The San Francisco call., 1899-02-11

not paid. Suit for the recovery of the
face Sf the note, with interest as set
forth, bringing the amount due up to the
sum near $500,000, was commenced, and is
now pending in the Glenn County Superior
Court. On April next 1t will go to trial,
and E. S. Pillsbury of this city and At
torney Lusk of Chico, who represent the
Murdock estate, are confident that they
can prove the instrument forgery, and
are preparing their case with that end in
view. The deposition of j. F. Turner has
been taken, and will be settled and signed
to-day. This will place in the hands of
Mr.. Pillsbury the whole story of the forg
ing OF the document, backed by document
ary evidence, which will doubles defeat
the effort to loot the estate of the dead
capitalist as well as seriously increase
the troubles of one or more well-known
citizens
AT the time of Murdock's death Turner
was a well and favorably known real es-
tate dealer of this city and was enjoying
a big income. The forgery, or alleged
forgery, of the note occupied his atten-
t1on for time, and although he was in
no way connected with the alleged swim
evidence against those who launched it,
1t led him into a mire of trouble, from
which, after bitter legal battle, he has
just succeeded in extricating himself and
is now in position to tell his story
against those who would give their all to
see him behind prison bars. His deposit
forth story seldom heard in legal trial.
stripped of its legal phrase, and ques-
ton and answer form, Turner's deposit
ton contains. the, following story. He
started his story before Notary Mark
Lane by telling how Lawrence S. Meggin-
son, whom he accuses of having forged
the note, came to his office in the spring
of 1892, when he Turner) was at SUIT
ter street. He continues:
Claiming to be Ill at the time and finding
that Turner had nice sunny Offices neatly fur
nished, Megginson wanted Turner to let him
make them his headquarters and have his
mail come there. Turner, the deposition sets
forth, consented, and also gave Megginson one
OF the steel boxes in his safe to keep his
papers in. 1t was not long before Megginson
told Turner about having note for $lOO 900
against William Murdoch, Olimpo Cal, dated
September 5, 1871 and due September s. 1897
bearing l per cent per month interest. He
told Turner that the note would amount to
S4S0,000 when due and that he had bought it
for $4,000 He told Turner that Murdoch had
a pet niece whose name was Mrs. Minnie Muir
dock, and that Murdoch had given his niece
the note because he thought more of her than
any else. He told Turner that Murdoch
was an old bachelor and had been sick a great
deal, and that Minnie had always taken care
of him when sick and that the ola man would
always pull Minnie on his knee and kiss her
whenever he got the chance, and that for a
long time prior to the making of the note he
make her a nice present. Megginson said the
time came when the old handed Minnie
the note and said to her. Here, Minnie, is a
note that will come due about the time 1 die
and with ii will be all the money YOU
will want the balance of your life. Meggin-
son also said that the old lnan told her that he
would leave ample property to pay the note
when due Megginson then told Turner how
he got acquainted with Mrs. Murdock. whom
he called Minnie, and told how she had taken
a great notion to him and had told him all
about the note.
He said that Minnie was a very nice person
and she had always stopped at the same house
where he lived when she to the city and
that she had made a confidant of him He
then said that Minnie afraid she would
have trouble with the Murdoch heirs about the
note, had agreed to sell him the note for
$4,000. He then said she had assigned the note
TO him and he had assigned 1t to his brother
William Megginson, in Ohio Megginson then
told Turner that he was to pay Minnie only
a few thousand dollars of the amount until it
came out of the estate, but to make the con-
sideration right before the heirs he having
his brother send him $4,000, $4,000 and $40 900 at a
time, and he was having it come through the
bank and as soon as he drew il out of the
bank he would take it to Minnie. pay it over to
her, take her receipt and then at take
the same money and send it back to his
brother, and then in five or six weeks his
brother would send it back again and he would
make another sham payment and so on.
In this way he was paying the $1,000 to show
the consideration all right We'll" he said
while he had about $4,000 of his brothers.
money he wanted to let his brother out of it
and get some one to go in with him and stand
half of the expenses all through, and when the
old died make the fight against the heirs
and after the 600 was paid and all expenses
the balance could be divided with whoever
went in with him." He also said that Minnie
had another note for $50 900 that she had got
from a banker at Sacramento, which she was
to turn over to him for the $50 000 SO he would
put the whole matter together, which would
would not be 100000 to pay out
1t about the first of June, 1892, when
Megginson began TO make the offers to Turner
He then showed Turner the note, and when
Turner questioned nm about the CONSIDERATION
given for the note the first thing Megglnsun
did was to show Turner two DEEDS signed bv
william Murdoch before Notary Public and
he said: You see there is doubt about
the signature being William Murdock S, as it
compares exactly with the signatures on the
deeds" Turner then noticed that one of the
deeds was dated in 1878 and the other one in
1890, and that both deeds were for the same
piece of land. Megginson then told Turner
that the last deed was given to correct an error
in the description in the first deed. Turner then
noticed that the name on the note which was
dated September 5, 1871 compared exactly with
the name on the the deed of 1890.
Turner did not then let on to Megginson what
his suspicious were, but kept questioning him
in many ways, Megginson thinking that Turner
intended going in with him. Turner then asked
Megginson what guarantee there was that Mrs.
Minnie Murdoch would not come back on him
for the whole amount, after the estate was
settled, if he did go in and bear half of the
expenses Megginson then said he would bring
Minnie, as he called her, and introduce her
and she would tell Turner that the whole mat
ter was left to him. Megginson did bring
woman to Turner's office whom he introduced
as Mrs. Minnie Murdock, and said: Now.
Minnie will tell you all about the note her
signed the note to Megginson for $50 900 and
that anything that Mr.. Megginson did would
the whole matter in his hands.
About this time Turner took Megginson down
to see c. p. Robinson, attorney as Megein
son was very uneasy about his mode of paw
ments. He wanted to make sure that he could
not get into trouble with the Murdock estate
people. Megginson and Turner went together
to ask Robinson some legal questions about the
assignment of the note and the mode of his
payments for the same. Megginson seemed to
be very uneasy about the way he was having
his brother send the money here This was in
September, 1892. Megginson. about this time
went over to Oakland to stay few days to
avoid the service of subpoena upon him from
a party who wanted to take his deposition and
while there he wrote to Turner on Sep
tember 20, 1892, asking him to see Robinson
about some matters in connection with the
note.
This letter is now in the possession of
the attorneys representing the Murdoch
estates and corroborates the statements
made by Turner. This letter the attor-
neys are zealously guarding, and state
that the admissions made by Megginson
therein completely substantiate their con-
tention that the note is forgery, and it
will be, after Turner's deposition, proba-
bly, the first evidence introduced on behalf
of the estate tending to substantiate the
contention of forgery.
Turner then told Megginson that he
would not go in with him unless he Meg
ginson) would tell him the whole truth,
aS ha did not heliaVp the note was Qan-