The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-07-09
TAe Forgery Preliminary EI-
animation Of Geo. l., CLARK,

| q
Cherry Valley. Much interest in
tho matter was manifested by citi-
zens, and tho room in which the
examination took place was densely
crowded. There was some delay
in the fore part Of the proceedings,
and it was after 3 o'clock p. m. be.
fore Court fairly opeLed. TIE
Prosecuting Attorney appeared in
behalf OF tho people, aud Mcssrs.
Patterson and Palmer for the pris-
oner. The affidavit, in substance.
charges Clark with having. on the
18Th day Of April, 1874, forged the
names Of Il. E. Bigbee, County
Treasurer, and ID. a. I.athro1,
County Clerk, to a redemption CT,
tllicn'e and ceipt.
The first witness called was Mr..
Welbes, Secretary OF the S,rvanach
Lumber c. mpany. After being
aworn, he testified as follows:
reside in Ma.istce county; have resided
there Tor eleven years, of and on. Am &C
l"aintrd with Clark since the IL III Of Anril.
That was the first time saw hm. came
20 Chase 10 pay taxes asked II could stay
At tie house OF Geo. l.. CLARK, and was told
4 hat I t,l To-. IL n
uicr, and was told that he had Just goue out.
but would be back soon. Mr.. Randall told
me this, that Clark was rcputy. and would
do the business as well MS Bighce. When
CLARK came back, stated my.business with
him, and he said GENE over TO the Office with
me, ami we will attend to it. This was on
he 18th Gay Of April. We came to the o..
flee, uhd CLARK went To a front room Dig
bees ROOM and unlocked drawer. a man
That cave with me to Chase was will. us
| Tbs was after ppcr.-bctwepn and 7
o'clock. What he took ii ON the drawer I
| don't know. lie came out OF the room, took
/ apiece o. paper. out OF vest pockct, think.
and went to the big safe unlocked il, and
| tosk out = book containing the dissertations
! OF the which wanted to look over, and aid
IL on the table. He had previously seat us
eertidcats, and we compared the dcscrip.
iions Oh the certificate with those in Il 9
book. We found two descriptions Oh the
cook which were not on the list he sent VA:
nor were they on the duplicate list &c had
kept hero. Those two desert ptions were
Their added to tie list, as also, to the dupl-
! cate.
At the request Of ,hc Prosecut-
my Attorney,witness here produced
from paper in his pocket, the de.
scriptions-s. W. Of n. W. 1 See
%, t. % N , H. IL W., and s. q.
t of N. W, / See. %, 7. 20 n, IL
II W.
We spoke about the interest for three
months, ANA about that time Mr.. Warner
came in. told Clark that if they charged
the months interest then. would not my
II, as could Use the money to better odvnn-
tace. lie p ckcd NJ book to see that tho
Lar SAID aboat il, and said the law reouir, d
that after April Isl, intcrest ut Tho rate OF
80 per cent. per annGm shOu,d be added for
months. SAID he thought that AZ tho time
was so shOrt-:rom the 9th TO the llth-
that Mr.. Biebcc would take the money.
Mr. Warner then took mp the book ard read
the same thing over us what Clark had read
II few moments before. Cha, k Their repeat
ed what he had before stated, that as the
time was so short--only days-he WAS
sure Bigbee would take the money, without
the i?icrcst up To -uly LIST. If he (Clarkl
was in his (8igbcc) place lie would take it.
lie wonld 30 and see Bi@ hcc, and he knew
it was all right; but he (Clark) did not want
to take the responsibility upon him.e.
ti,.nt "A ~.
hsuiing he seemed to make mistake. and
he cut of the bottom part of the list and
put another piece Gil. This was IN the
evening, be;orc he weat up to Birbce's
lie then fsurel 1t over, and made ont the
amount ut s ,209. OF; the amount of princ-
pal AID interest up to April Iltl, 1874.
Then he GOT the papers together-this Ger
iifcate and the daplicatc-and told Warner
he wodld need hiM to sign those papc, =, n
Dept County Clerk, in the evening, after
he Clark cal back from Bigbee's. CLARK
then took the book and went with Warner
to the.safe. put the book in and locked the
sale. Warner held the lamp: and after they
cane back Clark said it would be too late
for Warner 10 wait till he came back fem
Bigbec's and asked him If he would like TO
b. woke up early In the morning and sign
the receipt. ms Mr.. Welbes wished to get Al,
early start for Manistee. Warner replicd
that if Bigb"e approved of the papers he
would get up and sign the receipt, as he had
some other papers to make out, CLARK then
said he would g after lantern and 90 AMI
see Bigbro. asked CLARK irI should go
with him? lie said "No! I then asked
Clark if should wait for his retarn, in tho
house? He said "No! it'll be all right, and
will only take five minutes in the morning.
Clark and Warner then went into the stgre
and Clark went in behind the counter,
rolled up the papers, and put them in |
his coat pocket | then weat into the house
ana did not see anything Of Clark Until the
next morning. Next morning got up, ate
my breakfast, and went into the barroom. |
After awhile Clark came iutu the b,rro,m. |
and waa either putting on his YES. or coat. |
don't rccollect which, as he cane in at
the door.
At this point tho Prosecuting
Attorney requested that ali wit
nesses IN the case. except the one
feslifying. be excluded from the
room. The request was not grant
ed, and the witness preceded
wa HDDUt % ctpck. ClhtK Saiu u |
I'm rather 'ate: went to Bighces and I.att-
ops. to get their signatures" then asked
clar' II those pape-s were all right? lie
'aid Yes SIR" Clark called me Into his
DOM. The room was across tho hall from
he barroom. Clark told me to take chair
alongside the table, anI he took auo her Que,
md sat Oh the opposite side ortte corner OF
he tibl'. T.'s receipt producing the one
II his possessi"n) lay on the table az it IL
,ow ("pen), on the side where Clark sat.
lie showed NE the receipt. I saw those
James (i'igl re's nnl I.','irop's) on the re-
'eipt, aud emo u EEL 1t was all rigi.t.
ooS o"' my poe krt-book and piid him the
money. gave Clark $40. | counteJ
he noncy OLE the table, between US two
lark then took the money and counted il,
nd II back OIL the table, aHd called out
Mary. bring me- nv p)sxet-bookw A lady {
ane ino tbs rooa stepped up between ~,
I'D handed Clark the pocket book.