The Newtown bee., 1891-05-29

t this life policy.
 g In the cross examination of MT Jonas y he said he did remember paying Elon in ,- terest at one time. Paid $S0 in cash an( '- gave his note about the same time fo t about the same amount. It was in Au t gust or September, 1886. Don't recollec l. whether 1 ever paid the note. l.. B l. Booth figured the interest in Elon's pres - ence, l paid the money to Elon and ht !. made the entry on little pass book ir q my presence; $3500 had been transferred = to my account at the time paid interest 0 and the interest was reckoned on the } whole amount. He demanded further - payments of Interest frequently, but l could not pay it, as 1 had no money . could take out Of my business. l tolC 3 him l couldn't pay until 1 got it out o1 r the oil. When interest was paid, we had the statements of these accounts from 3 Gregory, Ballou & Go. on hand. I have - none of them in my possession. l never } held any of the oil certificates, never was } informed what the number of the certifi cates were and never saw any of them.
 Gregory, Ballou X Co. never offered me ) any as l recollect. 1 was never short on oil with the firm from November, 1885, to August, 1887. Storage was p cents a day on 1000 barrels, il l was short on it and G5 cents, if l was long on it. I told ElOn, after the oil was sold, that it had been sold because he did not keep up the
 margin. The whole 25, ,000 was sold They
 notified me by mail. l authorized l.. B.
 Booth to go and see them after it was
 sold and protest against the sale and to
 buy the oil back where it was. did not
 send any money by him for margin to
 buy back the oil. Did not ask El0n for
 any. Elon told me they had no business
 to sell it out and that the account must
 be put back. 1 meant to have them put
 the account back, with Elon for guaran-
 tor l don't think it was a week after it
 was sold that oil steadied and, had it
 been kept, it would have been better for
 us. l got my information from the pa pers.
 During the examination of Curtiss r. Gately. junior member of the firm of Gregory, Ballou & Co.,, quite a volumi- nous correspondence was produced, car ried on between the firm in New York and Messrs Jonas, Elon Booth and l.. B. Booth of NewtOwn. This correspond ence was in the form of letters, orders and telegrams, that covered the time from the beginning of these oil transact
 ions in November, 1885, down to the time when the final sales were made and the suit now pending was brought. They were in regard to prices of oil at different dates; orders to the firm to buy, sell or lIOlU OH IOI kCtp1nS up the margins and whatever else might properly come in the line of their deal ings. Mir Gately testifird that Elon Booth had personal account with the firm in oil dealings that ran from May, 1884, to April, 1888 and that, in 1885, 3l ,000 barrels of oil were bought for him and 54 ,000 barrels sold. The first aid ElOn gave Jonas was in December, 1885, when he ordered us to transfer from his account to that of Charles Jonas $500, which we did. January 20, 1886, we bought for Jonas 1000 barrels at S7 7-S and 1000 at S7 B. and, January 30, 1000 for $34l4 and were then carrying on his account 13, 900 barrels. February l, we
 bought 2000 for $1643 II and sold 1000. ElOn wrote us, February 9, 1886, to buy 5000 oil for Jonas at so and transfer suf- ticienC margin to hold it. We bought 5000 at @ 5-S on that order and wrote Elon that we had transferred $20O0 from his account to hold it, and asked him if he was willing to allow Jonas to operate at will. About this time, the margin was not sufficient to carry Jonas's account and ElOE signed an agreement. l drew it up in our office and gave it to Jonas to show to Mir Booth and get his signature. He did so and returned it to our office, either by mail or messenger. The sub stance of it was to keep good margin of at least , per cent on 20, ,000 barrels of oil, giving Jonas liberty to sell all or any part of it, if he could do it at a profit, provided he did not draw cash from his account. If the margin was not kept good, we would be obliged to sell Jonas out, as we did not consider him in affiu- ant circumstances and, unless he had a guarantOr, we could not carry his oil for him. We carried the oil after the agree ment was made, in reliance upon the agreement. Jonas said Elon was inter- ested. We were carrying for Jonas, at this time, 0,000 barrels of oil and our books showed him debtor to the firm $14,S07 2-5. February 19, 1886, we wrote Elon for more margin, and, March 25, he telegraghed us to transfer $1O0O from his account to that of Jonas. May 19, when a balance was struck, Jonas was our debt or $14, S92 37-100 and we held 10000 oil for him. Statements were rendered when balance was struck, one to Jonas and one to Booth; that was instructions to the bookkeeper. Balances were struck on the ledger from November, 1885, to Au- gust, 1887. February s, 1886, 1000 was sold at S3 7-S. February II, 1887, L. B. Booth and Jonas ordered us to sell 1000 at GA, 1000 at GA 1-2, 1000 at 65, 1000 at 65 1-2, 1000 at 66 and to buy back if it dropped below or perhaps sell more, if it advanced. We sold in pursuance of that order. February 9, 1887, they ordered us to buy 2O00 at 62 and 2000 at 61. We bought on that order 200O at 61 3-4. April 12, 1887, they ordered us to buy 5000 at GA 1-2 or lower. We bought it for 641-2. April 29, 1887, they ordered us to sell 5000 on (stop order) at 66 1-2 and on every advance of l cent of closing price to sell until order was cancelled. Stop order means on every l per cent. of advance then raise the stop order 1-2 cent. On l
 per cent advance, could sell 1-2 cent in advance on stop order. We sold 5000 at 67. The amount due us, June 30, 1887, from Jonas account, was $19,7 ,766 S2 and
 we were carrying for the account 10000
 barrels oil. September 24, 1887, after the oil was all sold out and the balance
 struck, Jonas was our debtor $S114 3S.
 Statements were sent Jonas and l.. B.
 Booth, when the balances were struck;
 at least, our bookkeeper was so instruct ed. Our statements were never disputed
 by either of them. No demand was ever
 made on our firm to deliver the certifi-
 cates of oil to them. We were always
 ready and willing to deliver them to eith-
 CT upon their paying their indebtedness.
 Six per cent interest was allowed by our
 firm on all deposits for Elon for advances
 for margins under the account of Charles
 Jonas. I usually saw all letters that
 passed between our house and Jonas l;
 might have been very few exceptions. It
 was understood that Jonas was my cus-
 toner, as l got him. I think he came
 there unsolicited. As far as receiving
 orders and writing letters and watching
 margin was concerned, this particular ac-
 count was left to me, but I consulted MT
 Ballou. We have a purchase and sales : book. J. Drennon kept this book. I don't know where he is now; was in our
 employ during all the Jonas account.
 Interest charges are 6 per cent. and allow
 6 on credits. When balance was struck. interest was carried forward and applied on the new account. Commissions $1 , per thousand barrels in buying or selling.