The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-15
Some Developments at His Trial
For Forgery.
USE OF A FLOATING CLAIM
WHICH COULD BE ANCHORED
ANYWHERE DESIRABLE
Space Claimed to Have Been Left
In the Books to Be Filled In at
Later Date Than the Original En-
try-Monk Is Ambioextrous-Ex-
perts In Handwriting Testify.

James T. Monks trial on the charge
of forgery, for having altered the rec
ords of his office as mining recorder OF
the Big Cottonwood mining district
was resumed yesterday morning before
Judge Norreu. The jury of eight mer
was secured before II o'clock, and the
hearing of the case was proceeded with
County Attorney Van Colt and Assist
ant County Attorney Putnam prosecut-
ing, and Messrs. James A. Williams and
S. p Armstrong defending the accused
The specific charge against Monk is
in his possession as mining re-
corder the books of Big Cot
tonwood mining district, he committed
the crime of forgery, by altering the
record or page 1883 Of book d of the
mining records of said district, being
the notice of the location of the Safety
Valve claim, which was made on April
20, 1883.
1t is alleged that Monk added to the
notice in one place, SO that it read:
| Lord Nelson Safety Valve lode, IN
stead of as originally, Safety Valve, y
! and in another place after the names
/ of the locators, it is alleged he added
/ the words: "Adjoins D. W. ly w. S. l..
/ James T. Monk 800 feet" which, being
translated into plain English. means
| that the Safety Valve claim ad1oints
! the Defiance, westerly, and that James
| T. Monk owns 1.500 feet long of the
| Safety Valve claim, or, in other words,
all of It.
Those additions are claimed to have
! been made with intent to injure, dam
age, prejudice and defraud the Max
/ field Mining company.
! CLAIM AS TO HOW HE OPERATED.
In order to understand the signifi-
canoe of the alleged forgerles, II is nee
/ essary TO give some account OIL the
| operations of Mr.. Monk, as claimed by
the prosecution. Monk, 1t is alleged
has what is known among mining men
as a blanket location, which covers an
area right in the heart of the camp,
two miles long and half mile wide,
and comprises q separate claims, tax
ing in all the productive part OF the
camp. The Dolly Warden tunnel was
run IN 2 distance OF about 800 feet on
part of this ground by w. {. Han ana
George A. Lowe. Monk got possession
of this tunnel under a lease, and
changed the name of il to the Monk
tunnel il is claimed, and ran ii about
$50 feet further in, and now claims the
whole tunnel as being in his property,
which is about all the development
work he has done on the a CLAIMS, out
ne enlGIGu Oh llAC lCND- I'D NiieS~ NN-~--
year, for 20 years past, he had done
assessment work to the amount OF "
400 on those claims, and the showing
is thus made that he spent about son.
900 in assessment work, when, IL Is al
Legged, ie altogether fictitious, ana MS
supposed interest in the q claims he
transferred to his brother, John IL
Monk of New York.
A number of the q claims are said
to be owned by the Maxfeld Mining
company, and on one of them, the Lea
View" which is the outlet of 5000
foot tunnel, made and owned by the
Maxfield company, the latter company
has erected a power house, engines
and other machinery and workings at
a cost of some $4,000. The Lea View.
Monk claims to own, but it is alleged
that he, in 1873, changed the records
kept by a former mining recorder,
Richard GreenWay, so as to make 1t
appear that he, Monk, owns the Lea
View, when, as a matter of fact, he
does not.
A FLOATING CLAIM.
The Safety Valve is alleged to be
what is known as a floating claim, that
is. it is not described with reference to
any monument or permanent object,
and the general description is so vague
that it could be located anywhere in
T1QluS Ol 10 lillcS. II " do ApNeIeIH IL
that vague and illegal manner in 1888,
and the prosecution claims that
blank space was left on the record
book so that at some future date its
exact location could be fixed. The de-
STABILITY of fixing it arose and on Oct.
20, 1886, it is claimed, Monk wrote the
words: ''Adjoins D. W. by sOefance
Westerly w. S. L.. James 7. Monk /
l $50 feet" but a reference to dates /
shows that the Defiance was not To-
Gated at ali until 80 days after the
original location of the Safety Valve /
was made on April 20, 1883, which the
prosecution takes to be conclusive
proof that the addition to the entry
fixing the exact site of the Safety
could not have been made at the time ,
the original location of the Safety
Valve was filed and entered.
These additions bear evidences of
having been written at a different
time from the rest of the entry. The
ink is different and the writing is
smaller and more cramped, the space
left having, it is claimed, been a little
too small 10 contain the additions in
letters of the same size as the other
writing.
MAKING VOTERS.
Monk, it is also alleged. had an in
genious method of perpetuating him
self in the office of mining recorder.
He posted notices on ground he
claimed to own, making it appear that
u different parties owned the claims
thus increasing the number of people
entitled to vote for mining recorder
All of the 40 who were willing to vote
for Monk at the election for recorder
were allowed to cast their ballots, while
hose who were not, if any there were.
we're thrown out on the ground that
hey had no valid locations
EXPERTS IN HANDWRITING
The hearing yesterday was entirely
N the question of handwriting. The
placed on the witness
stand r. g. Whitney, 3. G.. Raybould
elias A. Smith, G. A. Whiting, James
:. Jensen and c.. II. Backman as ex-
)erts in handwriting, and they all,
With varying degrees of positiveness,
estified that the alleged additions to
he entry We're made at a subsequent
late to the body OF the entry. and
hat the additions had been made by
he same hand as the body of the en-
~.
1t appeared that Mr. Monk is ambi-
extrous and writes with either hand
With equal facility. John Olsen, D. S.
Brown, John Bargery, II. R. Steven
on and John Wood testified to that
act.
The examination of experts in hand {
Friting was proceeding when court ad- Z
burned until this morning. {