Criminal Prosecution.
Whatever may be the disposition of the Attorney General of the United States in regard to the criminal prosecution of Standard Oil officers and directors, there seems to be no doubt as to the attitude of Prosecutor David, of the state of Ohio. The grand jury of Hancock county has returned an indictment against the Standard Oil Company, of Ohio, and against John D. Rockefeller, president of the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, as well as three directors of the subsidiary corporation in the Buckeye state. Previous proceedings against the same defendants, taken on an information brought before the Probate Court of that state, are now being held up, pending the decision of the higher court as to the jurisdiction of the court below. The present indictments by the grand jury are based on the evidence adduced in the previous trial. Conviction would subject the defendant company to a maximum fine of five thousand dollars, which, however, it is believed, may be imposed for ever day covered in the indictments. Mr. Rockefeller and the directors of the subsidiary company would be subject to the same fine and to imprisonment for a period of from six months to one year. More recently Prosecutor David is quoted as expressing the belief that he has sufficient evidence to bring not only Mr. Rockefeller, but all the highest officials of the controlling company before the Ohio courts.
In the meantime he has taken steps to secure an alternative writ of mandamus against the Buckeye Pipe Line Company, said to be owned by the Standard Oil Company and operated in such a manner as to stifle competition, requiring that the defendant provide for the public equal and just facilities and demanding that they fix a schedule of rates.
In St. Louis the Federal grand jury has brought in two indictments, with a total of seventy-two counts, against the Waters-Pierce Oil Company for violation of the Elkins Anti-Rebate law. If convicted on all the counts the maximum penalties would exceed a million and a half dollars.
The proceedings taken by the attorney general of Texas to oust the same company from that state have developed a collateral sensation of great size. Attorney General Davidson demands of the defendant company certain vouchers which, it is alleged, will show that Senator Joseph W. Bailey was paid various sums of money by the Waters-Pierce Company to secure its readmission to the state, and gives out that if this evidence is not forthcoming, secondary evidence will be offered to establish the alleged fact. Senator Bailey indignantly denies that he received any such sums, and announces that he will prosecute for perjury anyone who swears to the existence of such evidence. Senator Bailey has already been nominated by primary, but his re-election will come before the legislature which convenes in January.
In the meantime the New York Central Railroad and the Sugar Trust have been fined heavily for, respectively, giving and receiving rebates.