The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-11
CLIFFORD ARRESTED.
The Scranton Detective Gets EntangIed
in the Phoenix Contract Case
at WiIkes-Barre.

against A. l.. Spencer and Thomas Au-
brey, of Scranton, who We're on trial
on charge of having conspired to de-
fraud George w. Rooms, continues to
excite interest. The testimony for the |
prosecution closed yesterday and Mr.. |
Palmer opened for the defense today. |
In the presentation of the case Mr.. Pal |
mer held that the conspiracy was all |
on part of Milair the man who turned |
states evidence, and that Messrs.
Spencer and Aubrey were drawn into |
the scheme by him.
Thomas Aubrey, one Of the defend |
ants, was the first witness called. He |
said he was bookkeeper and an ex-
pert accountant. He first met Milair
in November, 1895, at which time the |
formation of the Phoenix Contract
company was talked of. Aubrey said
Milar proposed to him to become Sec
retary and treasurer of the new COM |
pany and spoke of the money he would
put into the business. Mr.. Aubrey in
answer to questions of Mr.. Palmer
went over the formation and the oper-
ations of the Phoenix Contract COM
pany at length. He said the concern
had been organized, as far as he was
concerned, for perfectly legitimate pur-
poses. He described the negotiations
with Mr.. Rooms for materials and de-
MED that there was any conspiracy or
intention of fraud. On cross eXamina-
tion by Mr. Fell Aubrey was confront
ed with his correspondence to Milair
and asked to explain certain para
graphs. He was evasive, however, and
many of his answers were quite lame.
Altogether he did not make a good i'm
preston on cross examination. At one
i,t At,1,r 81 !,
in one of his letters to Milair in which
he said Koons was threatening to make
trouble and that he had consulted
lawyer, who told him to "alow Koons
to stew in his own juice
He was also asked who the lawyer
was who told him that and refused to
answer. After a Wrangle between the
attorneys Judge Bennett told Aubrey
to answer, and he said it was Mr..
Shurtleff. Aubrey was brought down
to the $4,000 placed in bank by Mr..
Spencer to the credit of the Phoenix
Contract company and admitted that
it was for the purpose of getting a rat
ing. He could not explain why the
fact of the $4,000 debt to Spencer was
not put in the statement to the mercan-
tile agencies. He was asked to explain
why $4,000 was paid Spencer when the
debt was only $37O0 and said the excess
was to pay some of Milair's old notes.
Aubrey was asked to explain how
they expected to pay Koons at the time
the contract for $l2, 900 of materials was
made with only $15 in bank, and said
they expected to sell the material and
get the proceeds. Witness said he had
known Spencer two years, during part
of that time was his bookkeeper and
general manager. Spencer was a man
| ufacturer of nails and spikes.
Among the Scrantonians who had
| been summoned to testify to Mr.. Spen-
GERS honesty We're Attorney John b.
Ceilings, Prothonotary Pryor, County
| Treasurer Schadt, Reese G. Brooks
Sandy Stillwell, Robert NJ Scranton
John II. Fellows, NJ. II. Dale, r, T.
Black, Barney Slocum, Sidney Broad
bent John Jermyn George L. Dickson
and John r. Davis.
After listening to some character tes-
timony Rooms, the prosecutor, was
called to the stand for further cross
examination. He was asked by Mr..
! Palmer:
Did you say to Milair in the presence
of w. f. Clifford, If you throw up
Spencer and sign this paper 1 will give
you S1,O00?'"
absolutely no." responded, the wit
ness.
w. f. Clifford a Scranton detective,
was then called to the stand and testi-
fed that he heard the offer mentioned
made by Koons to Milair. He heard
Rooms make the offer three times, once
at the Hotel Jermyn, once at the Della
ware and Hudson depot, and once on
Wyoming avenue near the Dime bank.
Milair was under arrest at that time
on complaint of Mr.. Koons. Il was to
arrest Milair," said Clifford, "on condi-
ton that he did not give up Mr.. Spen
Ger. Later Mr.. Rooms offered 800 to
Milair."
The witness said he was employed
by John 7. Lenahan, who is private
counsel for the prosecutor
On cross -eXammation he was asked if
his instructions We're not to arrest Mi
lair if he attempted to leave Scranton.
He said probably that was correct. He
denied that he had been drinking and
that Mr.. Lenahan had told him he was
drunk.
Wasn't it your duty to make a full
report of what you did on that day?"
Yes, sir"
Did you report about that money
ofrer?"
L ana not.
"Was it not your business to do SOP"
Il don't know"
Clifford tried to evade many questions
and upon the whole created a bad i'm
preston by his manner of giving evil
deAce.
The taking of testimony in the trial
was concluded today by a sensation
which was sprung by the attorneys for
the defense who contended that the al
legged conspiracy was hatched in New
York and that the Luzerne county
court had no jurisdiction. The case
has already lasted over a week in this
county. Judge Bennett will render his
decision tomorrow morning. Detective
Clifford, as he finished testifying this
afternoon was arrested on the charge
of perjury. Testimony of a minor
character was all that was taken dur
ing the remainder of the day until ad-
journment was announced,