The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-08-25
,ERNER[R COAL LINE RESSTS IDAHO CLAIM M
w. G. HaSsard Objects to His
EXtraditiOn.
A RELATIVE COMPLAINS
ACCUSATION GROWS OUT OF
PARTNERSHIP DEALINGS.

Acting Governor Hammond is sitting
much TO a well-known citizen of Salt
Lake, one who has always borne an ex-
! cellent reputation in this city and
wherever he has cast his lot. The
question 20 be decided by the executive
! is whether William G. Hassard, for
years a trusted employee of the Salt
Lake City Railroad company, shall be
extradited to the state of Idaho to be
prosecuted on a charge of having de-
frauded his creditors.
The application of the Idaho officers
for the custody of the accused man is
resisted by Hassard. Yesterday after
noon the acting governor granted a
| hearing upon the application and re-
! served his decision until 8 o'clock in the
evening but at that hour the executive
| announced that he had been unable to
: satisfy himself as to the well-founding
| of the points raised in contention and
| deferred rendering his decision till this
| forenoon 1t was the intention of the
| executive to confer with Attorney Gen
| eral Bishop. but since that functionary
was out of the city until late in the
evening, no opportunity was afforded
| for the conference.
Fatal Defects Pleaded.
At the hearing yesterday afternoon,
| w. r. Hutchinson appeared as counsel
! for Hassard, who for the past few days
/ has been out on bail as a fugitive from
| justice from Idaho. The prosecution
was represented by County Attorney
| Clark of Bingham county, Idaho, and
| Deputy Sheriff Davis. By request,
| County Attorney Putnam was also
| present, but he took no active part
| The accuSed's brOther-in-law, Obadiah
| Armstrong, the complainant in the
case. was also in attendance.
Attorney Hutchinson attacked the
| sufficiency of the complaint on the
| ground that it did not constitute a
public Offense in that it does not state
| that the accused is indebted in any
sum whatever to the j. G. Miller COM
pany and other alleged creditors, who
are named in the complaint as cred
! itOrs of Hassard. Another point raised
| in objection to the proceeding to ex-
tradite the accused is that il is not
stated in the complaint from what
1 bank HaSsard drew money belonging
to the firm of which the accused was a
member on Dec. "a 1899, the date al
legged when he left Idaho Falls and re-
| turned to his home in this city,
The attack was replied to by the
! prosecuting attorney from Idaho. and
numerous authorities were cited by the
respective counsel These were sub
mitted to Acting Governor Hammond
to ponder over.
Malicious Motives Alleged.
Apart from the technical objections
| raised against the formal application
| for the return of HaSSard to Idaho, his
| attorney contends that there is an Ill
terror motive back of the effort to get
his client within the jurisdiction of the
] state of Idaho. He maintains that the
real purpose is to make his client face
a meliciously conceived criminal
| instead of a civil action, if cause for
| one existed, to make him liable for the
acts of his partner in business.
Hassard's brother-in-law. Armstrong.
/ defends this allegation by declaring
| that he was forced to make complaint
against his former partner in order to
protect himself against the creditors of
the late firm who are clamOring for his
prosecution so that they may collect
their debts.
1t was suggested to the executive last
| evening that it would be prudent to
know all the facts in the case before
| the acting governor exercised his dis
erection in hOnoring the requisitiOn of
| IdahO's governor for the prisoner. Ar
rangements were partly made for fix
ing the date for such a hearing as
would bring out the facts in the case.
but the matter was put off till the de-
! cisiOn on the law points raised is an
nOUnced this morning. If the requisi-
! ton papers are held to be defective
! they must be taken back to Idaho for
/ amendment. but if the decision of the
/ acting governor is to the contrary, a
/ hearing of the case on it's merits at
this end of the line is not improbable.
Result Of a Partnership.
! The crime charged against Hassard
! grows OUT of the fact that on Oct. of
! last year the accused invested $3.50 in
/ the mercantile business of Armstrong.
! his wife's brother at the town of Rig
| by, near Idaho Falls. The partnership
was not a cOngenial one, although the
/ business is said to have been profitable
| On Christmas eve Hassard made a cal
! culation of the firms assets and liabil-
| tiles and drew from the bank S1050,
which he figured was his capital plus
| $500, for his share of the profits and for
! his services. leaving So 200 in good as
| sets and $500 in liabilities, including
about $500 balance due him.
! Hassard declares that his every act
was open and with the full knowledge
| of his partner, and that he then came
/ back to this city and proceeded, under
the advice of his attorney, to dissolve
! the partnership. The accused also sets
/ up that Armstrong made a practice of
having a new partner every few
| months, and when he could not get rid
of his business associates any other
way he would play the part of a pugi-
| list
Assets Spirited Away.
/ Shortly after Hassard left Idaho, it
| is claimed, all but about $500 of the as
| sets mysteriously disappeared, and this
property some of the dissclving firm S
! creditors attached, leaving nothing to
| satisfy the claims of the other cred
| itOTS-
Armstrong denies the correctness of
! his former partners figures, and de-