The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-12


from his memory Now, gentlemen, when you
undertake to reconcile this evidence you will
find considerable difficulty in trying to believe
that Can you believe itl Is it probablei Is it
consistent with human nature} Mr.. ketcham
said to you that he expected us to prove the
value of this bank stock. He said he had nc
idea but what we would undertake to prove the
value OF this bank stock, by showing the actual
condition of the bank, but, he says, we have not
done it 1t was not necessary for US to do it. The
evidence plaintiffs themselves have introduced
in this case, shows conclusively, by any fair
Interpretation of it. that the bank stock was
worth every dollar that Morrison and Miller paid
for it. Further along will show you that that
is the fact and will show you that Morrison
and Miller recognized that fact, repeatedly,
long after this stock was purchased, and not
only recognized it, but Mr.. Morrison certified
to it with all the solemnity of oath, as an
officer of the bank. But we did have Mr.. Eng
lish to testify to the value of the bank stock
at the time he sold it, and as to the relative con-
dition of the bank at the time New and Wright
sold, AS compared with the time he sold, which
brings that evidence directly in point.
Mr.. Ketcham stated, il did not misunderstood
him, that he did not subtract the Mary J. East
81, 600 from his recapitulation. He says there is
no evidence that that claim is worth anything.
Harry J. Milligan. receiver of the old First
National Bank. swore that good part Of it was
paid, and he would get the rest of it in six
months; that he has received several payments
on It, and he expects to get it all inside OF SIX
months. Mr.. McCutcheon testified that tie
claim is good, or regarded as good. You will
reeolect whether ! am right or wrong in this
statement of the evidence.
Mr.. KETCHAM-All that Mr.. Miligan testified
to was in regard to the condition of the Hanna
estate and the claims against Mr.. Hanna; and
in regard to the Mary j. East matter lie said
that he had not any knowledge except what was
hearsay.
MR. BUTLER-But he went on to say that he
had been paid several payments, and expected to
receive the balance within six months.
recollect, since Mr.. Ketcham mentioned it, his
statement with regard to the Hanna claim; that
there would be from so. rs per cent of the
Hanna paper recovered according to his in
formation
Mr.. Ketcham stated that I knew altogether
too much about the Carey Miller matter that
helped plaintiffs to the amount of So, 900 by
asking whether there had been a piece of real
estate taken on the Carey Miller paper, from his
mother and that then plaintiffs, for the first
time, found out that there was S., 900 loss on
that real estate that they were entitled to a
credit for. Mr.. Ke tcham has put that S., 900 or
his recapitu,ation exhibit, as an addition,
although he already had the same S., 600 in
another exhibit. He has in exhibit ''B" "$17 900
loss on real estate" which is the loss every
single dollars worth of real estate that the bank
had when this trade took place, and also all that
the bank ever acquired from that time
on until it went into liquidation When
this trade took place the bank only
owned $40 $50 worth of real estate.
and Mr.. Ketcham has charged up in plaintiffs
exhibits 1917, 900 loss real estate which the
evidence shows is every dollar that the bank
ever lost on real estate from the time that Mr..
English sold to Mr. New down to this hour. That
includes the So, 900 loss Miller real estate, but
Mr.. Ketcbam has added it in second time.
knew all the time that they had charged up the
whole sl7, 900 on their exhibits, and knew that
they had not any right to charge one penny Of it
on those exhibits, because the real estate that the
bank then had was worth the $40, $50; it was the
Slaughter real estate and it was worth the full
amount at which it was taken; the bank never
lost copper on il. What the bank lost the ST.
600 on was the real estate it took afterwards,
just as the Indiana Banking Company took tho
real estate that, according to John l.. Ketcham,
absorbed almost its entire capital. When the new
bank was formed it took all the real estate from
the old bank, and the old bank said 1--WE will
agree to count loss on real estate of ST., 000,"
although the actual loss was not dollar. Dir.
ketcham, in talking about notes and judgments
that were taken by New and Wright from Morri
son and Miller, spoke about them as though Dir.
New and Mr.. Wright had selected the best of the
assets. Mr. New swears to you that to this day,
ST., 500 of the assets which he took he has not
received dollar for-$15, 900 from the Beatty
estate and s., 500 from r. j. Bright making loss
of SIT, 500. In this connection Mr. Ketcham
talked to GU loud and long about the results
that were brought about by this trade alleged to
be a fraud, and depicted the sealing of the new
First National Bank stock-he did not call it by
that name but he talked about the scaling of
stock and the final breaking up of the institution
and asked how New and Wright would have felt
supposing they had held stock in the bank, and
oy reason Of this fraud the proprietors of the
bank had scaled their stock one .half-Mr.
ketcham knew there was not particle of evil
dence in this case about any such matter as that.
He knew perfectly we'll there was no scaling of
the stock of the old bank, No. 55-never dollar;
and he knew another thing that | want to inn
press upon your memory. and | want you to re-
member>it when YOU get to your jury room;
he knew that neither Morrison, Miller, nor the
Indiana Banking Company nor anybody else ever
paid for the 2 $50 shares of stock bought from
John G. New and John G. Wright. Morrison
and Miller never did pay for this stock They
got rid of two ffths of the debt by scaling the
capital OF the bank from $500, 900 down to $780, 900
that is in evidence. do not talk outside of
the record. 1t is in positive proof that after
having drawn dividends right along on the whole
of this stock and applying it to Morrisons and
Millers personal credit instead of paying off the
notes that Morrison and Miller owed for the
stock, they scaled the capital of the bank and
paid off two ffths of their debt out of the capital
of the bank. They never paid for it, John G.
New and John G. Wright were paid by Morrison
and Miller; but they were paid by money Dor
rowed by Morrison and Miller down East and
Morrison and Miller paid off their down-East
debt, wo-fifths of it, by scaling the capital of
the bank. When the Comptroller began to push
MIR. MORRISON LOT carrying SUCH large notes and
overdrafts in the bank, Mr. Morrison wrote the
Comptroller, saying, in substance: 1--WE have
it in contemplation to reduce our capital stock,
and if so, these notes shall be taken care
of in that way" and that is the way
they were taken care Of Mr.. Ketch-
am talked about the Indiana Bank
ing Company paying every dollar paid for this
stock. They have not shown notes executed by
the Indiana Banking Company for dollar Here
are notes brought in here that came out of the
tin box, and they are Morrison and Miller notes
You will not find single obligation of the In
diana Banking Company ever issued under it's
firm name in connection with this matter from
the very inception of it until this hour Not one
Mr. Ketcham talked at some length with re-
gard to the resolution of Aug. 3, 1877, by which
the $3.50, 900 was put into trust-the l 900 shares
of stock-and he says that was violation of the
law. | do not care, so tar this case is con-
cerned, whether it was or not; that is not
question in issue here. One thing is certain,
neither the bank nor it's stockholders ever lost a