Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-04-20
''RED BOOK" is ADMITTED
Lively Legal Sparring, at the Trial Of
ex-senator M. S. Quay.

oAhouubVi mt NJ HuuJs a'W
DEFENDANT GIVEN MORE BLOWS
The "Black Book" and "Blue
Book" Also Put In.
ONE POINT SCORED BY THE DEFENCE
Philadelphia, Pa, April Is. The
sixth day of the trial of ex-United
States Senator Quay began with the
prospects of battle royal between
counsel as to the admission of the
"red book" which Expert Meyer
Goldsmith yesterday said was up-
doubtedly a book of the bank. At the
close of yesterdays proceedings. Mr..
Goldsmith was on tho stand, and was
being examined by District Attorney
Rothermei with reference to what the
book showed Mr.. Goldsmith again
took the stand this morning, and, as
an indication of the purpose of
opposing counsel to contest every aues-
tion which might bring the contents of
tho book before the jury before its
admissibility has finally been de-
termined, the first question by the
district attorney was objected to, and,
after spirited argument, the defence
scored point. The question was
What period of time is represented
by the calculations in the red
book?' " During argument, the dis
trict attorney indicated that he pur-
posed to show by the question that the
calculations were made at intervals of
six months, each date being regular
settlement day of the Peoples Bank.
Goldsmith was stood aside for the
present.
The district attorney then offered in
evidence check of s1,519, signed by
John s. Hopkins, cashier, to his own
order, and endorsed by John s.
Hopkins and Benjamin j. Haywood.
This led to another vigorous objection
by the defence, which the court over
ruled. In doing so. Judge Biddle
spoke at length to Mr.. Quay's counsel
on the number of useless objections
made by that side, OH the general basis
that the offered evidence did not men
ton Mr.. Quay. He said it was not a
question of Mr.. Quay alone, but OF a
conspiracy, and, if tho evidence offered
did not implicate Mr.. Quay, no harm
would be done.
Turning to the court, Mr.. Rothermel
said And now, your honor, offer in
evidence the book known as the red
book as one of the books of tho bank"
Mr.. Quay's counsel immediately OBJ
jected, on the ground that it was not a
book of the bank. Mr.. Watson of Pitts
burg then began mis- argument in sup
port of the objection. After intro
ducing the general proposition of the
defence's objections he turned to the
testimony of Mr.. Goldsmith, and, talk
ing that portion in which an entry for
S., 1852. 10 in the red book" was com
pared as being similar to a like entry
in the regular books, said. 1.-THE prose
cution declares that, because of this,
the book is a book of the bank. A
comparison between these items shows
difference of four months in the dates
in the two books. The proposition to
prove the red book by such testimony
is a most startling one to me-"
"Then," he continued, "there is the
item of 81, ,519. That is very peculiar
item. We find it IN the red book, at
the bottom of page written in lead
pencil. All the other entries on this
page, with the exception of two, are
also in lead pencil. Taking the 1853
item, then they turn to stub in the
cashiers check book, which in itself is
not the best evidence, and show us the
check entered there days after. y sit
is apparent from the testimony of the
expert" he continued, that the books
of the bank balance without the red
book. Ii is not, therefore, necessarily
or properly book Of the bank. 1t was
not found among the books of the
bank, but in private drawer of the
private desk of Cashier Hopkins. IL
is not PACED, and not kept in the form
or style of ii bank book, and the expert
testified that he never saw such entries
in bank book. The books entries
record matters that have long since
passed. In no instance are the entries
contemporaneous with transactions in
the bank. The expert said the books
of the bank were well kept, whereas
the red book is not well kept, and its
entries are irregular, and contain
errors. -
1.-THE district attorney himself,n Mr..
Watson continued, demonstrated that
it is not book of the bank, but only
a memorandum book, kept secretly by
a cashier who is a party to the alleged
conspiracy, and, therefore, presumably
capable of writing any figures in a
book that will suit his purpose. His
motive was to deceive, and he may
have used this book for purposes of
deception. The admission of the book
in this case would violate all the rules
of evidence. The red book was so
irregular that, after the failure, out
side persons were allowed to take it
away and keep it for months, and
photograph it as natural curiosity. :"
Mr.. Rothermel. in reply, made the
strong point that the reason Mr..
Hopkins did not begin keeping the
'red book until 1891 was because in
that year a law was passed by the
Legislature creating the State Depart
ment of Banking, so that he knew
after that date the books would be
open to the inspection of bank
examiner regularly, and it was, there ;
fore, necessary to keep the COM
putations of the defendants share of
the interest secretly.
THE "RED BOOK" ADMITTED.
Judge Biddle decided to admit the
"red book = He said: "When the
question originally arose in this case
in reference to this particular book, |
did not think the district attorney had
sufficiently established the proof that it
was bank book. The question now
comes in an entirely different capacity.
1t seems to me that an expert could
tell better than any one else what
books are necessary to carry out the
system in vogue at that bank. He