The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-15
"Red Book" Will Probably Be Ad-
nlitted In Evidence.
VICTORY FOR PROSECUTION
CoUNsELs' FREQUENT BITTER
AND PERSONAL CLASHES.
Expert Testimony, Showing That
the Important Book Was a Part
of the Banks Records and Is
Necessary to Explain Certain
Transactions.

! Pnlladelpnla, April l4.-RerSlSleHL,
keen and brilliant argument between
/ District Attorney Rothermel on the one
side and Messrs. Watson, Shapley and
| Shields on the ether upon the admis-
! sion of testimony which may go long
way to establish the alleged guilt of eX-
| United States Senator Quay, was the
! feature of tCday's trial, and it culmin-
! ated in a decided victory for the prose-
cution. The red book" found in Cash
Ter Hopkins desk after his suicide, and
upon the admission OF which the COM
monwealth SO largely resss its case, was
| the shaft the district attorney aimed at
the defense. To pave the way for the
final effort to introduce the book itself
he succeeded, after frequent clashes
with opposing counsel, sometimes bit
ter and personal in presenting expert
testimony to prove that the book was
necessarily a book of the bank, as ac
counts in the books admitted under the
courts ruling would be made intelligi-
BILE by the red book
Before starting his examination, Mr..
RothermeI read to the court a state
ment of what he intended to prove. The
expert, he said. had made a thorough
examination of all the books in the
case. He found that previous to April
80, 1891, the Peoples bank paid interest
on the state deposit to the state treas
urer, and that records of such pay
ments were kept in a regular way on
the books of the bank. After April so
1891, when Mr.. Hopkins appeared on
| the scene, new system was adopted.
This entailed the addition of another
book-noW known as the red book-to
the books heretofore kept by the bank.
Meyer Goldsmith, an expert account
ant, was the witness upon which the
commonwealth depended to accomplish
it's contention. During the whole course
of the experts examination objection
after objection was made by the de-
Tense and as frequently overruled by
Judge Biddle, while the district attor-
ney, in logical sequence, drew from the
witness his conclusions as to the book.
based upon a comparison of what was
written on it's pages with what APP
peared in the other books.
SOME OF THE ACCOUNTS.
Two accounts out of upward of 1000
in the regular books were incomplete
and inaccurate unless explained by en-
tries in the red book" One was an
item of $1519 entered in the individual
ledger to the credit of the persons who
received it. The witness was not per-
mitted to designate the persons by
name. He found this item on the stub
of the cashiers check book, but what
it represented he could not say until
he had examined the calculations in the
red book" Here he found the amount
entered and the indications that it had
been paid by the cashiers check ON
Nov. 4, 1897. Another item of s.. 352 10
he found in the regular book dated May
"a. 1894, and found the same item in the
''red book dated Oct. so, 1894 He
stated that there were other entries in
the red book which explained trans
actions in the regular book, but the
two instances specified We're the only
ones in which he had reached accurate
conclusions as to their nature and pur-
pose.
Mir Goldsmith said that when he first
opened the red book he did not con-
slider it a book of the bank, but when
he compared the calculations entered
on its pages with transactions in the
other books he was forced to consider
it a book of the bank He explained
this by saying that prior to 1891 calcu-
latiOnS such as appeared in the red
book" we're regularly entered in the
ledger, but since then the red book"
had been substituted and fulfilled and
fixed the same results.
During the CrOss-eXamination of this
witness, which was conducted by Mr.
Shields he testified as to a page which
was missing. The defense repeatedly
endeavored to get from him the state
ment that there might have been fig
ures and words on that page. which
would clearly explain the entries on the
other pages, and that the book, as it
now stands, is unreliable. This was
ruled out, following an objection by the
district attorney. This would seem 10
indicate that when the final effort to
present the book in evidence comes to-
morrow the defense viii make another
determined opposition to it on the
ground even if the court should decide
that, with relation to the transactions
testified to. it is a book of the bank.
During the examination touching on
the book, with the exception Of the two
items mentioned. no intimation Of the
amounts or names was allowed to
reach the jury. The prosecution all
along, however, has alleged that this
book will show that Cashier Hopkins
computed interest on state funds and
deposited the money to Senator Quay's
credit