction of the Equitable Building. Certainly it would appear that if insurance companies are allowed to take credit in their statements for the value of buildings owned by them, which might at any time be destroyed by fire, they should be required to keep these buildings insured in responsible companies, and to report the facts to the various Insurance Departments concerning this insurance. Where insurance companies loan money on mortgage, they are required to have insurance policies payable to them as collateral security, and to report in their annual statements the amount of insurance carried. This information has not been required, however, where buildings have been owned outright.

The fire was confined to the Equitable Building, and did not spread to any of the structures across the four streets which formed the Equitable block. This was due principally to the facts that the burnable property within the building, though considerable, was small in comparison, for instance, to the stock, fixtures and other inflammable material contained in any large mercantile building; that all the buildings adjacent to that of the Equitable Life were of fireproof construction; and that the officers and men of the fire department gave their best thought and effort to conquering the fire, without hesitation risking even their lives. Chief Walsh, a fearless and experienced fire fighter, was killed "by being caught by falling debris while at work within the building. A strong wind was blowing at the time of the fire, and the temperature was so low that streams of water pumped on the building froze almost as soon as they touched it, in spite of the roaring furnace within. It is not pleasant to contemplate what might have occurred had this fire been on the windward edge of the dry-goods district, in which vast amounts of inflammable material are stored, with very few buildings of modern fireproof construction to act as fire breaks.

In other news:
page 5
Supervision of Companies
In a signed symposium in the Boston Globe last Sunday as to "which is the more desirable, National or State supervision of insurance," President Hall of the Massachusetts Mutual. Secretary W.H. Brown of the Columbian National and Samuel Davis, an agent of the Penn Mutual, argued in favor of State supervision, and George P. Field, president of the Boston Board and a member of the New England Policyholders' Protective Association of Equitable Life Policyholders, took the opposite view.

page 2
Germany Wants to Know.
A Berlin dispatch, dated July 7, says: "The Imperial Supervisory Office for Private Insurance Companies has demanded of the Equitable Life Assurance Society and Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York that they declare by August 1 in what manner they propose seperating their premium reserves on German policies from the general revenues and how they intend to invest them. The amounts affected are $7,500,000 of Equitable and $5,250,000 of Mutual."

The Troubles in Venezuela.

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The Chronicle: a weekly journal, devoted to the interests of Insurance, Vol. XLII,
1888 - The Troubles in Venezuela.

To The Editor Of The Chronicle:
Sir: The following from the editorial columns of the New York Times is full of significance and of much interest at tikis time:

It is quite evident from the present advices that the election of Dr. Kojas Paul as president of Venezuela was not accomplished as harmoniously and quietly as had been at first declared. Armed resistance to it was attempted by General Crespo from the neighboring island of Trinidad as a base, and was responded to by a number of the people on the coast of Venezuela nearest to the island. The possibility of this result was indicated as long ago as last February by our Caracas correspondent, who wrote that a change had been made in the customary methods of election and that five of the candidates for the presidency had agreed to submit their claims to an electoral convention, while two others, one of whom was General Joaquin Crespo, had declined to do so. General Crespo was president of Venezuela in 1884 during one term in an interval between two terms of Guzman Blanco. The island of Trinidad is a favorite rendezvous of malcontents since il is under English sway and yet is but a short distance from the mainland. Official tidings now acknowledge that there was an outbreak, but declare that it has come to nothing and that the insurgent leaders everywhere are surrendering.

The president of Venezuela, it will be remembered, created Henry B. Hyde, the president of the Equitable Life, " Busto del Libertador," an act which many assert has had much to do with the present difficulty. One party thought that this conferring of titles upon Americans would give the United States too commanding a power in the Venezuelan republic. Again, it was argued that the new " Busto del Libertador " had agreed to insure the lives of the insurgents, giving eighty per cent off the first premiums and taking the balance in guano. This offended Crespo, but seemed satisfactory to Blanco, who of course expected assistance from the new" Busto del Libertador." Mr. Hyde"s sudden departure for Europe, as alleged, may have some connection with this difficulty, or it may not. His previous services, which rendered the conferring of the title a possibility, lead one to infer that "Busto del Libertador" is expected to materialize south—as the almanacs say—about this time. Bolivar.

From: The World Order: A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism, The history and practices of the parasitic financial elite-- by: Eustace Mullins, 1984

CHAPTER FOUR: THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA

Brown Brothers Harriman

Harriman employed judge Robert Scott Lovett as general counsel for Union Pacific. When Harriman and Otto Kahn were summoned by the ICC in 1897, Lovett advised them to refuse to answer all questions about their stock operations. In 1908, the Supreme Court upheld their refusal to talk. The records of this case, SC No. 133 US v. UP RR, later disappeared from the Library of Congress. In 1911, the Equitable Life Insurance building, which contained all the records of the Union Pacific RR, burned, destroying all UP papers to that date.

Brown Bros. backed the B & O steamship line in 1887, and went into joint venture with J & W Seligman Co. on a number of South American loans. In 1915, Brown Bros. combined with J.P. Morgan to float a series of Latin American loans, which in many instances were followed by revolutions in the respective countries. In the Nation, June 7, 1922, Oswald Garrison Villard noted: "The Republic of Brown Bros with J & W Seligman had reduced Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua to the status of colonies with ruinous loans. Most of the loans were repaid in 1924."

This Is Your FBI: Brought to You by...Equitable Society Sponsorship

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Equitable Sponsor: This Is Your FBI was a radio crime drama which aired in the United States on ABC from April 6, 1945 to January 30, 1953 for a total of 409 shows. FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover gave it his endorsement, calling it "the finest dramatic program on the air."

Producer-director Jerry Devine was given access to FBI files by Hoover, and the resulting dramatizations of FBI cases were narrated by Frank Lovejoy (1945), Dean Carleton (1946-1947) and William Woodson (1948-1953). Stacy Harris played the lead role of fictional Special Agent Jim Taylor. Others in the cast were William Conrad, Bea Benaderet, and Jay C. Flippen.

This Is Your FBI was sponsored during its entire run by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States (now AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company).

"The City of the Future." Appleton's Journal, 1872.

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The City of the Future. Drawn by Harry Penn.

An illustration out of an obscure journal, but obviously a reference to the Equitable Building, which had opened in 1870, standing in just about the depicted relationship to the spire of Trinity Church on Broadway at Wall Street; in much the same way that 1974's The Towering Inferno was a cultural byproduct of the opening of the World Trade Center towers in the years preceding. Not very imaginative in either case---especially here in thinking the bustle was going to stay au courant into the future---but pretty nonetheless, and meaningful. However, a second illustration just came out spooky:

I don't know a specific publishing date beyond 1872, unless "page 156" can be dated in the series. I post this more to draw attention to a singular source online where I learned of this reference as I researched the Equitable Building and its demise. Being a particularly rich vein of American history, I found it odd that I had this field almost to myself, with a startling lack of attention from professional scholars or historians. It is this sort of energetic disposition I've come to see as a red flag.

However, there was one university source apt to come up in Google searches, in a collection of about 100 files, found at http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/1data/1912/Equitable/ We can see it's from Michigan State University, and looking further, note it's from the history department, and it likely belongs to a professor there, Alan Fisher, who teaches "Europe to 1500" and "The Middle East: Period of Ottoman Domination." But in a larger data dump of files we see areas of his overlapping interest.

I don't mean to be unkind, but if this is college level work than I'm glad I never went. The files consist of completely unedited snippets, without links or identifying data, from different media sources, along with some fresh-to-me material that came directly from the Equitable company's archives. One such file said simply:

Appleton's Journal 1872 pg. 6, Equitable archives
RG 4 Secretary's Dept. Historical collection
Art supplement - Appleton's Journal 1872 pg. 6
RG 4 Secretary's Dept. Historical collection

It wasn't hard to find a web site: Public Domain Images from Appletons' Journal of Literature, Science, and Art (Jan. 6 to June 29, 1872) and locate what I assume to be what the file was referring to. Several other files in this collection have been useful, but the research collection overall gives off an odor that raises my suspicions off syntheticism.

Too bad Mr. Fisher, or his students, didn't take the work a level deeper. This story has one of the most glamorous narratives in all of American history, no matter how you approach the material. So why does his half-assed effort just sit there, seemingly abandoned online?

I'll hazard a guess. This looks like historical blackmail to me. Perhaps an effort was undertaken--with immediate contact directly with the corporate officials and sources, to let them know "what was up." It seems clear to my paranoid mindset that the Equitable fire and building collapse afterward became a no-man's land and blaring silence. It was a chance reference to "Hyde's Equitable collapse" on a JREF thread that got me started on this topic, equally addictive as 9/11, and thank God, it was time to move on! And I have the whole thing almost to myself! Muhahahahaha!

Like that woman, what's her name, who got a faculty job at Yale after researching as an undergraduate, and then writing the definitive book, about the anarchist bombing outside of J. P. Morgan's headquarters on September 16, 1920, another historic episode fallen down the memory hole, and a subject which one might think would also come up with some frequency in the decade of cultural processing that has followed September 11th. (Do I need to be blunt here and say that it looks like J. Pierpont Morgan was the central anarchist in both episodes?)

The Sept. 12 issue of The New Yorker's Talk of the Town opened by mentioning the contemporaneous General Slocum disaster, which is only a warm body count when the Equitable collapse is red hot matching narrative detail! But then the magazine went and spoiled everything with an appalling piece by a NYPD detective, Edward Condon, who helped man the

"bucket brigades at the smoking pile, where we sought to cart out nearly two million tons of scorched wreckage by the hapless handful as the voids exploded beneath us and the remaining structures shuddered, threatening to topple over on us."

I hope he wore a face mask while he posed.

There was a third illustration in Appleton's Journal, which seems like a continuation of their aerial theme

Read a satire on newly installed elevators published in an 1870's Evening Post, which I copied to a blog that follows this one, for a much more imaginative take on what the future might hold for a present that was no different than ours---in fact, apparently much worse. And if I misread Mr. Fisher, who instead should be praised for providing a nascent trail of breadcrumbs, then I'll apologize, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sanborn Fire map 1895, Equitable Building "Superior Construction"

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I mean, it's their business.

The New Way of Getting Up Stairs.

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February 10, 1870, The Evening Post, Page 4, Column 3, The New Way of Getting Up Stairs.

What would our ancestors have thought, in the days of George Washington, if they had heard people talk of going up stairs by steam! In those good old times it was the elegant thing for a gentleman to have his drawing room, library, dining hall, chambers and kitchen all on one floor and to dispense entirely with stairs of any kind excepting as a means of getting into the cockloft or garret. But in these advanced times our wealthy citizens think nothing of occupying a suite of elegant and expensive apartments in the seventh story of the Grand Hotel, and are probably not over-particular whether there are stairs or not in the building, as all they have to do to get to their delightful home in the skies is to walk into a small but handsomely furnished room on the ground floor, wink at the young man who ever sits just inside the door, and away they go up to the clouds like one of the happy fellows we read of in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.

It is not so many years since weary travellers just arrived jaded and dusty from the night train would have well-nigh fainted with chagrin and despair if told at the hotel that they were to have rooms on the eighth story. What a change has taken place! The comfortable, nay, luxurious elevator has reversed all these things. Old ideas are no longer current. A new order of things has come about. Now the top story is the most desirable. The view from the windows, the pure air of heaven, the distance from noise and confusion---these and many other attractions render these elevated regions the choicest of all.

This is no puff for elevator men---neither for hotels. We shall mention the name of none in the business. We are led to moralize and philosophize by the wondrous change that has come over our tastes as regards altitudes. Once New York city was not expected to grow in any other wise than longitudinally towards Harlem River, the waters of the bay and the Hudson and east Rivers having combined to prevent any lateral expansion. But now old residents are taken literally off their feet by the tendency of the city to grow upwards. We are now fully prepared to see next a down ward growth begun into the bowels of the earth.

It is the steam elevator which has done all this. The hotels are beginning to be modern Babels. One on Broadway has lately been adding ten or a dozen stories to its already dizzy height. We confidently look for the day when the city shall be built up so high that vertical city railroads will be run up and down by corrupt corporations.

Some twenty years ago or more, hoisting apparatus began to be introduced something after the fashion of modern elevators, but with none of the improvements. Then merchants and manufacturers began to make use of more convenient machines for the hoisting of merchandise, and steam was soon introduced as a power. As years passed on, and men of genius devised new modes of applying the theory, the hotels ventured to try the experiment of coaxing otherwise unwilling guests into the upper stories. The plan proved a success, and now a hotel without a steam elevator is like a gun without a barrel.

Even younger readers can remember the time when such a thing as going up-stairs in a dry goods store was are indeed. But now, not only are we invited up-stairs in such palaces as those of A. T. Stewart & Co., and Arnold Constable & Co., and H. B. Caflin & Co., but we are hurled up through the air, past story after story of their magnificent buildings, and brought into their fourth and fifth floors in a shorter time than we should have taken to ascend one flight of stairs in the olden time.

Even the down town office renters have snuffed the advantages of the elevating system from afar. Space is valuable about Wall Street and in Broadway up to Liberty Street. It is pretty difficult to find a plot of ground as large as 100 x 50 feet. And yet the Equitable Life Insurance Company has not only found a plot of ground at the corner of Cedar Street and Broadway, of dimensions about 100 x 150 feet, but has built a fire-proof house on it, the domes of which pierce the sky and the upper portion of which is filled with offices for lawyers and architects, and men of all vocations.

These people have made a new application of the aspiring tendency of the times, and the thing has already proved a success. A hundred offices, in a completely fire-proof building, made of nothing but iron and stone, is rather a nice piece of property to hold, without saying more. Add to this the most central location for lawyers, brokers, bankers, insurance companies, and managers of estates, and your property is greatly enhanced in value. This is what the Equitable has. But they have not been satisfied with this. They have heated all the offices with steam, ventilated them after the most scientific modern system, polished them in handsome style, arranged them in suites applicable to all branches of business, and put into the building, not one, but two steam elevators, both of which will be constantly running during the business hours of the day. These elevators are of the most improved and perfect description ever made in this country, and move not only with absolute safety but with great rapidity; so that a person having business with a lawyer on the fifth floor will reach his counsel's office sooner and with less exertion than in ascending stairs to the second floor.

The effect of this bold but brilliant move has already been felt. Leading law firms, capitalists and managers of estates have taken offices on the fifth and sixth floors of the building, and others are after the rooms. The officers of the company now regret that the building was not made twelve instead of seven stories high.

It is hard to realize---but on the 1st of May next this building will be filled with a swarm of lawyers and others six layers deep, and the upper ones will be more easily and speedily accessible than those who now pay high rents for second-story accommodations in second-class houses in Nassau and Wall Streets and Broadway---to say nothing of the advantage of the fire-proof structure.

If you call on a lawyer---instead (as now) of throwing away time, rupturing blood vessels, and losing your wind by clambering up dark staircases---you walk directly from the street into one of the handsome vertical steam cars (which will always be in readiness, one ascending while the other descends,) and, taking a seat on the comfortably cushioned seats, will be almost instantaneously lifted to the sixth floor, where, apart from the world, and undisturbed by the noises of the street, you can consult your advisers in seclusion and repose.

Who will not revel in such a luxury as this? The tendency of this movement will be to collect a great number of the legal profession together in this spacious building, and we doubt not a nucleus will thus be formed for a general settlement of lawyers in that neighborhood.

Now is the opportunity for some enterprising New Englander to buy a lot twenty by fifty and put up a building on it as high as Trinity Church steeple, with a line of steam elevators running every five minutes. Thirty floors, with two rooms on each floor, will be about the available office room of the structure, and the proprietor might rent out the roof either for an astronomical observatory, a shot tower, or a light house, as best accorded with his fancy.

One single manufacturer of steam elevators has erected over one thousand of them. They are now being introduced in almost every branch of business. People are forgetting the old prejudices against the upper stories of the house, and the time is not distant when the question will be "how high up can you let me an office?" instead of "how low down?"

Anything in this crowded, badly-cleaned city, to get Heaven's pure air and to escape the noxious smells of the street. Anything for quiet and repose. Anything for ventilation and light. And the business man will add---anything to get more desirable accommodation at the heart of the city, where its financial arteries meet.

[Actually, the first elevator in a commercial building in New York was in Eder V. Haughwout's fancy-goods emporium at the northeast corner of Broome Street and Broadway, built in 1857, and standing five-stories and 79-feet tall,

Built with cast-iron sections for its two street-fronts, provided by Daniel D. Badger's Architectural Iron Works, with its supposedly unseen north and east sides built of load-bearing masonry walls.

The building's designers installed the world's first successful passenger elevator on March 23, 1857, or thirteen years before insurance men dared. It was a hydraulic lift designed for the building by Elisha Graves Otis. It cost $300 and had a speed of .67 feet per second

Haughwout's was a bit of a hybrid, like the Equitable Building, having cast-iron columns and wood beams.]

October 16, 1869, Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, Vol. 4, No. 5, Page 3,

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"The Equitable Life Insurance Buiilding"

THE EQUITABLE LIFE INSURANCE BUILDING. This large and imposing granite edifice, for some time past in course of erection at the corner of Cedar street and Broadway, is now sufficiently developed to warrant a few words of notice. We allude only to the exterior, for, while the interior is already enough advanced to satisfy the visitor that, with its ponderous walls from 5 feet to 8 feet thick, and arched brick and iron floors from basement to roof, it will be one of the most massive and secure edifices ever reared in this city, it is altogether too unfinished to come at present within the range of artistic criticism. The building covers a space of 88 feet on Broadway, by 130 feet on Cedar street. Some idea of its colossal proportions may be gleaned from the fact that the whole length of the facade on Broadway is occupied by only five, and that on Cedar street by only nine openings—where, in ordinarily constructed buildings, half as many more if not double the number of openings would have been introduced. To produce this effect—a very telling, but really false one—recourse has been had to a sort of architectural legerdemain, not without example among the best standards of classical architecture, by which two distinct stories in height assume the treatment and appearance of only one. The building may be described as being divided vertically into three bold and distinct parts: the first floor comprising one, the second and third floors another, and the fourth and fifth floors another; the whole having the appearance of a gigantic three-story building, with basement and attic. On the first floor on Broadway is the large central door-way, formed of two clustered Doric columns on each side, surmounted by a plain pediment of good proportions, and innocent of all decoration, except a sickly-looking urn at each end. On each side of tho door-way are two very large windows, separated by massive and handsome rusticated piers. Under these windows light and access are had to the basements below. The second vertical compartment, comprising the second and third floors, has five windows, separated by attached double Ionic columns; and the third compartment, comprising the fourth and fifth floors, is treated in the same way, but with Corinthian' or rather Composite Columns. We use the names of these Classical orders as the nearest approximation, although it is hardly fair where such liberties have been taken with them. The windows are divided in their length by wooden transoms, which mark the intersection of the floors; the lower portion of a window lighting one story and the upper portion another. The upper story is crowned by a heavy cornice, very simple in detail, but bold and well-proportioned, and the whole is surmounted by a lofty attic, also of granite, with circular-headed pediment over its central window, and circular-headed dormers emerging from the steep Mansard roof covered with cut slates. The roof is very artistically managed, and from a distance, ascending or descending Broadway, presents a rich and splendid outline. The Cedar street front is treated in the same manner as that of Broadway. There are sundry vagaries of detail—apparently just now an epidemic among our architects—which mar this building, as they do pre-eminently that of the new Young Men's Christian Association, and others we could mention. We mean the poor conceit of cutting columns in two by unmeaning bands, breaking the plain abacus of capitals uncouthly into circles, for the mere sake of introducing useless rosettes and other petty ornaments, &c. —Louis Quatorze abortions that are good enough, perhaps, for a black-walnut bed-post, but are altogether too trivial for enduring granite. These defects are, however, apparent only to the more exacting eye of a rigid architectural student, and are altogether lost in the general effect of the building, which is grand and excellent. Indeed we know of no edifice hitherto erected in New York which so boldly rests its claim to admiration upon the simple dignity of large and true proportions, without the aid of ornamentation, and which, in this respect, is so completely successful. By this prevailing characteristic of overpowering proportions, it dwarfs all surrounding objects— a feature in itself sufficient to impart a certain majesty, for the absence of which no amount of mere decoration can compensate in civic architecture. Precisely as the previously much-lauded Herald Building was, on the erection of the Park Bank, by the force of contrast instantaneously transformed into a dull conglomeration of little marble pigeon-holes, so this granite giant of the Equitable Insurance Company has made the adjoining New York Life Insurance Building, with its infinity of vertical lines and invisible narrow little openings, so utterly insignificant that, from a short distance up or down street, it presents no more artistic appearance than a blank sheet of ruled foolscap paper. But dignity and intrinsic excellence combined, however overshadowed, can never be destroyed by contrast with mere surpassing size. Nothing proves this better than the beautiful American Exchange Bank on the opposite corner of Cedar street, which, although much smaller than the Equitable Insurance Building, instinctively draws the artistic eye to its manifold beauties of form and richness of invention, and would do so, though its overshadowing neighbor were of twice its colossal dimensions.

1877: What Goes Around Again, Comes Around Again.

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April 17, 1877, New York Times, THE EQUITABLE INVESTIGATION.

We now have the results of the investigation into the affairs of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, instituted three months ago by the managers, and intrusted by them to an influential committee with ex-Gov. MORGAN at its head. Although not altogether spontaneous, the action of the society was eminently politic

The Equitable shared with equally reputable institutions the business effects of the distrust excited and justified by recent revelations. The system was discredited. Doubt had been cast upon the accuracy of published statements. Policy-holders complained that their opportunities of verifying the representations made by officers were inadequate, and that their rights were ignored by the stockholders, whose interests were trifling in comparison with their own. The complaint was not unreasonable, and in the interest of the companies, not less than of the policy-holders and the public, this journal urged that all proper facilities should be afforded for independent scrutiny as essential to the restoration of confidence. The officers of the Equitable accepted the suggestion. They did not, indeed, invite the policy-holders to nominate investigators, but they invited the co-operation of gentlemen identified in one form or another with the welfare of the institution, and occupying positions which removed them from the suspicion of being unduly influenced in its behalf. The character of the chairman reflected the character of the committee, and gave satisfactory promise of the thoroughness of the work to be undertaken.

The promise thus made has been fulfilled. It is only necessary to glance at the report printed this morning to discover the resolute purpose with which Mr. MORGAN and his associates commenced their task. They had been asked to investigate the affairs of the society, not to exculpate its management, and having accepted the responsibility, they adopted the best possible methods of securing the objects in view. They called various forms of skill to their assistance. They retained a competent actuary, and accountants and valuators without stint. Nothing seems to have escaped them. They caused the calculations to be tested. They verified the books. They subjected the real estate owned by the society and the properties covered by the mortgages it holds to be appraised by trustworthy persons. They took possession of the other securities, and caused them to be valued at present market rates. Upon all these points the inquiry appears to have been complete, and uninfluenced by the officers of the society. It would have been better, we think, had the various reports acquired by the committee from these sources been printed entire, as appendices to its report. As the matter stands, the committee accepts the conclusions presented by those to whom it delegated special duties. The actuarial requirements are fully met by the figures of the balance-sheet. The appraisal of the property covered by mortgages, in this City and State, and also in New Jersey, is more satisfactory than many who are familiar with the depreciation in real property would have anticipated. Some of the properties are, of course, inadequate security for the amounts loaned, though in the judgment of the appraisers the difference is inconsiderable. With a caution characteristic of its members, however, the committee recommends that half a million dollars be taken from the surplus and set aside as a special fund to provide for any probable loss on this class of investments. This sum is about one-eleventh of the undivided surplus as estimated by the managers, or one-ninth of the surplus as computed by the Insurance Department. To meet possible losses on other securities---concerning which, by the way, information must be gleaned from sources unconnected with the report proper---the committee suggests that a further sum of three hundred thousand dollars be added to the special reserve thus created.

The examination carried on by the Insurance Department, irrespective of that directed by the committee, indicates somewhat differently the amount of losses already incurred in respect of property accepted as security for loans, and also in respect of property owned by the society. These amount, according to the department, to $365,475, and are, therefore, amply provided for by the half-million reserve recommended by the committee. It is satisfactory to observe that the Finance Committee of the society promptly responds to the twin propositions of the Investigating Committee by setting apart eight hundred thousand dollars, "to cover any possible loss arising from the value of real estate and other securities."

The labors of the investigators did not end here. They had tested the condition of the company and found it sound. Then came questions of management, and in regard to these the conclusions set forth by the committee will be seen to be in perfect accord with views again and again expressed in these columns as inseparable from life insurance reform. On the subject of expenditures in buildings for the accommodation of the company, here and in Boston, the committee deprecates the course that has been pursued. The structures would have been more judicious "if less elaborate, less expensive, and less ornamental." The fact that parts of the buildings are advantageously rented to others does not blind the committee to what should be the guiding rule in relation to corporate investments of this nature, namely, that "the actual requirements of the corporation itself should, at all times, be the main object in view in such considerations." The mistake into which the Equitable fell is so prevalent that it invites no special condemnation; but the dictum of the committee is the only safe one when the investment of corporate funds is involved. On another point, even more obviously improper, the committee is explicit. It does not look with favor upon the investment of any portion of the society's funds in the capital stock of the Mercantile Trust Company, or any business outside of its legitimate business of life insurance. Nor is there any attempt to break the force of feeling excited by recent testimony respecting the salaries paid to life insurance officials, of the sources of extra compensation. A special inquiry into this branch of the subject left the committee no alternative but to suggest that the compensation paid to the chief officers of the society "has been excessive and objectionable in principle," because in part derived from a percentage of the surplus. While recognizing the necessity of adapting the pay to the actual value of the services rendered, the committee insists that only fixed salaries should be paid, and that they should be reasonable in amount.

These incidental results of the committee's labors are, then, timely and important. They vindicate the sensitiveness evinced by the public upon the subject, and they will assuredly exercise a wholesome influence upon the management of kindred institutions. The committee, it is evident, has no sympathy with the prevailing laxity of opinion in reference to fiduciary responsibility, and none with extravagance in the administration of corporate funds. As for the Equitable Society, its managers should be more than satisfied with the committee's work. Any doubt that may have existed as to the society's condition is removed. And we venture to hope that the society, having had the courage to invite investigation, will use its influence for the furtherance of the reforms which are essential to the complete re-establishment of confidence in the life insurance system.

March 27, 1877, New York Times, SUIT AGAINST THE EQUITABLE LIFE.
In the Special Term of the Common Pleas, judge Robinson yesterday rendered decision in the case of Lyman Elmore and Jenny L. Elmore against the Equitable Life Assurance Society, etc., and Henry B. Hyde and others, respectively President and Directors of the society. The complaint charges that Hyde and the other Directors have obtained control of the stock of the company, and without authority of law have spent $5,000,000 in the erection and decoration of costly buildings in this City and Boston. These buildings, it is alleged, are not necessary for the transaction of the company's business, as the greater part of them are leased to other corporations. The plaintiffs claim that by this conduct, and by their positions, the Directors have drawn large sums over and above their salaries, and have shared profits derived, or said to have been derived by the contractors for the buildings. The plaintiffs desire to have an accounting of the sums alleged to have been overdrawn, and ask for the appointment of a Receiver. The case came up on a motion for the examination before trial of Henry B. Hyde. The answer of the defendants admits the expenditures but denies that they were unlawful or unnecessary or unprofitable to the company, and denies each and every one of the other allegations. This case was recently argued in the Common Pleas Court on a motion for the order to examine Henry B. Hyde before trial. The court holds it must be shown to be not a mere fishing investigation. The plaintiffs say the knowledge which they seek is peculiarly within the possession of the defendants, but the plaintiffs failed to disclose the facts in regard to which they desire to examine Hyde. On account of the failure to make such disclosure, Judge Robinson, without passing on the plaintiffs right to sue the Directors, denied the motion for the examination.

April 6, 1877, New York Times, LIFE INSURANCE AFFAIRS.;
THE LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATION.
SENATOR HAMMOND APPEARS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE AND DENIES THE TRUTH OF SOME OF MR. ENGLISH'S STATEMENTS,
MR. FURBER'S EXAMINATION RESUMED HIS CONNECTION WITH THE CHARTER OAK COMPANY.
THE COST OF THE EQUITABLE BUILDING.
MR. FURBER'S EXAMINATION RESUMED. THE CHARTER OAK COMPANY. THE EQUITABLE BUILDING.
Excerpt:
ALBANY, April 5. The Insurance Committee resumed its investigation at 9:30 this morning. Previous to the resumption of the testimony the committee went into executive session, and it is understood that Mr. Floyd Jones made a motion to discontinue the investigation and make a report. What the result of the motion was is unknown
After the recess Theodore Weston testified that he was the architect of the Equitable Building; the work was commenced in May 1874, and was completed in July, 1876; the leases commenced in May, 1875; the original office of the Equitable was separated from the main building, and its completion was delayed; there is no restaurant in the building; Delmonico's adjoins it; the actual expense of putting up the main building was about $1,500,000, including the land; the additional building cost about $1,000,000; witness received a salary of $15,000 per year; the preliminary plans were drawn by Mr. Kendall; he had not completed the plans before the building was commenced; the internal arrangements were left entirely to the preliminary drawing; there was no percentage paid upon any of the material to my knowledge; blank ; furnished a statement of expenditures to the Building Committee of the Equitable at almost every meeting; Mr. Lambert was Chairman of this committee; they had meetings three times a week; the plans were submitted to them, and the contracts were made by witness; upon the larger contracts, bids were advertised for; all payments were made by approval of the committee; Silman & Cheney were the contractors for the stone; they bid $98,000, I think; it was the lowest bid of 17; it ran a little over $3 per cubic foot upon the granite actually furnished; the granite was measured by myself; no commission nor any consideration was paid on the contract; the contractor for the masonry work who cut the stone was T.T. Smith; his work was let in the same way at $18 per 1,000 foot of brick, and $9, or about that, for setting the granite; that included pay for everything; he was paid nothing more; no one else received any gratuity on account of the contract; he did the fire-proof wall in the interior and the plastering; for the first he received 40 or 50 cents, and for the last 42 cents, per square yard; Morton and Chesley did the carpenter work at about $65,000; no gratuity or commission was allowed anyone on any work; a number of contracts were made for the elevators, for the boilers, for the sub-cellar, for taking down the old building, and for other purposes; the entire work cost about $1,000,000, and upon it no bonus or commission was paid to any one; neither to officers, Directors, not any one else; the granite contractors furnished about $1,500 worth of work for Mr. Hyde's house on Long Island; Mr. Calvert Vaux was the architect of the house.

John WILMER, aka John WILMER MARTINE, aka John RAUSCHENBACH,

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April 6, 1906, Brooklyn Daily Standard Union,
SENTENCE SUSPENDED ON "HUMAN SNAKE"

John WILMER MARTINE, the Fifth avenue haberdasher's clerk, was arraigned to-day before the Justices of the Court of Special Sessions, Manhattan, for sentence under his plea of guilty to stealing a polo shirt valued at $5 from his employer, McLAUGHLIN, the haberdasher.

A probation officer reported to the court that he had discovered that MARTINE's real name is John RAUSCHENBACH and that he has a sister, Mrs. Bertha BROWN, living at 510 Otterbein street, Baltimore, and another sister, Mrs. Ida NODMAN, living at Cherry Hill, Md. The probation officer declared that he understood ex-Senator MASON, of Illinois, had been informed that MARTINE was engaged to the Senator's daughter, Ruth, for some time, but that the engagement had been broken.

At one time, it is said, he was secretary for James H. HYDE, former vice-president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. He finally joined HARRIGAN'S circus, eventually developing his act known as the "human snake." After hearing this report the justices suspended sentence and he was paroled in the custody of the probation officer until May 25.

March 29, 1906, The San Francisco Call, Alleged Thief a Social Lion,

One-Time Suitor for the Hand of a Daughter of Former Senator Mason
Interest in the unique career of John Wilmer Martine, ex-actor, former circus contortionist, man about town and friend and entertainer of smart society, increased today when it developed that he had been a suitor for the hand of Miss Ruth Mason, daughter of former United States Senator W. E. Mason of Illinois, and had at one time known Miss Ruth Hanna, daughter of the late Senator Mark Hanna.
When Martine was arraigned in the West Side court today on the charge of grand larceny preferred by a Fifth avenue haberdasher, for whom he been had salesman, a number of his fashionable friends drove up to the building in automobiles and were present in the court-room during his appearance there......
Former Senator Mason was angry when shown the text of some of his daughter's letters, written to Martine.
"I shall go to New York," he said "and shoot the cur that prints the letters of my daughter. Martine met my daughter in Washington several years ago. It is true that they were sweethearts, but later my daughter learned several facts in regard to Martine's life which caused her to renounce him."
The love letters of Miss Ruth Mason to Martine were written shorty after his circus experience as the vaunted "Human Corkscrew" and "Anatomical Marvel". They are typical letters of a school girl.

Reports of cases heard and determined in the Appellate division ..., Volume 160
By New York (State). Supreme Court Vol. CLX, 1914
The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. John Wilmer (or Martine), Appellant.—

Judgment of conviction of the County Court of Westchester county affirmed. No opinion. Burr, Thomas, Carr and Rich, JJ., concurred; Jenks, P. J., dissented upon the ground that the evidence was not sufficient to justify a conviction.

April 6, 1906, New York Times,
MARTINE PAROLED.; Friends Intercede for Society Entertainer Who Stole.

On the recommendation of the attorney for the complaining witness, the Justices of Special Sessions paroled yesterday John Wilmer Martine, who had pleaded guilty to stealing a polo shirt from his employers, F.A. McLaughlin Co. of 304 Fifth Avenue. The case attracted attention because Martine has been well known in social circles as a clever contortionist, his ability procuring for him the nickname of "the human snake."

1906, The Naples [NY] News, MAN LEADS DOUBLE LIFE.
New Yorker Who Posed as a Wealthy Society Man Is Held for Larceny.

New York .—Through the arrest of John Wilmer Martine, head salesman in a Fifth avenue haberdashery, one of the most remarkable dual personalities in the police records of this city has come to light. Martine worked each week from eight a.m. to six p.m. for $2 a week. After business hours he was a welcome guest to the homes of some of the best known families in the city. He numbered among his friends several well-known society women.

Skillful and continuous larceny, it is alleged, enabled him to live at the rate of $15,000 a year for two years or more, it is charged, he has stolen systematically and without corning under suspicion. A trip to Europe proved his undoing,

Martine added to his income by work as "parlor entertainer." He got $25 a night for this, and so pleasing was his personality that her seldom failed to convert his patrons into admiring friends. He has appeared in the houses of John D. Rockefeller and Grant B. Schley. He stage managed the entertainments, at the We st side Y. M. C. A., where he was highly esteemed. Martine, whose right nameis said to be Martin, came to this city from Baltimore ten years ago. He is 28 years old, and is known as one of the "smartest dressers" in town.

In the West Side police court Martine was brought to answer a charge of grand larceny preferred by his employer, W. A. Laughlin. Edward H. Hobbs, counsel for the haberdasher, said the stealings of Mr. Martine in the five years he has worked for the concern are not known, but he was charged with the theft of $500.

May 3, 1899, New York Times, Obit, DEATH OF HENRY B. HYDE;

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Google document.

May 3, 1899, New York Times, Obit, DEATH OF HENRY B. HYDE;

Equitable Life's President Succumbs to Heart Disease.

HAD BEEN ILL FOR ONE YEAR.

Career of the Man Who Organized the Assurance Society and Brought It to Its Present Position.

Henry Baldwin Hyde, President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and one of the best-known life insurance authorities in the United States, died yesterday afternoon of heart disease, at his residence, 9 East Fortieth Street. Mr. Hyde had been confined to his house for a year, but lately his physicians had considered him on the road to recovery. The malady from which he suffered took a turn for the worse three days ago, however, and from that time it was known that his death was but a matter of hours. Several of his close business associates sat by his bedside to the last. At the deathbed were also the members of his family, Mrs. Hyde, Mrs. Sidney Dillon Ripley, the only daughter, and James H. Hyde, the only son. Arrangements for the funeral services and internment have not yet been made.

Henry B. Hyde was born in Catskill, N.Y., Feb. 15, 1834. He was descended of an old Colonial family established in Newtown, Mass. , in 1633 by William Hyde of England. He came to New York in the year 1850, and for the next two years was employed by Messrs. Merritt, Ely & Co., merchants of this city. In January, 1852, he obtained a clerkship in the office of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and was subsequently made cashier of that company.

His attention was called to life assurance early in life. In addition to his knowledge of the business obtained from his experience in the office of the Mutual Company, he acquired a great deal of useful and interesting information on the subject from his father, Henry H. Hyde of Boston, who was one of the most conspicuous and successful life assurance men of his day. Mr. Hyde, the father, lived for many years in Boston, representing the Mutual Life Insurance Company as its General Manager for New England.

In March, 1859, Mr. Hyde announced to Frederick S. Winston, President of the Mutual Company, that he had come to the conclusion that there was room in the life assurance business for a new company, organized along new lines, and that, after careful consideration, he had decided to organize such a company. He thereupon tendered his resignation, which was accepted by Mr. Winston, to take effect forthwith. Two days later he delivered up his keys, the cash and securities under his charge having been examined by the Actuaries of the company and found correct.

The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States was incorporated on the 26th of July of the same year, but a great deal of preliminary work was done before its organization. After his retirement from the office of the Mutual Company Mr. Hyde rented a rear room on the second floor of 98 Broadway, at an annual rental of $900, and placed a sign bearing the title of the company on the front of the building.

Mr. Hyde associated with himself a number of prominent men, who with him became the incorporators and the original Board of Directors of the society.

It was often stated by Mr. Hyde that at this period he constantly consulted his father, and that it was to a large extent owing to his advice, based on his great experience, that no mistakes were made in the organization and early management of the society.

SOCIETY'S MODEST BEGINNINGS.

William G. Lambert, a New York merchant, was one of the original Directors, as was also his son, Dr. Edward W. Lambert, who was made the society's physician, and who has continued ever since to be its senior Medical Director. Dr. Willard Parker was appointed Consulting Physician. Henry Day, another of the original Directors, was made Counsel. George W. Phillips of Salem, Mass., a graduate of Harvard, a man of high mathematical attainments, was offered the position of Actuary, which he accepted, and which office he filled until his death, on Sept. 27, 1898.

Although Mr. Hyde had conceived the project of organizing the society and was the chief mover of the enterprise, he decided that he would accept the position of Vice President, and that the office of President should be filled by the appointment of an older man---one whose name and reputation would insure the fullest public confidence in the young enterprise. The Hon. William C. Alexander of New Jersey, son of the Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton, a man of mature years ands long experience at the bar and in the Senate of New Jersey, accepted the position.

The first meeting of the incorporators of the society was held at the office of the Resolute Fire Insurance Company, 19 Nassau Street, (the room at 98 Broadway being too small,) on the afternoon of April 26, 1859. Twenty-two of the original Board of Directors were in attendance. Subsequent meetings were held at 19 Nassau Street until more roomy quarters were secured for the office of the society. It was decided that the business of the society should be conducted on the mutual plan for the exclusive benefit and advantage of its policy holders.

In the beginning the office force consisted of the President, Vice President, Actuary, Secretary, physician, and an office boy. An outside copyist was employed, but for a time there was no clerical force. The books were kept by the Actuary, who also attended to the general correspondence. The management of the business and the appointment of agents devolved upon Mr. Hyde.

MR. HYDE AT TWENTY-FIVE.

One of Mr. Hyde's most noticeable characteristics has been his antipathy to biographical notices. It is probable that there is not another man in the United States of equal prominence about whose life and personal history as little has appeared in print. Consequently the records of his early life are meager and uninteresting. His history is really the history of the Equitable Society, and whenever he was asked for information about himself for publication he turned the conversation to the achievements of the society and to its future prospects. He liked to see the name of the company in large type, but he always insisted that his own name should be printed in small type of precisely the same size as that of every one of his junior associates.

He was twenty-five years of age when the society was organized. He was described at that time as "tall in stature and strong of limb. Handsome in feature and singularly bright in expression. His mouth was peculiarly expressive, but his eyes, which were dark, and gleamed from beneath heavy eyebrows, arrested instant attention. They were keen, alert, and it is scarcely a figure of speech to say that they pierced like a sword. The young man impressed his individuality upon the world around him, and the charm to persuade men, which is the precursor of the power to direct them, already asserted itself in his daily walk and conversation.

He did not marry until five years later, and all his waking hours were devoted to the young enterprise. The society was launched with business amounting to nearly half a million dollars. Even before the completion of its organization, applications for $433,000 of assurance were secured from friends of the new enterprise, chiefly through the personal efforts of Mr. Hyde.

The utmost care was exercised in the selection of risks, and this, as well as every other department of the business, received Mr. Hyde's constant scrutiny. A long interval elapsed before the society was called upon to pay its first death claim. The strictest economy was exercised. No obligation was incurred, and no bill was paid except with Mr. Hyde's approval.

No sooner had the society been fairly launched than the civil war broke out, and a steady hand was needed at the helm during those stormy times. During the period of inflation following the war, new dangers presented themselves, Many life companies were organized, whose competition was active and whose methods were aggressive, but after a brief period of prosperity most of them went by the board in consequence of the inexperience of the officials, the lavish scale on which they were inaugurated, and the loose and extravagant manner in which their affairs were conducted.

THE FIRST DAY'S BUSINESS.

The Equitable Society opened its doors to the public on July 28. On that day fourteen policies were written, amounting in the aggregate to $100,500. The largest risk assumed on a single life at the start was for $10,000, but for a time one half of every risk for that amount was reassured in some older company. On the 1st of December the society moved into commodious offices on the first floor of a new building which had just been erected at 92 Broadway.

At the close of the year 1859 the society made its first report to the Insurance Department of the State of New York. At that time the assurance in force amounted to $1,144,000. On the 31st of December, 1898, it amounted to $987,000,000. Then the income was less than $24,000, now it amounts to over $50,000,000. Then not a single death claim had been presented. Since then the total amount paid to policy holders in death claims, matured endowments, dividends, surrender values, etc., exceeds $299,000,000.

The surplus at that time amounted to $96,154, and at that time there were twenty-four other older companies reporting to the New York and Massachusetts departments. In 1875 there were only five companies having a larger surplus than the Equitable; in 1876 there were but three; in 1877 but two; in 1878 but one; and in 1880 the society attained the first position, which it has held uninterruptedly ever since.

On March 29, 1864, Mr. Hyde married Annie Fitch, daughter of Simeon Fitch. His son, James H. Hyde, born Aug. 20, 1871, was graduated from Harvard in the class of 1898, and on the 2nd of November elected by the Board of Directors to the office of second Vice President of the Society.

In December, 1861, the society began to accept risks for $10,000 without re-assuring any part of that amount in other companies. In December, 1866, it extended the limit to $25,000; in December 1868, to $50,000; and in December 1883, to $100,000, and at the present time risks are assumed on selected lives for the amount of $200,000.

INNOVATION IN THE BUILDING.

From time to time, as the volume of the society's business extended, the offices were necessarily enlarged, and on Dec. 16, 1865, a special meeting of the Board of Directors was called to consider the question of erecting a building. That Mr. Hyde should have been willing to advise this step at a time when the assets amounted to only $1,500,000 and the income to only $971,000 illustrates the confidence with which he looked forward to the future growth and prosperity of the society.

The purchase of land upon which the original Equitable Building was erected, on the southwest corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, was consummated in the Autumn of 1867. The building was completed on the 1st of May, 1870. At that time there was not a single office building in New York into which passenger elevators had been introduced. For some time freight elevators had been utilized in warehouses and passenger elevators in hotels, but Mr. Hyde insisted upon their introduction into the Equitable Building, against the advice of the Society's Building Committee.

This innovation, which originated with Mr. Hyde, not only gave a unique prominence and efficiency to the Equitable Building, but revolutionized the construction of office buildings throughout the city. From time to time since then the building of the society has been enlarged, until now it practically occupies the entire block bounded by Broadway, Cedar Street, Nassau Street, and Pine Street.

To the superficial observer, Mr Hyde's energy, enterprise, diligence, capacity for hard and uninterrupted work, have been chiefly conspicuous, but those who have looked beneath the surface have seen that he was no less remarkable for care, thoughtful deliberation, vigilance, and an undeviated adherence to sound business and exact scientific principles.

The Equitable Society has been noted for the many reforms in the practice of life assurance which it has originated and put in practice. Here again Mr. Hyde's character is revealed. Many of the society's innovations were at first regarded by others in the business as rash and experimental, but experience has proved that they were all carefully considered in advance, and their merit having been subsequently demonstrated, the other companies have followed where Mr. Hyde has led.

ACTION IN THE DWIGHT CASE.

In the very beginning he saw that notable success could not be expected for any life assurance company unless the interests of the agents, who are the producers, should be jealously protected. Many innovations in this direction were made by Mr. Hyde, and early in its history the Equitable began to be called "the agent's company." During its earlier years many of the society's chief competitors were "note companies," transacting their business to a large extent on the credit system. Mr. Hyde, in spite of the keen competition of these older companies, refused to accept premium notes, and insisted from the beginning that the business of the society should be conducted throughout on a cash basis.

Early in the history of the society he observed that the practice of contesting the payment of claims was an increasing evil in the business, and he promptly set to work to simplify and liberalize the policy contract. Many innovations along these lines were introduced from time to time, until a system was perfected under which it became practicable to pay the policies of the society with a promptness, regularity, and certainty closely corresponding with that employed by a bank in the payment of its checks and drafts.

One of his most notable strokes of policy occurred some years ago. Col. Walton B. Dwight, well known in the interior of the State, died, leaving policies of insurance on his life in various companies, aggregating $256,000.

Most of the companies, believing that they had good reasons, contested the payment of these policies, President Hyde caused an independent investigation to be made of the claim on the Equitable, and becoming satisfied that it was entirely legitimate, ordered the payment of the $40,000 policy to Col. Dwight's estate. The case had attracted wide attention, and the news of the prompt payment by the Equitable Society was naturally published and talked of far and wide to the substantial advantage of the company's business.

GREAT CAPACITY FOR WORK.

Blessed with a rugged constitution and great physical strength, and such endurance as few men can boast, Mr. Hyde has worked with an energy few men have ever approached. During the early years of the society he thought nothing of taking a tour of the United States, working all day long, and every day, and traveling every night. Not only was he able to compress more work into a single day than any other man of ordinary energy, but he had the faculty of getting more work out of other people than any man of his time.

His mind worked with great rapidity. He transacted his business with marvelous dispatch, and by a sort of intuition was able to get at the root of a complicated matter without the necessity for a laborious study of the details. On the other hand, although quick to act and bold in action, it had always been his habit to concentrate his thoughts for long periods on single problems before he began to deal with them.

Having once made up his mind, he was fearless, confident, and aggressive. Nothing was too small or unimportant for his most undivided attention if it related in any way to any transaction of moment. He had an exceedingly terse and forcible literary style, and always insisted that not only the most important publications of the society, but every advertisement and every letter should be accurate, carefully expressed, and dignified in tone.

Those who have only seen him during business hours, and outside of business hours at times when he felt that the responsibility of the management of the society rested on his shoulders, cannot know the charm and attractiveness of the man. To know this phase of his character it was necessary to travel with him on those rare occasions when, having temporarily resigned the reins of government to his associates, he cut himself loose from all business associations and went far afield for rest and recreation.

Mr. Hyde was a man of genius, but he professed to have great contempt for the word, protesting that genius was simply the capacity for hard work. The secret of his success was that he had both the genius and the capacity for hard work. To attain a desired result he was always ready to expend the greatest amount of energy that could be brought to bear to insure success. He boasted that he made it a rule to apply one hundred pounds of power to make assurance doubly sure when possibly ten pounds might have sufficed to do the work.

ZEALOUS CARE FOR SOCIETY.

On Aug. 23, 1874, William C. Alexander, the first President of the society, died, and at a special meeting of the Board of Directors held on Sept. 2, 1874, Mr. Hyde was elected President and James W. Alexander, who had entered the service of the society as Secretary in 1866, was elected First Vice President. Having grown up with the society, Mr. Hyde remained in touch with all the departments of the business. A large proportion of the assurance secured in the beginning was obtained through his personal solicitation, and for many years thereafter, when some agent found it difficult to secure a large application, Mr. Hyde made it a practice to go with him and close the transaction.

For many years he appointed most of the agents who solicited for the society. He scrutinized written reports from every department of the office from day to day. It was his constant practice to thoroughly investigate from time to time one or another department of the business, going into all its details, having presented to him for judgment its current transactions, reviewing its methods, watching the work done by its clerks, and scrutinizing minutely the management of the official in charge of it.

Never, except for short intervals or under extraordinary circumstances, when the responsibility was delegated to others, did he fail to scrutinize every expenditure and personally check every bill submitted for payment. From day to day he scrutinized the amount of assurance written, the amount of assurance in force as compared with the business of the previous year, the amount of business terminated, the number and amount of the death claims reported, the mortality among the policy holders as compared with previous years and as compared with the expectation tables. For many years the most important canvassing documents of the society were written by him, and they were always prepared under his supervision.

CIRCULAR LETTERS TO AGENTS.

He took great delight in visiting the agencies of the society and instructing and encouraging the workers in the field. He originated the system of sending circular letters periodically to agents, informing them of the position attained by the society and stimulating them to renewed efforts. Most of these circulars were written by his own hand and were frequently the outcome of long thought and arduous labor.

He made a constant study of tables and percentages and comparisons illustrating the growth of the business and the experience of the society and its progress as compared with its competitors throughout the world. The finances of the society, the investment of its funds, the development and protection of its property, were constantly watched by him with the keenest solicitude.

Mr. Hyde conceived the idea of the Lawyers' Club, with its sumptuous quarters and manifold advantages in the Equitable Building. He was a member of the Lawyers' Club, and also of the Union, the Union League, the Riding, Westminster Kennel, South Side Sportmens', Jekyl Island, and Press Clubs. He also belonged to the American Geographical Society, and was a liberal patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mr. Hyde never took any conspicuous part in public affairs, but he usually had very decided opinions on matters of importance. He was, as a rule, conservative in his ideas, and when the question of underground rapid transit came up he took a stand of emphatic opposition to it.

"Nothing is more significant of Mr. Hyde's character, which has always combined aggressiveness with conservatism," said a friend, "than the growth of the Equitable Society. No other life assurance company, indeed no other financial, has accomplished such results within so short a period, but the substantial character of its growth and its steady increase in strength has been, if anything, more significant than the rapidity of its advancement."

THE OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.

James W. Alexander, a Graduate of Princeton, Has Repeatedly Served as Acting President.

In less than three months the Equitable Life Assurance Society will be forty years of age. Notwithstanding its phenomenal growth, its advancement has been uniform and gradual. As the business has been extended, the system and machinery for conducting it have been developed, improved, and perfected. Its affairs are in charge of a board of fifty-two Directors and a corps of experienced officers. The business is divided into departments with a Superintendent at the head of each, who is held responsible for the efficient working of his department and the clerks under him.

During Mr. Hyde's illness and absence from the office, covering a period of more than a year, James W. Alexander, the Vice President, has had full charge, and the responsibility in conducting the affairs of the society. Repeatedly in the past he has served as Acting President of the society. In 1878, in consequence of ill-health, Mr. Hyde took a trip around the world, and was absent for nearly a year. During that absence the supreme control was placed in the Vice President's hands.

James W. Alexander is a graduate of Princeton University, and is one of the Trustees of that institution. After leaving college he studied law and was admitted to the bar in New York, becoming a partner in the firm of Cumming, Alexander & Green. In 1866 he abandoned the active practice of law to become Secretary of the Equitable Society. He was made Second Vice President in 1871, and has served continuously as First Vice President since 1874.

The Chief Medical Director of the Equitable, Dr. Edward W. Lambert, has been connected with the society from its organization, in 1859. George W. Phillips, the first Actuary, died in 1896, and Mr. J.G. Van Cise, who had been Assistant Actuary since 1873, was appointed to his place, R.G. Hann receiving the appointment of Assistant Actuary.

In 1898, James H. Hyde, son of President Hyde, a graduate of Harvard University, trained by his father in the theory and practice of life assurance, was made Second Vice President of the society.

The Third Vice President, Gage E. Tarbell, and Fourth Vice President, George T. Wilson, both men of long experience in the business, have full charge of the agencies of the society at home and abroad.

The Board of Directors is divided into committees which supervise the various departments of the society. The Finance and the Executive Committees have full charge of the investment of its funds and all matters relating to finance.

GROWTH OF THE COMPANY.

Has Paid $299,083,188.97 to Policy Holders, and Now Holds $258,369,298.54 of Assets.

Some interesting facts and figures are given in a recent statement of the growth and present condition of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. During a period of thirty-nine and one-half years the society has paid $299,083,188.97 to its policy holders, and now holds $258,369,298.54 of assets, making the total amount paid and accumulated $557,452,487.51. This total is $267,600,000 more than any other insurance company has paid and accumulated within a corresponding period. Last year the society paid in dividends to its policy holders $3,059,744.86.

From the end of 1859 to the end of 1898 the society's assets increased from $117,102 to $258,369,299, and the surplus from $93,154 to $57,310,489. The assets at the end of 1869 were $10,510,824; at the end of 1879, $37,366,842, and at the end of 1889, $107,150,309. The surplus at the end of each of these three periods was $319,755, $5,550,395, and $22,821,074.

Out of 3,531 death claims received last year 2,541 were paid on the day proofs of death were received, 403 were paid within three days after receipt of proofs, and 541 were paid within sixty days, making nearly 99 per cent. of the whole paid within sixty days. The claims paid on the day proofs of death were received amounted to $9,447,517.55; the claims paid within three days to $1,550,320.94, and those paid within sixty days to $1,797,850.31. During 1898 the society declined over $30,000,000 of assurance applied for.

A condensed statement for the year 1898 shows the assets to be as follows:

Bonds and mortgages...$34,724,277.55

Real estate, including the Equitable Building and purchases under foreclosure of mortgages...$26,063,423.53

United States stocks, State and city stocks, and other investments as per market quotations Dec. 31, 1898, (market value over cost, $11,478,910.73)...$157,207,562.55

Loans secured by bonds and stocks...$11,431,535.55

Real estate outside the State of New York, including purchases under foreclosure and office buildings...$14,346,910.11

Cash in banks at interest...$9,036,737.55

Balances due from agents...$252,786.50

Interest and rents due ($179,646.83) and accrued ($369,524.37)...$549,171.20

Premiums due and in process of collection....$2,549,079.00

Deferred premiums....$2,187,815.00

Total assets...$258,369,298.54

The liabilities were:

Assurance fund (or reserve) on all existing policies...$198,898,259.60

All other liabilities...$2,160,550.27

Total liabilities...$201,058,809.27

The society's income from premium receipts was $39,371,421.59, and in cash received for interest and from other sources, $10,877,865.19, making a total of $50,249,286.78.

The disbursements were: Death claims, $12,982,474.76; matured and discontinued endowments, $1,374,732.37; annuities, $567,905.38; surrender values, $2,885,442.05; matured tontine values, $3,150,224; dividends paid to policy holders, $3,059,744.86; commissions, advertising, postage, and exchange, $4,558,406.67; all other payments---taxes, salaries, medical examinations, etc., $4,175,022.14, making the total disbursements $32,753,952.23.

The assurance was as follows---installment policies being stated at their commuted values. Outstanding assurance, $987,157,134; assurance applied for in 1898, $198,362,617; examined and declined, $30,318,878; new insurance issued, $168,043,739.

WARM TRIBUTES FROM FRIENDS.

Mr. McCall, Mr. McCurdy, and Mr. Hartley Talk of H.B. Hyde.

John A. McCall, President of the New York Life Insurance Company, when seen last night, had just received a telegram announcing the death of Mr. Hyde, and unhesitatingly added his tribute to the character and worth of the dead man. "Henry B. Hyde," he said, "was without doubt the most eminent insurance man in this or any country, and his death will be deeply felt by insurance men throughout the United States.

"As for myself, I owe much of whatever success I have achieved in life to his precepts and example. I was associated with him in the Equitable for a long time, and have known him intimately for twenty-five years. He has been one of the best friends I ever had. He helped me in every way possible, and I learned to recognize him almost as one of my own flesh and blood.

"As for his business attainments, he stood unchallenged as one of the greatest life insurance men in the business. He was a man of remarkable force and untiring energy, and showed himself peculiarly adapted to his chosen walk of life. And on those lines he was considered as peerless, not only in this country, but throughout Europe as well.

"His place, so far as I know, cannot possibly be filled at present. I cannot say more at this time, but the New York Life Insurance Company will take the earliest occasion to give public expression to the esteem in which we all held Henry B. Hyde.

Marcellus Hartley, one of the Directors of the Equitable Society and a lifelong friend and business associate of Mr. Hyde, did not know of Mr. Hyde's death until informed of the fact last night by a reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES. "I was with him last night," said Mr. Hartley, "and did not believe that the end would come so soon. I have been associated with Henry Hyde for the past thirty-five years, and have been on nearly every one of his business committees.

"So many anecdotes connected with his remarkable business career crowd themselves into my memory now That I cannot undertake to give full expression to my reminiscences of the man. I think, however, that I give the main secret of the man's success in life when I say that whatever he took hold of he put unbounded energy into it and kept at it until he made it a success. Every business venture of his life was approached by him in this way, and he simply refused to be defeated. His loss will be keenly felt in life insurance circles, not only in this country, but throughout the world."

Richard A. McCurdy, President of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, said: "I am deeply grieved over Mr. Hyde's death. He was undoubtedly the most conspicuous figure in the business or profession of life insurance in this country during the last twenty years. I had the greatest respect and admiration, and a warm friendship for him for many years.

"While his health was not unexpected for some time past, it comes as a shock and takes away a man of note, a man who has left an impression upon the life insurance business, more so than that made by any other man ever connected with it."

5191 words.

The Mercantile Trust Co. - Charter and By-Laws.

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Acts of Incorporation and By-Laws of The Mercantile Trust Company. NEW YORK: John C. Rankin Co., PRINTERS, 54 & 56 Dey Street., 1910.

Chapter 806. AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE 'FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY," Passed May 9, 1868.

Chapter 185. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FIREPROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY." Passed April 14, 1869.

Chapter 121. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY." Passed March 30, 1870.

Chapter 845. AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY," PASSED MAY NINTH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT, AS AMENDED BY AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY," PASSED MARCH THIRTIETH, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY." Passed June 27, 1873; three-fifths being present.

Chapter 425. AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIX OF THE LAWS OF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT, ENTITLED "AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSING COMPANY." Passed May 26, 1880.

November 9, 1868, Daily Alta California, Volume 20, Number 6811, Page 2 Advertisements Column 8,

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THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES,

No. 92 Broadway, New York.
WM. C. ALEXANDER President
HENRY B. HYDE Vice President
GEORGE W. PHILLIPS Actuary
JAMES W. ALEXANDER Secretary
CASH ASSETS $7,000,000
ANNUAL PREMIUM INCOME $5,000,000
Number of Policies Issued in One Year, 10,000.
Sum Assured (New Business) during the year ending January 31, 1868. $47,020,134.
ITS POLICIES AVERAGE THE LARGEST
Of any American Company. It is so declared by the N. Y. Insurance Department. This is an advantage, and is evidence that this Society is the most patronized by the capitalists. It issues all desirable Non-Forfeiting Policies
On a Single Life, from $250 to $25,000.
All Profits Divided among Policy Holders Annually from the Start.
Its percentage of loss to amount AT RISK is LESS THAN ANY OLDER COMPANY.
Its percentage of total "Out-go" to "Cash Premium Receipts" is less than any other Company whatsoever.
Its five modes of applying Dividends are: Permanent Increase of Policy, Term Increase of Policy, Permanent Reduction of Premium, Term Reduction of Premium, Limitation of Number of Premiums to be Paid. These concessions are made by no other Company.
Its comparative rank as to new business done since its organization, among all American Companies, stands as follows: In 1860 it was the ninth; in 1861, the eighth; in 1862 and 1863, the seventh; in 1864 and 1865, the sixth; in 1866, the fourth; in 1867 (fiscal year), the second.
It is the most successful Company ever organised, and, for its years,
The Largest Mutual Life Insurance Company In the World. To secure a Policy in the Equitable, apply at the Branch Office, No. 16 NEW MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE, no 7 California street.

Equitable Block Complete After Forty Years' Buying.

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January 14, 1906, NYT,
EQUITABLE BLOCK COMPLETE AFTER FORTY YEARS' BUYING;
First News of Another Deal, Made Over a Year Ago, Brought Out by Purchase of 17 Nassau Street -- Prices Paid for Various Parcels in the Block

As marking the close of a real estate buying project that has covered forty years, last week's purchase of 17 Nassau Street by the Equitable Life was a happening of no little interest. It had become so much a matter of habit to speak of the "Equitable Block" that probably not one real estate man in a hundred knew before last Thursday morning that there was one small parcel which prevented this expression from being the exact, literal truth.

Furthermore, in the gossip which went the rounds last week as the result of the purchase of 17 Nassau Street the interesting fact was developed, but not hitherto made public, that it was only a little over a year ago that the Equitable bought the Nassau and Cedar Street corner of the block, a plot 45.5 by 87.7, upon which stands the building largely occupied by August Belmont & Co. This property was sold to the Equitable in September, 1904, through Horace S. Ely & Co., and was deeded to the society, but the instruments have never been recorded. Prior to that time title to the property was vested in Frederick G. Mead and another.

The announcement by John N. Golding concerning the sale of 17 Nassau Street was disappointingly silent on the subject of price. The lot measures 25 by 80---2,000 square feet---and there are few downtown experts prepared to believe that it brought less than $500,000, or $250 a square foot.

It is not likely that the Equitable Trustees have given any serious consideration to the scheme for erecting a new building on the block, an undertaking which was talked of a good deal two or three years ago at the time when the society bought the Trinity Building property. Indeed, the chief reason for the purchase of the latter site was said to be the necessity of providing quarters for the society while its older property was in process of improvement, but whatever the reason, it will be recalled that the Equitable tired of its Trinity Building bargain after a few months, and handed the property back to the United States Realty Company, thus ending for the time all talk of a new Equitable Building.

That the present massive and costly structure will sooner or later give way to a modern building seems beyond question. The remark made by one of the best known skyscraper constructors in the country, that the materials in the Equitable Building, if they could be recast into a modern steel skeleton structure, ought to inclose about three times as much space as they do to-day, puts the whole matter in a nutshell. The completion of the Trinity Building and its duplicate on the Boreel site may also serve to impress upon the Equitable offciers the possibilities of their plot on the opposite side of Broadway.

It is almost forty years to a day since the Equitable Life made its first purchase in the block bounded by Broadway, Nassau, Pine, and Cedar Streets.

The deed covering the properties, then known as 116 and 118 Broadway, was dated Jan. 5, 1866. These buildings had a Broadway frontage of about 53 feet, beginning 33.6 feet south of Cedar Street, and extending around the latter thoroughfare at the rear, with a frontage of 22 feet. The area of the plot was about 5,600 square feet, and the consideration stated in the deed was $375,000, or about $67 a square foot. The adjoining parcels on Cedar Street, on plot 44.4 by 71, were secured a few days later by a deed dated Jan. 17, 1866. The consideration was $90,000, or about $32 a square foot.

The immediate corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, 33 by 70, did not pass into the company's possession until 1868, the transfer being made for a nominal consideration. The company then controlled frontages of 86.8 feet on Broadway and about 137 feet on Cedar Street.

An interval of six years followed with no additions to the site. In 1874 Gen. Daniel Butterfield conveyed to the Equitable Life 112 and 114 Broadway, adjoining its previous holdings on the south and extending to within 43 feet of the Pine Street corner. Gen. Butterfield's property measured 38.3 by 143 by 35 by 150, and was sold for $302,887---at the rate of $35 a square foot.* [NOTE: Must be a, um, mistake. It is either one or the other dimension. Using the larger, 35 x 150, equals a plot of 5,250 square feet, which would come to a cost of $57.69 per, which is much more in keeping with such a large and fine building along Broadway, rather than mid-block sites on Cedar or Pine. This is not to say that the stated price paid the New York Life for the building is anything like honestly reported. Maybe they "slipped in a mortgage," to use Mr. Hyde's language, on some unrelated property to equalize the deal..] In the same year further purchases were also made on Cedar Street, as well as the first purchase on Pine Street. No. 12 Pine Street, about 80 feet west of Nassau Street, was bougt, together with an abutting parcel, having a frontage of 64 feet on the south side of Cedar Street. These properties were conveyed in April, 1874, by Theodore Weston, the consideration for them all being $319,000.

A year later as intervening property on Cedar Street was secured, completing the Equitable's ownership of all the buildings on the south side of that thoroughfare, extending east 221 feet from the Broadway corner and to within 88 feet of Nassau Street, or up to the plot which, as already stated, was bought only about a year ago.

In 1886, 19 and 21 Nassau Street, midway between Pine and Cedar Streets, where the Nassau Street entrance of the Equitable Building is to-day, were secured, the deeds in both cases containing only nominal prices. The then remaining properties in the block were the Nassau and Cedar Street corner, the old Clearing House on the Pine Street corner, and the adjoining building, 17 Nassau Street.

The Clearing House corner, 37.6 by 80.3, was transferred early in 1896, by the trustees of that institution, to James G. Wallace for $725,000, and conveyed by him a few months later to John E. Searles, then Treasurer of the American Sugar Refining Company, for $740,000. The transfer from Mr. Searles to the Equitable was made a year later, for a nominal consideration. On the basis of the price paid by Mr. Searles, the square foot rate for this corner figures down to about $253, or just about what was paid last week for the adjoining inside lot.

In this connection it may be pointed out that this inside parcel on Nassau Street brought over 50 per cent. more a square foot than did the corner of Broadway and Pine Street twenty years ago, and nearly five time as much as was paid for property on the Broadway side of the block twenty-eight years ago.

April 27, 1879, NYT,
RUINING BUSINESS STREETS; PROPERTY-OWNERS PROTESTING. THE DETERMINED OPPOSITION TO THE SCHEMES OF THE ELEVATED RAILROADS.
Down-town merchants and the owners of property in streets south of the City Hall are manifesting more feeling from day to day against the schemes of the elevated railway managers to confiscate thoroughfares in the lower part of the City for no other purpose than the benefiting of certain special interests. The lack of any public necessity for taking possession of more down-town streets has been apparent from the outset.
W. A. CAMP, manager New-York Clearing-house, owner, No. 15 Nassau-street.
JOHN SCHERMERHORN, owner, No. 17 Nassau-street.
F.W. BLOODGOOD, owner, No. 19 Nassau-street
W.H. GEBHARD, owner, No. 21 Nassau-street
G. MEAD TOOKER, Executor, owner, Nos. 23 and 25 Nassau-street (Belmont Building)

Jan. 13, 1906, The Weekly Underwriter, page 30,
By the purchase this week of the seven story office building at No. 17 Nassau street, owned by John E. Schermerhorn, the Equitable Life came into possession of the entire block bounded by Broadway, Nassau, Cedar and Pine streets, estimated to be worth $20,000,000. It has taken the society thirtyfive years to acquire the block. It is reported that the company contemplates building a big skyscraper on the site in the near future.

THE NATION: Key to American Life Insurance Companies. Life Insurance Chart for 1868

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Nov. 12, 1868, The Nation, page 399, KEY TO AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES. LIFE INSURANCE CHART FOR 1868.

KEY TO AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES. LIFE INSURANCE CHART FOR 1868.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1868, by J. B. Ecclesine, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Distrct of New York.

ABSTRACTS OF CHARTER AND BY-LAW PROVISIONS AS TO "PROFITS," INTEREST ON CAPITAL, ETC.
MUTUAL, MIXED, AND STOCK COMPANIES.

The subject of the proper share of Life Insurance Surplus which should be apportioned to Stockholders is exciting public attention, and might as well now as ever be thoroughly sifted and criticised, thereby eliminating from the friction of conflicting interests such just rules of equity (juste milieu) as will be approved by the general public and by the maas of Stock and Policy-holders.—Hon. William Barnes's (Superintendent of the Insurance Department of the State of New York) Ninth Annual Report, 1868, p. lxxix.

THE PRINCIPAL PURELY MUTUAL COMPANIES OF THE UNITED STATES (All Profits Paid to Policy-holders).

The object of these Societies is to retain among the members themselves the whole benefits arising from their premiums. It is plain that, by this method alone, the public can derive the entire advantages which the present knowledge of the science of Life Assurance can confer. That knowledge enables men of integrity and intelligence to give the community every profit which can possibly arise from Life Assurance. If any cavil can be made about the rate of premiums, none can be possibly made about the just appropriation of the accumulations, until it can be proved that it is more beneficial for the assured to take a part rather than the whole of the bonuses and surpluses.—The Insurance GUIDE And Hand-book, London, 1868.

BERKSHIRE, Pittsfleld, Mass.—All profits paid to Policy-holders.
CHARTER OAK, Hartford, Conn.—All profits paid to Policy-holders.
CONNECTICUT MUTUAL, Hartford, Conn.—All profits paid to Policy-holders.
CRAFTSMEN'S. 214 Broadway, New York.—All profits payable to Policy-holders, annually, on contribution plan.
EQUITABLE. 92 Broadway, New York.—All profits paid to Policy-holders, annually, on contribution plan.
GUARDIAN. 102 Broadway, New York—All profits paid to Policy-holders.
HOMEOPATHIC MUTUAL. 231 Broadway. New York. —All profits credited Policy-holders annually.
JOHN HANCOCK, Boston. Mass.—All profits paid to Policy-holders; dividends applied second year, on contri
MASSACHUSETTS MUTUAL. Springfield. Mass.—All profits paid to Policy-holders. _ ,_
MUTUAL LIFE. 146 Broadway. New York.—All profits paid to Policy-holders, annually, on contribution plan.
MUTUAL BENEFIT, Newark, N. J.—All profits paid to Policy-holders. _ , _ ...
NATIONAL LIFE. Montpcller. Vt.—All profits paid to Policy-holders; dividends declared quinqucnnially.
NEW YORK LIFE. 112 Broadway. New York.—All profits paid to Policy-holders, annually, on contribution
NEW ENGLAND MUTUAL, Boston. Mass.—All profits paid to Policy-holders, annually, on congibution plan.
STANDARD. 202 Broadway, New York.—All profits paid to Policy-holders. „ . _ . „
UNION MUTUAL. Augusta. Me., and Boston. Mass.— All profitspaid to Policy-holders.
WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS'. 182Broadway, New York. —All profits paid to Policy-holders.
WASHINGTON. 155 Broadway. New York.—All profits paid to Policy-holders, annually, on contribution plan.

MIXED COMPANIES (A Part of whose Profits are Paid to Stockholders). "Stock Life Insurance, as an independent system, does not exist any longer. It only adheres in the barnacle way to the Mutual system."—Massachusetts Commissioners Report. 1868.

After the experimental stage of a Company is passed, and it will probably be in two or three years, If ever, the guarantee capital becomes perfectly unnecessary; and every cent which it costs more than the earnings of its investment is a bootless extravagance and waste of the Policy-holders' Money. — Massachusetts Insurance Commissioners' Report, page 63.

There can hardly be a Happier Set OF Capitalists on earth than one which has obtained a right, by Perpetual Charter, to Ensure Lives, receiving from the proceeds, first, Legal Interest, semi-annually, on Stock, As A Sure Thing, and secondly, 20 per cent, of what are called Profits, that is, Premiums proving to be surplus, for ever. — Massachusetts Insurance Commissioners' Report, page 158.

The capital stock of Companies of this class, when firmly established, are valued at from 400 to 500 per cent, over par value.

STOCKHOLDERS' PROFITS OVER LEGAL INTEREST ON CAPITAL.
AETNA. Hartford. Conn.—One and one-half per cent, on participating premiums; $78,654 paid Stockholders in 1867. being 134 44/100 per cent, on cash capital. No portion of profits secured to Policy-holders by charter or by-laws.
AMERICAN TONTINE. 149 Broadway, New York. Incorporated 1868.—Stockholders entitled to ten per cent, annual interest, payable semi-annually, and profits on any business done on stock plan.
ASBURY, 291 Broadway. New York. Incorporated 1867.—Interest on capital and 20 per cent, of profits payable semi-annually to Stockholders.
ATLANTIC MUTUAL. Albany, N. Y.—20 per cent, of profits credited to the Stockholders until guarantee capital redeemed.
BROOKLYN. 141 Broadway, N. Y.—20per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders. Only 12 per cent. Interest paid.
CONTINENTAL, 26 Nassau Street. New York —12 1-2 per cent, of profits over legal interest payable to Stockholders. $28,000 paid to Stockholders in 1868, being 28 per cent, on paid up capital.
ECONOMICAL, Providence, R, I.—By amendment of charter in June. 1868, Interest is limited to seven per cent, per annum on "each share of capital stock." Residue of profits, after providing for a reserve fund of $200,000, to go to policy-holders.
EXCELSIOR. 63 William Street, New York—10 per cent, of net profits payable to Stockholders.
FIRST NATIONAL ECLECTIC. 35 Union Square, New York. Incorporated 1868.—20 per cent, of profits to bo credited to Stockholders.
GERMANIA. 90 Broadway. New York.—Stockholders, after 1869, are limited to 5 per cent, on capital over legal interest.
GLOBE. 160 Fulton Street. New York.—Interest on capital of $100,000, at 7 per cent., payable semi-annually. '■ Twenty per cent, of the net profits to be set aside, to belong to the Policy-holders, and to be held by the Company as a permanent guarantee fund, not to exceed $500,000; but
the interest thereon to be paid annually to the Stockholders."
HOME, 258 Broadway. New York.—Stockholders are now limited to 12 per cent, on capital, payable half-yearly. A reserve fund of $200,000 is to be made up out of profits at discretion of Directors.
GREAT WESTERN. 20 Nassau Street. New York.—20 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders.
HAHNEMANN. Cleveland, Ohio.—10per cent, set apart for retirement of paid up capital of $200,000. Interest paid annually at 7 8-10 per cent on $400,000 as the reeponsible capital, under Ohio general law.
KNICKEBBOCKER, 161 Broadway. N. Y.—Stockholders are entitled to twenty per cent, of the profits, besides an interest dividend on the capital. Dividends declared to Policy-holders annually, since 1861, after three payments made and applicable on tho fourth year. Interest and profit dividends paid to Stockholders on $100,009 capital, from 1858 to 1867, $139,810 75. Total premiums received since organization, up to Dec. 81. 1867. $4,074,521 74. and total dividends declared to Policy-holders, $116,571 29; paid or allowed, $42 087 29.
MANHATTAN. 156 Broadway. N. Y.—7 per cent, interest on $100,000 capital, and one-eighth of the profits payable to the Stockholders annually, in cash. Residue of profits paid Policy-holders annually after three payments made. Total interest and profit dividends paid Stockholders from 1853 to 1867, $286,000. Total dividends declared to Policy-holders. $906,868 77, up to Dec. 81, 1867.
METROPOLITAN, 243 Broadway, N. Y.—10 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders.
MUTUAL PROTECTION. 162 Broadway, N. Y.—(Organized 1868.) Cash capital $100,000; 7 per cent, interest, payable semi-annually; twenty per cent, of net profits to be set apart and held by the Company as a permanent guarantee fund, subject to losses of the Company, interest upon which fund shall be paid annually, pro rata, to the Stockholders,
NATIONAL. 212 Broadway, N. Y.—10 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders.
NEW JERSEY MUTUAL. Newark, N. J.—10 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders.
NORTH AMERICA, 229 Broadway, N. Y.—Interest dividend of 7 per cent, per annum on $100,000 capital, payable semi-annually. Stockholders to bo also credited annually $2,000, as a reserve fund, payable to them upon retirement of the capital stock. One-eighth of remaining surplus payable to Stockholders annually, with interest dividend. Residue of profits credited to participating Policy-holders, and to be represented by scrip, redeemable, on reaching $500,000, to extent deemed advisable by board. Interest and profit dividend paid to Stockholders, 1864 to 1867, $15,000, exclusive of $8,000 reserve fund, credited to them. Amount of dividends declared to Policy-holders, outstanding and unapplied. $175,012 47.
PHCENIX MUTUAL, Hartford. Conn.-Stockholders received 6 per cent, on chartered capital of $100,000. only $16,000 being paid up. All residue of profits paid to the ensured.
SECURITY, 31 Pine street, N. Y.—20 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders under original charter, but the Stockholders have signed agreements under amended charter limiting interest on capital to 12 per cent, per annum currency.
UNITED STATES, 40 Wall Street. N. Y.—20 per cent. of net profits paid to Stockholders, beside annual interest on capital. Capital lately increased to $200,000; charter authorizes increase to one million. Interest and dividends paid on stock, 1851 to 1868, $242,757.65. Amount of profit dividends declared to Policy-holders, now outstanding, reported to Mass.. at present value, $155,000. Policy-holders share in profits on Stock plan.
WORLD MUTUAL, 117 Broadway. N. Y.-121-2 per cent, of profits payable to Stockholders. None yet apportioned.

STOCK COMPANIES (The following is a list of the Stock Companies which pay all the profits of the business to the Stockholders):

To us, it docs not seem wise for any legislature to farm out to capitalists the business of collecting and managing the funds provided by the people for their widows and orphans.—Massachusetts Insurance Commissioners' Reports, page 157.

Human life is too sacred an interest, it has too many relations besides the pecuniary, too much of the value that transcends arithmetic, and we hear of too many exhuminations to test the validity of life policies, to trust it to the Stock Market like coal, copper, or petroleum."—MassachusettsCommissioners' Report, 1865.

The value of the stocks of all well-managed "Proprietary" companies in England during past years has run up to six or eight times their par value, while tho policies never increase in value. There can be but one explanation for this, namely, that there wore large profits in the business, which might have been, But Were Not, divided among the policy-holders, who contributed to produce such profits.

But the great objection, after all, to the Stock Plan, lies at the foundation of the system. After a man becomes a policy-holder in a Stock Company, he has no favors to expect from the Stockholders—their interests are diametrically opposed to his. The Public demand that their money shall produce something for themselves."—Anon.

NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE CO., Washington, D. C. —(Jay Cooke * Co.)—chartered July 25, 1868. Capital one million, with power to increase on vote of Stockholders at annual or special meeting. None of the profits
to be paid to Policy-holders.
AMERICAN POPULAR, 417 Broadway. N. Y.—No dividends to the ensured are made by this company until the lapse of the period of expectation on the premium age of entry, and the amount of proportion of such dividends
then to be made is not specified in the charter or by law.--Barnes's Report, 1868, p. lxxxvi,
NEW YORK STATE, Syracuse, N. Y.—All profits payable to Stockholders.
UNIVERSAL. 69 Liberty Street, New York.—All surplus to be credited to the Stockholders, pro rata, but to remain in the hands of the company as a "guarantee surplus fund," for the security of Policy-holders, until such fund shall amount to $1,800,000. which, with the capital, will make the sum of two million dollars; thereafter all the profits may be divided among the Stockholders.
TRAVELLERS, Hartford. Conn.—All profits on proprietary tables paid to Stockholders, but the company have prepared tables to ensure also at mutual profit rates.

For all further particulars of Capital, Assets, Income, Expenditure, Premium, and Dividend System, see Underwriters' Life Insurance Chart, 1867 to 1868, Price 50 cents per copy. Published by J. B. ECCLESINE, Editor and Proprietor Wall Street Underwriter, OFFICE 100 BROADWAY NEW YORK, ROOM NO. 6.

A Half Century of service

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Display Ad, widely published in January, 1922, in honor of The Equitable Trust Company of New York's "50th Anniversary," in business.

Scribner's magazine: Volume 71 - Page 130, January-June 1922, Equitable Trust Display Ad,
"A Half Century of Service - The Equitable Trust Company,"

The National geographic magazine: Volume 41, January, 1922, page xvii, Equitable Trust, Display Ad, "A Half Century of Service - The Equitable Trust Company,"

System, the Magazine of Business: Volume 41, January to June, 1922, page 123, Equitable Trust, Display Ad, "A Half Century of Service - The Equitable Trust Company,"

The Atlantic monthly: Volume 129, Part 1, January 1922, page 290, Equitable Trust, Display Ad, A Half Century of Service - The Equitable Trust Company,

A Piece of the Mansard from the Equitable Building

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I was always curious about this piece of structural iron which underpinned a section of the Mansard roof (that would be the third version of the roof, circa 1887)

It's one of the few recognizable elements of debris.

However, after they cleaned the site up for inspection (just as they did at the Pentagon after September 11th) they left a stretch of iron framing where I count seven rectangular openings---but not the original length, which had eleven openings. Why would they take some and leave a section? HOW could they do it?

Then I realized it reminded me of this stretch of fire escape after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

Crowds of young women who made it out onto the fire escape perished when it gave way under their weight.

It's not so hard to find the bodies at some fires.

Today I transcribed 10,114 words from the January 9, 1912, Final Edition of The Evening Telegram,

You can find the transcript here:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc52kcvf_2966x7j5wcv

But one brief article provided a single-source verification for something I'd known all along.

Page 3, (Column 7)

The Evening Telegram, January 9, 1912, FIND TOO LATE THAT VICTIM STILL LIVED

Believed to be dead, a man, supposed from a card in his pocket, to have been Massina Fratta, of No. 275 East Fifty-sixth street, lay two hours in the street amid the confusion of the Equitable Building fire to-day before Dr. Savage, of St. Gregory's Volunteer Hospital, discovered signs of life and hurried him into an ambulance. He died on the way to the hospital.
Hundreds of firemen, policemen and others ran to and fro past the man, who had been knocked off a ladder by falling debris and left where he fell, because every one believed him dead. Both legs were broken and he had suffered internal injuries.
The dead man's trousers leg had a stripe down one side, and the police believed he was an employee in the burned building.

The fake narrative of the January 9, 1912, Equitable Building fire originated several stereotypes used with the later September 11th, 2001 building collapses.

One, like Battalion Chief Walsh, is a classic case of prepared hero ready to meet his media death. Unfortunately, not a single element of his fire-fighting story makes a bit of sense to me as a layman, and if you're a fire professional and you believe in it--than God help you.

Missing from the narrative is Captain Bass, who died in a sanitarium several months after the fire from a blow he had received to the back of the head. However, his sacrifice continued to be ignored, while his putative rescuers receive medals and commendations and media publicity.

But in the era before CGI, sometimes you just have to kill a few "innocents" to set the mood. The value of an immigrant's life is pretty clear in 1912. All the narrative elements concerning the three "kitchen workers" who died after falls from the roof or upper stories, points to being examples of cold blooded murder. I just never thought I'd find something published in that era's mainstream media that could make my case so elegantly.

Touché Evening Telegram.

This is the way the January 10, 1912, New-York Tribune put it, in "Biggest Fire in Years Destroys Equitable's Home,"

Seven o'clock saw the climax of the fire. Then it was that the roof and upper floors began to fall and carry with them the lower floors, accounting for the loss of Chief Walsh and also for the death of a Massena Fratta of No. 225 East 56th street. Fratta was found by firemen lying unconscious in Pine street, having jumped from the third floor. Dr. Savage, of the Volunteer Hospital, whose ambulance was handy, found that the porter was suffering from a fracture at the base of the skull. He lifted him into the ambulance and sped with him to the hospital, but Fratta died before the institution was reached.

Oops, there's that blow to the back of the skull again. So different than two broken legs with internal injuries.

The January 10, 1912, The Sun, "6 DEAD, 1 MISSING, 23 HURT." Page 1, Column 6, gets very specific about the attending physicians and the destination hospitals:

List Made Up by the Police of Casualties at the Fire.
This is the best list the police could get of the dead, missing and injured:
THE DEAD.
CAMPION, JOHN: watchman for the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company. It is his body which is visible through the iron grating of the safe deposit company.
CONDI, GIUSEPPE: address unknown. 38 tears old, an Italian. employed as a kitchen man in Savarin's restaurant. Killed by fall from the eighth floor to the Broadway sidewalk. Body at the Morgue.
FRATTA, MASSENA; 225 East Fifty-sixth street, a porter at Savarin's: fell from cupola at the corner of Pine and Nassau streets and died of his injuries on the way to the Volunteer Hospital. Body taken to the Morgue.
SAZZIO. JOHN, address unknown. 35 years old. an Italian employed at Savarin's as a kitchenman. Killed by fall from eighth floor to sidewalk. Body removed to Greenwich street station and then to the Morgue.
WALSH. WILLIAM J.; chief of the Second Battalion, living at 1170 Forty-second street Brooklyn.
An unidentified man. probably employed in Savarin's, who fell into the building from the eighth floor.
THE MISSING.
NEIDER, FRANK J.: watchman for the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company. 155th street and Melrose avenue. The Bronx.
SEIBERT, CONRAD: watchman for the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company
BASS, JOHN: 309 West 160th street, captain of Engine 4. Hands, face and head burned; attended at the Old Slip police station and later taken to the Hudson Street Hospital.
BROWN, WILLIAM: fireman from Engine 10: lacerated right arm: treated on the spot by Dr. Savage of the Volunteer Hospital and resumed work.
CARREN. THOMAS; a painter living at 420 East 127th street: left leg fractured by falling over a hose line; taken to the Hudson Street hospital.
DELK. LEANDER. a colored porter in the building; overcome by smoke; treated by Dr. Worthen of the Hudson Street Hospital and taken home.
DIAMOND. SAMUEL; fireman from Engine 17; right eye injured; treated by Dr. Savage and continued at work.
DONOVAN. WILLIAM: fireman from Engine 11; overcome by smoke and returned to work after being treated.
FLANNERY, JOSEPH L..; firemen from Engine 55; right hand cut; treated by Dr. Rosenberg from White Cross Hospital in Brooklyn; went home.
GIBLIN, WILLIAM, 350 West Seventy-second street, president of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company: taken to the Hudson street hospital by Dr. Garrett, suffering from exposure.
GROTHERE NICHOLAS M.; a patrolman of the Old Slip station; back injured and scalp lacerated by falling bricks at Broadway and Pine street: treated and sent home on sick leave.
HEALEY, TIMOTHY; fireman of Tower 2; lacerated left arm; continued work after receiving treatment.
HERBERT. HENRY B.; insurance clerk; received a lacerated scalp and injuries to his right leg by falling over a hose; treated and went home.
HICKEY. JOHN J.: fell on the ice in front of building and received contusions of back.
HUDSON, ALLEN; a fireman living at 207 Eighth avenue: treated for face wounds and continued to work.
HUMPHREYS. L.; of 104 Duane street. Fell on sidewalk and received abrasions on the left leg. Removed to his home.
JOHNSON, LINDSEY H., a lawyer. Sprained back and right arm in fall.
LODDEN, MARK. 71 years old of 113 Oak street. Brooklyn. Taken to the Hudson street hospital suffering from shock.
MANNING, TIMOTHY P., fireman of Truck 6. Taken to the Hudson street hospital, suffering from hysteria. Condition serious.
McVEY. DANIEL, a fireman from Engine 107. Treated at the fire for injured knees Continued work.
MOYNAHAN, BARTHOLOMEY; a tenant of the building. Treated by Dr. Savage of the Volunteer Hospital. Ankle strained.
PETERSON, FRED. 602 East 101th street, a watchman. Overcome by smoke and treated by Dr. Worthen of the Hudson street hospital. Taken home.
SHEEHAN. WILLIAM, 367 West Fifty-second street. Right arm broken. Set by Dr. Worthen at the fire. Patient sent home,
SCHEIHLING, GEORGE, of 2116 Eighth avenue. Received gash over right eye from a falling brick. Treated and sent home.
STEINBERG. JOE. 95 Suffolk street. Broken knee. Was taken home.

According to The Evening Post, William Sheehan had to have his hand amputated to remove him from the debris. Dr. Worthen must be a genius to set it at the scene and send him home.

George Ovanny, Chief Kenlon, Lt. Rankin, Dr. Archer

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Chief Kenlon's New Fire Engine

Historical Views

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In the foreground is the Equitable block undergoing redevelopment, ca, 1913

James Hazen Hyde Ball of January 31st, 1905. Hyde is shown greeting French actress Gabrielle Rejane in the Ballroom of Sherry's Restaurant

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Harper's Weekly

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August 6, 1887, Volume XXXI, No. 1598, Page 556,

THE COMPLETED BUILDING OF THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY, NEW YORK CITY.--Drawn by Hughson Hawley. [see page 559]

Last Purchase 1906 ($400,000)

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January 14, 1912, New York Times,PLACE HEIGHT LIMIT ON NEW BUILDINGS Part 9, Page 1, Column 7,

Clearing House
Bought 1897
$790,000 [?]

Robinson's Atlas of the City of New York, 1885, Plate 01

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On 9/11, the Destruction of Corporate and Government Documents, Especially in Building 7 and the Pentagon, Had Its Antecedent in the Equitable Fire of 1912.

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Covering up the evidence of previous crimes was clearly a central motive and opportunity in both of these cases of banking and insurance terrorism---the one ten years ago, and the other 100 years ago---with legal proofs established by "documentation," or developed by its lack. That is---if we lived in a nation under law. But unfortunately, to various degrees, most elected officials in New York City and State, as well as Federal Legislators were co-conspirators before the fact, to plots ranging over three centuries, leaving us little else now but the probability of future chaos.

January 23, 1912, NYT, "Equitable Blaze Entered Two Safes,"Page 6, Columns 1 & 2,

EQUITABLE BLAZE ENTERED TWO SAFES;

Destroyed Contents of Union Pacific Vaults, but Nothing of Value Was Lost.

OTHERS PROBABLY INTACT.

Some Fear That Heat Penetrated Mercantile Safe Deposit Vaults---Vain Search for Body.
Steeplejacks and men who understand safes were at work all day in the ruins of the Equitable Building yesterday and toward evening succeeded in opening two vaults of the Union Pacific Railroad Company on the fourth floor. To the surprise of every one, even of the inspectors in charge of the work, hardly a thing remained intact in these vaults and in one of them a fire was still smoldering.

They tackled first the big eight by six foot vault on the fourth floor, above the Cedar Street entrance to the building. The big safe was on the top of a heap of wreakage which has its foundations on the ground floor, and the only way to get to the safe's door was to swing aloft with ropes and then make the last part of the ascent by climbing the length of a discarded gas pipe. This is perilous climbing.

With the use of heavy crowbars the front door of the vault was jerked from its hinges with the aid of force applied on ropes from below. The inside of the vault was a mass of charred paper. The vault had never been considered fireproof, however, and had been filled with books of the old records of the company which had no pecuniary value.

The second vault was located on the same floor near the Broadway side of the building. It was a regular steel-lined safety vault, even larger than the first vault that had been opened. Inside the vault there was a four by four steel safe. The inflammable contents of the greater vault, also consisting of books and old records, it was said, were entirely destroyed and three-fourths of the contents of the interior safe were charred beyond identification.

It was here that the fire was found still smoldering. The interior of the little safe was so hot that water had to be applieed to extinguish the fire and cool the steel. The safe bore the name of Andrew K. Van Deventer, one of the New York officiers of the railroad company. A heavy steel girder had been wedged against the door of the vault and had forced it in sufficiently to permit the fire to enter. Otherwise, it was thought, fire would not have reached the inside.

"The vault contained nothing of importance," said William V. S. Thorne, one of the Directors of the Union Pacific, in the new offices of the company at 165 Broadway. "The inner safe was filled with matured bonds and these had no money value. Two more safes of the company fell to the bottom when the fourth floor gave way. They were absolutely fireproof and we have no fear whatever that their contents will be destroyed. They contained all the valuables."

Other evidence of unextinguished fire in the ice-logged building was found on the ground floor near the Cedar Street side. Workingmen tunnelled all day from this entrance in the hope of finding the body of Frederick J. Neider, a watchman. They came upon one small safe which was found to be intact, but which will probably require dynamite to be opened. From behind the safe red-hot steel girders removed. The excavation led the workmen around and near the big vaults of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, and now it is feared that the heat may have penetrated these vaults also. In any event, according to John B. Russell, Treasurer of the company, these vaults will not be opened for a week or ten days. He expressed the opinion that the vaults would be found to be in first-class condition. A cursory examination made yesterday morning, he said, had given no cause for alarm.

E.E. Rittenhouse, Conservation Commissioner of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, said that the excavation around the Equitable vaults on the second floor of the building was progressing so well that entrance to the vaults would probably be attempted this morning.

The Bankers' Trust Company has two vaults on the third floor which will be opened to-day by the same expert steeplejacks and safe crackers who opened the vaults of the Union Pacific Railway Company.

Coincidentally, included in the pdf format document which maintains a hardcopy scan of the Times article on the destruction of safes in the Equitable fire, are other articles, one of which publicized a conflict between fraternal Masons and judicial Magistrates in the city. For a very long time, the entire New York Times historical news archive was only available in this frankly limited format, which restricts copy and paste, forcing anyone constructing a utilizable academic record to make transcriptions by hand---if not quill pen.

Quite recently, the Times introduced their "timesmachine" browser online, which facilitates viewing large numbers of pages and issues, over decades-long runs, and allowing for the first time the average reader to know the page and column placement in the "newspaper of record." Alas, this format also prevents the copy and pasting of these one-hundred-year-old-news-reports, unlike the Library of Congress' similar online newspaper archive, which does allows those tools, if only poorly.

January 23, 1912, New York Times, Page 6, Column 2,
TO PUNISH FOR CONTEMPT.

Magistrates Want Their Court Made One of Record for This Purpose.

When the Board of Magistrates meets this afternoon in the old Police Headquarters building, 400 Mulberry Street, Magistrate Butts of the Essex Market Court will bring up the question of having the Magistrates' courts made courts of record. He said yesterday that he hoped by that means to put an end to attempts at undue influence to thwart justice, and these attempts, he added, have been numerous.

At present, Magistrate Butts explained, the Magistrates are powerless to effectively punish these offenders. They can reprimand the guilty one if he happens to be in court, but have not the legal authority to demand his appearance by subpoena. Should the Magistrates' courts be made courts of record, however, the presiding Magistrate would have the power to hold an offender for contempt of court, extortion, or attempted bribery with intent to defeat justice.

Magistrate Butts refused yesterday to hear the case of John Silverman, an Inspector in the Bureau of Licenses, who is being held under $1,000 bail on the charge of extortion made by Louis Katz, a dance hall proprietor of 56 Cannon Street. In adjourning the case "until some other Magistrate may be sitting,' he made public this letter, received shortly after court opened yesterday afternoon from Louis L. Krauss, Master of Piatt Lodge, No. 194, F. & A. M., referring to it as "another attempt to thwart justice":

"Hon. Judge Butts:

"The case of Katz against Silverman will come before you on Monday, Jan. 22. I have read all the testimony in the case as tried before Commissioner Wallace of the License Bureau, and the complainant in his testimony admits being a criminal, and the statements therein are, to my mind, grounds enough for making a charge of perjury against Katz.

"I have known Mr. Silverman for twenty years, and he has been for seventeen years in the employ of the city and has a clean record. He is a member of my lodge of Masons, and has asked me to help him get justice. And I ask you to look into this case thoroughly, and you will find that this man Silverman is innocent."

The full-page view of the "TimesMachine" provided for yet another article on page 6 of the January 23, 1912, on Column 4, which bears a synchronous newsworthiness:

THINKS AMERICANS SELFISH

And the Rev. Dr. Campbell of the City Temple of London, England, told a congregation in the Old John Street Church here yesterday that in his trip through this country he found the people intensely selfish.

"Throughout the Western States," said he, "selfishness is the keynote in every circle. I want to say right here something which will sound very strange from a man who has spent as much time working for democracy as I have. I am no believer in democracy, any more than I am in plutocracy. Thus far its results have been very disappointing, and the average member of the masses is in a state of angry hopelessness."

Compare that sentiment with the Masonic version of reality:

New-York Daily Tribune, Sunday, January 1, 1899, Page 8, Column 1, MASONIC DEPARTMENT

Secretaries will kindly examine the names of the respective officers to the cards and send corrections, if required, to the Masonic Department of The Tribune. The Masonic Directory in published every Sunday.

CONSERVATISM IN FREEMASONRY.
The New-Orleans Bulletin, remarks, concerning the fraternity of the United States: Here is a body of men composed of all classes and professions, entertaining every kind of opinion upon religion and politics, and existing in every State of the Union, who come together and exhibit among themselves the utmost harmony of freedom and action. No word of opprobrium escapes from the lips of any one to insult and wound the feelings of another. No fierce anathema of sections is heard. No extravagance is Indulged in. Everything is quiet, gentlemanly, respectful, dignified. The bitterest political enemies meet face to face, and you shall never know by their actions or words that they do not belong to the same party. Religionists the most opposite embrace each other in the arms of an exalted charity. Fanaticism finds no entrance into the society of the brotherhood. Not a wave of discord disturbs the waters of the Inner temple, no plunge into the abyss of atheism, rant or lawlessness. But what is the secret of their unanimity, of their harmony, of their brotherly love, of the conservative front which, without tremor, they maintain, amid the general commotion, hatred and fanaticism existing around them? It is found, it seems to strike us, in one word—toleration.

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Image ID: 800290
A glimpse of New York from Trinity Church steeple. (1872) (NYPL)

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January 14, 1912, NYT, Part 9, Page 1
BUILDING PLANS FOR EQUITABLE BLOCK WILL BE WATCHED WITH KEEN INTEREST
Many Speculations as to Character of New Structure and Whether Insurance Company Will Abandon Old Home Site--- Less than $5,000,000 Paid for Block Now Valued at $15,000,000---History of the Purchases Which Covered Period of Forty Years---Lottery Office Once There.

First purchase 1866 $372,000
Second purchase (Corner B'way and Cedar St.), 1868
Bought in 1884, 112 B'way Delmonicos $302,857
Bought in 1884 (4 lots on Pine Street) $667,500
Metropolitn Bank Bought 1885 $762,500
Clearing House Bought 1897 $490,000
Last Purchase 1906 $400,000

EQUITABLE TO PAY $4,000,000 ON SUITS

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May 3, 1911. New York Times,,

EQUITABLE TO PAY $4,000,000 ON SUITS;

Settlement of Long-Standing Litigation Approved by Hotchkiss and Attorney General.
PROFITS AT ONCE $5,000,000
Hyde's Cheap Leases Which Have Prevented New Buildings Here and In Boston to be Canceled.

ALBANY, May 2. -- Through a settlement which to-day received the approval of State Superintendent of Insurance Hotchkiss and Attorney General O'Malley, litigation of many years' standing involving millions of dollars, by which the Equitable Life Assurance Society and some of its Directors from the Hyde regime have been harassed, has been wiped off the calendar. According to a statement made to-day by Supt. Hotchkiss, the settlement involves the payment of $4,025,000 by the Equitable Life to the Mercantile Trust Company, the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, and the Security Safe Deposit Company. In return, according to the statement, the Equitable will receive immediate benefits valued at $5,048,000, or a net gain to the policy holders of $1,018,000.

The action brought against certain Directors of the society by the State for waste of the resources of the Equitable has been dropped. The Equitable will pay to the Mercantile Trust Company $2,750,000 in settlement of the so-called "Turner" loans, which is $650,000 less than was at first claimed. In return it will receive bonds and certificates representing lands in Colorado and Kentucky said to be worth at least as much as the sum it pays out.

By the payment of $1,050,000 to the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company it obtains a release from the lease it had granted for a portion of its building on Broadway, and by a payment of $225,000 to the Securities Safe Deposit Company of Boston a similar release from a lease to part of its building in that city. It is estimated that these releases will enhance the value of the real estate of the Equitable by $2,000,000 and $430,000, respectively.

The so-called "Turner" loans, which had proved fruitful causes of litigation, took their rise in the days of Henry B. Hyde, founder of the Equitable. In 1894 he was interested in the Western National Bank with Marcellus Hartley, Gen. Louis Fitzgerald, William N. Coler, Jr., and John C. Searles. This bank at that time made certain loans to the value of $621,291 which were of doubtful character. The State Bank Examiner objected to them, and they were transferred to the Mercantile Trust Company by means of dummy loans to a clerk named Turner. The Equitable at this time owned 12,000, or a majority, of the shares of the Western National Bank, and was also closely allied with the Mercantile Trust Company.

After a time the Bank Examiner's suspicions were drawn to the Turner loans, and he requested that they also be withdrawn from the trust company. Then Mr. Hyde went to Messrs. Hartley, Fitzgerald, Coler, and Searles and requested their personal guarantee in order to satisfy the State Banking Department. They gave it on the distinct pledge, it is alleged, of Mr. Hyde that neither the Equitable nor the Mercantile would ever try to enforce it.

When President Paul Morton took office he instituted litigation in relation to this loan, and the Mercantile made claim on the Equitable. Its guarantors urged the promise of immunity they had received from Mr. Hyde, and as the outcome of the case was exceedingly doubtful it has now been recommended by the committee representing the policyholders and Directors of the Equitable that it be compromised on the terms set forth above.

The question of the long leases by the Equitable to the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company in New York and the Securities Safe Deposit Company in Boston attracted a great deal of attention at the time of the insurance investigation. It was stated then that the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company had among its stockholders these men, who were also Directors of the Equitable: James H. Hyde, James W. Alexander, Gage E. Tarbell, Valentine P. Snyder, Thomas D. Jordan, Charles B. Alexander, Henry R. Winthrop, Alvin R. Krech, and William R. McIntyre.

The rent which was paid to the Equitable by the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company was so small that in fifteen years all the insurance company had received in excess of what it had been forced to expend in the way of repairs was $3,463. In addition the lease was extended in the last few years of the Hyde regime so as to run for 100 years.

The Equitable has had for some time under consideration the pulling down of its present old-fashioned quarters on lower Broadway and the erection of a modern skyscraper. Two years ago it filed with the Building Department plans for a building loftier even than the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's tower. It proposed to build on the block it now occupies a building 62 stories high and measuring 909 feet from the street level to the base of the flag staff.

The Equitable will now be at liberty to carry out this design as it sees fit. In the same way, it will be able to improve the real estate in Boston, having bought up the lease of the Securities Safe Deposit Company, which also had nearly 100 years to run.

The settlement also provides for turning over to the society the pension claimed by Mrs. Henry B. Hyde, widow of the founder of the society.

The settlement was reached after many conferences between a committee of policy holders and Directors of the Equitable, extending over two years. The committee was composed of J. Edward Swanstrom of New York, Charles H. Zehnder, formerly of Philadelphia and now of New York; Thomas Spratt of Ogdensburg, and W. A. Day of counsel for the Equitable. Deputy Attorney General Edward H. Letchworth represented the Attorney-General, and Alfred Hurell, counsel to the Insurance Department, and Nelson B. Hadley, Chief Examiner of life companies, represented the Insurance Department. After participating in the consultation they urged the Attorney General and the Superintendent of Insurance to approve the settlement. In a memorandum submitted they say:

When one considers that this settlement will end costly and troublesome litigation, much of which would result unfavorably to the society; allows the society to improve its buildings in New York and Boston, and thus take advantage of the steadily increasing values of this real estate, all without cost to the society, and at the same time puts it in position probably to gain millions by reason of readjustment---there can be but one conclusion, and that is that official approval should be given to the settlement and the same consummated at once.

When the question of injunction in the case of Hyde vs. The Equitable was decided by Judge Bischoff, the law governing the case was set forth which practically charged the defendant with the Turner loan liability of over $3,000,000. The statute of limitations had already run against the Directors, who had collusively fastened on the society the burdensome leases, when the action was commenced by the State.

There is no escape from them, and at the same time no affirmative relief against those who caused them can now be obtained. This being so, the same course to pursue is to permit the society to effect this settlement, whereby those liabilities can be avoided and practically accomplish all that could be gained in the suit by the State, if it were maintainable.

Under all of the facts and the circumstances, we therefore recommend to the Attorney General the discontinuance of the suit of the People of the State of New York against the Equitable et al., and to the Superintendent of Insurance that his approval be given to the proposed settlement as outlined.

MORTON TAKES ROOT'S HOUSE

2011-08-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Market rate?

Sept. 26, 1905, New York Times,

MORTON TAKES ROOT'S HOUSE;

Equitable Head to Occupy New Home of the Secretary of State.

Paul Morton, President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, has taken a lease of Elihu Root's house at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Seventy-first Street.

The house, which stands on a plot 42.6 by 100, was finished only recently, having been built from plans by Carrere & Hastings on land bought from Charles Dana Gibson in 1903. Mr. Root sold his former residence, at 25 East Sixty-ninth Street , several months ago, intending to occupy his new house, but his appointment as Secretary of State necessitating his removal to Washington, has caused him to abandon this plan.

PARKER ON CORPORATE CORRUPTION OF PARTIES

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Sept. 18, 1905, New York Times,

PARKER ON CORPORATE CORRUPTION OF PARTIES;
Declares Equitable and Mutual Also Aided Republicans.
GAIN PLACED ABOVE POLITICS
Unembarrassed Raids Upon the Public Through Trusts the Reward of Campaign Contributions.

ESOPUS, Sept. 17. -- Ex-Chief Judge Alton B. Parker to-day referred to the charges made by him last Fall, when Democratic candidate for President, that corporation funds were being used in aid of the Republican campaign.

Asked if he had anything to say in relation to the statement of Vice President George W. Perkins of the New York Life Insurance Company to the legislative committee investigating the insurance business, that President John A. McCall of that company had caused a contribution of about $50,000 to be made last year to the Republican National campaign fund, Judge Parker said:

"Yes, I believe I ought to say, now that there is no political excitement to distract the public attention, that the President of the New York Life was not the only such contributor. The officers of other great life insurance companies, such as the Equitable and the Mutual, also contributed of the policy holders' funds for campaign purposes last year.

"What has been proved in the case of the New York Life will undoubtedly be proved in the other cases. The facts exist, and honest and able counsel, backed by an honest committee, will undoubtedly bring them out for the public good.

"Were there an investigation of railroad, manufacturing, and other corporations, it would be found that these life insurance officers were not the only corporation officers who put their hands into the Treasury and took out moneys belonging to widows and orphans to help secure a partisan triumph.

"That their acts were unlawful and their purposes corrupt goes without saying. They intended to have the money used, as it was, in corrupting the electorate. Mr. Perkins makes the point that John A. McCall, the President of the New York Life, is a Democrat. Apparently he would have the public assume that when Mr. McCall unlawfully and wrongfully contributed these funds---the company's share probably as a member of the underwriting syndicate---it was evidence of political virtue rather than misconduct.

"The truth about it is, and I say it without feeling, but emphatically, that men like McCall have no political convictions that stand in the way of their personal advantage. Such men desire the triumph of that party which will better serve their personal financial interests and will---for contributions, past, present, and future---continue to protect those interests by lenient legislation and by pretense at execution of law which shall be tenderly blind to all their offenses. That party they espouse in the board room, and contribute to it of the moneys they hold in trust, and, occasionally, a little of their own.

"The underlying principles which divide the great mass of the people into parties have no effect upon such men. Their one inquiry is, will the party organization in its hour of triumph remember our generosity, and respond to our demands? Of course the organization does remember, for it expects a similar contribution next time. And the expectation is not in vain. Last year was not the first time. Such contributions had been made before in National, State, and municipal elections.

"The officers responsible for these raids upon the treasuries of corporations have received their reward in unfettered management of life insurance corporations; in unembarrassed raids upon the public through trusts---condemned by both common and statute law; in refusal to punish criminally the officers of railroad and other corporations violating the laws. and in statutory permission to manufacturing corporations to levy tribute on the people.

"There can be no hope of checking the unlawful aggressions of officers of great corporations so long as they may thus form a quasi-partnership with the organization of the dominant political party. For in the hour when the administrative official seeks to punish the offender he is reminded by the head of the organization of the magnitude of the contributions of the corporation.

"There is, however, something worse, if possible, than the escape of such offenders from justice. It is the gradual demoralization of voters and the dulling of the public conscience caused by the efforts to make these vast sums of money procure the ballots they were intended to procure, corruptly and otherwise.

"It is not my purpose to claim that the Democratic Party, subjected to the temptation which has overcome the other party during the last few years, would have acted any differently. Mere party advantage should not be sought from the disclosures made in this investigation. But their facts should be diligently sought, that the people may become so aroused that they will insist upon legislation making it a criminal offense for officers to contribute corporate funds for political purposes and depriving the apparently successful candidates of their offices.

"Efforts in that direction have been making in different States since November last, and particularly in this State. But the Republican organization would not consent to it, so the Legislature defeated the bills. And the organization never will consent until an aroused public sentiment shall threaten legislators with political oblivion who fail to enact effective laws upon the subject."

MOST INIQUITOUS---JEROME.

Wants Law to Stop Corporation Gifts to Political Parties.

"Contributions by corporations to political campaign committees is most iniquitous---it's a damned iniquity," declared District Attorney Jerome at his Summer home in Lakeville yesterday. He said this when he was asked about an interview in The Brooklyn Eagle, which quoted him as saying:

"I hardly see how it is criminal in itself. If the truth were known, I suppose that there is hardly a single large corporation in the City of New York which did not contribute to the campaign fund. The heads of corporations which manage fiduciary funds have a good deal of latitude in the matter of disbursement. There is a wide difference between an act or a course of action which is morally wrong and one which is criminal.

"Intent is the important factor in the consideration of the criminality of an act. There are many cases where a suit in equity would lie and a verdict could be obtained ordering men to restore money wrongfully used or expended, in which it would be hopeless to attempt to show the commission of a crime.

"You say that Mr. Perkins explained the payment of the campaign contribution by saying it was made to protect the policy holders from possible disaster, which the officers believed would follow the election of Bryan and the adoption of the St. Louis platform. If that statement is true, I can see no criminal intent in the act. I can understand how the trustees of fiduciary funds might consider it their duty to protect the policy holders or bank depositors or stockholders from threatening danger.

"Suppose a big bank should be built in a place especially exposed to danger from fire. Would it not be right for the officers to employ special watchmen to guard against the danger? I do not mean that the cases are identical, but the latter case illustrates the point I am trying to make that judgment must always play a large part in the policy pursued by those in control of corporations in guarding the funds entrusted to them.

"If there is evidence that any of these men have violated the Penal Code, in other words, have committed a crime in New York County, I shall certainly submit the evidence to the Grand Jury, and ask for indictments. I shall prosecute them to the very best of my ability."

In his talk to a TIMES reporter yesterday about the contributions of corporations to campaign funds Mr. Jerome said:

"It is a practice that should be severely checked. As I view it, the best way to bring about its eradication would be the enactment of corrupt practices acts. As is well known, efforts for the passage of such legislation have been made at Albany session after session, but we have not been able even to get them out of committee.

"Why? Because the politicians and leaders knew full well that with such laws the practice of corporations contributing would become absolutely illegal, the flow of money into the coffers of committees would cease, and the men who run the machines and organizations would naturally have just that much less to put into their own pockets in return for their political activities.

"When serving on the Legislative Committee of the City Club, which I did for four years, I was opposed to the practice, which was so much of a feature at the investigation by the legislative committee, and I am no less opposed to it now. I condemn it.

"No one would want to give an opinion on the particular phase brought out by the committee unless the complete stenographic reports were at hand, and the statutes as well.

"Incidentally, it is well known that there was hardly a corporation or large business firm that didn't contribute to the Republican campaign fund in 1896 and 1900."

A GRAND COMMERCIAL EDIFICE.

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November, 4, 1869, The Sun, page 3, column 3,

A GRAND COMMERCIAL EDIFICE.

The Most Commodious, Durable, massive and Imposing Commercial Building of the Metropolis---A Grand Triumph of Renaissance School of Architecture---The Equitable Life Assurance Society's Building---Modern Commercial Conveniences.

Towering grandly and most conspicuously above all surrounding edifices, and crowned by a double-faced Mansard roof, and more lofty pavilions, is the magnificent, new, and wonderfully attractive Concord white granite structure located at the corner of Broadway and Cedar street. Surrounded as is this wonder of architecture and mechanical skill by many of our most stately and lofty brick, brownstone, granite, and marble commercial palaces, yet, towering far above them all, the attention of the passer by is drawn irresistibly aside from all these other Broadway wonders to contemplate this, the glory of them all. As we pause on the opposite pavement to view this most majestic and magnificent of all the commercial buildings of our own or of all continents, we are delighted with the symmetrical outlines of the Renaissance school of architecture from which the design of this new building wonder has been drawn.

As we approach the central business location of the city, upon which this vast edifice has been erected, our attention is first attracted by its extraordinary massiveness and solidity. As our gaze reaches upward to its seventh story, we are surprised and delighted with the beautiful outlines of the structure and the harmonious combinations of elaborately chiseled granite, bastions, columns, arches, and facings. Approaching it from uptown, we have the fullest view of its Mansard roof, two stories in height, and the two majestic pavilions which crown it. As we inspect its exterior more closely, we are struck with the peculiar adaptability for commercial buildings of this white granite, which we ascertain is from a new quarry recently opened near Concord, New Hampshire. For such a classical rendering of the Renaissance school as the architects have applied to this structure, it affords a most delightful combination of light and shade, and presents an aspect of warmth and transparency not to be found in brownstone, red sandstone, Illinois buff, or glaring white marble. The deep Mansard roof is most happily relieved by boldly projected cornices, stone dormer windows, and a high, ornamental, galvanized cast-iron railing. The great windows, too, attract our attention, and we hastily and properly decide that they are larger than any other windows in any building on our continent.

A BEAUTIFUL DESIGN.

From our hasty view of the exterior of this architectural wonder of the year, we give our praise to a design of such rare classical beauty, and acknowledge that the whole country, or any European city either, does not furnish a rival. The peculiar preference of the architects for the classical design of the Renaissance school over the Venetian is certainly one of the happiest. By its selection, the whole exterior appearance of the building is relieved of the bizarre and ludicrous effect to be observed in so many of our so-called Renaissance buildings.

DIMENSIONS AND MATERIAL.

This great building, fronting five full numbers, 116, 118, 120, 122, and 124, on Broadway, and 84, 86, and 88 Cedar street, is constructed of white granite, iron and brick; in all, about 6,000 tons of these materials have been used. A million and a half bricks have been employed in its inside walls and floors. It is covered by 15,000 superficial feet of slate roofing. The height of the building from pavement to roof is 145 feet, and to the massive gilt eagle which crowns the pavilion facing on Broadway is 200 feet.

THE SOCIETY'S INSIGNIA.

Over the projected and massive portico of the Broadway entrance will be placed an exquisitely wrought group of statuary, the emblem of the Society. It is from a model in plaster by Ward, now being cut in the finest Italian marble. It represents the guardian angel of life assurance holding a shield in the left arm over the widow and orphan, while it holds a spear in the right. Its extreme height is 11 feet. Of all the emblematic marble groupings in the country this is certainly one of the most appropriate and attractive.

THE PROPRIETOR OF THE BUILDING

is the Equitable Life Assurance Society, which at present occupies the second and third floors of Nos. 92 and 94 Broadway, where it has been located since its organization in 1859. The officers at present consist of the Hon. Wm C. Alexander, President; Henry B. Hyde, Vice-President; James W. Alexander, Secretary; Geo. W. Phillips, Actuary; Edward W. Lambert, M.D., and Alfred Lambert, M.D., Examining Physicians; Willard Parker, M.D., Consulting Physician; Henry Day, Attorney; and Henry M. Alexander, counsel.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING.

Before entering the grand edifice, at present the pride pf all the commercial buildings on our continent, we called at the Society's offices, for we naturally queried for whom and for what purpose was this commodious and magnificent building constructed. We learned the following from the presiding officers and heads of the departments: The building will cost when finished upward of $1,500,000. It was projected in 1864, for at that time the corporation found that its rapidly increasing business demanded more extensive office accommodations. They determined to secure an eligible site, and construct a model building upon it. One of the most desirable objects to be obtained was perfect security from fire. Their 40,000 or more valuable documents were in constant danger from fire, and not longer ago than last winter they barely escaped conflagration. The wisdom displayed by the Society in thus desiring to secure their papers forever from destruction by fire is most praiseworthy. The Board of Directors appointed a committee consisting of Messrs. Henry A. Hulbert, Wm. G. Lambert, and Henry Marquand, and authorized them to secure an appropriate building site. On the 19th of December, 1865, the committee purchased lots Nos. 116, 118, and 120 Broadway, and 88 Cedar street, from the United States Telegraph Company. The following year they purchased lots 84 and 86 Cedar street. This gave them an L shaped lot. In 1867, after much vexatious negotiations, they secured lots 122 and 124 Broadway, at a cost of $300,000. This gave the company 7,967 superficial feet, purchased at a cost of $59.62 per square foot, which, all things considered, was a most reasonable price. $300 per superficial foot has been offered and refused for the ground corner Wall and Broad streets. The Park Bank site, 6,020 feet, though inside lots, cost $53.15 per foot. In estimating building sites 25 to 30 per cent. less value is given inside lots. As soon as this last purchase was made, a Building Committee, consisting of Messrs. W.G. Lambert, Chairman, Henry B. Hyde, John Auchincloss, Wm. T. Blodget, and Henry G. Marquand, was selected. They visited our larger cities to study and investigate plans, buildings, and estimates. They examined designs presented by eleven different architects, and accepted that handed in by Messrs. Gilman and Kendall. Geo. B. Post was appointed associate architect, to supervise iron construction.

THE EQUITABLE LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.

Curiosity promoted us to inquire into the history, standing, and management of this Society, which had found it necessary to erect such a vast structure. Our investigation resulted in our becoming satisfied that the Equitable is one of the best managed corporations in the business world. It was organized in 1859 with a capital of $100,000, which was invested in bonds at a premium of $1,600. This started the Company that much in debt. There is nothing peculiar in their having thus started with so small a capital, but when we find that from such a beginning the assets of the Society have grown to the enormous sum of about twelve million dollars, with an annual income of $6,000,000, and rapidly increasing, we as well as the millions interested in life insurance may well inquire into the policy and plans of a Company which has achieved such unparalleled success. Its standing risks are about $135,000,000. Its last year's business reached the enormous sum of $51,891,825. Its cash income exceeds the total cash premium of all American companies combined during the year 1861. Its volume of business for a single year is greater than the combined new business of all companies reporting to the New York Insurance Department in 1862 by $10,000,000. We presume that the new business of the Equitable for the past year has never been surpassed by that transacted in any single year by any company in the world.

Its President, the Hon. William C. Alexander, has occupied that place since its organization ten years ago. He was President of the New Jersey State Senate for a number of years, is an LL D., one of New York's most benevolent citizens, and a son of the late distinguished Archibald Alexander, of Princeton College. The Vice-President Mr. Henry B. Hyde, has also held that second position since the Society was organized. These two gentlemen believed that an Insurance Company organized and managed under strict economical principles could afford by means of annual dividends to insure life at rates below those of the majority of other companies. They associated with them such business men only as had achieved great financial success. The income of the Society has been invested with such judicious care that it has never been obliged to foreclose a mortgage. In making its loans the Society principally invested in bond and mortgage and gives decided preference to its own policy holders. It thus becomes, as its officers desire, the benefactor of its own patrons, and thus establishes a genuine mutual business connection. They invest all receipts immediately, holding in bank only such an amount of funds as is necessary to meet current expenditures.

WITHIN THE GREAT BUILDING.

Accompanied by the officers of the Equitable, we visited the interior of their new building. We had previously examined the plans, elevations, and other working drawings for the edifice at the office of Mr. Ed. H. Kendall, 92 Broadway. He had shown us the various designs for the interior, embracing decorations in iron, marble, bronze, and stucco, which are now being elaborated under his personal supervision. We enter this commercial palace at its central entrance on Broadway. We find an opening vestibule 20 feet square and 33 feet high, with stairs on either side conducting to the principal floor above. Between these two flights are a few broad steps, by which we descend to the spacious basements, which are thus made as convenient and desirable as the upper rooms. The first floor is divided into three grand banking rooms, with burglar and fire proof vaults and toilet conveniences. The grand banking room on the corner of Broadway and Cedar street is 32 x 90 feet. The other two are 25 x 50 feet each. Separating them is the grand corridor with tiled marble floor and wainscoting in fine marble, five feet high on all sides. We pass half-way down this corridor to the grand stairs, upon either side of which is one of Otis Tufts's incomparable steam passenger elevators. These two elevator passages are 130 high, each being 15 feet higher than that built by Mr. Tufts, of Boston, for the Grand Hotel, and the highest in the world, and which was described in THE SUN last September. They are built under his exclusive patents, with six twisted iron ropes each. Underneath one of them is a freight attachment to accommodate the packing and printing departments of the Equitable. By employing these elevators, the only secure ones constructed, the rooms of the upper stories are as desirable as those of the first floors. Their occupants have more wholesome atmosphere, and are free from the noise of the streets. Such a revolution in commercial building conveniences are these elevators working, that we learn from their builder, Mr. Tufts, that he has numerous orders for them from Paris and London. We take a seat in one of these noiseless elevators, or ascend by the grand stairs to the second floor, that set aside and specially arranged for the immense business of the Society. We find here the most complete and imposing business hall in the world. It is spacious in area as the vast building itself. The center space of this floor, which is 26 feet high, 103 long, and 35 wide, is the clerks' department, in the center of which is a semicircular skylight, giving an additional 7 feet in height. Within this space are 12 ponderous iron columns, 26 feet high, covered an inch deep with variegated marble cement. Extending around this imposing space is a solid marble counter, with a running length of 225 feet. It is surmounted with an ornamental bronze screen, for protecting valuable documents and papers. Within the space enclosed by this counter is room for 150 clerks. Connecting with this grand hall are two tiers of offices for the agents and officers of the company. Each tier has an altitude of one half the grand hall, or 13 feet. Each one of these rooms---40 in all---connects directly with the grand hall, and inside the upper tier is a gallery extending entirely around the floor, paved with marble and protected by an elegant iron railing. From any point of this gallery a view may be had of every desk in the grand hall. Across the entire front of this floor, fronting on Broadway, are five large rooms for the use of the presiding officers and the Board of Directors. They are connected by double sliding doors, so that in case of necessity the whole front may be thrown into one room. The doors are heavy oak and etched glass. The desks and furniture are of the finest American hard woods. From the Vice-President's room is a private spiral stairway conducting to the marble gallery around the upper tier of offices.

ABOVE THE SOCIETY'S APARTMENTS.

Leaving the ground floor, we pass upward by the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh stories to the roof. Intervening between the grand hall and roof are fifty spacious offices, which, with the three large banking offices of the first floor and great rooms of the basement, will be rented for business purposes. Toilet conveniences, equal to the most approved, are found attached to them all. It has been estimated that the rent accruing from these rooms and banking offices will pay full interest on all money expended in constructing and furnishing the building, and still leave the Equitable its second floor free of rent---which is another studied, advantageous consideration for the policy holders.

The ventilation of this building has been under the personal supervision of Prof. Leeds. The lathing, all of which is iron, is from a new pattern from the West Point foundry. There is considerable fine marble work in the building, besides the marble emblematical group over the portico. Rolling iron shutters protect the great windows. Vast vaults extend from the building underground half way across Broadway and Cedar street. These are for the use of banks, insurance companies, or private parties.

A SPLENDID PANORAMA.

From the seventh story we ascend to the roof, and still higher to one of the pavilions, where we find ourselves at a higher altitude than can be had on any other roof-top in New York, or from any position other than our highest church spires. Before us is spread the most exciting, wonderful, and instructive view to be had on our continent. The brown roofs of the buildings of the city extend over the island like a vast table land. East and North Rivers and the bay appear as if at our feet, with their myriad flotillas of the navigable world. Suburban Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, Hudson City, and Harlem are all plainly before us. Certainly not elsewhere in all New York can such another unobstructed bird's-eye view be had as from the open pavilions of the Equitable Life Assurance Society's building. We find them, as well as the great roof, surrounded by a heavy, ornamental, galvanized cast-iron railing.

PRONOUNCED UNRIVALED.

We take our way down from the pavilions and roof by the winding stairway. Our attention as we reach the third floor is called to the large dining room of the Society, where all the officers and employees will be required to take their meals during business hours. The kitchen, a model in its way, is just in the rear. As we come down to the lower floors yesterday, we met a number of architects from Philadelphia who had been examining the building. Their opinion, with which we coincide, is that, for safety, strength, durability, blended with rare classical elegance, symmetry of outline. and harmonious combinations of architectural beauties, there is no rival among all the commercial buildings of the world to this property of the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Devil's Work.

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March 23, 1874, The Daily Graphic, Page 163, Columns 3 & 4,

A LIFE-INSURANCE-POLICY PAWNBROKER'S SHOP-SPECULATING ON THE NECESSITIES OF EMBARRASSED POLICY-HOLDERS--FIFTY PER CENT. PER ANNUM FOR LOANS

We publish below two letters selected from several which have been received at THE GRAPHIC office in response to our call for information respecting the Traders' Deposit Company at No. 87 Liberty street. There is no longer any doubt that the concern has been engaged in the abominable traffic of speculating on the necessities of embarrassed policy-holders. The rates of interest charged, if we may believe the statements of our correspondents, are hardly below the charges of the most unblushing pawnbroker, and, as every policy on which a loan is made has to be absolutely signed and transferred, the Traders' Deposit Company seems to be organized for nothing more nor less than the pawning of life insurance policies. To illustrate the modus operandi of the concern, let us suppose the case of a policy-holder in the Equitable Life Assurance Society. He has been insured for several years and has paid altogether the sum of $800 in annual premiums. He finds himself suddenly embarrassed and must raise a few hundred dollars to discharge a pressing indebtedness. A poor man, he has nothing which be can give as security except the policy on his life. In this emergency a friend tells him that he can go to the company which issued his policy and arrange for a loan. The suggestion is timely; it had not occurred to him. On visiting the magnificent offices of the company, he is politely informed that the company's charter forbids the making of loans on policies, but that the Traders' Deposit Company will probably accommodate him, and at the same time he receives a card containing the following:

TRADERS' DEPOSIT COMPANY,
87 Liberty street,
New York.
Money Advanced on Good Securities of Every Description.
Loans on Life Insurance Policies.
Seventy-five percent. of the surrender value loaned on life insurance policies in the best companies.

The office of the Traders' Deposit Company is conveniently located within a few steps of the Equitable's towering edifice, and thither our straitened applicant presses his foot steps. The attendant clerk receives him kindly, and, after a little hasty figuring informs him that the "surrender value" of his policy (that is, the amount which the company issuing it would pay for its surrender) is exactly $400, or one-half the sum total of all the premium payments. "Our rule," the clerk declares," is to loan seventy-five per cent. of the surrender value. We can let you have $300, less ten per cent, as our commission. Then for every month that you retain the money we shall charge $--- as interest, payable when the loan is taken up." The poor man, distressed for the want of money, is only too eager to accept the loan without noticing the hard conditions with which it is coupled. Neither does he notice the fact that he is required to sign a document absolutely alienating his interest is the policy. The foregoing, doubtless, will serve as a fair illustration of the experience which thousands of needy policy-holders have undergone during the past year. The loaning of money on life insurance policies, when effected under fair and honorable conditions, is perfectly proper, and oftentimes is of great benefit to policy-holders. But when it is coupled with the exaction of an enormous rate of interest, when it is carried out in such a way as to induce almost inevitably the forfeiture of policies without any adequate consideration for their surrender, and when the machinery for compassing these detestable objects is under the control and in the interest of two or three grasping life insurance officers, then the whole business is degraded to the meanest kind of pawnbroking and requires to be arrested by indictment.

We have taken up this inquiry in the interest of life insurance policy-holders (of whom there are not less than 100,000 within twenty-five miles of the City Hall), and we intend to collect all the information that can be obtained regarding the nature and extent of the business, now openly practiced in this city, of loaning money upon life insurance policies. There may be other concerns similar to the Traders' Deposit Company, but it is due to the life insurance companies to say that that is the only one which is reported to us as having any connection with any particular life company. Doubtless the Traders Deposit Company loans on the policies of other companies than the Equitable; but that is a matter which the companies cannot prevent or even discountenance.

While we are pursuing our inquiries, we particularly desire all persons who have bad dealings with the Traders' Deposit Company to come forward and relate their experiences. Their names will be required only as a guanntee of good faith, and not in any case will they be divulged.

The following are two letters already received:

(To THE EDITOR of THE GRAPHIC.)
I have read an article in your issue of Saturday last, headed "A Life Insurance Policy Pawnbroker's Shop," and as you ask for information relative to their method of transacting business, I send you these few lines.

Having had occasion to make use of some money, and not having anything to use as security, and seeing the advertisement of the Traders' Deposit Company on Liberty street, I took with me my life policy on the best company in New York. After I had made known my wants to the managers of the concern they produced some papers which had to be signed and sworn to. The signing of those papers completely transferred the policy to the officers of the concern in case of non-payment of the interest! The commission for obtaining the money was 10 per cent, cash, and 3% per cent, per month interest, or the sum total of $150 per year on a loan of $800. Now, Mr. Editor, what do you think of this? Is it lawful to clear $150 per annum interest on $800? If you require, I will at some time, when my convenience admits, call on you and have an interview on this subject.
A VICTIM TO SHYLOCKS. New York, March 30.

(To THE EDITOR OF THE GRAPHIC.)
I am glad to see that you are probing into the affairs of the Traders' Deposit Company for the benefit of the public. Some time since I received their card, with my full name and address. As I am a modest man it puzzled me then, and has often since been in my mind. How did they know me? It is clear now as the noonday sun, I am a policyholder in the Equitable Life Assurance Society. What more natural than that, the same people being interested in both concerns the books of one should be open to the other? Thank fortune, I am not so impecunious as to be obliged to spout my life policy, even with so good a concern as the "Trader's," though it is run on an "Equitable" basis.
New York, March 20. G. W. P. D

"The story of the trust companies" by Edward Ten Broeck Perine, 1916, page 217

Equitable Trust Company of New York had been established in 1871 by a special act of the Legislature, under the name of the Traders' Deposit Company. This was changed in 1895 to the American Deposit & Loan Company. The principal business of the Company from that time until 1902 was that of making loans on life-insurance policies. The Company's affairs were managed largely by interests identified with the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the owner of a controlling stock interest. In 1902 the name was changed to the Equitable Trust Company of New York, and its field of activity was extended to include all banking and trust functions

Laws of the State of New York, Volume 2, Chap. 604. AN ACT to incorporate the Traders' Deposit Company. Passed April 19, 1871

Section 1. S. Ashmore, E. B. Colt, J. B. Le Mare, S. Hatton, Joseph Lyons, H. V. Butler, jr., Daniel Garrison, and their associates and successors are hereby constituted a body corporate and politic under the name corporate of the Traders' Deposit Company, and under that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and by that name may exercise and enjoy all the rights and powers granted by this act.

May 24, 1896, New York Times, SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR;

Measures Affecting New-York and Brooklyn Interests
ALBANY, May 23. -- Gov. Morton to-day announced the signing of thirty-eight bills, including the following: Mr. Husted's, extending the powers of the Traders' Deposit Company of New-York City...

March 19, 1874, The Daily Graphic, page 135, Column 2,THE "TRADERS' DEPOSIT COMPANY. IS IT A LIFE INSURANCE POLICY PAWNBROKER'S SHOP?

Further investigation of the organization of the Traders' Deposit Society, No. 85 Liberty street tends decidedly to strengthen the inference drawn by our correspondent in his communication of the 15th instant. The first name on the list of corporators in the charter of the Company is Sidney Ashmore. We have ascertained that Mr Ashmore was formerly established in Wall street as a mining stock operator, but having failed became a soliciting agent to the Equitable Life Assurance Society, from which position he passed to that of editor of the society paper, the Protector, and also managed the advertising department. Among the names of the signatures to the certificate of increase of capital stock that was filed at the County Clerk's office February 1, 1873, appears that of Theodore Weston. Mr. Weston was in the engineers' branch of the Croton Aqueduct Department when Mr. Craven controlled the Bureau, and afterwards took an office in the Equitable Building, thus coming into connection with the latter society, which employed him in certain engineering matters. A close business relation between Mr. Weston and Mr. H. B. Hyde, Vice-President of the Equitable, was the result, and the former now has charge of the works on the Equitable Building in course of construction in Boston, and is also one of the auditors of the Society.

The certificate of incorporation filed at the County Clerk's office January 6, 1872, is signed by George Wm. Campbell as President of the Traders' Deposit Society. Mr. Campbell is brother-in-law to Mr. Borrowe, Secretary to the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Thus far inquiry has failed to develop that any of the corporators of the Traders' Deposit Society are individuals whose resources would enable them to secure a capital such as that claimed to have been paid up in full, and that several of their number are merely salaried employes of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, whose Vice- President, Mr. Hyde, is declared, by the President of the Traders' Deposit Society, to be a stockholder in the latter. The above facts by no means exhaust the information we have obtained, and when fully digested all that has come to our knowledge will be laid before our readers.

March 14, 1874, The Daily Graphic, Page 99, Column 4, LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. A LIFE-INSURANCE-POLICY PAWNBROKER'S SHOP.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE GRAPHIC.)
Can you give me some information regarding the "Traders' Deposit Company," which has an office at No. 85 Liberty street, and which advertises to "lend money on approved securities?" I am informed that the "company" has a merely nominal capital, and that it is made up principally of the controlling officers of a certain prominent life insurance company; also that the object for which the concern was established is to lend money on the pledges of polices issued by the aforesaid life insurance company. The charter of the latter prohibits the loaning of money on its own policies, and its officers take advantage of the necessities of policy-holders, who are forced to borrow on their policies by sending them to the Traders' Deposit Company. At first blush this may seem to be a fair and legitimate business. But I am told that the moneys advanced by the "deposit" company really belong to the life insurance company; that is to say, the insurance officers deposit their "trust funds" with the Traders' Deposit Company, and the officers of the latter use it in the manner above described. This kind of traffic is said to be very large, and its profits are enormous. Will you not investigate the matter and publish the facts?
A POLICY-HOLDER.
New York, March 10.

[The above comes to us from a perfectly trustworthy source. Immediately on its receipt we sent a capable commissioner to the office of the Traders' Deposit Company to inquire concerning the charges of our correspondent. The replies of the officer in charge were evasive and unsatisfactory, and it was impossible to ascertain anything beyond these facts: That the Deposit Company was organized under a special charter, granted on April 19, 1871, authorising the Company "to receive or deposit on pledge or otherwise money, certificates, and evidence of debt or value, and contracts; also, to advance money, securities, and credit on the same at agreed rates of interest." A certificate of the payment of the capital stock of $50,000 in full was executed before Recorder Hackett January 6, 1878, bearing the signatures of George W. Campbell, Jr., President; Samuel Hatton, Secretary; Simeon Fitch, K. Boudinot Colt, and Joseph B. Lemaire, acting collectively as trustees of the corporation. February 1, 1878, a second certificate was executed setting forth that after legal notice—given in the most obscure daily newspaper in the city—the corporation had decided to increase the capital stock to $300,000, and that the said $300,000 was subscribed and paid in in cash to the treasurer of the society. Beyond the declaration that all the officers of the Traders' Deposit Society were stockholders, and that Mr. H. B. Hyde, Vice-President of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, was interested in the stock, Mr. Campbell H. Young, the present President, withheld information concerning the connection of the concern with any life insurance company. The refusal to give information regarding the character of the Company's business, or the manner of conducting it, certainly looks suspicious. It is this circumstance which determines us to pursue our investigation. We shall press our inquiries in other directions, and our readers shall know the result. Meanwhile we call upon all persons who have had dealings with the Traders' Deposit Company to give us a brief account of their experience. We do not want their names for publication—only as a guarantee for the correctness of their statements. If any life insurance policy-holders have pledged their policies to the Traders' Deposit Company, let them send us the number, date, and amount of their respective policies.--ED. THE DAILY GRAPHIC.]

Meanwhile, over at the New York Times...

April 6, 1877, New York Times, LIFE INSURANCE AFFAIRS.;
THE LEGISLATIVE INVESTIGATION.
SENATOR HAMMOND APPEARS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE AND DENIES THE TRUTH OF SOME OF MR. ENGLISH'S STATEMENTS,
MR. FURBER'S EXAMINATION RESUMED HIS CONNECTION WITH THE CHARTER OAK COMPANY.
THE COST OF THE EQUITABLE BUILDING.
MR. FURBER'S EXAMINATION RESUMED. THE CHARTER OAK COMPANY. THE EQUITABLE BUILDING.
Excerpt:

ALBANY, April 5. The Insurance Committee resumed its investigation at 9:30 this morning. Previous to the resumption of the testimony the committee went into executive session, and it is understood that Mr. Floyd Jones made a motion to discontinue the investigation and make a report. What the result of the motion was is unknown
After the recess Theodore Weston testified that he was the architect of the Equitable Building; the work was commenced in May 1874, and was completed in July, 1876; the leases commenced in May, 1875; the original office of the Equitable was separated from the main building, and its completion was delayed; there is no restaurant in the building; Delmonico's adjoins it; the actual expense of putting up the main building was about $1,500,000, including the land; the additional building cost about $1,000,000; witness received a salary of $15,000 per year; the preliminary plans were drawn by Mr. Kendall; he had not completed the plans before the building was commenced; the internal arrangements were left entirely to the preliminary drawing; there was no percentage paid upon any of the material to my knowledge; blank ; furnished a statement of expenditures to the Building Committee of the Equitable at almost every meeting; Mr. Lambert was Chairman of this committee; they had meetings three times a week; the plans were submitted to them, and the contracts were made by witness; upon the larger contracts, bids were advertised for; all payments were made by approval of the committee; Silman & Cheney were the contractors for the stone; they bid $98,000, I think; it was the lowest bid of 17; it ran a little over $3 per cubic foot upon the granite actually furnished; the granite was measured by myself; no commission nor any consideration was paid on the contract; the contractor for the masonry work who cut the stone was T.T. Smith; his work was let in the same way at $18 per 1,000 foot of brick, and $9, or about that, for setting the granite; that included pay for everything; he was paid nothing more; no one else received any gratuity on account of the contract; he did the fire-proof wall in the interior and the plastering; for the first he received 40 or 50 cents, and for the last 42 cents, per square yard; Morton and Chesley did the carpenter work at about $65,000; no gratuity or commission was allowed anyone on any work; a number of contracts were made for the elevators, for the boilers, for the sub-cellar, for taking down the old building, and for other purposes; the entire work cost about $1,000,000, and upon it no bonus or commission was paid to any one; neither to officers, Directors, not any one else; the granite contractors furnished about $1,500 worth of work for Mr. Hyde's house on Long Island; Mr. Calvert Vaux was the architect of the house.

From Kings Photographic Views of New York 1895

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Kings

Bromley 1891

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Bromley 1879

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Charles E. Hughes

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Charles E. Hughes "Speaking" During Campaign, Duquesne, Pa., 1916

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Original Source: New York & its institutions, 1609-1873. [s.n.] [1873] Richmond, J. F. (John Francis), Author.

Image ID: 806069
New York Public Library Digital Photo Collections - Equitable Building Search

From:
The American skyscraper, 1850-1940: a celebration of height By Joseph J. Korom, page 45.

Perris. Maps of the city of New York. 1852, 1855, 1857

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Perris. Maps of the city of New York (7 v.) (3rd. ed)
Contents: v.1 (1852)

Plate 3: Map bounded by Liberty Street, Nassau Street, Broad Street, Exchange Place, Broadway, Rector Street, West Str... (1852)

Perris 1855.

Perris 1857.

An Equitable Lifer; and Occasionally, an Equitable Death Too.

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I suppose it wouldn't be unusual for a 66-year-old man to die in a public way of "heart trouble," but Jordan's case smacks of a ritualistic sacrifice of necessity of a type that does occur amid vast conspiracies, especially when they unravel. Jordan lacks that era's signature wound--a blow to the base of the skull, but perhaps heart-attack-mimicking drugs such as those apparently used in the September 11^th, 2001 plans, were available in some form then. Better still---he could represent a hybrid semi-involuntarily committed suicide. Jordan clearly had to go and a goodbye visit to his son confirms it. The presence of "Dr. F.C. Wells of the Equitable," both on the subway platform, and in the news reporting later, is evidence I've come to see as crafted narrative detail. "Coroners' Physician Weston," (which makes for a fascinating Google by the way,) could, and did, go both ways.

The New York Times was the same old bitch selling her tired ass 90-years ago with her "came out of his retirement voluntarily" finesse. Jordan Sr. was on the lam for 20 months to evade the subpoenas of the Armstrong committee. There ought to be a law that shuts down a corporation until its Comptroller complies.

Jordan Jr. plays a strange role in that period too---a sort of opposite "coals to Newcastle" function. He sold fire insurance in---and to---the Equitable building, but for some reason nobody bought it. This served to clear the field of apparent motive for charges of incendiarism in the January 9, 1912 Equitable Building fire and collapse, unlike the later manifestation of Cantor-Fitzgerald, who took a reported $1.5 billion from just the government 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund alone, not to mention the fake art.

However, the history of insuring the Equitable building for fire, and then un-insuring it via young Jordan, provides our complex modern minds with a more satisfying smoking-gun resolution than "Jewish lightning." The usually compliant New-York Daily Tribune, on the fourth page of the Jan. 10, 1912 edition, in The Equitable Allowed $4,000,000 Policies to Expire, tells the Rumsfeld of what they didn't know they didn't know.

Jordan Jr. spoke briefly at the Armstrong hearings and was a punk. I've appended a transcript below.

July 15, 1908, New York Times,
T.D. JORDAN DIES IN SUBWAY STATION;
Ex-Controller of the Equitable Expires of Heart Disease on Wall Street Platform.
HE WAS UNDER INDICTMENT
In Connection with Revelations Before the Armstrong Committee
Death Overtook Him While on Way Home.

Thomas D. Jordan, ex-Controller of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, who was indicted for forgery a year ago because of his connection with the Equitable's "yellow dog fund," dropped dead on the downtown platform of the Wall Street Subway station yesterday afternoon. Mr. Jordon had lived in Englewood, N.J., for many years. He came into town yesterday to see some friends. He then called to see his son, Frank B. Jordan, who has a general fire insurance brokerage office in the Equitable Building. The younger Mr. Jordan accompanied his father to the entrance of the Subway station and then returned to his office.

The elder Mr. Jordan, after purchasing his ticket, was seen to walk up and down the platform several times. Suddenly he staggered back to the railing, and after leaning there for a second or two, fell to the ground. In the crowd on the platform was Dr. F.C. Wells of the Equitable. He recognized Mr. Jordan and telephoned to his son. Mr. Jordan's body was taken to the Church Street Police Station, and later to his home, at Englewood. Coroners' Physician Weston, who examined it before issuing a removal permit, found that the cause of death was heart trouble.

Mr. Jordan was 66 years old. He was born in New York City and entered the employ of the Equitable as errand boy when he was 17 years old. He afterward became a solicitor for the company and was promoted to one executive place after another. When the Armstrong Investigating Committee turned its attention to the Equitable, on Sept. 1, 1905, subpoena servers tried to find Mr. Jordan, who was then Controller of the society. He was never served.

His son, Frank D. Jordan, surprised the Investigating Committee and its counsel, now Gov. Hughes, by testifying on the stand a few months later that he did not know where his mother and father were, or whether they were dead or alive.

In May of last year the elder Mr. Jordan came out of his retirement voluntarily and pleaded not guilty to eighteen indictments for forgery in the third degree and one charging perjury, Mr. Jordan all the indictments having been found by the Special Life Insurance Grand Jury. Most of the forgery indictments grew out of so-called loans which Mr. Jordan, as Controller of the Equitable, made to various employes of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., These loans were put as bona fide loans on the Equitable books. But Kuhn, Loeb & Co. never received any money from them or deposited any securities with the Equitable as collateral.

Mr. Jordan is said to have made the entries or caused them to be made with a view to reducing the Equitable's actual bank balence in order to conceal the amount of policy holders' money lying idle in bank at a small rate of interest. The names of Louis A. Heinsheimer of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. appeared on the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. checks. Mr. Heinsheimer afterward denied Mr. Jordan's statements concerning his dealings with the firm. The perjury indictment was based on a false report which Mr. Jordan, as the Controller of the Equitable, was said to have made to the Insurance Department as to the transactions covered by the forgery indictments in May, 1907. Mr. Jordan was released in $10,000 bail for trial last October.

Besides his wife and son, Mr. Jordan leaves a daughter, Mrs. Edward D. O'Brien of New York City.

Armstrong Committee Testimony
pages 3260 - 3264
FRANK B. JORDAN, called as a witness, being duly sworn, testified as follows:

BY MR. HUGHES:
Q. Mr. Jordan have you learned of the whereabouts of your father since you were last on the stand? A. No, sir, I have not.

Q. Have you had any communication with him? A. No, sir.

Q. Or with your mother? A. I received a letter from my mother.

Q. Where was it from? A. I think if I am not mistaken, I think it was from Canada.

Q. What? A. Canada, I think.

Q. Did she say that your father was with her? A. Did not say anything about him.

Q. Have you any idea when he is coming back? A. I don't know.

Q. Do you keep a record of the amounts that you have received for placing fire insurance upon properties mortgaged to the Equitable? A. I have a record, yes, sir.

Q. Can you state approximately what that amount has been? A. No, sir; I never figured it out.

Q. Has anyone been interested with you in that business? A. No, sir.

Q. Has your father received any portion of the moneys that you have received for placing such fire insurance? A. Never.

Q. Any member of your family? A. None whatever.

Q. Has anyone connected with the Equitable Life Assurance Society received any portion of the moneys which you have had for placing fire insurance on properties mortgaged to the Equitable Life? A. Emphatically, no.

Q. How did it happen that this business was put in your hands? A. That I don't know, sir.

Q. Was it a surprise to you? A. Well, I guess so.

Q. When was it first placed in your hands? A. About five years ago.

Q. What had been your business previously? A. General fire insurance.

Q. General fire insurance? A. Yes, sir.

Q. Had you placed any fire insurance upon properties mortgaged to the Equitable before that time? A. I have placed them, yes, sir.

Q. But you did not have the entire business? A. No, sir; I have not the entire business now.

Q. You mean that there are still some old mortgages still outstanding where the mortgagors have the option to place it where they please? A. I don't know about that, sir.

Q. Don't you know that there is a clause in the mortgages of the Equitable for about the last five years to the effect that the Equitable has the the right to determine through whom the insurance shall be placed? A. I believe there is such a clause.

3265 - 3269

Q. And you know that under that the Equitable requires that the policies of insurance should be placed through you? A. No, sir, they can place with whom they please.

Q. Don't you know that the Equitable refers persons who are placing fire insurance upon such properties to you? A. I do not, sir.

Q. How much fire insurance have you placed in the last year? A. That I don't know.

Q. Can you tell within a million dollars? A. I cannot, no, sir.

Q. Within five millions? A. No, sir.

Q. Within ten million dollars? A. No, sir, I could not.

Q. Well, you have placed fifty million dollars of insurance? A. I don't know, sir.

Q. Haven't the wildest idea? A. No, sir.

Q. I suppose you can get all that for us? A. I can get that if you wish, yes, sir.

Q. Has there been any change in the policy of the Equitable Life with regard to placing fire insurance through you within the last few months? A. I have placed some of their business to date, yes, sir.

Q. Are you still placing, that is the business of fire insurance upon properties mortgaged to the Equitable? A. Some of it, yes, sir.

Q. How much of it have you placed within the last two months? A. That I don't know.

Q. Have you any idea? A. No, sir.

Q. Have you any compensation from the Equitable? A. None whatever.

Q. What portion of your business is furnished by the Equitable in this manner? A. I don't know.

Q. Have you anv idea? A. No. sir.

Q. Have you any idea whether you have any business except that? A. I have, yes, sir.

Q. Does the Equitable furnish nine-tenths of the business that you have? A. It does not, no, sir.

Q. Will you give me a statement, please, showing what the amount of the business upon properties mortgaged to the Equitable has been during the past five years and the amounts that have been made from it? A. Yes, sir.

Q. What is your rent that you pay to the Equitable Life? A. Equitable Life?

Q. Yes. A. $60 a month.

Q. What offices do you occupy? A. I am on the seventh floor, room 23.

Q. Have you any compensation from the Equitable? A. None whatever.

Q. Never had? A. Never, no, sir.

What makes this level of non-compliance so frustrating is the several levels of investigation preceding the Armstrong hearing. You might think a spoiled punk nepotism beneficiary might get his act together--instead he reveals the real power dynamic. And the following story in the Times? Pure meaningless window-dressing. Get it now?

May 19, 1905, NYT,
COMPLAINS TO FRICK.;
Favoritism Alleged in Fire Insurance for Equitable Clients.

Moses Tanenbaum of the insurance firm of I. Tanenbaum & Co., with offices in the Whitehall Building, Battery Place, sent yesterday to Chairman Henry C. Frick, of the investigating committee of Equitable Directors, a letter in which he called the committee's attention to an alleged practice in the society of inserting in its bond and mortgage forms a provision compelling the holder of the mortgage to procure his fire insurance through a broker of the Equitable's selection. Coupled with this information was the statement that a near relative of an officer of the society is the broker through whom the fire insurance on property mortgaged to the Equitable is placed.

Deputy Superindendent of Insurance Robert Hunter, with Congressman Driscoll of Syracuse, Superintendent Hendricks's personal counsel, yesterday took up the examination of William H. McIntyre, Fourth Vice President of the Equitable, who was once private secretary to the late Henry B. Hyde. Mr. McIntyre, was before the Deputy Superintendent all day. The Frick investigating committee also held a session yesterday in the Equitable Building.

In the Supreme Ciurt yesterday Justice Greenbaum reserved decision on the application of William McCulloh of Alexander & Green to vacate the order to show cause why James H. Hyde, James W. Alexander, and Gage E. Tarbell should not be examined before trial in the suit of Herbert E. Tull of Phildelphia to enforce a distribution of the Equitable's surplus. Yesterday's daily peace report, had it that William Nelson Cromwell had become one of the counsel representing President Alexander.

MORE "YELLOW DOG" FUNDS.

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See what you think about this scan of the front page of the Sept. 28, 1905, New-York Daily Tribune. Check out the article, MORE "YELLOW DOG" FUNDS, at the top of Columns 5 & 6---specifically paragraphs 4, 7, 8, 12 and 15. Does this look like the original typescript to you, altered perhaps by age or scanning artifacts, or something worse?

It would be significant if Chronicling America, the work of the Library of Congress, had sunk to the same spooky lows as Thomas M. Tryniski's---of 309 South 4^th Street, Fulton, New York, 13069---effort's at Orwellian information f l o w ---fultonhistory.com.

But what could they possibly be trying to suppress when surface details this absolutely delicious are left? Of course, with government investigating capitalists being reported on in newspapers retrieved via the web, the serpent is always eating his tail. Supposedly, Pulitzer's New York World can take credit for single-handedly breaking the Equitable story wide open, and forcing this distasteful display onto the poor public. I haven't found copies of that original reporting online yet, although several year-end synopsis are available.

Sept. 28, 1905, New-York Daily Tribune, Equitable's Inside Wheels Uncovered at Prolonged Session of Committee.
OFFICIALS PROFITED IN SYNDICATES
Entire Burden, Except Taking the Proceeds. Occasionally Borne by Society -Its Share from Some Deals Disappeared.

A second Equitable "yellow dog fund." apparently employed as a feeder for the famous "J. W. A. No. 3" account, was disclosed at the close of the session of the Armstrong insurance investigation yesterday, and so important did the record of this account, preserved in a private and unpretentious black book, seem to the members of the committee that they sat for an extra hour, while Henry Greaves, who was the apparent keeper of this account, testified to the history of this secret record, and incidental to the existence of an earlier secret fund known as the Marcellus Hartley account.

The second of the "yellow dog"accounts, that which occupied much of yesterday's session, was known as the "George H. Squire Trustee" fund, and was deposited with the Equitable Trust Company. In it were carried not a few of the profits made by the Equitable in various syndidate participations and not entered in any other place, and it was apparently subject to the direction of McIntyre, Jordan and Alexander. From this account sums aggregating $265,000 were transferred to the "J. W. A. No. 3 account." and to this account at its inception $55,000 from the Marcellus Hartley account was transferred.

Moreover, it was disclosed that this fund and the cash book for it were in the keeping of Thomas D. Jordan, the former controller of the Equitable, who was summarily dismissed by
Paul Morton for refusing to tell about the JAW No 3 account, and who has not yet been reached by the committee, which desires him to testify before the investigation closes.

In addition to a number of profits from syndicates in which the Equitable participated, which appear in this account, there are evidences of other syndicates in which the Equitable participated only through this fund and from which profits were directed thither instead of to regular accounts.

As to the uses to which this fund were put, and whether they were similar to the uses for which the New-York Life employed its "nonledger" accounts, such as campaign contributions and "Andy" Hamilton transactions, no evidence was adduced yesterday, but it was clear that Mr. Hughes believed he was following a "warm" trail, because of his refusal to leave it at the usual time of adjournment.

Hardly less interesting than the developments concerning the George H. Squire trustee fund were those regarding the syndicate operations of the Equitable through "George H. Squire and Associates," as well as "James H. Hyde and associates" and "Louis Fitzgerald and Associates." In previous testimony the fact had been shown that the Equitable not infrequently received its participation, not directly from syndicate managers, as is the usual proceeding, but through one of the "and associate" combinations of its officers.

Yesterday the fact was shown that not infrequently the whole burden of carrying the personal participation of the "and associates" —that is, of furnishing all the money— was performed by the Equitable, and that the "associates" figured only when the time for the division of profits arrived. Among those who profited in syndicates in which the Equitable participated were the following officers of the company: Senator Chauncey M. Depew; the president, James W. Alexander; the vice-president, James Hazen Hyde, and George H. Squire, of the private "trustee" account and of the various "associates" syndicates

Senator Depew participated in two syndicates, his interest aggregating $150,000. Moreover, in several of those transactions, notably in Chicago and Northwestern, profits apparently due the Equitable had, it seemed, vanished, to be found in some cases in the George H. Squire trustee
account and at other times not to be found at all.

That the Equitable, through Paul Morton, intended to seek civil action in the courts to recover interest wrhere loans had been carried for the officers of the company by the Equitable, was one of the suggestions contained in the testimony of Henry Rogers Winthrop. George H. Squire's successor as financial manager of the Equitable, who was on the stand most of yesterday's session.

ACCOUNTS BADLY TANGLED.

In relation to these syndicate participations through the medium of associates the hopeless, tangled condition of the Equitable records of these affairs was manifest from Mr. Winthrop's testimony. Time and again he testified that expert accountants were still endeavoring to trace the receipt or non-receipt of profits. Not infrequently his only means of showing that the Equitable had participated or was entitled to profits was through calls made on it by syndicate managers for its agreements. Following this up the present management of the Equitable had communicated with the syndicate managers, and from them learned the exact amount of the Equitable's participation and the amount of the profits which the managers had delivered to the company. Then the hunt for the account to which these profits had been transferred began. Sometimes they were found credited to profit and lose, sometimes embodied in the "George H. Squire Trustee" fund, and, in several cases not found at all.

Just how many items of "missing" profits were discovered was a matter of considerable doubt because of the entirely confused state of the Equitable books at the present time.

Two such items in Chicago and Northwestern aggregating $44,000 were disclosed, and items amounting to upward of $100,000 more, which might ultimately have to be placed in this category, were shown.

In view of Jacob H. Schiff's testimony regarding the relation of his firm to the Equitable in bond sales in syndicate agreements, interest was shown in the fact demonstrated yesterday that in several instances the Equitable had definitely paid checks directly to Kuhn. Loeb & Co.

A minor but amusing detail of Equitable management shown in yesterday's proceedings was a clerk loan, recalling the famous $1,000,000 transaction in the name of a $10 a week clerk disclosed in the New-York Life some time ago.

This transaction was for $626,090 in the name of Eugene Barrington, a $2,000 clerk. No record of the loan could be found on the books of the Equitable, and the obvious intention, as shown by the testimony, was to get this amount of the bonds of the Atlantic Coast Line off the books
of the society.

The Equitable Trust Company, which made the loan, charged interest on it, and the only evidence of the loan to be found by the Equitable was the request of the trust company in a letter for the payment of this interest.

Some suspicion was directed toward this transaction, as Mr. Barrington is the clerk who has charge of the advertising expenditures, and these items are being carefully scanned.

The testimony of Mr. Winthrop on the Equitable syndicate operations was not closed last night, nor was that of Henry Greaves, the keeper of the "George H. Squire Trustee" fund. Both will be recalled in the morning session today. The next witness to be called is Jacob H. Schiff. While the committee took no definite action on the point yesterday, both James McKeen, of counsel for the committee, and Ezra P. Prentice the secretary, agreed that both Senators Dryden, of New-Jersey, and Depew would be called. William A. Day. the new controller of the Equitable, and Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley president of the AEtna Life Insurance Company, of Connecticut, were in attendance yesterday.

Managing the Cafe Savarin & The Lawyers' Club

2011-08-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

MR. HUGHES: That is all, Mr. Winthrop. Mr. Junk, will you take the stand.

DANIEL M. JUNK, called as a witness,being duly sworn, testified as follows:

BY MR. HUGHES:

Q. Mr. Junk, you are connected with the Cafe Savarin? A. Yes, sir. *

Q. How long have you been connected with it? A. I have been its secretary and treasurer since 1896, the 19th of November.

Q. What is that, a corporation? A. The Savarin, the present Cafe Savarin is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York in 1896. It succeeded a New Jersey corporation which was organized in 1890. That in turn succeeded the Societe Anonyme des restaurants aux Stats Unis which was a company formed under the laws of the Republic of France for the purpose of operating the Cafe Savarin.
Q. When was the Societe Anonyme des restaurants aux Stats Unis formed? A. In 1887.

Q. This French corporation which was started in 1887 had what capital? A. I take it from the record and such fragmentary information as has come to my knowledge, that it had a capital of $100,000, approximately, well, about $90,000.

Q. And was that the company that started the Cafe Savarin in the Equitable Building? A. It was.

Q. Do you know who were the stockholders in that company? A. I do not.

Q. Have you any information on that subject? A. Vague.

Q. That company was succeeded by the New Jersey corporation in 1890? A. Yes, sir.

Q. And that New Jersey corporation continued the restaurant business of the Cafe Savarin? A. It did.

Q. What was the stock, total capital stock at that time? A. $100,000.

Q. And who held that? A. It is held by various individuals in their names, but for the benefit of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Gustav Duval was the president, Robert Stetson was the secretary and treasurer.

Q. Who held the certificates of stock? A. My own knowledge on that subject is gained also from fragmentary information that has come to me from papers that I have seen. It was held partly by General Stahel who was the president, for the Equitable Life Assurance Society. It was in his name but it was deposited with the Mercantile Trust Company for a loan. General Stahel had no personal interest in it whatever.

Q. What was the amount of the loan? A. $88,000.

Q. Who were responsible for the loan? A. Well, the stock of the Savarin Company was deposited as collateral for the loan.

Q. Was there a note? A. A note for $88,000.

Q. Do you know who was on the note? A. I don't know.

Q. Do you know the inception of that loan? I do not.

Q. Or what the money was used for? A. I take it that it was for the equipment and purchase of supplies.

Q. Do you know whether the stock of the New Jersey corporation was paid up? A. The record is that it was.

Q. Was it paid up by turning over the restaurant property of the Societe des Anonyme des restaurants aux Stats Unis? A. The sale by the Societe Anonyme des restaurants aux Stats Unis to the Cafe Savarin Company was that the entire business and assets of that company should be turned over to the New Jersey corporation in consideration of the delivery of the capital stock of the New Jersey company.

Q. And was there a previous loan which was assumed by the New Jersey Company? A.I assume that that loan had been made prior to the formation of the New Jersey company.
Q. It is your best information that it was the money originally borrowed in that way which went to the fitting up of the restaurant? A. It is my impression.

Q. And that money was borrowed from whom? A. The Mercantile Trust Company.

Q. Now, next, in 1896, the New York corporation succeeded the New Jersey corporation with a capital of how much? A. $100,000.

Q. And that capital was made up in what way? A.The New York corporation took over the New Jersey corporation. The stock in the New Jersey corporation was retired and the new stock was issued and substituted for the stock of the New Jersey company.

Q. What was done with the loan? A. The loan passed at various times from the Mercantile Trust Company to the Western National Bank and later to the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Q. Has it been paid up? A. It has been liquidated down to $25,000.

Q. By whom? A. Out of the Cafe Savarin Company's resources.

3225 - 3229

Q. And that New York corporation has continued to operate the Cafe Savarin from the time of its organization to the present day? A. The New York corporation?

Q. Yes. A. It has.

Q. And the stock of the New York corporation is held by whom? A. In the main, 495 shares are held now in the name of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. There are five qualifying shares for directors. The directors of the company are people who are identified with the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Q. And the total number of shares is 500? A. 500. The original capital was $100,000, and it was reduced in 1890 to $50,000, the payment being made out of the resources of the Cafe Savarin to the then holder of its obligations.

Q. That is, that capital was reduced and this money paid in the liquidation of the loan held by the Mercantile Trust Company? A. In liquidation of that loan. It was not held by the Mercantile Trust Company at that time.

Q. No individuals profited. by it? A. No individuals profited in any way.

Q. So that from the time of the organization of the New Jersey corporation in 1890 down to the present time the situation has been that either in the name of persons connected with it or in its own name, the Equitable has had all of the stock? A. It has had all the stock and all the benefits.

Q. Of the Cafe Savarin? A. Of the Cafe Savarin Company's receipts.

Q. And is it your information that prior to that the persons interested in the French society were connected with the Equitable? A. Yes, sir, so far as I am able to learn.

Q. It has been an Equitable enterprise? A. It has been an Equitable enterprise from its inception.

O. Is there a lease to the Cafe Savarin? A. There is a lease to old Societe Anonyme des Restaurants aux Stats Unis, bearing date of July 19, 1887.

MR. HUGHES: I offer that in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit No. 382.)

THE WITNESS: That was modified

MR. HUGHES: Wait a moment. This lease is dated July 19, 1887, and is made by the Equitable Life Assurance Society to the Societe Anonyme des Restaurants aux Unis, and it leases certain premises described, the lease to begin on the first day of August, 1887, and to continue for twenty years, until August 1, 1907.

It provides or contains the covenant:

First—That the parties of the second part will carry on a first-class restaurant, dining-room and cafe, according to law. That they shall hold the party of the first part harmless from all damages that may be incurred on account of the business, and that no other business shall be carried on in such rooms than that above named.

Second—That the parties of the second part shall provide all employees' plate, linen, cutlery, kitchen utensils, and other things necessary for conducting the business. They shall also provide such waiters, plate and linen, and so forth, as necessary in fitting up the rooms to be occupied by the Lawyers' Downtown Club, and by the Underwriters' Club, which may be located in said building.

Third—As to the removal of ashes, garbage and so forth.

Fourth—Provides that the parties of the second part will pay to the party of the first part, as a rental for said premises annually, a sum which shall be equal to fifteen per cent. of the gross amount which shall be received by the parties of the second part in the conduct of their business in said building, including all receipts from the clubs herein named. That they will keep an account of all receipts from every source. Suitable books shall be kept, open to the party of the first part at stated times. That the party of the first part shall pay the said rental, equal in amount to fifteen per cent. of the gross receipts, on the first days of August, November, February and May, in quarterly payments. That the receipts for wines or liquors shall not be embraced or considered as part of the receipts. That such sales by said parties of the second part in the case or cask are to be allowed as a private business of their own.

Fifth—That they shall furnish a proper, substantial and wholesome meal for the clerks of the party of the first part, for the sum of fifty cents for each meal, the number of employees to be about one hundred.

Sixth—That the parties of the second part shall furnish to the Lawyers' Downtown Club, and to the Underwriters' Club, who shall have rooms in such building, all such supplies, meals, or refreshments as shall be required.

Seventh: That they shall avoid interference with tenants or occupants of the building.

Eighth: That they shall not assign or sublet.

Ninth: That there shall be an arbitration of differences.

Tenth: Access to books.

Eleventh: Surrender of premises.

THE WITNESS: It was modified by this lease (handing paper).

Q. The lease you now show me was a modification under date of May 1, 1888? A. Yes.

MR. HUGHES: I offer it in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit No. 383.)

(Exhibit No. 383 will be found in the Book of Exhibits.)

MR. HUGHES: This was a lease made May 1, 1888, between the same parties, reciting the former lease and providing for a modification.

Q. Just point out the modification. A. The modification was as to the rent particularly, and as to additional space.

MR. HUGHES: The modification consists in additional space.

THE WITNESS: And there was a stipulated rental there of an amount per annum instead of fifteen per cent.

Q. Will you point it out? A. I think it is on the first page, Mr. Hughes.

MR. HUGHES: The modification consists in the leasing of additional space, and for a fixed sum as rental, to wit, fifty thousand dollars a year, as a fair and proper rent for the premises above described, unfurnished and in consideration of the extraordinary expense of the lessor in fitting and furnishing the said premises for the business of a cafe, and premises, the further annual rent of six thousand dollars, making a total annual rent of fifty-six thousand dollars. The term is stated as twenty years from May 1, 1888, to May 1, 1908.

Q. The covenants are the same? A. Practically the same. There was a further modification.

Q. Where is that? A. That is in this, a third instrument.

MR. HUGHES: Also a modification as to the amount to be paid for meals ordered for the clerks of the lessor, fixing the price at sixty cents.

Q. I think those are all in this paper, are they not? A. In that paper, yes. Here is another, April 7, 1891.

MR. HUGHES: I offer that in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit No. 384.)

(Exhibit No. 384, will be found in the Book of Exhibits.)

MR. HUGHES: This agreement is dated April, 7, 1891, between the Equitable Life Assurance Society and the Cafe Savarin Company.

Q. This is the New Jersey corporation? A. Yes, sir.

MR. HUGHES: It provides as follows, after reciting the agreement of May, 1888, the party of the second part out of its gross receipts in its business shall pay all expenses connected with the conduct thereof, including the expenses connected with the Lawyers' Club, and after such payment shall pay to the party of the first part the whole amount of its net

3230 - 3234
receipts from the said business except so much thereof as shall be necessary from time to time to pay the interest upon a certain note held by the Mercantile Trust Company made by J. Stahel, February 15, 1890, for the sum of $88,000, the interest on said note to be paid out of said net receipts. As security for the payment of said note one thousand shares of the capital stock of the said Cafe Savarin Comany were pledged to the holder of said note. The amount so paid as interest upon said note is to be taken and held to be a dividend upon the said stock so pledged for the payment of said note. Supplementary to this is a memorandum as follows:

"Memorandum to John Stahel. In accordance with the new agreement made by the Equitable Life Assurance Society and the Cafe Savarin Company on the 7th day of April, 1891, you are hereby authorized to see that 75 per cent. of the Lawyers' Club dues are turned over regularly every month to the Cafe Savarin Company, who will under the above referred to agreement defray all the Lawyers' Club expenses for waiters, kitchen, and so forth. You will also see that the balance on hand from the remaining 25 per cent. of the members' dues and which under the agreement with the Lawyers' Club is disbursed by the Lawyers' Club house committee, is also turned over to the Cafe Savarin at the end of every six months. You are further directed to see that the Cafe Savarin will at the end of every six months turn over to the Equitable Life Assurance Society as rent, the profits of the Cafe Savarin together with the profits of the Lawyers' Club arising out of the 75 and 25 per cent. account.

(Signed) Henry B. Hyde.

April 7, 1901."

Q. What is the next lease? A. Have you the Lawyers' Club lease?

Q. Is that the last? A. That is the last of the New Jersey corporation.

Q. When the New York corporation was formed in 1896 it took over this lease as one of the assets of the New Jersey corporation? A. Yes.

Q. And it is now in possession of the premises described pursuant to this lease? A. The New York corporation?

Q. Yes. A. Yes.

Q. The premises covered by this lease include that part of the Equitable Building occupied by the Lawyers' Club? A. They do—well, not in that lease, no, I beg your pardon. The two taken together with the Lawyers' Club.

Q. These leases I have thus far read do not include the space occupied by the Lawyers' Club? A. No, sir.

Q. Was there a separate lease made to the Lawyers' Club? A. There was.

(Producing paper.)

MR. HUGHES: I offer that paper in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit 385.)

(EXHIBIT 385, will be found in the book of Exhibits.)

MR. HUGHES: This is a lease dated, January 1, 1888, between the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Lawyers' Downtown Club, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of New York, for the term of twenty years. It contains the .following provision in substance.

First. The Society agrees at its own cost and expense to decorate, paint, carpet, and furnish the club room and maintain the same in a thorough, complete, and elegant style.

Second. To keep the club rooms and all the furniture and decorations in good order and repair.

Third. That the tenant of the public restaurant in the Equitable building and the kitchen and other premises appurtenant thereto shall furnish for the members of the Club and their guests during certain hours, meals and so forth of a quality which shall be first class and so forth and all necessary service.

THE WITNESS: There is a stipulation regarding the difference in the bill of fare prices.

MR. HUGHES: And it shall be provided that the prices shall be at least ten per cent. below the usual card prices charged in the public restaurant in the basement. That the service shall include all necessary servants and all linen, china and so forth incident to the maintenance of the Club, and in consideration thereof the Club is not to permit any other party to cater for it as long as the Society fulfils the terms of the agreement and the supplies and service are satisfactory to the governors of the Club.

Fourth. The Society agrees to furnish electric light, gas and heat and that the janitor of the Equitable Building shall keep the club windows in order and care for fires, and so forth.

Fifth. That if during the term of the lease the tenant of the public restaurant shall fail to properly furnish the Club as above provided, in that event the Society agrees to furnish in some convenient portion of the Equitable Building such kitchen and laundry accomodations, appointments and so forth for the exclusive use of the Club, and to pay any deficiency out of the rental herein referred to.

Sixth. The Society agrees that it will use the space marked upon the annexed diagram library, for the library known as the Equitable law library, and that every member of the Club shall during the term of his membership have a right to enter the library and use the books subject to the rules and regulations in regard to the same, that may be made by the Library Committee.

The lease then provides that it is upon the following conditions:

First. The Club agrees that it will pay as rental to the Society 75 per cent. of the dues as now prescribed in the Bylaws and collected from its members as the same shall be received and out of the balance of said dues it will after paying all proper expenses incident to the maintenance and management of the club including all supplies in the nature of stationery, newspapers, periodicals, liveries, salaries of superintendent and assistants and such other expenses as may be regarded by the governors of this club or a majority thereof as proper and necessary, and the club agrees to pay over to the Society any unexpended balance of said dues remaining at the end of each year during the continuance of the lease.

Second. The club agrees that during the term of the lease the portion of the building set aside for its use will only be used for the purposes of a first class club establishment.

Third. That the club will not let or underlet the rooms or any part thereof. That it will keep books of account of receipts and expenditures open to the president or vice-president of the Society or any other person authorized by them.

Fourth. The club agrees it will use all reasonable means to keep its membership at all times during the time of this lease to the number of 600 and dues as now prescribed by the Bylaws.

Fifth. It it further agreed that in consideration of One dollar and the premises the Society shall not hold any of the officers, governors or members of the club in any way liable for anything under this arrangement.

It is further agreed that the dues from the members shall date from the first day of January, 1888, and thereafter the annual dues shall be due and payable on the first days of January and July.

Then follows a diagram of the premises.

Q. Are there any further agreements relative to the management of the Cafe Savarin or the Lawyers' Club? A. The Cafe Savarin took certain space formerly occupied by the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, in 1890. I think it was February 28, 1890 (handing paper).

Q. And this is the agreement relating to that space? A. It is.

MR. HUGHES: I offer it in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit 386.)

(EXHIBIT 386, will be found in the Book of Exhibits.)

THE WITNESS: That is a copy. I do not have the original.

3235 - 3239
MR. HUGHES: This is an indenture, dated, February 28, 1890, between the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company and the Cafe Savarin Company. It provides for a lease by the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company to the Cafe Savarin Company subject to the conditions of the lease between the Equitable Life Assurance Society and the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company of certain portions of the latter's premises in the Equitable building.

THE WITNESS: That has been brought down to date by extensions.

Q. And this practice outlined in the agreement with the Cafe Savarin and Lawyers' Club has been maintained, to wit, that the Lawyers' Club pays over to the Cafe Savarin 75 per cent. of its dues? A. That was modified in 1892, whereby the Cafe Savarin Company takes all the receipts of the Lawyers' Club and pays all its expenses and turns the unexpended balance over to the Society.

Q. Have you that agreement? A. It looks as though I did not have it here. Inadvertently I have left that behind.

Q. That is provided for here? A. It is the same thing in effect as the original papers provide for, because you will notice that while they paid over 75 per cent at first, after paying expenses as stipulated in the 25 per cent., they turned over the balance to the Cafe Savarin or to the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Q. What expenses does the Lawyers' Club meet then? A. At the present time none except through us.

Q. When you say through us, you mean through the Cafe Savarin? A. The Cafe Savarin takes all the receipts of the Lawyers' Club and pays all its expenses, including cost of supplies furnished, help and expenses of every other character or nature whatever.

Q. And it also takes all its own receipts and pays all its own expenses? A. Yes.

Q. And then the net balance that remains, whether of Lawyers' Club's operations or Cafe Savarin operations, is paid over as rent to the Equitable? A. To the Equitable.

Q. Is there any deduction in order to pay dividends? A. In the records of the company there appears but two years in which dividends were paid, and the word dividend is a misnomer. Those dividends were declared for the purpose of paying interest on the obligation of $88,000 held by the Mercantile Trust Company. That is a recapitulation of our receipts and expenses since the year 1881 (handing paper).

Q. This paper? A. Yes.

Q. Do these totals include the expenses of the Lawyers' Club? A. They do.

MR. HUGHES: I offer that paper in evidence.

(Paper marked Exhibit 387.)

Q. The first column in this paper is headed Dues. That means Lawyers' Club dues? A. Yes.

Q. The second column is headed receipts. What does that mean? A. That is the entire receipts, which includes the dues.

Q. The next is supplies and expenses? A. That is all disbursements of every character.

Q. Profits is the difference between the two columns? A. Yes.

Q. And then the rents is the amount of that paid to the Equitable? A. Paid to the Equitable.

Q. And in the next column is an amount in 1891 paid to the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company? A. That was the only year, that year and I think the year before, but the record of the year before I would not undertake to furnish any evidence regarding.

Q. And the next in the way of dividends are items of interest apparently? A. Items of interest. They should be characterized as items of interest, although they appear as dividends.

Q. In other years they were under the head of expenses? A. Yes.

Q. And the final column, Debt Cancelled, is the amount applied on the loan to the Mercantile Trust Company? A. Various obligations, not only of that but there was another obligation of about $62,000 with the $88,000 one. All that debt has been liquidated down to $25,000.

MR. HUGHES: This will be spread upon the record at this point. I will simply note for the information of the Committee that the net profits which are here stated under the head of rents from all operations appear to have been in the last few years as follows:

1898 $115,000

1899 $105,000

and in addition $40,334.39.

THE WITNESS: To the liquidation of the loan, yes.

MR. HUGHES: Applied to the liquidation of the loan. In the year 1900, $90,000 and $50,000 applied to the liquidation of the loan; 1901, $105,000 and $13,180.41 applied to the liquidation of the loan. In 1902, $110,000; in 1903, $110,000; 1904, $140,000.

Q. These amounts that were applied to the liquidation of loans in the years mentioned were applied out of this amount as rent or in addition? A. Partly out of the earnings and partly out of resources.

Q. What resources were they aside from the earnings? A. Well, we had more capital than we required.

Q. You mean the fifty thousand dollars that was applied in 1900? A. Yes.

Q. Take the forty thousand dollars applied in 1899, was that paid out of the one hundred and five thousand? A. Out of the $146,941.75.

Q. Out of the $146,941.75 profit? A. Yes, $105,000 applied to rental and $40,000 applied to the liquidation of the loan, partial liquidation.

Q. What was done with the difference between profits in the years 1902, 1903 and 1904, and the amount stated to have been paid in the way of rent? A. That is explained in this foot note. There were small balances that could not be adjusted during the year, and they were carried into the rent account which was an obligation of the company to the Equitable Life Assurance Society. That obligation stands at present approximately $25,000. I do not know the exact amount, but it is an obligation of the company to the Society, and can be adjusted at any time upon demand.

Q. Do the Equitable or the Cafe Savarin have anything to do with the introduction of members into the Lawyers' Club? A. That is handled by the governors of the Club.

Q. The Equitable and the Cafe Savarin Company merely have to do with the A. Operation.

Q. The expenses and operations of the Club? A. Yes, sir.

Q. But the club governors and membership is in the control of the club through its governors? A. Yes.

MR. COX: What is that club, is it a separate organization or corporation?

THE WITNESS: It is an association.

Q. It was formed under the Act relating to social organizations. A. Formed in 1888, I believe. Up to the present year we have earned up to the end of October a hundred and seventy-four thousand and some odd dollars. Our total receipts for the ten months ending October 31, 1905, were $658,246.35. The expenses in that time and disbursements have been $404,062.03, leaving an amount of earnings applicable to rent of $174,184.28.

BY THE CHAIRMAN:
Q. That does not include any dues from the Club? A. It does include them.

BY MR. HUGHES:
Q. That is the receipts after deducting all dues from the club, receipts from the restaurant, deducting expenses? A. Yes, that leaves——

Q. That is up until November 1st? A. That is up until November 1st. Of that amount $150,000 has been paid over to the Equitable in lieu of rent.

BY MR. COX:
Q. Why is the large increase in the net earnings as compared with the former years? A. I am afraid I might be considered egotistical if I told you. A little economy in the management.

Q. Is there any other information in regard to the Cafe Savarin or the Equitable's relation to it that you have at your

3240 - 3244
hand, or have we the whole story? A. I will not volunteer, but I am here to tell you anything you desire.

Q. Is there anything further with regard to matters received by the Equitable which you can state? A. I covered everything in my tabulation.

Q. Is there anything in regard to expenses incurred by the Equitable which you have not stated? A. Unless you considered my own salary possibly. I am attached to the cashier's department of the Equitable Life Assurance Society.

Q. What is the personal management of the Cafe Savarin? A. The directorate is composed of Judge William A. Day, James F. Wilson, Mr. Louis M. Bailey, and George V. Turner and myself.

Q. Who is the president of the Cafe Savarin Company? A. James F. Wilson.

Q. Does he get any salary? A. Not from the Savarin. His labor is purely that of love.

Q. Does he get anything for his love? A. Well, I mean so far as the Savarin is concerned.

Q. Does he get anything from the Equitable? A. Yes, that is, he is like myself, an Equitable employe.

Q. Do you get a salary from the Equitable? A. I do.

Q. Do you get anything from the Cafe Savarin? A. I do not.

Q. Do any of the officers of the Cafe Savarin get anything from the Cafe Savarin? A. They do not, sir.

Q. They are paid by the Equitable? A. Yes, sir.

Q. What is total amount of the salary paid to those who are in the Savarin management, paid by the Equitable Society? A. I am not in a position to state. I know my own, of course.

Q. You don't know the others? A. No.

Q. Then if you will give me the names I will find out. A. Mr. James F. Wilson is the only one that performs any active duty.

Q. Besides Mr. James F. Wilson and yourself, is there any one connected with the Savarin Society or with the management that gets any money from the Equitable Life? A. Well, not as a consideration for their duties in the Savarin. They are all men who are actively engaged in departments in the Equitable, where they perform a sufficient amount of service to warrant the salary they get. I personally perform more service for the Equitable than I do for the Savarin.

Q. You do this because of your relation to the Equitable? A. Yes.

Q. Is there any executive officer of the Equitable that is paid out of the receipts of the Cafe Savarin? A. Absolutely none.

Q. Any director of the Equitable paid out of the receipts of the Cafe Savarin business? A. No, sir. There is no benefit derived in any way whatever from the restaurant business.

Q. In order that we may know just what the net amount is received by the Equitable from the operation of the Cafe Savarin Company, which stands to it in lieu of rent, inasmuch as the salaries of the executive officers of the Cafe Savarin Company are paid by the Equitable, I should like to have a statement of that. A. I will endeavor to furnish that, or I will ask for it at least, from the authorities of the Equitable.

Q. Does the Cafe Savarin Company furnish lunches to any persons connected with the Equitable free of charge? A. They do not.

Q. Or any supplies of any sort? A. They do not.

Q. Those two are officers or directors or otherwise connected with the Equitable except under this provision for the giving of lunches to clerks, pay for what they get? A. They pay for what they get.

Q. At the same rate as others pay? A. Yes.

BY MR. COX:
Q. Has that always been so? A. That has always been so.

Nov. 16, 1905, New-York Daily Tribune,

2011-08-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

Nov. 16, 1905, New-York Daily Tribune, HARRIMAN ANSWERS HYDE
Page 1, Column 1,

ODELL ON STAND SOON.

Charge About Settlement of His Suit Flatly Contradicted.

The following are the points on which E. H. Harriman, under oath, flatly contradicted the sworn testimony of james hazen Hyde before the Legislative Insurance Committee yesterday:

First---That the Mercantile Trust Company settled for $75,000 ex-Governor Odell's Shipbuilding suit on his advice.
Second---That he ever advised Mr. Hyde to settle the suit to avoid retaliatory legislative action repealing the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company.
Third--That he ever heard of any legislation for the repeal of this charter, concerning which
Mr. Hyde swore he had admonished him.
Fourth--That he ever suggested Mr. Hyde's appointment as French Ambassador until appealed to for help by Hyde.

On these additional points in Mr. Hyde's testimony Mr. Harriman interposed contradictions, while confirming a portion of the testimony of the former:

First--That he advised Mr. Hyde not to sell his stock in the Equitable. Mr. Harriman admitted the advice, but declared he acted as a friend anxious to help, not desiring "to knife him in the back."
Second--That he had advised Mr. Hyde to move the adoption of the Frick report, knowing the former was ignorant of its contents, Mr. Harriman conceded this, but declared he was seeking to befriend "the young man," and had offered if he did to "stand by him through thick and thin."
Third--That he had spoken to President Roosevelt about Mr. Hyde's appointment as Ambassador to France. Mr. Harriman confirmed this, but insisted he had not recommended the appointment, declining to give his reasons for this position.
Fourth--That he had advised secrecy regarding the Union Pacific "blind pool," but had not forbidden Mr. Hyde to explain the matter to the executive committee of the Equitable.

It was also brought out that the Ambler bill repealing the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company, had been introduced in the legislature of 1904, in March, while the Odell settlement was not made until December of the same year, months after the legislature had adjourned and just before the end of Governor Odell's term.

Mr. Hyde attempted to meet this point by declaring that he feared ex-Governor Odell's influence on the incoming legislature.

Striking instances of apparent profit made by the Squires by the purchase from and resale to the Equitable of securities were shown, one transaction indicating a profit of $18,000.

James Hazen Hyde testified that four offers for his Equitable stock made by George J. Gould, H.C. Frick, E.H. Harriman and Gage E. Tarbell antedated the Ryan offer which was accepted.

THE ISSUE CLEAR CUT.

Committee Refuses to Go Into Question of Opponents' Veracity.

The truth or falsity of the sweeping charges made by James Hazen Hyde against ex-Governor Odell on Tuesday now rests entirely on a question of veracity between Mr. Hyde and E.H. Harriman. In the most dramatic session of the insurance committee Mr. Harriman yesterday specifically contradicted every one of the accusations made by Hyde.

Just before Mr. Harriman left the stand there was the nearest approach to a wrangle that has occurred since the committee began its sessions. Apparently provoked by Mr. Harriman's flat contradiction of his client's testimony, Samuel Untermyer, Mr. Hyde's counsel, rose and demanded permission to cross examine Mr. Harriman. There was a long consultation of the committee. Then the request was denied by Senator Armstrong. The denial was entirely consistent wiith the course followed by the committee since it began its work. Opportunity was offered Mr. Untermyer to put any questions pertinent to the real purpose of the commission through Mr. Hughes. Again Mr. Untermyer protested and attempted to ask a question of Mr. Harriman.

Senator Armstrong intervened and directed Mr. Harriman not to answer the questien. Then Mr. Unternyer put several questions through mr. Hughes and subsided. After the hearing he renewed his protest and was then told that if had any material questions which might be put by Mr. Hughes he would be permitted to follow this course, but that he could not cross examine a witness. Senator Armstrong, supported by his associates, took the ground that the question of personal veracity between the two witnesses was not one that the committee could deal with.

With reference to the strength of Mr. Hyde's charge that he feared the efforts of Governor Odell, expressed in retaliatory legislation, the evidence yesterday developed one damaging fact. The Ambler bill repealing the Mercantile Trust Company's charter was introduced in March. The settlement was not made in the Odell suit until the following December, just before Governor Odell's term expired and while the legislature was not in session. Assemblyman Rogers, impressed with the fact and failing to see any basis in fact for any part of Hyde's charge about retaliatory legislation, asked:

"What danger of possible legislation could have in the slightest degree influenced you, when no legislature was in session?"

"There was a legislature to be in session."

"But Governor Odell, who you claim was the man you feared, was going out of office on December 31."

"People out of office are sometimes more influential than when in office."

HARRIMAN ON STAND.

Denial of Hyde's Important Testimony Unequivocal.

The appearance of Mr. Harriman was greeted with the largest crowd of the sessions. While Mr. Hughes examined the witness on preliminary matters the crowd waited anxiously for its sensation. James Hazen Hyde, who watched Mr. Harriman with evident traces of nervousness. shifted uneasily and clasped and unclasped his hands as Mr. Hughes approached the critical point. Mr. Harriman, on the contrary, was absolutely calm. Some surprise was excited by the suggestion contained in Mr. Hughes's examination that a condition in the settlement of the Odell suit had been ex-Governor Odell's advocacy of Mr. Hyde's appointment as Ambassador to France. Mr. Harriman denied all knowledge of this. The examination regarding the Odell suit follows:

Q.--Testimony has been received here as to an interview between you and Mr. Hyde with reference to the settlement of governor Odell's claim against Mercantile Trust Company growing out of his purchase of bonds of the United States Shipbuilding Company. Did you have such an interview?
A.--Yes. Now, Mr. Hughes, may I make a statement? I have not read any of the evidence given by any other witness, so that my mind is entirely fresh on these subjects, without any prejudice.
Q.--Then before I call your attention to statements which have been made, which I shall do later, I will ask you to give us the benefit of your recollection as to any transactions with Mr. Hyde or others relating to the settlement of Governor Odell's suit.
A.--Mr. Hyde came to me--I am not sure, but I think Mr. Deming also; whether they were together or separately I don't recollect--and asked me if I could not use my influence to try to get Governor Odell to settle that suit.
Q.--When was that?
A.--That must have been, now me see---I have had something else to think about beside Equitable matters, as you probably realize--I think it was some time last winter.
Q.--Was it not in the spring of 1904 or summer of 1904?
A.--No, I think it was last autumn or last winter. It may have been in the summer. It is not tied to my recollection.---
Q.--Well, the date we may be able to supply a little later. Perhaps you can fix this conversation with some reference to the time of the settlement. How long was it before that?
A.--I think it was about a month before I understood the settlement was made.

MR. HARRIMAN'S STATEMENT.

Q.--Now if you will, go on please, and state what took place.
A.--Mr. Hyde's statement to me was that the Odell suit was dangerous to the Mercantile Trust Company, in that it might induce other suits to be brought by other people that had been subscribers to the shipbuilding combination. I agreed with Mr. Hyde that I would see Governor Odell, which I did, and arranged an interview between them, which took place in one of the rooms of my office. I was not present and knew nothing about the conversation that took place between Governor Odell and Mr. Hyde, and I think Mr. Colby was with them; and the only thing I know about this conversation was that when Governor Odell came out of the room he asked me who Mr. Colby was, and I did not then know exactly, but I told him I believed he had something to do with the law department of the Equitable. He said: "It seems very strange; he is the whole Equitable, and Mr. Hyde is nothing; he was the man that stated what they would or would not do." It seemed to have irritated him. That is all I had to do with it for some time. I was finally approached again some days after that by Mr Hyde and Mr. Colby, who came to my office and stated that they still desired to get this matter out of the way, and Mr. Colby's remark to me was: "I want you to understand, Mr. Harriman, that my offer, my first offer, is my best." What he meant by that I don't know. To this I made no reply, but I told Mr. Hyde that I would again see Governor Odell and try to get him to do something about settling the suit, and finally--I don't remember whether any figure was named to me or not, but they had another interview. I think somewhere uptown, perhaps at my house, at which I was not present, because I did not want to have anything to do with it, and in the end Mr. Hyde told me that they were willing to pay $70,000, and would not I try to get Governor Odell to accept that amount, which I did. As I recollect it, Governor Odell told me that if I specially desired it he would do so. Well, I told him that I did not want to be put in that position. He went into some details, that he would have to pay lawyers' fees out of it, and that, anyway, if I specially requested he would. I told Mr. Hyde of that interview and said to him that if I were in his place and were going to settle it, although I had no advice to give as to whether it should be settled or not, I would not stand on $75,000 on a settlement of that kind. I would make it satisfactory. And I understood afterward that Mr. Hyde saw him and the payment was made, of which I had no further knowledge.
Q.--How long was it after the interview you had first with Mr. Hyde when Mr. Hyde and Mr. Colby met Governor Odell at your office?
A,--I don't remember. It must have been within a few days or a week.
Q.--How long was it after that time when you were approached again by Mr. Colby?
A.--I cannot remember that. It was a short time.
Q.--Was it within a short time?
A.--It was all within a week or so.
Q.--And the interview which was subsequently had between Mr. Hyde and Mr. Colby and Governor Odell, was that at your house or at a club?
A.--I don't remember any interview after the one had in my office between Mr. Hyde and Mr. Colby and Governor Odell. I don't know that Mr. Colby was present at any other meetings between those people.
Q.--Then the subsequent interview, which you first thought was at your house, was an interview between Mr. Hyde and Governor Odell?
A.--That is as I recollect it.
Q.--Was that at your house or at a club?
A.--I don't recollect. Now, I don't know. I don't recollect any meeting that was held at a club.

MAKES FLAT CONTRADICTIONS.

Q.--Did you say anything to Mr. Hyde in any of these interviews as to the desirability of settling the suit because of the power that might be exercised against the company at Albany?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Did you make any mention to Mr. Hyde of any attempt that had been or might be made to repeal the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Did you refer at all to any advantage to the company in settling the suit to avoid an attack upon it?
A.--No, sir. In fact, I specifically told Mr. Hyde that I did not know anything about the merits of it.
Q.--That is the merits of the claim, the contention?
A.--I did not know anything about it.
Q.--Did you give advice to Mr. Hyde as to whether it should or should not be settled?
A.--None whatever, other than I have stated about the matter of not standing for the $5,000.
Q.--Or to Mr. Colby?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Did Governor Odell request you to use your influence to obtain a settlement of the claim?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Then from your testimony we are to understand Governor Odell had no interview with you to set you in motion?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--To procure a settlement of the claim?
A.--No.
Q.--But that the request for the settlement came exclusively from Mr. Hyde?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q.--Mr. Hyde has testified as follows, referring to this claim: "Q.--Did Mr. Harriman ever suggest to you that the claim be settled? A.--Yes, sir; he suggested to me that there was then a great deal of rumor in the newspapers that an effort would be made to repeal the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company, which was a valuable charter, and the Equitable Life has a very large investment in the company." Did you suggest or state that to Mr. Hyde?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--At any time?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--The further question was asked: "Q.--Explain what you mean by the repeal of the charter? A.--I mean exactly what I say," and a further answer: "I suppose he," referring to you, "feared retaliatory measures on the part of that powerful gentleman."
Q.--Why should you suppose so?
A.--I don't know; he seemed to think so.
Q.--In what form was that suggestion made?
A.--In just that naked form.
Q.--Well, that there was danger that the charter would be repealed?
A.--Yes, sir
Q.--Did you make any statement in part or in substance, directly or indirectly of that sort?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--To Mr. Hyde?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--At any time?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--The further question was asked of Mr. Hyde: "Q.--I want you to state what Mr. Harriman said as definitely as you can. A.--He said there was a possiblity of that powerful interest at Albany doing harm, being antagonistic on account of this shipbuilding loss, doing harm to one of the valuable assets of the Equitable, which was the Mercantile Trust." Did you say that?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--In substance or in any way?
A.--No, sir, in no way whatever.
Q.--It was further testified: "Q.--Did he say anything specifically as to the repeal of the charter? A.--Yes, sir he mentioned that as a possibility. Q.--By legislation? A.--Yes, sir, and it was also rumored in the newspapers." Did you say anything to him to that effect?
A.--No, sir.

DID NOT KNOW OF SUIT.

Q.--I thought I had asked you this, but it is suggested to me that I have not. Did you know of any rumor that there was a bill introduced to repeal the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Or that there was to be such an effort made?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--It appears here in evidence that a bill had been introduced in March, 1904, in both the Senate and Assembly to repeal the charter of the Fire-proof Warehousing Company and the acts amendatory thereof, which were the charter and acts authorizing the Mercantile Trust Company to do business. Did you ever hear anything about the introduction of that measure?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Did you have any interviews with Mr. Hyde as to his being appointed to Ambassador to France?
A.--Yes.
Q.--When was that?
A.--I think it was about a year ago.
Q.--What led to those interviews?
A.--Mr. Hyde came to me and asked me to use my influence in trying to have him appointed.
Q.--Had you ever said anything to him or any one connected with him on that subject?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--State whether or not it had previously been present in your mind or suggested to you by any one?
A.--I think the first---let me correct that answer that I made. I think Mr. McIntyre was the first one that came to me about it.
Q.--That was the first intimation to you of such a matter?
A.--Yes. sir.
Q.--And did you have any interviews with any one else before Mr. Hyde spoke to you about it?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--What did you say to Mr. Hyde as to who you would do in the matter?
A.--I told him that when I saw the President I would speak to him about it.
Q.--Did you do so?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q..Did you recommend him?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Do you know whether Governor Odell did anything with regard to the procuring of such an appointment?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Do you know whether he visited the President with reference to it?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Was the time when this matter was brought up between you and Mr. Hyde at or near the time when the matter of Governor Odell's claim against the Mercantile Trust Company was under consideration?
A.--I don't remember that there was a connection between them in any way whatever.
Q.--I am advised that the date of the settlement of Governor Odell's claim, or rather the date of appointment, was December 30, 1904. I don't know as to the accuracy of it. It is a statement purporting to come from the company.
A.--Well, it must have been about a year ago, as my recollection was at first.
Q.--When were these interviews with regard to the ambassadorial appointment?
A.--I sbould think they were about a year ago; I think I stated that before, did I not?
Q.--That was my recollectlon.
A.--Yes.
Q.--State whether or not there was any connection between the two?
A.--There was none.
Q.--Did you go to see the President immediately after the settlement of the suit of Governor Odell?
A.--I don't remember.
Q.--Can you fix the date of that business?
A.--Some time in the autumn of 1904. I did not go to see the President specifically on that subject.
Q.--You mentioned the matter or said you would mention the matter when you did see him?
A.--Yes.

Subsequently Mr. Hughes again referred to the date of the conference as follows:

Q.--It appears that the bill to repeal the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company was introduced in March---on March 31, 1900. Now, did you have any interview with Mr. Hyde or Mr. Colby, or with Governor Odell, or any one relative to the settlement of Governor Odell's claim against the Mercantile Trust Company, prior to the adjournment of the legislature in 1904?
A.--No. sir.
Q.--Which, I suppose, took place about May 9, or early in May.
The Chairman---Much earlier---April 23, or earlier.
Q.--April 23, 1904---you had no such interview?
A.--No. sir.
The Chairman---I understood you to say that the earliest interview you had on that subject was along in the autumn?
A.--About a year ago, in the autumn.
Mr. Hughes---Are we to understand that your first interview with regard to that settlement of Governor Odell's suit was in the fall of 1904?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q.--And if the date of settlement is correctly given to me as December 30th--date of payment was December 30th, 1904, how long prior to that time was the matter first called to your attention?
A.--May have been a month or two months.
Q.--Do you know whether or not the payment was made immediately upon the settlement?
A.--I don't know.
Q.--It is suggested to me that it was made several months later; is that the fact?
A.--That I don't know.
Q.--If you will be good enough to search your memory and tell me about the date when the interview took place between Mr. Hyde and Governor Odell uptown, either at your house or at a club, when I understand the matter was suggested?
A.--Well, I think it was a short time after the first interview they had in my offlce downtown.

TELLS OF FRICK REPORT. Page 3, Column 2,

Asked Hyde to Move Its Adoption from Friendly Motives.

Mr. Harriman's testimony regarding his advice to Mr. Hyde to move the adoption of the Frick report tallied more nearly with Mr. Hyde's testimony than that on any other point, but he insisted that he had advised this out of friendship for "the young man," and ridiculed the notion that there was any attempt "to knife" Hyde. In this testimony he attacked Mr. Hyde's testimony about a "conspiracy and cabal" to deprive Hyde of his property, just as in the preceding reference to the Ambassador incident he maintained that Hyde had come to him, instead of his going to Hyde, and that his effort throughout had been to help Hyde and not to injure him, get him out of the country or ruin his property. Mr. Harriman here denied the declaration of Mr. Hyde that he had offered to buy the Hyde stock in the Equitable.
The testimony on the Frick report follows:

Q.--Did you ask Mr. Hyde to move the adoption of the Frick report?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q.--What did you say to him about that, and what did he say to you?
A.--I not only said that to Mr. Hyde, but I also said it to Mr. Gulliver. I had been befriending Mr. Hyde during the attacks that were being made upon him, and the attempts to oust him from the Equitable by the other antagonistic interests to him, and I told Mr. Gulliver several days before the Frick report was presented that I wished he would tell Mr. Hyde from me that if I were in his place, as a friend of his, I would favor the adoption of that report, and ever to the extent of moving its adoption; that if he did I would stand by him through thick and thin and that I believed that every other independent, conservative man on the board would that he could state that the methods which he had pursued had been those which he found in existence when he went into the society, and that he was young and inexperienced, and that he had pursued them, and that he was sorry, and that if he were given an opportunity in the future to retrieve himself he hoped the board would do so, and that I believed that there would be a feeling toward him because of his youth and inexperience, that he should have some chance to retrieve his position.
Q.--What reply was made to that?
A.--Mr. Gulliver, as I recollect, told me that he would not advise that, but he would give that message to Mr. Hyde.
Q.--Have you stated---
A.--Now, one minute. Do you want to know what Mr. Hyde's answer was?
Q.--Yes?
A.--Mr. Hyde came to my office the day before the Frick report was presented, and I then repeated that same opinion to him, and he objected in some form or other, not very strenuously.
Q.--Had you prior to the appointment of the Frick committee advised Mr. Hyde or stated to Mr. Gulliver that it would be a good thing to have such a committee appointed?
A.--I not only stated that---I may not have stated that to them, no, sir, but I did state to members of the board almost at the first inception of the charges that were made by the Alexander faction.
Q.--Did you state to Mr. Gulliver that the Frick committee would be favorable to Mr. Hyde?
A.--No.
Q.--Did you say in substance that you expected that its action would be favorable to him?
A.--No. sir.
Q.--Did you in any way directly or indirectly, by statement to Mr. Gulliver or Mr. Hyde or any other person say anything which would indicate that the proceedings of the Frick committee or its report would be favorable to Mr. Hyde?
A.--No, sir.

DID NOT TRY TO GET STOCK.

Q.--Were you concerned with any offer to Mr. Hyde for the purchase of his stock?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--It is in evidence that an offer was made by Mr Frick? You had no connection with that?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--What was your connection with it?
A.--I did not---no offer by Mr. Frick.
Q.--It has been stated here there was an offer. Mr. Hyde said there was an offer to Mr. Frick.
A.--That I do not know of. But Mr. Hyde had told me himself that he had received several offers for the purchase of his stock, and I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he would not sell it under any consideration, and I encouraged him in that. And Mr. Frick came to me and told me that he had heard also---then I said to him "I think you ought to tell Mr. Hyde not to sell that stock to anybody, and if he does he should not sell it without letting you know." And I understood from Mr. Frick that that was what he said.
Q.--Then you at no time made any effort to acquire Mr. Hyde's stock?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--And down to the time of the report of the Frick committee you encouraged Mr. Hyde in the retention of his stock?
A.--Yes. sir.
Q.--What did you do as to the report of the Frick committee, if anything, in reference to that?
A.--You have come to the point that the interview of the day before the Frick report was presented, when Mr. Hyde came to my office and I made the same suggestion to him that I had to Mr. Gulliver about his course as to the Frick report, and I told him then that this might be something which he would not feel courage enough to stand up under and it might jeopardize the value of his stock, but that I did not think that anybody but the Equitable ought to own that stock other than himself, and that if he had any fears on that subject that I would subscribe $500,000 to a fund to help him hold it, and if we thought it desirable, to turn it over absolutely to the ownership of the Equitable without any compensation, and that I thought others could be induced to do the same thing.
Q.--In what way was this subscription to aid him in holding the stock?
A.--Well, it was to take an interest with him and hold it for the beneft of the Equitable or present it to the Equitable.
Q.--With the idea that he should continue owner and in that way be able to realize upon his holdings to some extent?
A.--To some extent.
Q.--What did he say to that?
A.--I don't remember that he said anything.
Q.--You were one of the signers of the Frick report?
A.--Yes.
Q.--Did the Frick committee consider the matter of the Union Pacific preferred stock syndicate?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q.--Was it before them that Mr. Hyde had told you that he did not care to make all the payments that would be called for by his individual subscriptlon, but that the Equitable Life Assurance Society would make them?
A.--I had no conversation with Mr. Hyde as to who should pay for the stock other than the original conversation that we had in 1900---when he came home from Europe, I think it was in January, 1902.
Q.--The one you have detailed a few moments ago?
A.--Yes.
Q.--In which he referred to the Equitable Life?
A.--Yes, sir.
Q.--Did you present to the Frick committee or was there presented to the Frick committee that fact?
A.--Not that I remember.

THE UNION PACIFIC SYNDICATE.

Q.--Did the Frick committee apart from yourself know anything of the relation of the Equitable Life to the Union Pacific preferred stock syndicate---that is, of the fact that payment had been made by them and the stock was taken by them, and that Mr Hyde's name was used with the sanction of Mr. Alexander?
A.--I don't think they had any specific information or evidence other than the one that was done at that time, and the statement that had been made by Mr. Alexander.
Q.--You mean the general statement which he had incorporated in some letter he had written, or some statement made to the board?
A.--I don't remember what that was.
Q.--Did the members of the Frick committee inquire of you as to the facts?
A.--I don't remember that they did.
Q.--Did they inquire of Mr. Hyde as to the facts?
A.--I don't remember that they did
Q.--And the matter was not mentioned in the report of the Frick committee?
A.--Well, it was included in the charges that were made by Mr. Alexander.
Q.--I did not catch your idea, Mr. Harriman. In other words, you mean that the general statement or finding by the committee that Mr. Hyde had committed the society to transactions without the knowledge of the executive committee---
A.--Evidently.
Q.--Was deemed by the Frick committee to cover the matter of the Union Pacific preferred stock syndicate without special mention?
A.--Yes.
Q.--Do you know whether or not Governor Odell wrote a letter either to the President or to the Secretary of State advocating the appointment of Mr. Hyde as French Ambassador shortly or immediately after the settlement of the suit against the Mercantile Trust Company?
A.--Now, I am not sure about that, Mr. Hughes. When you speak of it, I believe there was some conversation.
Q.--Was it a part of the arrangement with reference to the settlement of this suit that such a letter should be written by Governor Odell or a recommendation made?
A.--That is so far as I know?
Q.--Yes, of course.
A.--No, sir.
Q.--You never heard anything of that kind?
A.--No, sir.

DID WITHDRAW $2,700,000 LOAN.

Mr. Harriman confirmed Mr. Hyde's testimony that he had withdrawn his $2,700,000 loan from the Equitable when the rate of interest was raised, but insisted that he had paid the market rate at all times and that the regular margin of collateral was maintained. His testimony regarding the "blind pool" was materially different from that of Mr. Hyde. The latter testified that he had been forced to absolute secrecy on this subject by Mr. Harriman. Mr. Harriman's reference to the Frick report mention of the Union Pacific pool has already been shown.

In addition, Mr. Harriman declared that while secrecy was obviously requisite because of the nature of the undertaking, he had never at any time or in any way directed Mr. Hyde not to refer the matter to the Equitable Executive Committee. He corroborated Mr. Hyde's contention, denied by Jacob H. Schiff, that Mr. Hyde's participation was with Equitable funds, but did not say or suggest that Mr. Schiff knew this. Mr. Harriman insisted he placed no restriction on Mr. Hyde in the matter of secrecy about this incident, and testified to his belief in the propriety of the Equitable participation in the Union Pacific syndicate and in syndicates in general.

Regarding his entrance into the Equitable directorate Mr. Harriman testified that he had been asked to come by Mr. Hyde and had demurred, suggesting James J. Hlll. He initially yielded on Mr. Hyde's representation that he desired to "surround himself with independent men" and change the methods then obtaining, of which Mr. Harriman declared he did not approve. Of his duties as a director Mr. Harriman gave an instructive talk, which summarized the impotence and ignorance of directors in general except those on important committees. He denied all knowledge of various "yellow dog" accounts and campaign contributions. His illumination apparently came at the time of the Frick committee.

Regarding his view of Mr. Hyde Mr. Harriman testified he was surrounded---he was a young man with a great deal of power, and power which was apt to increase---and that he was apparently surrounded by people who were catering to his particular desires, without reference to what---without any special reference to what influence it might have on the Equitable's affairs, and that if he was to grow and get experience, he would do better by having around him men who were independent and had had experience in business affairs, who would sustain him and help him.

As Mr. Harriman was leaving the stand Mr. Untermyer made the appeal to be allowed to cross-examine. When this was overruled, he asked several questions through Mr. Hughes. One of these developed the fact that when he had recommended Mr. Hyde to move the adoption of the Frick report he had not told him that in effect this called for his removal. Mr. Harriman insisted, however, that his advice was sound and kindly meant. Mr. Harriman acknowledged that Mr. Hyde did not know its contents. Mr. Harriman further said that he had viewed the appointment of the Frick committee as necessary, but had been asked by Senator Depew to hold back his resolution for this committee.

HYDE STICKS TO STORY. Page 3, Columns 3 & 4,

Refuses to Change It When Contradicted by Harriman.

The long wrangle between Mr. Untermyer and the committee as to his right to cross-examine Mr. Harriman was followed by the recall of Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde was asked to repeat or change his testimony conflicting with Mr. Harriman's, but stood to his original testimony. The testimony on this point follows:

Q.--Did you go to Mr. Harriman and request him to bring about, if posslble, a settlement of Mr. Odell's claim?
A.--I don't remember going there with Mr. Deming, as Mr. Harriman testified.
Q.--Did you request Mr. Harriman to bring about a settlement of Governor Odell's claim?
A.--No, as I have already testified, he suggested it.
Q.--Do you desire to add anything to your testimony yesterday?
A.--No, sir. I don't think so.
Q.--Or to change it?
A.--No, sir.
Mr. Hughes---That is all.
Mr. Rogers---Where was this conversation?
A.--In Mr. Harriman's offlce. I don't know whether it was in his front private office or back office.
Q.--You can say whether there at your own motion or at his suggestion?
A.--Yes, sir. I have answered it.
Mr. Hughes---Did you have any interview with Governor Odell at Mr. Harrimau's office?
A.---Yes, sir, once.
Q.--In Mr. Harriman's presence?
A.--He was there and went out.
Q.---Was there anything said at that time about any attack upon the charter of the Mercantile Trust Company?
A.--No. sir.
Q.--Was anything ever said by Governor Odell on that point to you or in your hearing?
A.--No, sir.
Q.--Or about any proceedings against the Mercantile Trust Company other than legal proceedings?
A.--No. sir.
Mr. Hughes---That is all.
Mr. Untermyer---From whom did the statement come as to the attack on the charter?
A.--It came from Mr. Harriman.

Earlier in the day Mr. Hyde testified to the fact that he had received offers for his 502 shares of Equitable from H. C. Frick, from George J. Gould, and finally from Gage E. Tarbel. The last named had offered $1,000,000 as a representative of a syndicate. The size of this offer provoked a general laugh. Frick's offer had been $5,000,000. Mr. Hughes had also traced the famous Ambler Bill, showing that it had been introduced by Assemblyman R. J. Fish in the lower house "by request." The date of this introduction was March 31, 1904. The bill was referred to the judiciary committees of both houses and seems to have died there.

The most startling incident of the morning session was the testimony regarding the purchase, sale and repurchase by the Equitable of stock in the Lawyers' Title Insurance Company. The papers in Mr. Hughes's possession showed that the Equitable had acquired 2,000 shares of this stock at 174 and immediately resold 1,100 to George H. Squire at the same price. The books of Williamson & Squire showed a purchase of shares of this stock for Mr. Hyde at a price ranging from 301 to 315.

Mr. Hyde's memory on this point was entirely defective. He was out of the country at the time and did not know by what authority the purchases were made. This stock presently made its way back to the Equitable at a price just about twice that for which it had previously parted with it. That officers of the Equitable were buying stock from the Equitable in the name of the American Deposit and Loan Company and reselling it to the Equitable at a great advance was a matter Mr. Hyde had never heard of. The purchase in his name also amazed him. He was sure, however, that W. H. McIntyre, who figured in the deal, did not have his power of attorney.

There seemed to be record of a number of such transactions, but Mr. Hyde could throw no light upon them. In this talk Mr. Hyde made a defence of his father's conduct of Equitable affairs. and Mr. Untermyer, his counsel, sharply attacked State Superintendent Hendricks for his references to the elder Hyde in his report. Much comment on the absence of Mr. McIntyre was also voiced by all concerned at this time.

George H. Squire, Jr., of the firm of Willlamson & Squire, then took the stand, and testified to the stock purchases and resales mentioned above. In these Thomas D. Jordan also figured. George W. Jenkins. of the American Loan and Deposit Company, also testified to more purchases of the Lawyers' Title and Insurance Company stock. A check for $18,000 in profits to George H. Squire figured in his testimony, his firm having purchased for Squire. Recalled later, Mr. Hyde stuck to his story that the purchases in his name were unknown to him. T. F. Wllliamson, Mr. Hyde's secretary, was unable to shed any light on the affair. He could not even recall if his name had been used to carry two loans from the American Deposit and Loan
Company.

TO HEAR DEPEW TO-DAY.

H. C. Frick Likely To Be on Stand Next Week.

Senator Chauncey M. Depew will follow Michael Murray on the witness stand before the legislative committee to-day, and ex-Governor Benjamin B. Odell will begin his testimony to-morrow, according to sources close to the committee, although Edward Lauterbach, Mr. Odell's counsel, says that Mr. Odell will testify to-day.

According to the same sources close to the committee, the testimony of Henry Clay Frick will probably open next week's sessions, and Gage E. Tarbell may follow Mr. Frick. Interests closely identified with James Hazen Hyde were responsible for two explanations made to a Tribune reporter last night of Mr. Hyde's testimony as to the $75,000 shipbuilding settlements by the Mercantile Trust Company with Mr. Odell. According to these informants, Governor Odell's suit was settled on December 30, 1904. They said:

In the legislature ended about May, 1904, the insurance people managed to block the Ambler bill.

In the next legislature (that is, the most recent one) Mr Hyde believed that Mr. Odell, though his term would have expired, would enjoy a still stronger influence and following. Accordingly a settlement was made with him on December 30, just two days before his term expired.

Those who followed the course of Albany politics last winter concurred in Mr. Hyde's view that, although Mr. Odell would no longer be Governor in the 1905 session, in December, 1904, with Senator Depew's renomination, it did actually appear that Mr. Odell would have still stronger influence in the 1905 legislature than in the one preceding it. Subsequent happenings, however, point to the falsity of this view, they added.

It is said that the bill referred to was introduced on March 31, 1904, and that his suit was settled on the date already noted.

Mr. Lauterbach said last night that Mr. Odell would clear up everything on the stand before the investigating committee to-day. As to the date of the beginning of the action against the Mercantile, Mr. Lauterbach said:

I am not certain about that, although it was soon after the faiiure of Dresser which, I think, was in August, 1903. The suit had been pending a long time before it was settled. It would have been reached for trial in the course of another month, which, however, was anticipated by the settlement.

The other suits against the Mercantile Trust Company were settled as well and on even better terms than that which Mr. Odell secured.

PART OF NEIDER'S BODY FOUND, The Sun, Feb. 12, 1912

2011-08-05T17:16:00.001-07:00

February 12, 1912, The Sun, "PART OF NEIDER'S BODY FOUND,"

Page 4, Column 4,

Head of Watchman Victim of Equitable Fire Is Still Missing.

Parts of a charred body thought to be the remains of Frank Joseph Neider, attendant in the vaults of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, who has been missing ever since fire destroyed the Equitable Building, were found yesterday afternoon by workmen of the Thompson-Starrett Company. About twenty feet inside of the third window from Broadway on the Cedar street side of the building the men came across the heel of a rubber boot in which were parts of bone and flesh. Other discoveries were of bits of bones and a larger piece of charred bone and flesh which looks like part of a man's trunk and thigh. The head was not found. Coroner Winterbottom has ordered the parts collected and taken to the Old Slip police station to be held.

The charred remains were found lying on the floor inside of a cage at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading down into the vaults at the corner of the building on Cedar street and Broadway. Search was at once begun for the head. About ten pieces were found. It was feared that some parts might have been loaded on to wagons and orders were given by telephone to examine all wagons arriving at the dumps. Neider was 45 years old and lived at 717 Melrose avenue, The Bronx, wi th his wife and a daughter. The search was continued last night and it was feared from the charred condition of the debris that nothing more, not even the head, would be found.

The Ogden City, Utah, Evening Standard, EQUITABLE LIFE BUILDING IN NEW YORK DESTROYED,

2011-08-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

January 9, 1912, The [Ogden City, Utah] Evening Standard, "EQUITABLE LIFE BUILDING IN NEW YORK DESTROYED,"
Page 1, Columns 1, 2 & 3,

BUSINESS IN THE FINANCIAL CENTER SUSPENDED FOR HOURS WHILE THE FIREMEN STRUGGLE TO KEEP THE FLAMES FROM SPREADING TO ADJOINING SKYSCRAPERS

DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF WALSH CREMATED

Three Watchmen, Trapped by the Flames, Jump From the High Structure---Wm. Giblin, Head of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, Caught in the Vaults, But Released by Battering Down a Steel Door---Loss Estimated at 15,000,00

New York, Jan. 9. The great marble nine-story building of the Equitable Life Assurance society, at 120 Broadway, the home of the Mercantile Trust company, the Equitable Trust company, the banking house of Kountze Brothers, the Mercantile Safe Deposit company and the Harriman lines, was destroyed early today by fire. Three men lost their lives by leaping from the roof and the property loss is estimated at about $6,000,000.

Millions of dollars in cash and securities are locked in the vaults of the Assurance society and the banking and trust companies, but are not believed to be affected by the flames.

William Giblin, president of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, was imprisoned with three other employes in the vaults and was rescued after the firemen had sawed through several two-inch steel bars. One man is believed to have lost his life in the vaults.

Deputy Fire Chief Walsh is supposed to have been burned to death, after being imprisoned in the burning structure.

The fire was in the heart of the financial district and the flames were fought mainly from the tops of sky-scrapers. Business was brought almost to a complete standstill among banking and brokerage houses, whose employes could not reach the scene of their daily activities. Financial firms stopped business to care for the firemen.

Most of the vital records of the Equitable Life Assurance society were kept in the branch offices of the society in the Hazen building, several blocks from the main offices.

WHILE THE FIRE WAS BURNING.

New York, Jan. 9. The immense granite office building of the Equitable Life Assurance society on lower Broadway was destroyed today by a fire which is still burning. Four bodies already have been taken out of the building and there is little doubt that several more dead and alive are caught in the ruins.

The big Equitable building was also the home of the Union and Southern Pacific railways, the banking house of August Belmont & Co., the Mercantile Trust company, now a subsidiary of the Bankers' Trust company, the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, together with a number of New York financial firms.

Millions on millions of dollars in securities and cash were cared for in the immense vaults of the Equitable company and in the vaults of the trust and safe deposit companies, but it is not believed that the heat of the fire can penetrate the safes and that there will be no loss from this source.

The heaviest loss, besides that of the building, was caused by the destruction of insurance and railroad records.

Within two hours after the fire broke out at 5:30 o'clock, the bullding was a mass of flames and the firemen, working from the tops of skyscrapers and from the streets below were trying to prevent the flames spreading to the buildings on the opposite sides of the streets.

The Equitable building occupies the block between Broadway and Nassau streets and Pine and Cedar streets The fire was first dlscovered on the ground floor in a store room of the Cafe Savarin, and, carried by a draught of air, shot upward through an elevator shaft, setting fire to the upper floors. A general alarm was turned in, and when the fire department reached the scene the flames were bursting out of the windows in the southeast corner of the building.

A gale, sweeping through the streets, drove the flames through the building from end to end. Firemen dragged their hose to the tops of the Chase National bank on Pine street and the Fourth National bank on Nassau street, while other lines of hose were run up on a skyscraper opposite the building on Broadway from which streams of water were directed on the flames. Five alarms were turned in and fire tugs from the North and East rivers grouped themselves at a convenient dock and pumped volumes of water into the building.

Three watchmen in the building heroically remained to fight the flames with fire extinguishers, but they were finally driven to the roof. Firemen made a heroic attempt to save them and scaling ladders were run up.

Rescuers got as high as the fourth foors when the watchmen, their forms outlined against the glare of the flames, were seen to kneel and pray and then, as the corner of the building on which they were standing fell, they jumped to the street. The firemen on the scaling ladders had difficulty in making their way back to the streets.

Fire Commissioner Johnson discovered William Giblin, president of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, at the corner of Cedar street and Broadway, imprisoned in the vaults. He could be seen from the streets and his legs were pinned down by a mass of fixtures and debris which had fallen from above. He was alive and held out his hand to the firemen, who made frantic, though futile, attempts to break through the heavy steel doors. Father McGean of the fire department administered the last rites to the man.

Commissioner Johnson said he thought the imprisoned man was the president of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, who had arrived at the building after the fire was under way and had attempted to save some papers.

Two Men Imprisoned.

Deputy Fire Chief William Walsh and four firemen were caught under a section of the floor when the upper floor gave way. Firemen managed to reach a window ledge from which they were rescued by means of a life line, but when they looked back Chief Walsh had disappeared in the smoking ruins. Efforts were made to reach the spot where he was buried but the firemen could not find him.

Father McGean nearly lost his life when administering the last rites to Giblin, the firemen dragging him away just as a shower of bricks and stones fell on the spot where he had been kneeling.

As a fireman carried Father McGean away Giblin turned to him and pityingly said:

"For God's sake. Father, take me out of here! I am dying. Can't you get at me?"

Porters Rescued.

Two porters in the safe deposit ompany were rescued from the basement of the building when the sidewalk in front of the structure caved in. They were injured and removed to a hospital.

The fire was finally confined to the Equitable building, though for a time it seemed as if the flames would sweep across the street and set fire to the American Exchange National bank, at Cedar street and Broadway, on which the sparks were falling in a shower. This building was kept wet down by streams of water from the skyscrapers on all sides.

The flames had the intensity of a blast furnace. The heavy floors of the building buckled under the white heat of the fire and fell in, while the walls crumbled and dropped into the streets.

Parts of the Brooklvn fire department were sent to aid in preventing the spread of flames. Business in the financial section was brought practically to a standstill. Thousands of clerks in banking and brokerage houses, railroad and industrial corporations were held back by police lines formed two blocks north of the fire and traffic of every kind in the streets nearby the burning building was forbidden by the police.

Three Men In Vaults.

After the flames had been checked three men were reported to be alive in the vaults of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company, where one man had already lost his life, and the firemen tried to batter down the steel doors. The falling stone and brick had blocked and warped the doors so that they could not be unlocked.

While the firemen were hammering away, a part of the coping fell and the rescuers had a narrow escape. After the stone had fallen the firemen made renewed efforts to penetrate the doors. Firemon at last succeeded in battering in a steel door and rescuing two watchmen who were imprisoned in the vault. They also rescued William Giblin.

Ambulances from four hospitals were on the scene and took care of the injured.

Assessed at $12,000,000.

With the exception of one insurance building, the Equitable Life Assurance society had a greater assessed valuation than any other building in the financial district, the figures being $12,000,000.

Tho other occupants of the Equitable building, besides the Harriman railway, were the executive offices of the Western Maryland railroad, together with the offices of Herbert Satterlee, son-in-law of J. P. Morgan, and Alexander & Green.

After President Giblin was rescued he was carried to the boiler room of the Trinity building. Surgeons stripped him of his clothing and wrapped him in heavy blankets. Stimulants were administered. After a brief rest Mr. Giblin said:

How Giblin Was Caught.

"I was sitting up last night with my wife, who has been very ill, when an employe of the hotel informed me that the Equitable building was on fire. When I arrived at the building there were no flames but plenty of smoke. I hurried into one of the vaults to get some valuable papers, followed by one of the night watchmen. The vault had a spring lock and I left my keys outside.

"When the man and I started to leave the door swung shut and we were both prisoners. The smoke was awful. We shouted, but it seemed we were doomed. The other man was alive up to half an hour ago, but just before I was carried out he fainted and I think he must be dead."

Mr. Giblin was taken to the Hudson street hospital. He was very weak, but in no immediate danger. The offices of the Harriman lines, which were in the building, were being moved to 165 Broadway. Everything had been moved save the papers in the legal department. Many valuable records, including the autobiography of E. H. Harriman, was there, and it was believed that these and other valuable records were destroyed.

Three employes of the building leaped from the third floor to the street. They were taken to the hospital seriously injured.

After the fire had been checked and the firemen were able to get closer to the building it was discovered that the Belmont building, on Nassau street, which adjoins the burning building, had been saved, though the offices of August Belmont & Co. had been flooded with water.

Railroad Loss Not Heavy.

President Lovett of the Harriman lines said that, as all of the Union and Southern Pacific securities held in the treasury were kept outside the city, the monetary loss to the railroads would be small. Mr Lovett said that the extent of inconvenience suffered because of the loss of records will, of course, depend on whether the vault's on the third and fourth floors have been destroyed. The records referred to include those of the comptroller's department, the treasurer's office and the transfer department.

President Day of the Equitable called a meeting of the executive committee at the company's new building in Greenwich street to consider the matter of securing temporary quarters. Of the 1,300 clerks employed by the society, about 600 were in the main building, while the others were engaged at work in the Greenwich street building. The offices of the Equitable Trust company luckily escaped the flames, but were damaged by water, as were the offices of August Belmont.

Four Known to Be Dead.

Four men are known to be dead and five injured in the fire and several persons are missing, including Battalion Chief Walsh.

The fire was still burning in the debris in the basement of the building this afternoon.

Conservative estimates of the damage placed the loss in the neighborhood of $10,000,000, while others say that the loss will run as high as $15,000,000.

According to an officer of the Equitable, the great safety deposit vaults in the building contained last night securities aggregating between $250,000,000 and $300,000,000. The vaults are belived to be intact.

President Day of the Equitable said this afternoon:

"The burning of the home office at 120 Broadway will cause but temporary inconvenience. Securities and important records are protected by fireproof vaults which are intact. Most of the office force and records were removed some time ago to the society's building, No. 2 Albany street.

"The executive offices of the society and the cashier's department have been established in the City Investing building. This will, for the time being, be the home office of the society."

Gage E. Tarbell. a former vice president of the Equitable, said that the society carried its own insurance. Many of the large banks announced today that, owing to the fire, they would not exercise their prerogative of calling loans today. The money market, owing to the action of the Stock Exchange, was practically at a standstill.

FIRE UPSET BUSINESS IN FINANCIAL DISTRICT.

New York, Jan. 8 Banking and brokerage business was halted for a time by the fire and the governors of the stock exchange met to determine what action should be taken with respect to deliveries of securities purchased yesterday. The decision was reached that transfers may be suspended for a day by mutual consent.

The clearing house in the Chase National bank was closed and temporary quarters were opened at the Chamber of Commerce. Depositors and bank customers of the burned out trust companies as well as those of financial institutions located in the neighborhood of the burned building were unable to reach their banks, being held back by the police lines.

An officer of the Equitable Life Assurance society said that the society had duplicates of every record, which were stored in a building several blocks away from the burned structure. The fire, he said, would not affect the company's business with its policyholders throughout the country.

Officials of the Mercantile Safe Deposit company said the vaults were intact and not a cent would be lost.