El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-04
INMAN ON TRIAL.
An Interesting Case In The DIS
triCt Court.


Last afternoon in the district court
the case of the state against Rico Por-
tillo was tried; the charge he had to
answer was burglary. He plead guilty
! and was sentenced to two years at bard
| labor in the state prison.
This morning the court called the
case of the state against f. A. lnman.
who ia charged with embeZzlement to
the amount of 1868 from the Ell PasO
Cigar Manufacturing Co.
The case created q good deal of sur
prise at the time of Inman's arrest,
when the story was told in the columns
of the HERALD.
It will be remembered that Inman
was indicted by the grand jury on May
10th last on the charge as stated
above.
I He had been the bookkeeper of the
| firm for about five months previous to
his arrest and was working q manager
also: he was to get a certain per
cent of the sales OF the company.
One Sunday 1nman left town telling
them that he was going up to Globe,
Arizona, for couple OF days and would
| be back at the end of that time. AS
soon as he was out of the city the COM
i pany decided to examine the books oil
| the company and see how they were
being kept, and when they did this
| they found that they were short. The
exact amount of the shortage was moi
known at the time, but the agent al
Rincon was wired to look out for In
man as it was learned that he had gone
| there. In due time came the answer
that Inman had been notified to re.
| turn.
When Inman came to Ell Paso about
| the first of the year he represented
himself to be a newspaper man from
New York, but in trying to get posi-
ton on one of the local papers he said
| he was from Chicago, so it is not known
exactly where he did come from. He
| Is dressy good looking fellow, and has
an easy way about him that soon makes
him a social fsvorite.
When the case was called this morn
ing he WAS represented by j. Good.
The first witness placed on the stand
was Captain AL Howard who is pres
ident of the company, and the one who
made the discovery of the shortage.
The case was continued until noon,
| then the court took recess until 2 p.
The court continued its session this
afternoon. Mr.. Howard was put back
| on the stand and crossexamined until
2:30, when he was excused, and j. P.
Deter was put on, who testified that
it was on a Sunday morning that
he was told that the books OF
the establishment were short in
cash to something over $3.50 but he
couldn't remember exactly. He and
MIR. Howard then went to the Santa
Fe depot and there got the operator to
call up the one at Rincon and ask him
| If Inman was there still and the reply
was that he was. The operator was
| told to send for Inman to come to the
Office as Mr.. Dieter wanted to speak tC
him over the wire.
| When Inmsn came he asked what
was wanted with him and Mr.. Deter
told him that he was wanted here or
business and to come home at once.
morning, Mr.. Deter said, he and Mr.
Howard met the Santa Fe train and
Mr.. Inman did come and he got in the
buggy with Mr.. Deter and they drove
up to the Office of the cigar company
| and hsre Mr.. Howard was waiting for
him.
| While on the way to the Office Mr.
Deter said that he asked Inman how
his cash was and Inman said he
| thought it was short. Mr.. Deter ask
ed him if he was in q position to make
the shortage good and he told him thai
he thought so. When they got to the
Office the same conversation was gone
through and about the came answer
was given. Then Mr.. Deter got in his
buggy and went to consult with the
district attorney aud left Mr.. Inmar
| with Mr.. Howard at the office.
The case was still on trial with Mr.
Deter in witness box at the time o.
paper going to press.