Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-08-21
BENJAMIN ESCAPES THE LAW.
No specific Charge of EmbeZzie.
ment. and the Testimony MOI
sufficient to Convict.

In the case of S. Benjamin, arrested on
the charge of ENLIGHTENMENT preferred by
his former employer, NJ. H. Lipman, and
heard before Justice Speirs in the Police
Court this morning, the evidence adduced
was as follows
NJ. H. Lipman testified that he had
known the defendant, S. Benjamin, since
the Both of June, 1882. That Benjamin
had been employed by him from some
time in July, 1852, until January, 1885, in
the capacity of a clerk, with the excep-
ton of a few days in which he had alb
sented himself from the store. That Ben
jamin was not employed to collect bills,
but had done so on several occasions
from parties at Camp Douglas,
owing to having a more thorough
knowledge OF them and their
accounts than that possessed by
Mr.. Lipman himself. Sometime in
the fall of 1888 John Seagers, the post
trader at Camp Douglas, went security
for thirty dollars for a soldier by the
name of Ray, for suit of clothing. This
amount was charged to Seager as received
by Ray, and when paid by Ray was cred
tied to Seager. Seager in the mean time
had purchased goods and paid in various
sums of money at different times, and
upon balance being struck on the first
of the year the books showed that
Seager still owed Lipman $43.
That Seager had claimed in his lip
man's) presence, that he had paid the
thirty dollars to Benjamin, and it having
also been paid by Ray, he should receive
a credit for the amount of sixty dollars
instead OF thirty. The books did not
show the credit of thirty dollars claimed
to have been paid by Mr.. Seagers to
Benjamin, and therefore Benjamin must
have converted it to his own use. Other
accounts had been presented to parties
owing the firm at the Post. and they have
claimed that they paid the bills to Ben
jamin.
At this point there was a lively Skin
mish among the attorneys as to receiving
the "say-so" of anybody as evidence, and
Mr.. Lipman having told all he knew
personally in regard to the matter, re-
tired
The next witness examined was John
Seager. He claimed that mistake had
peen made in his account with Mr.. Lip
man in the sum of thirty or forty dollars.
He had paid various sums of money to
Benjamin, but had not paid thirty dollars
for the purpose of liquidating the account
of Ray. All of the money had been paid on
the general book account, and he was
satisfied that through some mistake he
had been made to pay too much. In
looking over the books he found that he
had been credited with the thirty dollars
paid to Lipman by the soldier Ray. He
did not claim that Benjamin appropri-
ated the money to his own use at that
time, or now; only that a mistake of
thirty or forty dollars had been made in
his account.
Mr.. Lipman, brother to NJ. FL. Lipman,
and book-keeper for the firm, then gave
his evidence: To his knowledge Seagers
had come personally and given his Sc
curly for the suit of clothing purchased
by Ray. That it had been charged to
the account of Seagers as having been re-
ceived by Ray. The amount of the bill
had been paid by Ray and the proper
credit given to Seagers. Ray had paid
the money to Benjamin. There was a
credit of thirty dollars paid by Mr..
Seagers individually on the Ray trans
action.
In summing up the evidence Justice
Speirs said there was no evidence adj
duced that any certain sum of money had
been embezzled and therefore the de-
PENDANT was discharged from custody.