The herald., 1898-01-31

+ the matters about which Axtell ma.
) been summoned to appear before tins
! grand jury, that 1t is hardly to be sup
, posed that Axtell would have dared. N
: the pre9mptory manner which ne
I adopted, to have called the defendant
: from his place of business to his, AK
tells office, or that they would have
. found 1t necessary when together &c
exclude every one else from the room
for the purpose of having what was
, evidently an earnest and important
private conference. Axtell testifies
further that at q meeting held between
himself and Adams and WEBB, IN the
rooms of the school board, and be-
, lieve upon the same day, 1t was agreed
: that everything that could criminate
} any of the parties to the dishonest
|, transaction of the board, should be de-
MED before the grand jury. and in
addition to that, that he, Axtell. was
to be taken care of. AS an evidence
of the truthfulness of this statement
AXtell claims that the attorney wnu
represented him at the beginning OF the
investigation before the board, was
not employed by himself, but was en-
ployed through the procurement of Mr..
1 Webb, and directly by James Hellman,
a member of the firm to whom Webb
had taken the purchase of large
amounts of school supplies. Hellman
was called as witness and testified
represent Axtell at the instance or re-
quest of the defendant; that upon his
own suggestion he volunteered to en-
ploy the attorney who appeared repre-
senting Axtell; that he did not con-
suit with Axtell as to the fee to
be charged by the attorney before
| he employed him; that Axtel did
not even know the attorneyemployed
by Hellman. and asked Helman who
| he was. In response to the question,
Mr.. Hellman, did you hear any conver-
sation between AXtell and Lawyer Da-
Wis in regard to fees?" The witness tes-
titled: Mr.. Axtell never asked what
his fee was, and didn't care. l don't
suppose" Had Axtell not been telling
the truth when he stated that Webb
and others had agreed to stand by him
and see that his lawyer was paid. he
most certainly would have cared what
fee he was to pay. 1t is also shown
by the evidence of Axtell. and admitted
by Helman, that when Hellman
learned, through the newspapers, that
Axtell proposed to go upon the stand
and confess his knowledge of, and part
in, the scandalous matters which had
transpired with thesschool board, He'll
man visited him at his house after
nightfall. and endeavored by the most
earnest solicitation upon his part, and
personal and fraternal appeals to AK
witness for the prosecution.
THE SAVAGE LOAN
In the course of his testimony as to
the relations existing between himself
and the defendant, Webb. AxteIl stated
he had over him, by reason of his
possession of his written resignation,
to extort from him the sum of 5000.
which he (AXtelD raised by a loan
from one Savage: that he had paid
Savage $50 of the sum- that $3.50 of the
said sum was unpaid when this in
vestiga ton began. and that Webb.
pending the investigation, had caused
the same to be paid to Savage for AK
tells benefit. 1t was in testimony that
when Axtell first approached the rep
resentatives of the League for Better
City Government, and two of the men,
bers of the Board of Education, with
reference to his determination to tell
the truth in the matter, he had asked
that this appearance upon the stand
might be deferred for some days, on
the ground that Mr.. Webb owed him
$3.50. for which he had no evidence of
Indebtedness, but which Webb had
promised to pay within a day or two,
and that If he appeared ON the stand
| before the money was paid, he would
never get it. In testifying concerning
|
stated that he had hurried up the pay
ment of it by an urgent note which
he sent to Webb upon a certain day.
by one Raymond Bernard, an en-
ploye of the school board, and that
shortly after the note was sent to Webb
the money was paid. Bernard was
called as a witness and stated that AK
tell had given him a note to take to
Webb, and told him to ask Webb to
answer the note. He took the note to
Webb, who, upon reading it, said to
Bernard: Tell Mr. Axtell that is all
right l will see about that some time
today" Axtell further testified that
the money was paid to Savage through
Hellman. Webb, of course denied pay
ing the money. admitted receiving the
note. but claimed that it was not upon
the subject of the money, and that the
note had been destroyed. Hellman ad-
mitted to paying the money to Savage,
but claimed that it was not paid on
! behalf of Webb. but of Axtell.
AXTELL'S STORY TRUE
He admitted. however. that he
had taken no note, or other evidence
of Indebtedness from AXtell for it;
that he had nothing to show in the
way of any acknowledgment upon the
part of Axtell that the money had been
paid to him; that Axtell had told him
that Webb owed him $3.50, with which
he proposed to pay the note: that he
had gone to Weeb and found that
AxtelPs statement to him was false,
but that after that. and though
believing that Axtell had told
him a falsehood, he paid the money
for Axtell without taking any acknowl-
! edgement from Axtell whatever to
show that he had loaned him this
money. He further admitted that the
money with which to pay the note was
sent to his store, but while claiming
! that it did not come from Webb. re-
| fused to testify as to who sent it, and
| thereby, of course, blocked all further
! investigations along that line. and de-
stroyed the possibility Of contradicting
his testimony, as to the source from
which he received the money. Had
| the transaction been open and above
board, and the money simply loaned to
Mr.. Axtell. which Hellman claimed, IL
is hard to see why he should have
| found it necessary to refuse to say
from what source the money used in
paying the debt came into his possess
sion. Thus we have Axtell's testi-
mony, as to this matter, corroborated
by the testimony of the workman who
took Axtelrs note to Webb. by the
admissions of Hellman that Axtell
claimed that Webb owed him the
money necessary to pay Savage's s
claim, and that he. Hellman, had paid
the money to Savage as AXtell stated
that he did Taking into considera-
tion the fact that Axtelfs testimony
as to the interview between himself
and Webb in his office of the Spring
! street school. as to the employment of