New-York tribune., 1874-04-28
THE COURTS.

TRIAL OF EX-TREASURER SPRAGUE'
, rupy EASILY oBrAINED-oPENING REMARKS OF
Observation-Disclosures RoDMAN-A TABLE OF DE-
FICIRNCIEs PRESENTED BY wM' H. "Ai"NN c..
The trial of Cortlandt A. Spragae' ex-0l'y
Trcasurcr of Brooklyn after many ao9ou.
finally begun yesterday mornns III '"o yoohoos
rr, soan,ior was conducted by DistrictAtorhey
poamar asSsted by Joshua NJ Van Cott ana ASSif'''
u,s,-,o, ttorney Moore, and the deiense ny
u..n ID p Barnard, and Edwin MORE Ai'er ''o
,,vro had been called an adjournment mth hoon ""'
-. oaused by the absence of one OF the principal WIZ
'~ Cor tho pro,ecution, the wellknown public
oo,untaot william T. Warren. Upon the opening AZ
on the Courtroom was crowded. and among the num-
her were Alderman Ropes, Controller schroeder Oorpo
ration Counsel Witt, and others The following J"!
was obtained: ,,, c,
Harrison b. Abbott. Peter A. Bennett, Philip A. craig
.braham B Bashfed. Marcus Mead. Samuel Bennett
william Mason. William II. Meserole Johh messI",,
Matthias williamson, Joseph HeSemau' Ji' ""'0i a.
Kimberly.
Mr. Rodman in opening for the prosecution said the
prisoner was charged with embezzllng as Cly treas
urer OF Brooklyn, large sums OF money inrus'eu 10
HIM He took the oath Office, wherein he swore he
would perform his duty Treasurer OF that
city faithfully honestly In 1870 as the indictment
charged the deendent then the City Treasurer entered
upon a system abstracting or approprlanng 10 nis
own use tho moneys received Ivy him from the Tax Col
yector and tho Controller, and from o'her
sources and the Disrict-Attorney INTENDED TO
show that this was continued until 1872 and amounted
IN about sl59O He was the habit OF receiving gen.
eraily day after day. from Tax Collector and less
frequently from the Controller, large sums OF CITY
moneys Sometimes IL was $1,000 sometimes S5Oco' ana
sometimes SOO that check made payable 10 the
"order of Cortlsndt A. sprague, City Treasurer"
II was delivered to the City Treasurer and then
WAS bis duty as the charter required. TO deposit
that money the day In one OF the h c
the C,ty Departmenr. In some of the cases tns n g
received and the whole amount % - the cY in any
priated, and placed to the cfedt OF V1 "a "a ~
SsNsat OF thai. rs ne undersood i this: While he
was the Ciiy Treasurer he was ais9 a rsSge C ~ T .
Prpotyn Trust Company and the ONCE OI Clty IItds-
i,rr WI kop in the Office OF the Trust Company so tha
~ ros ibe Wheel within Wheel and that arrangement
~ t va a." b an casy mode for committing this great
alleged wrong. Being q director he bad prlVale ac-
smonpi i over TO him by the Tax Collector instead of
being placed the credit Of the city IN the Brookyh
Trust Comp8ny, simply transferred 70 the cIeui ol
spraguc la that case he would sOmtnes draw ms
check aud appropriate the money i rh cnect T
Of the Tx Collector 70 S w@ud be re- %
cciyed at tie Brooklyn Trust Company and instead OF
that being dorsed and placed 90 the credit OF me
credit of tie civ and the Dalauce appropriated for
the benefit Of Sprague 1t was matter OF change over
ent was Facilitated by the fact that the Secretary OF
the Trust Company. Rodman. was the deputy OF
Company was ufawn by Mills, the President and Rod
the Secretary payable TO ePragne ndivu1y nnced ny
they indOrsed by Sprague ana went IN many cases
directly into possession. 1t was deliberate plan Dy
which the of the city instead or beng deposited
day In the banks OF the city were thus aDsacteu
by suraguc sometimes to 20 real estate, sometimes
into Jefferson Car Company stock, and sometimes INTO
theaters. -, -. a.,
Mr. Barnard said the law well settled that the
Judge require the prosecutor TO elect one OF he
counts 60 which no shall COufDe himself Judge Moore
said he should required To tell the Jury Whetner te
case is OF grand larceny embezzement he would
rather wait until the evidence was III before deeldDg on
tho legal prCcedent. Therefore he would not cOnpel
counsel for che prosecution 10 elect their charge
The first witness called by the prosecution was william
E. Warren, who stated that his business was thal OF
accountant He had been In the same line OF business
for thirty and had great experience in lnVestgd
ing the various offices of the CITY Govern
ment and had been employed by banks ana insurance
companies. He employed to Investigate the ac-
counts OF CITY Treasurer sprdgue 1878 by the city
authorities and the Controller. In making the examlna-
tiOns first sought 10 ascertain the amount OF money
which Mr. Sprague received from his predecessor III
office and he next ascertained the amount OF moneys
received by Treasurer day 10y day. stated IN the
books Kept in the Office the City Treasurer and labeled
'Furi Accounts" These books contain two accounts,
one entitled the "Gcneral Fund" and the other the
Special Fund" and they show each days re-
ceipis and the which the money
came Uy taking the daily receipts from the beginning
of spraeies official tern-Jau. 1, N1so9-he bhd me
oegregnfe receipts He next ascertaned what was
mated twelve thirteen banks as deposltorles Tor the
pubc money, he obtained from each Dapk ilst OF
the daily deposits ana thus obtained the aggregate
smonnt depOsitcd. The examination was made mp 10
sept No. 1873 which date SpraSueS successor look
the oath of Ofhce. - vii. A.
The witness then read IN answer 10 the DstrictAt-
torneys questions the total receipts ana deposits III the
days mentioned IN the Indictment The details are nero
omitted, the results being summed mp in the following
tables OF deficiencies in exTreasurer Spragues dc-