The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-04

The trial of Banker J. NJ. Stout was
at its zenith yesterday. The govern
ment put on the witness stand J. H.
Hedges, its star witness. on whom it
principally relies To prove the banker
a forger- Handwriting sharps who
are supposed to know all the ouirks
and turns OF the pen. who pretend to
read in these unnoticed strokes, shad-
ings and dots many mysteries un-
movable TO the uninitiated, had their
inning.
Probably the most notable feature
of the proceedings was the weakness
of the governments main witness,
Hedges. He declared that he aid not
sign the famous note, that il was Il
Forgery, but his testimony On cross
examination by Judge Dickson was SO
contradictory and changeable that
much of its force was lost. When he
was first placed on the stand he denied
that MS name in the signature book OF
the Utah National bank was in his
handwriting. As soon as the book was
Shown him he declared the name to
,be Il forgery.
= That was as a bombsheH in the camp
of the government, for the bank Off
Gals stood ready To- prove that the
name was not forged. 1t would have
shown that he did not know his own
signature from a forgery But he fin
ally weakened on this strong statement.
While the jurors We're examining the
book and comparing it with the sigma
ture on the alleged forged note he said
that he was not quite certain that the
name in the book was in his own hand
writing. AT the beginning of the af-
ternoon session he took back all his
former statements.
on.
of the book" said he. and have come
TO the conclusion that l did write my
name in it
There was al once a suspicion on the
part Of the defense that the witness
had been tampered with by the gov
ernment attorneys and officials. but
the point was not at all established
There was larger crowd in the court
room during yesterday afternoon than
there had been on the previous day.
There were quite a few friends OF Mr..
Stout, who spoke 20 him during the
day. To each of these he replied as
calmly. and cooily pc might have done
anyone in the cOUi- 'nm. In fact. the
equanimity Of mind shown by the old
gentleman is quite remarkable. Never
at any time during the proceedings has
he evidenced the least excitement
Stoutt's Account With Bank.
JDiiH A AFItt>Dtth- AtltltI lt-lltI tl
the Utah National bank, was recalled
TO tell OF AIR. Stoutt's account at the
institution during last year.
He showed from the books that at the
close of business April y. OF last year,
the defendant had an oVerdraft of
i5,4SS7g. rs trustee he was oyerdrawn
$4,000 ana as Chambers K Stout. an
outside firm. he was oVerdraUn S262. 40.
AT the close Of business in the next
day President Stout was credited with
IS, 800, draft on a cleveland {O.) bank
said MIR. Groesbeck. ON May ] We
received j statement from The bank
that they had not given US credit for
i his amount and / went To MIR. Stout
nd told him. He said not to note it
= my exceptions and that he would
write concerning il.
ON July II. Mr.. StoUJt's account. eN-
elusive of his responsibility for the
Tempest Gold Mining company. L. NJ.
Bailey * Co, and J. +. Slater x 90 s
accounts, shows in the books overdrafts
S9671-g4 as trustee $4,000. as Chambers
es Stout S2G2.40. Notes against him
We're S37S.75 for Roy q Stout, and a
demand note for s. $3.50. The account
on the next day was oNedrafts S692l.94
as trustee $1,000 and for Chambers *