The Portland daily press., 1885-10-28
FERDINAND WARDS TRIAL.

New YORK, Oct 27.-The trial of Ferdi-
nand Ward was resumed this morning
Ulysses S.. Grant, Jr., and George E. Spencer,
cashier of the firm of Grant q Ward, occu-
pied the usual seats by the jury box. Ex-
President James d. Fish of the Marine
Bank was accompanied to court by de-
tective.
BENJAMIN Fish was called to the stand, and
Ward listened to him attentively as he read
off the amount of deposits made by himself
and the firm of Grant & Ward. In his testi-
mony Paying Teller Fish said that ON April
26, 1884, Grant & Ward had balance of
$4,000, and on sthe morning. of May the
balance was $803,002. On May 2 Ward was
raising money for the bank, and he managed
the deposits. by the consent of the coun-
sci, the sheets from which these statements
were given by the witnesses were admitted
as evidences thereby excluding the testa-
mentary evidence in regard to the over
drafts Grant and Ward had two accounts.
Ward had an individual account and drew
against three. The sheets of accounts were
also admitted as evidence.] Ward had spoken
to the witness about the purpose OF his
special account, but the testimony on that
point was ruled out upon objection and the
witness was excused,
Samuel b. Cornell, bookkeeper of the First
National Bank for the past q years, was the
next witness. He kept Wards account he
said, on May 2, 3 and of 1884, His balance
on May /, 2, 3, 4, and was $2,213.9S There
were no u6pOSlUS lndu0 Oh dIy VI bHUS6 udYS.
The amount was paid to the receiver OF the
Marine Bank on October 15, and the account
was closed Wards account was opened in
June, 1881. Three checks drawn by Ward
came through the Clearing House on the
morning of Nav to the amount of $215,0 900.
James D. Fish was then recalled, and
identified a number of letters which had
passed between himself and Ward. The
witness said:
sIt is not true that my bank had been in
81 rCIr,n Inr
that Ward kept helping to save it. We
pressed Ward to return to us the money
which he and his firm had borrowed"
Mr.. Fish was examined at length upon the
meaning of these letters, and also upon the
testimony given by him upon his own trial
in the United States court.
Mr.. Fish continued-"On May 9Th, had
no doubt thatwe could have gotten relit from
other banks had the government contracts
been true as [ believed them to be- A refusal
to certify Grant & Wards check would have
broken them up, and then our bank would
be forced down. | am now staying at Muir
ray Hill hotel, and believe the district at
torney resides there also. We have had
frequent talks together but not much about
this case.'
On direct examination Fish said: knew
of Ward in 1876, and was personally ac-
quainted with him in the summer OF 1871
January l. 1882, / was associated in business
with him In the firm of Grant d Ward, the
latter also conducting the business In
January or February, 1882, there was.
chanSe in the relations between the Marine
band and Grant & Ward. Ward told me
then the business of Grant q Ward would pc
changed: that they would give up stock busl-
ness and through the influence of Gen.
Grant, Senator Chaffee, Stephen b. Elk1ns
and others they had been otfeoed govern
ment contracts for corn, hay, feed, ETC., ana
that if Gen. Grant received the nomination
for the presidency their business would be
more lucrative.
Wards counsel moved to strike out all
about Gen. Grant. 1T was my hope" said
the counsel, that the dead hero's name would
not be dragged into this case and that he
wonld be allowed to rest quietly in his
grave"
Il have had enough of that" said Judge
Barrett. "The name you mentioned is not
besmirched at all and the evidence is COM
petent"
Mr.. Fish continued: ''While in Cuba, in
February, 1882, received letter from Ward
stating he had procured government orders
ON which he hoped to make profit OF $150,
000 but did not wish it known, as 1t might
injure the prospects os Gen, Grant IN secur-
ing his pension, and then he would not act
with the firm, and in order to raise money TO
fill these so-called orders, notes were made
by Grant g. Ward endorsed by me and dis
counted at the Marine bank or other places.
Ward told me the money was used to buy
beef, corn, wheat, ETC., with which to sup
ply the government with orders as given.
The special account of Grant q Ward keyt
at the bank related only to government
would be SO large it would be
as well not to mix up the moneys received
from it with the general account of the firm
| received a letter dated March 8, 1882, from
Ward stating that he would need money to
supply the government with large number
of bushels of oats for out of town stations.
Fish continued: On May I'd, 1884, the
firm of Grant & Ward owed the bank a large
sum and / urged Ward to bring securities to
relieve me. He brought me some Friday and
said snappishly 'snow hope you are salts
fed, you have here between 81, 100000 and
$1,500000 These | put in the vault and l
have not seen them since.
On May 9Th, Ward, by my consent, obtain
ed a large number of securities on which to
realize for the bank, but never got the Sc
curities back nor was any check returned to
represent any loan raised. On the night OF
May 9TH waited up all night expecting to
receive moneys and checks from him;
went to his house at a. M the next day,
and waited vainly to see him until o'clock
Was that the end of your acquaintance
with Ward?
Not quite. have had conversations since
with respect to his transactions with our
bank and with myself. He came to see me
at my rooms over the bank three or four days
after the failure. He said he couldn't help
it. He said had been his best friend.
told him that by his deception and treachery
he had ruined me, ruined my. family, ruined
the bank, and had destroyed reputation
which l had been % years in building; In
my Indignation l raj raised chair, aGo:t and nlrP he
me- | told him if he were not such
contemplate, sneaking hypocritical sneak
Ilcould kin him He cI9qched on II the floor 2o
commit suicide, hang himself, drown him
self, poison himself, shoot himself or do it
anyway so the world would be rid OF his
presence. =,
Ward smiled sarcastically as Fish describ-
ed the scene.
The examination Of Fish then closed.
Receiving Teller Carr of the Marine bank
was then sworn. He said ON the morning of
May 9TH Ward deposited with me a check for
1880, 900 signed by VIM HI. Vanderbilt; he he
asked me to withdraw the check of $4,000
saying the check drawn against it would not
| be presented
| refused, but Fish bade me to hold and
| treat it as a deposit. The $4,000 check came
back on the afternoon of the same day that
Ward came in with the check for $71,88oO On