The San Francisco call., 1897-07-14

writing. He did not know who drew the
check for the transference of the amoun
to the Board of Trade, but on being shown
the stub ne said it was in FigePs hand
writing. He did not know who signed it,
but if nobody forged the signature Isaac
Hoffman signed it. To the best of his
recollection he had seen the check and 1t
was signed by Hoffman. The check was
! produced and witness identified Inc sig
nature as Hoffmans.
Re-examined by Ach the witness said
that FIgel received salary of $3.50 per
I month. Part of Figel's duty was to send
receipts to customers. When drafts were
received Fisel might indorse them with
! a per"
Witness gave the following explanation
of sending the firms check to the secre-
iary OF the Board of Trade: "When a
failure takes place the largest creditor is
! appointed trustee. We were the largest
creditor OF Kurtz & Korn and were accord
! ingly appointed trustees. a compromise
OF 40 cents on the dollar was effec ed, and
as payments were made they were mad e
through the Board of Trade for the bene-
| fits of the creditors. We. being trustees,
the Board of Trade sent the drafts to US
and we gave them back our check for dis
tribution, receiving our fr rate share"
Chief of Police Lees was called and
identified a deposit tag OF May II with
obtained from the bank. The entry on
the tag of S436 SO was in FIgers hand
writing.
S. II. Murphy, president of the First
National Bank, was shown the same de-
posit tag. and lie said he had delivered it
to Chief Lees. He was also shown state
ment OF FigePs account with the bank,
which he identified. 1t showed that on
May II $436 Sc was deposited to Figel's s
a al Ian ad ho n Fl fnr
that amount paid through the Clearing
| house to his bank by the Anglo Califor-
nian Bank.
General Barnes objected 10 the intro
duclon of the statement as evidence.
The Judge overruled the objection, and
the general sarcastically asked If it was
worth while TO Ike an exception,
You will find" retorled the Judge,
"the rules OF evidence III the codes of this
State and in Greenleaf on Evidence"
President Murphy said the checks and
deposit tags we're delivered to Chief Lees
by written order from Fi5el, which was
now in the bank.
Francis E. Beck, accountant in the
uglo- Californian Bank. was shown the
draft from Chico for 1886 SO and said it
was paid on May II by his bank through
the Clearing g-house to the rst National
Bank
Z. r. Hewston, CLERK for the Board of
Trade, testified that on May IL Secretary
Smith handed him a letter from H. Silver
stein of Chi leo containing the draft, which
he sent by messenger to Hoffman, Roth
child & Co., and the messenger brought
back a receipt.
Then tie surprise came. M. Zerker, q
merchant in Merced, was called to the
stand by Attorney Ach and on being
sworn was asked if be was III San Fran
cisco on March % and if on that day he
paid $1,000 to Figel.
Louderback, and Murphy said he pro.
posed to show that the money was to be
returned to Zerker but was embezzled by
Flgel. The prosecution had perfect
right to show other embezzlements as de-
cided by the Supreme Court in the People
VS.. Gray and numerous other autht rites.
The Judge overruled the objection.
Zerker then testified that on March %
he was In Hoffman, Rothchild g. Co. s OIL
nee and paid Figel $3.50 to be credited to
hts account. On March % he went to the
office late in the afternoon and asked FlgrI.
as the banks were closed, where he could
leave Sl3OO. and Figel said he wonld keep
1t Tor him. FigeI got the money and gave
MIN the hrm,s receipt for it. Witness
calico at the Office the following day and
got the flrm's check on the London, Paris
and American Bank for the $780, He
purchased goots from another irm and
gave the check in payment
In cross-examination by General Rarnes
the witness got ratified. He said that
F1gei and MS assistant, Gellert, were in
the office when he placed the $3.50 on the
receiving desk. He did not know who
took IL or who wrote the receipt GeIlert
might have taken the MONEY! He conld