The herald., 1897-05-11

Wy ~ AdNc pCcu purchased ny HlIfl,
and which do not appear by subsequent
ILLS OF goods to have been purchased
from other parties, and. in addition
thereto. was found valuable diamond
pendant, worth $6t0, which the testi-
mony shows was part of the original
Wagner stock, and which 1t is not claim
ed plaintif ever purchased, but is shown
to have been kept by Wagner by an ar
rangement az to itS sale, which was
never consummated. There Is no tes-
timony that any other goods of any
class or character were found in the
stock of goods of plaintiff. which be-
longed to the original Wagner stock and
were not sold by. the assignee
There is an effort upon the part of in
tervenor to show by Wunsch and Hall.
and man by thename of Reed, that the
stock of diamonds seized In this action
was in excess of those purchased by
plaintiff and subsequently acquired by
him ls.f Il, firiAKet,s f5.
TRIBUTE TO, IAN HONEST MAN
Were the court even inclined to give
credit to these fnem, in view of their ad-
mitted Irregularities with Wagner, they
have signally failed to establish this
claim or to locate in plaintiffs stock dia-
mcnds unaccounted for1 Bannister, who
knows more about this stock than any
other, witness, and who enjoys very
happy distinction of being an honest
man, testifies that the original stock pur-
chased by plaintfff contained $4,000 or
$4,000 worth ofnvaluabfc diamonds, and
that the original Inventory was so loose
" managed that valuable diamonds were
found among Cheap grades Of goods.
having been either overlooked in the ap-
praisement or purposely omitted. in fur
therance of the intention on the part of
Wunsch and others to defraud eastern
creditors. In addition to this, plaintiff
bought, over the counter, from custom
ers desirous of disposifg of their dia-
monds, goods for which he paid $500. 1t
will scarcely be presumed. from the we'll
known established manner in which this
class OF business is conducted, that he
paid one-half of the real wholesale price
Of such goods purchased, and $1,000 would
be the better value to fix upon the dia-
monds bought from persons other than
merchants. In addition, 1t Is shown that
he bought of bank $4,000 worth of loose
diamonds, making diamond stock, as
originally purchased, with the additions,
OF practically $4,000. In determining
what goods were in the stock, as appears
from the original inventory, 1t must not
be forgotten that the false character of
this inventory Is so clearly established,
as to values, that 1t is scarcely fair to
presume that it is correct in its designa-
tion of the list of articles, and this inven-
tory is Of little value to us in arriving at
.,,x6 tn, ~ xr,ho orx,c,
consider that not to exceed $4,000 worth
o. diamonds as shown by the appraise-
ment of Berman. were found in this
stock when seized in this action, 1t can
readily be seen that plaintiff had no
more diamonds in his stock at the date
OF the seizure than he should have had.
from his purchase and original stock.
Nor Is their theory in relation to the
ccmmingling Of diamonds or any goods
other than the gold watches supported
by an examination of the general stock
and its value at the time of the seizure,
with reference to the original purchase,
betterments to the stock and sales there
from.
THE VALUES ESTIMATED
1--WE find from the testimony of Ban
mister and Collins, men of integrity, and
in a position Ito know what they are
talking about, that, the original stock
purchased by plaintiff. at fair whole
sale valuation, was $4,000 to $50, 900.
Adopt $4,000 as the correct statement.
and we find that he has added thereto by
purchase, ae before stated, OF diamonds
alone, $4,000; in other goods, bought
from merchants In the usual course of
business, $4,000. This Is probably too
low an estimate Of the general goods
purchased in view of the fact that plain
tiff kept no books, and the only way we
can determine the amount of these pur-
chases is from memorandum receipts
preserved by him, some of which, admit
ted to be correct, have been found since
the former trial. But adopting that, we
find that the total wholesale value c: his
stock, without deductions would be
$4,000. The testimony shows that he
cold, before January 13t at auction ard
private sale, $500 worth Of goods, the
wholesale price Of which, a t the estimate
of profits which seems 10 he a fair ene
to deduce from the testimony, would be
about $6500
1.-THE most that the assignee could tie
entitled to Of this stock, would be these
watches and this. pendant, Of the gross
valuation IF $685.. All other property
belongs to the Plaintiff, and cii at the
time Of the seizure. To arrive at its value
is another difficult. proposition. If we
are to believe Wuasci,. Hail and Tiers,
the stock of goois seized was wn,sn
$4,000 or $40.JO0. PialEiiff. in his CON-
plant. alleges It was w3rth $40, 60 Botn
parties to the action, at the trial. f,r
some reason, nrarsicaliy CT needed il TO
be worth $25,0D0, whc,aas the Etrman
inventory shows il io III worth about
$4,000. This 'yainl:Iva # saC.nc0 Will
probably be nesrsrythe. coyel. valuation
to place upon the stoak. s,a.
UNPARALLELED RASCALITY
1T is to be hoped, for the gsood' anne
of the merchants OF California;, that the
rascality and crenkedness established
IN this matt>< is without parallel If the
court has erred i'm its conclusions, it is
due to the difficulty sof sitting out, from
the mass of se'statetaenis and falae
appraisements, the. truth IS
IAN order and sjudgmeatoin this case
will therefore bayentereGI for the return
to the plaintiff of eali Of the property
seized by the sheriff on nexsauyionsn this
matter other than the gold W atclies and
the diamond pendaiTtYjan if they are
not returned, judgment Tm the mount
of $16,415. their value, fansl b. like ,udg-
ment in favor of theintsryef1pr FIR The