Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-10-21

The evidence OF dishonesty Of purpose
in the time Of bringing the prosecu-
ton, within a few weeks Of the election,
after delaying for five months, compels
even Colonel Mcclure to acknowledge
II.
The character of the eevidence present.
ed, and the manner of conducting tho
hearing, were equally discrediting. The
defendants were not given the privilege
which in common decency belongs to
the lowest suspicious character-that
Of being confronted with their accusers.
The most searching cross examination
failed to uncover the mysterious per-
sons who were behind the prosecutions.
A hired. detective in the district attor-
ney's office made the information. and
even he was not put on the witness
stand The information was made and
the hearing held before police magis-
trate who had for years been a clerk In
the office of the district attorney, to
whose influence he owed his job. The
special assistant district attorney was
the star witness for the prosecution.
The defense, Of course, IS not heard at a
preliminary hearing.
It needed onlya commitment to prison
without the privilege of bail to make
the whole proceedings as summary, ar
bitrary and one-sided as those by which
the police of the czar consign whomso-
ever they see fit to the mines Of Siberia
or the Grand Turk has his offending
subjects tied up In a sack and cast into
the Bosphorus.
And what did all the evidence, so dra-
matically vaunted in advance, amount
to?
First, that Senator Quay had an ac-
count in the Peoples bank for many
years; that, like two-thirds of the busl-
ness men in Philadelphia. notable among
them Mr.. Wanamaker, he was buying
and selling stocks, sometimes with a
profit, sometimes at a loss; that, like
three-thirds of the business men, most
notoriously including Mr.. Wanamaker,
he was borrowing money from time to
time on his notes secured by the deposit
Of satisfactory collateral. But in all the
correspondence and memoranda sub
mitted there was not one allusion, direct
or indirect to any deposit of public
money of any sort. Upon the contrary
there was almost continuous reference,
in almost every letter, TO Senator Quay 8
personal account, and the stocks, bonds
and the like which he had deposited as
security for his loans.
Second. There was no evidence charge
or insinuation that the state or any
stocl5holder, depositor or creditor Of the
bank had lost a dollar by its dealings
with the defendants, nor even a sugges-
tion that anybody at any time, had
ever risked losing anything thereby.
Third. There was exhibited a pocket
note book, purportlng to have been kept
by an official of the bank who commit
ted suicide after confessing to embez-
zlement-not one of the books of the
bank-wherein appeared, among a mass
of other unintelligible memoranda, this:
1900 Quay"
And in two other places some other
| figures with Mckay" in one instance
written near by, and Mckee" in an
other. In neither case were the names
written in the same ink or apparently
in the same hand as the figures. They
were evidently written in afterward. II
is an interesting fact, not developed al
the hearing but will be proved as soon
as the defense has a chance to be heard
| Cif the case is ever pressed for tria)
| that after the bank closed, and several
days before the receiver came into pos
session, one of the men supposed to be
behind this prosecution, and one of Sen
obtained entrance to the bank by night
went through its private receptacles
and took away to private house bag
| full of its papers and most valuable
securities. If it were necessary to make
! alterations in private memorandum
books there was abundant opportunity
to do so.
But even If the memoranda were not
forged, 1t would require an expert with
an india rubber imagination to find II
them evidence to sustain the charge oi
conspiracy to misuse state money
any more than conspiracy to recruit two
hundred Spanish spies.
Fourth. There was evidence that r
r. Quay, the senator's son. who witt
refined mallgnity is also included in tn,
dragnet information, at one time Dor
rowed 100000 from the Peoples bank
The books of the bank however, alst
show that he deposited at the sam,
time s125, 900 worth of stocks and bonds
as security for the loan. The evidenc,
that these securities were good and suf
ficient is that when 1t became necessary
for him to pay the note, he transferred
his securities tGAtwo other banks-twt
of the oldest and most conservative ma
tional banks in Philadelphia-and Dor
rowed the money upon them to do so.
The only other transaction of r. r
Quay referred to in the whole Iro
ceeding is in a letter from the senator
saying that "Dick would be there tn
next week, and would probably neet
some help. If necessary. sell enough
of my Sugar certificates to enable yol
to accommodate him." Does this lool
as If the Quays had the state fund
to use at their convenience?
Fifth. When r. r. Quay applied 70
this loan, although his securities wer
ample, being 1875 to 100, there still re
mained the question whether the banl
was in condition to spare so mucl
money. President McManes did Jus
what any bank president would do t
avoid the chance Of being plnched 70
currency-write to customers havin
heavy deposits subject to check with
out notice TO inquire whether the,
were likely to check heavily in tn
near future. The state being tn
heaviest depositor he naturally wrot
to the state treasurer. Treasurer Hay
wood replied that the state deposit I
the amount Of some $780, 900 would no
be checked out until the $100, 900 not
was paid or arranged for. As the r. Il
Quay loan was a call loan. that is [
say. subject to payment at any time o.
demand, and had abundant collatera
subject to sale by the bank I
meet 1t, this Haywood statement di
mot amount to more at the most tina
an assurance that he would not checl
heavily on the bank without, say,
weeks notice.
The suggestion sought to be insinu
ated that the 100000 Of state money
! besides r r Ouay's securities amount