The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-22
THE HALE and NORCROSS.
New Arguments Heard in the
Famous Suit.
A Strong Array Of Counsel Before the
Supreme Court Reviews the
Testimony.

The full bench of the Supreme Court
sitting in bank heard the first of the argu-
ments in the famous Fox-Hale 81 Norcross
suit yesterday.
Ex-Judge CARRIER opened for the appel
lants and held the attention of the court
for an hour and quarter. He contended
that the judgment rendered by Judge Heb
bard awarding the respondents 81, 000, 900
did not allow Hale & Norcross fair profits
from the output of the mine and the
amount of work done. He also said that
the evidence presented to the lower court
had not shown any wrongdoing, and in
the main that the judgment was unjust.
NJ. NJ. Estee, late candidate for Governor.
followed Judge CARRIER with the argument
that the judgment should never have been
rendered inasmuch as M. w Fox was not
personally qualified to bring the suit be-
fore the lower court, as he was not even a
stakeholder at the time the alleged frauds
were supposed to have been committed.
e. Z. Taylor took up that portion of the
decision relating to Director Charles
Wheeler, wherein the director was held re-
sponsible for fraud, and claimed that by
the evidence it was shown that he was only
negligent.
Recess was taken until O'Clock.
The afternoon session was given up to
the respondents. W. T. Baggett started
in to review the testimony of the case, and
held the attention of the court until
O'Clock without having completed his
story He contended that the lower court
had not erred in its Judgment, as the evil
dence had plainly shown a conspiracy on
the part of the directors or some one to
defraud the stockholders of the company
of millions of dollars.
Mr.. Baggett referred to the negligence of
the officers of the company in not having
known what was going on. He referred to
A. X. p. Harmon as the liking pin of the
deal" 81 call him the king pin," said
Mr.. Baggett, ''because he admitted on the
witness-stand that he was director in ten
companies and that he knew nothing re-
garding the working of the mill nor had
he any understanding regarding the con-
tracts the mill had made.
''That is fair sample of the testimony
of all the directors. | claim, your Honors,
that such gross neglect on the part of the
directors was crime, and that the court
below did not err in its Judgment"
Mr.. Baggett then went into an exhaustive
description of the mode of sampling the
ores for ASSAY. He laid particular stress
upon the testimony of the superintendent,
who had said there were two samples taken
from each car as they passed the sampler,
and that the assay from these samples,
known as the car assay, showed the actual
assay value of the ore. He also referred
to the testimony of John W. Mackay, who
said he always depended upon the car as
says as a check upon the mills.
The assay question was one of the points
upon which the respondents propose to
sustain their case before the court; that
| if all the ores or each ton of ore. had been
assayed and proper returns made, the
stockholders would have received the divi-
dends due them.
Mr.. Baggett was telling the story OF
tracing bullion from the mills to the mint
at Carson City, and proving it to have been
bullion produced by the Hale & Norcross
mine, when the court decided to adjourn
until this morning
Each attorney will be allowed two hours
court m he would So Complete his @ in
half an hour this morning.
There are still two attorneys on each
side who may be heard from to-day, but it
is expected that the case will be completed
tonight.
KITcurNs know the ioV of econonov no.