Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1896-03-08
THE JONES Gaze.
WOOHBURN FINISHES HIS
CEOSS-EXAMINAT.ON
OF HARRIS.
The Prosecution Fixing the Date
Of the Bogus Melt.

Inc morning. session opened WIN
cross examination of Hirsch Harris
by Woodburn. Tom Conners was
Foreman Of the refinery. He was re-
commended by Col. Robert Heating
He was recommended as an assayer. |
Don't think he knew anything about
melting and refining. I retained
Jones, the defendant, as assistant.
When | first talked with Jones about
the silver shortage | think it vas six
or eight hundred ounces He i'd
mitted we were short, jones' never
told me the shortage occurred BY
reason of base bullion and zine being
in it. He said he made it good by
outsi de purchases. [ did not regard
this as honorable. The missing k.E
of the vault was found about to
months after the bullion was weighed.
l first saw it in the draw Of the Mplter
& Refners office. I was occupying
the desk at hat time. 1t had fo:-
merry been occupied by Jones. The
key was a duplicate f the refinery
key, I dout know who put it in the
desk.
Woudhurn read from the notes Of
the preliminary examination about
the key to the effect tuat the wit ess
might have car"lessly thrown the key
in the desk not knowing what it wa.
Witness said he had so testified, but
he had explained the testimony next
day. Also that he, Hahri5kie or any
body els" might have had a chance to
steal. Every house thief has d chance
to steal If he wants to. There must
have been fifty or sixty gold bars in
in the vault in August. Jones' Went
Of the 9Th, [ supposed TIL he an"
Ellis went down on No L. e bu-j-
ness. I made 10 Objection. [ had no
suspicion of him. Idi' MT tell him
before he left I was going to WEIGH
the bullion. I knew but little of re-
finerv matters. but I could make con
snlidation me IS. Jones had showed
me- how.
L blt uDI examine hiic DoNh Aiii
mediately after my going into office
Mr.. Ellis | think suggested to me the
~propriety of weighing the gold de-
posits. I asked Mr.. Ellis to help me
in the weighing. We weighed or
Sunday and Ellis helped me- as ar
accommodation. We IAN work or
Sunday if we desire. | went to the
mint about 10 o'clock in the morning
went into the front hall for my mai
and then came out. I did not Oper
the vault before I saw Mr.. Ellis. W,
missed one bar NJ. 1916 in tn count
Corners, Ellis and myself spent abOu
two hours and a half weighing talked tn,
matter over that the bar was missing
: I was. advised to chip the bullion am
assay it, bat [ proposed to wal
and let the Government do that, as
e had written to Washington to have
done.
The attorney harried the witnes
Y with numherless questions such a
would lead the jury to infer that tn
witness himself was in sOme way re
( spOnsible for the shortage.
t The Meter & Refiner's books shpul
show that No. 1914 should have bee
on the Bodie bar. One year latter tn
same bar was passed in settlemer
for '93 and '94 and the settlcmer
numbers We're stamped on it. Wit
ness was called on to examine tn
stamped bars. Some of the bars ha
- the figures in a straight line an
IS some zig Tag. Witness had neve
;. critically examined the figures.
- The attorney laid stress on the fa'
that the figures on the spurious be
were zigzag, Indicating that it We
done by a man of no experience. Tt
piled tnat he could not tell about tt
experience Of the man who stampe
~ the bars, but it looked as if it was dol
=, in a hurry. The bars were eXhibite
- to the jury.
Witness declined to guess on the T
latlve value of two bars without han,
ling them, on the grounds that copp
base made a bar look yellow when
or had very little gold. Much stress W
Fu lad on the time the leaves were a
lo sracted from the record book, the ATTIC
Oh ney holding that if the gold in the B
81 die melt had been distracted in '93 ii
W book would have been mutilated il
Is m~ediately. Witness admitted that SUI
eu was probable, but that the fraud
the bar could not be detected until t
l > bar Welt into the melting pot. w
eS ness did not know when the leaves b;