The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-04-18
CONVICTED
Nelson H. Coykenda1l
Found Guilty by the
Jury.
MR.. COLLINS STRONG PLEA.
He Hints at Strong Things,
but ii Did Not Save
His Client.

1t was nearly midnight when the jury
that had for three days listened to the
trial OF Nelson J. Coykendal for con-
spiracy to defraud the Second National
Bank rendered verdict to Clerk Wise
man.
The verdict was guilty"
It was surprise TO Coykendall, and
his wife, who was present. nearly tainted.
The action of the jury will be presented
to Judge Lippincott today and he will set
day for imposing sentence
When ex-Mayor Collins, on behalf of
the accused man, yesterday, after the evil
dence was all in, addressed the jury he
talked for two hours and one-half.
Among the ogher things he said were
these:-
"The defendant has ever since his ar
rest been prepared for trial at each term
Of court, but the trial has been put off by
the State Coykendall has always
wanted verdict from jury. wanted
Mr.. Winfield TO tell you gentlemen what
he intended to prove when he opened the
case, but he would not and this shows the
weakness of their case. 1t is necessary
to prove conspiracy to show at least that
two persons acted in collusion, and you
cannot prove Coykendall guilty of con-
spiracy unless you show Van Loan to be
equally so.'
Counsel further on said that the banks
books were full of errors made by Van
Loan but not one showed that COykendall
had any knowledge of the errors or that
he knew anything about any false entries.
Mr.. Collins tried TO impress on the minds
of the jury that they were not trying
Coykendall for over drawing his acccout,
and the fact that he did SO did not con-
stitute conspiracy, and that Mr.. Winfield
had produced no proofs that any conspir-
acy had existed.
Referring to the other accounts that
Van Loan or some one else had tampered
with, Mr.. Collins saId:-"They won Z tell
us who these people are" The Counsellor
then made general review of the evid-
ence and sarcastically spoke of the accident
to Mr.. Hogencamp's memory he said
the ledger in court only went back to 1885
when in realty the frauds went back to
1888 and to that date there are errors in
the footings.
II object to this line Of argument . in
terrupted Mr.. Winfield.
II don't see why" replied Mr. Collins.
rs not my statement correct, MI. Hogen-
Camp he asked
The answer was that the frauds went
back to 1888.
KNEW HE WAS GUILTY. AND FLED.
Van Loan. conuinued the ex-Mayor;;
'sknew he was guilty and he fed. Would
not Coykendall have done the same If
guilty for he must certainly have known,
If guilty. that the frauds would be ex-
posed. And right here want to ask why
Is the bank unwilling to tell when the
frauds began? The officials had two years
to examine the books. They say over $14,-
600 has been lost but they won't account
for more than the 81 400 Coykendall is
interested in. Is there any ulterior object
in thiss Whose accounts have been
tampered with? Gentlemen, suppose
you had learned that the accounts Of men
of the highest character in the city had
been tampered with the same as that OF
Coykendall. would you think them
guilty of conspiracy? There Is about
So, coo the bank wont accountfor to assist
you in your deliberations.
Mr. Collins then referred to Coykendall
as grocer and not banker, and in this
way tried to explain why Coykendall did
not keep q set of books. When he re-
accounts had been manipulated wrong
fully, the Counsellor said. to the disgust
of President Hogencamp, that he thought
1.-THE bank could not afford to lose Gus
TONER and for that reason made good the
lOss.'
He read letter which ex-Judge Gar
rick waited to use in evidence. The letter
was handed Mr.. Garrick by a stranger
the day he was engaged as counsel for
Coykendall. 1t is as follows
VAN LOANS LETTER.
II did not know until today's paper came out
about duplicating Mr.. Coykendall in the matter
and it makes me feel worse than ever. Now, he
did not know one word of my affairs. The way
his account is mixed up is. never paid board
when living at his house, also my grocery bills,
and told him deposited to his account certain
amounts which never did, and it kept going on
until it reached the amount it did. He
was not with me in the matter at ALL
While he may not have thought every
thing straight presume he had so much co n
fdence In that he never gave 1t a thought.
IL seems terrible that he should be disgraced
with me. but Il is wrong, and hope this letter
will be shown TO some one that can put things in
better shape. / am the whole cause of all tn Q
trouble, and don't want any one to share one
part of it for me, and poor Henry Leeker
knows no more about it than the North pole.
positively say that Mr. Coykendall is entirely in
nocent OF any conspiracy with me to rob the
bank cannot explain things they should
be for memory is all blurred. cannot remem-
ber, am nearly crazy. cannot keep up this
JOHN Fl. VAN LOAN.
wINFIELD's ARRAfGNMENT
Prosecutor Winfield, on behalf of the
State, said: d:-"This is the first time in my
life that ever beheld in this court before
q gifted and intelligent jury, counsel
of repute endeavor to cover the crimes Of
a man with the cloak of innocence. The
defence has thrown the blame on the
crime laden shoulders of John II. Van
Loan. He is a fugitive from justice, a
criminal, and when needed here today
does not appear. Because of this. this
poor, innocent Coykendall must be
tloubly assured of his innocence and Of
tie rascality Of his son-in-law, John Van
Loan Now, If John Van Loan made all
these forgeries and false enteries, and it
Is admitted on all hands that he did, why
did her
Who gained by its Why, this innocent
man Coykendail He had the forged
pass-book in his hands continually, his
checks were drawn as he admits accord
ing to its balances, and of course he must
have known that he was overdrawing his
account, but knowing what his deposits
were he certainly musthave been actin &
in collusion with Van Loan. just glance
at Leeker's evidence in regard to cashing
the checks. Does not it prove conclu-
sively that the whole transaction is
fraudulent on the pai'I of Coykendall in
raising the S5S. 900 in i've yearss Counsel
claimed that il conspiracy had existed
to defraud the bank, the conspirators
would not have contented themselves
with so small sum as =, 400, or for that
matter the full $4,000 which it is said has
been taken.
Mr.. WfSfield said further that the fact
thar Coyxendail surrendered his books
and checks was no evidence OF innocence.
He was Too shrewd to do otherwise. He
rehearsed the testimony, and claimed it
was not right to place all the blame on
Van Loan, and in an earnest manner
asked the jury to convict the defendant
Is indicted.
Judge Lippincott ih his charge went