The New York herald., 1878-11-19
THE COURTS.
Another Of the Check Forgers
Placed on Trial.
CAGING A SHOPLIFTER.
Words of Praise for the BEST Po-
lice in the World"

There was commenced in th6 Court Of Oyer and
Terminer. yesterday. before Judge Noah Davis and .
Jury the trial Of Charles W. Pontez, who is charged
with participating in the forgery Of $4,000 check
purportng to have been drawn by the New York Life
Insurance Company on tho Union Trust Company.
and which successfully negotiated In this city in
January, 1877. At the time OF such forgery Pontez
policy clerk in the Office Of the insurance
pany and it is charged against him that be procured
and gave to Elliott and Becker. who drew up and
gotiated the check. one Of the companys printed
checks from which to copy. Elliott has already
pleaded guilty and been sentenced to term of four
years in Sing Sing. The people were represented by
Districs Attorney Phelps and Assistant District
Attorney Herring. and the prisoner by Thomas
v. Gator, John r. Dos Passos and Irving Ward. The
principal witness for the prosecution is Charles
Becker who, it claimed. did the filling mp Of the
check. Becker is lithographer by trade, and his
exploits in the way OF forgery have made him the
subject of much public curiosity. He not pres
ent in court yesterday. but his coworker. Elliott.
was. Elliott was brought down on q writ Of habsas
corpus, and is intended to be used witness for
the defence. Mr.. Morris Franklin. president Of the
insurance company testified to the false character Of
the check. did also Mr. William II. Beers, the vice
president. The latter witness further testified that
but subsequently admitted that he stood up with
him on the occasion Of his marriage, but knew him
then by another name and insisted @ that up to the
no knowledge Of him and had stood up
~ friend of the lady. There had been
m investigation in the Office to discover, If pos
sible. whether any OF the employees had been &C
quainted with Elliott. They began to suspect Pontez
Of being party to the forgery shortly after ii
committed, although he remained in the employ
nlent OF the company twenty-one months later. He
retained in the company that he might be
under supervision, and easily accessible If the evi-
dence should warrant his arrest
Mr.. Theodore M. Banta, the cashier Of the insur-
ance company, testified that the last day Of De-
cember. 1876 the company had to its credit in the
Union Trust Company $307, 900; the 18th Of jan
nary he received the check among other vouchers
from the Union Trust Company; he identified
check Of the company for Sl50,000 which he
said showed January. 1877. marks of hav-
Ing been folded as II put in persons pocket;
whereas they were kept by the company unfolded.
The object Of this testimony was to show that Pom
tez had abstractcd the check from the bundle Of
vouchers and given to the forgers to copy AFTER
This was substantially tho testimony given up to the
hour of adjournment
The theory Of the prosecution is that the prisoner
was in the conspiracy with Elliott and Becker. and
allowed them to copy from check for $150000, and
then gave them notice when the balance in the Union
Trust Company sufficient to cover the $64 900
check In She course of the trial motion made,
on behalf of the prisoner that the Court direct that
his counsel be furnished with list of the witnesses
and copy Of the proceedings before the Grand
Jury This motion supported by affidavit by
the accused in which he asserts his innocence. The
case was adjourned to this morning.