St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-15
Mr.. WIMANs 0VERDRAFIs
ne EXPLAINED THEM At THE TINS
TO DUN,
WHO KNEW OF HIS mErHo DIS.

Wiman's Work In BuildinR Up the
Firm aud Increasing It's Profits
Noted New York and Cana
dian Business Men Testify az
to Wiman's Honesty and Inc
te2rity.
NEW YORK. June IA. Tho testimony
Tor the defense in the case Of Erastus
Wiman. on trial for forgery, was closed
this afternoon. aud the case is expected
to go 10 the jury at the close OF tomor-
rows session. The defendant himself
was on the stand most of the time, and
made many admissions under
cross.examination of the repeated
use of funds belonging to r. g.
Dun &c Co. These were called
oyerdrafts by the witness, and he pro.
duced a letter written by himself to
Dun Jan. IA. 1893, In which letter
Wiman explained his financial con.
dltion at length. aud informed Dun that
II he had had Is per cent Of the profits
since Jan. l. 1889. instead of II per
cent, the additional increase to
him would have covered the over.
drawals. 1t was on Jan. 1, 1892. that
an agreement between Dun, Wiman.
King and Douglass was made, in
accordance with which Mr.. WIman was
to get IL per cent of the yearly profits
instead of the 20 per cent he had hitn-
erto received. The letter was intro
duced to show more clearly that Dun
knew all about Wiman's overdrawals.
Gen. Tracy tried to show that Dun. by
arresting Wiman, prevented a financial
move on Wiman's part which would
have helped to extricate him from his
difficulties.
Justice Ingraham ruled out all the
questions, saying that they had ne
bearing on the alleged
FORGING CHECK
in suit. Mr.. WeIiman then arose to
cross-examine the witness. He began
by getting Wiinan to say that he had
been the brains of 4. q. Dun & Co.
why is it, then,o said MIR. Wellman,
''that of all the businesses in which
you have been interested. the business
of r. G. Dun & Co. has been success,
while the others were total wrecks?''
perhaps because was better suited
TO the mercantile agency than to any
other"
Mr.. WelIman's incisive questions
caused Wiman to brighten up and an
swer with vigor.
Mr.. Wellman referred to the state
ment of profits OF Il. G. Dun & Co. sub.
mitted by Gen. Tracy earlier in the
morning.
The statement showed that in 1885 the
profits were S345, $50. SO. they increased
steadily until in 1892 they were S525. 900.
The total from 1855 70 1892 inclusive
was s3.3l3. 500 So.
In reply to Mr.. Wellman's questions
the defendant admitted several in
stances i'll which he had written and
telegrapned to the firms agents urging
quick remittances ON one pretext or an.
other aud then had applied the money
TO HIS OWN USE.
1t also appeared thas the gift of s., 900
to the New York Press club, though
accredited to Wiman personally. was
charged against the firm on the books.
1t was also shown thatWiman's meth
cd of drawing on the agents of the firm
and diverting their remittances TO his
own private account had resulted in
with Mr.. Wiman.
Francis B. Thurber. the well-known
wholesale grocer; Robert ). Kimball,
stock broker: Frank s. Cannon, super
lntendent OF the Staten Island Rapid
Transit company; John j. Withrow,
president of the Industrial Institute Of
Toronto, Can, and Dennis Stafford, of
Staten IsIand, testified to Mr.. Wiman's
high reputation for honesty and integ.
rity. after which Gen. Tracy said;
THAT is our case"
Mir. Bullinger was then recalled by
MIR. WelIman. who asked him: us il
true that you were in tue habit of loan
ing muney?'
Il was not" answered Mr. Bulliuger.
Ibid you ever lend any money to Mr..
Wiman?"
''Once only"
THAT is all" said Mr.. Wellman tri-
umphantly.
Mr.. Dun was then recalled to the
stand by Mr.. Weilman to tell the cir
cuustances of the SIS, 600 note and the
Sl35.000 check. He asserted he knew
nothing about these until they were
called to his attention by
HIS ASSOCIATES.
Before this he thought Wiman's eTer-
draft amounted to only S24, 900.
Oiu yOu Ludhe yourself acquainted
with the value OF Mr.. Wiman's real es-
tate?"
II did not"
Ibid you look to his real estate as
secarity for his overdraftsp
never so regarded it."
MIR. Dun admitted knowing that WI
man had overdrawn his accounts for the
last two OF three years, but never sus-
pected that the amount involved was so
large.
Cross-eyamined by Gen. Tracy, Mr..
Dun said that he had handed to the dis.
trict attorney the letters of confession
written by Wiman to himself and wife.
did you give MacFarland any in
structionS as to the letter he advised
Mr.. Wiman to writer"
II gave no instructions whatever"
Mr.. DON denied that the prosecution
was prompted by any fear of MIR. Wi
man, as intimated by MIR. Boardman in
his opening address to the jury.
"When the time comes to charge the
jury" said Justice Ingrahan,, II shall
tell them that Mr.. Dun would not have
done his duty as citizen had he not
aided in the prosecution of MIR. Wi
man."
At this point court was adjourned
until tomorrow morning. Judge H.
graham said he should limit each side
to ninety minutes in their addresses to
the jury.
1.-The case must go to the jury before
night"
q n