New-York tribune., 1885-03-21
THE TRIAL OF JAMES D. FISH.
MORE IGNORANT BANK DIRECTORS


~vsrn,oSY FOR THE PROSECUTION NOT YET COM
pLHrEp-MR. scRIBA's EXAMINATION.
me eighth day Of the trial Of James D. Tatiopa Tisi nal
misapplying the funds OF tae ,sst;moov for the
nssscntion moi completed Judge Benedict ana tne
iury heard the testimony OF Two OF nr . yarnns
Srssctors If the bank who did not know VaLo1s
$acys no regardinp the use OF the funds OF tho oann
which have been brought ont IN tne 'ao cross
FIRST Henry Barrow. tne rrsdav airrodf was further
onestioned by Mr. Clarke. He had two sons EN- eilr
nioyed in the bankone as assistant 10 the case -.
a'a arne the bank in Apri 1884, few days before
sbe failure, but had not learned anything ABOUT
the unsecured loans. - ~. N..;oral
O. ID. BALDWIN, president of the Fourth NaStoht iont
Bank testified IN answer to questions by piseTgb bo
ATTORNEY Root, tsat on the morning OF MAY ,no no
went TO the Clearing !onse OF whish ne Sown the
manager. ma and Mr. Fish, the president thot OF
the Marine Bank Mr. Cam, ToTghrted T,ha MariSe sias
Mr. Fish had just told hm har Inas ot the the Clearing
ponse and that he feared it would be Impossible 70
make the balance good. Mr.. Camp ngureo up anu nf
found that the bank was Geo'Ur sa,I ID to Mr. Fish
"You have plenty of securities, supposef l Will
lend you enough to make the balance good gi, II yon
Al F,sh soon alter sent up $2l 900 IN money asd
load Of securities, OF which the WA wisposT o3rOed
enough to secure The loan OF his oahk anu t; 10 - b
the balance to Mr. Fish. In answer 70 ques,ions oy
Hr HU C,srke the witness told how the, bal
ances @ are made up at the Clearing House. naSs
Each bank sends two tte'NS tha Clearing ring
Honse before 10 o'clock. Desks are arranged, III q
circle and one of the two representatives OF oah
stands facng one of the desks inside OF the Circle
vhie the the other stands opposite him on the out
aide of the circle. At the tap OF bell each man
on the outside of the circle passes 10 que s sS anu I
gives to the clerk at the next desk on the INSIDE OF
the circle package supposed to contain checks on
one bank paid by the other. The amounts IN ngures
placed on the OUTSIDE OF tne pnsSde Of the CIR
Gle. The amounts are added up and computations
made which show which OF the BANKS o"o 'no
others. , -. C,-,-,s oe;oo
bron ght over the original assignment made by Grh
d. Ward ana flied on May g. 1854. ~ i was dnt,
In evidence and Assistant Cashier Daooi lueltr
fed the signatures of General Grant and MS son,
Mir. Fish and Mr.. Ward. MIR. Daboll also answered
some inquiries about payments that were maze Oh
loans of Grant & Ward in October 1888. In one
case a payment Of SO, 300 was made III aouiloh 10
the principal OF the oan doH be pp bance
was credited, by dire tion of Mr.; FISH 10 an nc
cSnut called " Other Real Estate" and especially
had bought in Brooklyn. There were other sucn
payments in excess of legal interest, amounting In
shorl time TO $50, 600 on the real estate ACCOUNT
and SIC 900 on the surplus fund account,
Captain Ambrose Snow, the vlce-president ana
one Of the directors of the Marine Bank was asked
the questions as the other dlrecors M anu was
equally ignorant of the way IN wnicn the uhsecuieo
loans to Grant g. Ward were made. -,
10 N r. Wilson, one of the directors, VINO acted
secretary OF the Board answ1reo "o ~, ~ ~
questions put 10 him. He had known Mr. FISH 1or
forty years. aud had the same confidence as tne
other directors in the president. lie Was ln the
habit of frequently reading the loan tickets 10 the
Board at their meetings. lie couid not fenieinoel
reading the loan tickets when are ~ IA
evidence in the trial sometimes, ne salu,
Mr. Fish would stop hun as ne osgan
70 read a ticket by saving that the loan hau oeeh
psid. Mr.. Clarke asked:
Did Won read at any meeting this loan ticket OF $780,
600 to the account OF Grant ware ,h.
The witness-I am sure did not read tnat
The witnessII know that If / had read that there
would have Immediately cry raised py the dect-
ors at lending such an amount 10 Grant & Wafu
Mr. Wilson had considered the firm of Grant 81
Ward as an extremely ricn one and supposed tnat
* al gays had large credit balance. lie witness
superintended the work on the Booth Theatre prop"
erry before the failure ....e,.,
he took possession of tho Marine Bank on May D.
at .. m and retained possession until receiver
Johmson was appointed about a week az or. he
examined the 1oan-book and the securities, ana
mi mark Opposite the record OF the securities IN
fhe loan-book when he found the collaterals- ne
,narken missing or no collaterais opposite
the record of the loans on the accounc ~ Gasn'
Mr. Root-Hoy did you conduct this examination
The witness-I first examined the assets TO see wnat
was left. - , a,as
H. Clarke-I object, as this is inmate rial
NJ R"atNWe have shown that the defendant had
loaned 81 373 900 OF the banks money 10 MS Own nrn
.oo oo8 of IL without any security and that after that
he allows his firm to take SSOO,oOo more. NO" "ah'
10 show what was left in The bank. .
indgs Renedct-I don't think what was left Is i'm
portsnt. no.su. tho, "a tru, What was left was
not importantly was a small matter
The witness did not give tho particulars OF his
examination and his testimony was finished before
the close of the court. .
The trial will be resumed on Monoay.