The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-24
tary and all-round man. The letter is
as follows:
Russ HOUSE, SAN Francisco,

by parties up there that you are going to sqaeuI
and go against him. Now, Dan, look aeeU before
you leap, for as friend | advise you against
such STEP Mr.. White does not believe you
would do such thing even if you could and feels
safe and able to hold all the property of his own
against all opposition. And besides if you
could do him such an injury it would only in
jure him and do you no good, as he would fight
in the courts until it would consume all YOU
might get out of ii. Besides it would give you
dead away to the whole world and ruin you in
the eyes OF the business world. Yours as ever,
JOHN d. WATHEN.
Another letter from Wathen to Wood
man, dated at San Francisco, October 20,
1885, implied that at that time Woodman
had become suspicious of Wathen, for the
latter stated: "You seem to think mean
to threaten you. l meant to advise YOU
as friend and not to threaten. You
always seem to include me in the same
boat with White. l admit fairly I am
friend of his, but before my God | have
worked for you all the time"
On the trial of the case of Woodman's
assignee against White to recover the
property Woodman gave complete his
tory OF his reasons for conveying to White
and to quote from Woodman's statement:
II was in partnership with White, and
our matters, mortgages, agreements and
contracts were mixed up, and he agreed to
pay up the mortgages for me, and had
made several contracts to that effect AND
finally got the business so mixed up that
could not straighten 1t myself without his
help or somebody's help, and there was
bound to be crash in my affairs. He
told me Che was after me for two years.,
ne was always telling me that if / fell out
with Randall Zone of my Eureka creditorsl
he might bounce me at any time, and if he
did it would burst me up; that if | didn't
stand by him (White) and let him help
me L was, bound to be cleaned
the way times was, if my property was put
up at Sheriff's sale, that it wouldn't leave
me anything, and the best way for me to
do about 1t was to trust his word and let
him 60 ahead and help me out. He al
ways talked that way to me, and finally
came to Eureka from Blocksburg for the
purpose of transferring the stock to him,
and he was to pay up my accounts for
whatever he could, and was to pay up
the mortgages and let me have the
money at less rate of interest so |
could get along and straighten out my
business and put it on a solid basis,
and the consideration for this was that
whatever he paid out should stand against
me and the property was to be put in has
hands to secure him for whatever he paid
out, and so nobody else could get hold of
it, and to stop any body else from attaching
1t, and we laid our plans accordingly and
had everything arranged so nobody else
could attach the stock-Randall or any one
else-and so we could get there first and
get hold of it, so he could get possession of
it. He said if | done that he would protect
me and see me safely through; that was
the consideration. We had it fixed up
that | was to acknowledge l owed him
$4,000. in order TO cover up this and make it
look like a solid business transaction"
Woodman, continuing, explained how
fresh animal was to be left at Bridgeville
10 be used in case of an emergency to beat
the Sheriff or any one else that might be
in advance of White or his men when he
went to take possession of the stock. He
told how Rohrbough rode from Eureka,
met the Sheriff and informed him that
White was in possession of the sheep, and
the Sheriff then returned to Eureka. He
also detailed how Rohrbough met a man
driving hogs on the road, and how. to
throw him off the track, he told him that
some of his hogs had gone down into the
canyon and that he had better get them
at once. This was done to prevent the
driver of the hogs from encountering the
stock and possibly informing the Sheriff
of its Whereabouts.
In answer to the question, Had you
and White any conversation as to the
manner in which Randalps claim should
Dc QtlSdItQG w OOQuldu SldltUs
Eyes, sir. He was to take possession of
the stock and was to turn it over to him,
and ne was to hold it as his, take posses
sion of it, change the herder5 and consult
a lawyer and have document drawn up
so it would be legal and solid, so it would
appear to the world that it was his.
Woodman continued: ''White's talk
all the time was about defrauding my
creditors. He said, You are afraid of me;
I-nI II tr11ct vrn,Dft fol- ord
You put everything in my hands and l
will settle it for you for so cents on the
dollar. This was his talk every place |
met him and whenever l was with him in
the last two years. time and again.
"White came to my place at Blocksburg
and there pleaded and talked with me and
my wife for two days. He said: Il can
help you if you will trust me. If you Trust
me, all right. You trust me and let me go
ahead, but you must give me security.
You keep low and do as tell you and fol-
low my instructions from the word go and
| will start you. You put the property in
my hands and | will go ahead, and after it
Is in my hands and Randall and all of
them see that they can't crowd gou and
can't do anything with you then it will be
in my hands to do, and l can do with them
as please, / can pay them whatever l
please, and if l have mind not to pay
them anything 1 need not; but I can
handle the property then to the best adj
vantage and pay them all whatever L see
fit. IL won't make any difference. If
they won't accept my terms they can
whistle for it and | won't be obliged to pay
them a cent unless / want to-
Woodman was asked: "Now, at the
time you signed this bill of sale, you I'M
dertake to say now that it was for the pur-
pose of defeating, delaying and hindering
your creditors?" and he answered.: ayes,
sir; that was the object; that was the ar
rangemert."
'In other words, you and George E.
White conspired, confederated and COM
bined together for the purpose of defeat
ing, defrauding, hindering and delaying
your creditors?"
Eyes, sir"
'At the time this agreement was signed
neither you nor White knew that you were
violating any lawY'
well, we knew that we were violating
the law, but we didn't know that we were
laying ourselves liable. We knew that
we were not doing right, but supposed we
were safe"
"Then at the time White signed the
agreement, if he did sign it, from your
conversation with him he didn't know
that he was violating law of the State?r
He knew that he was defrauding the
creditors, and that is violating the law, |
suppose; but he didn't know that they
could overhaul him in il. He supposed he
was doing the transaction up so fine that