Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-05-10
Gates DISMISSED
Charge of Making False
Statements Did Not
Hold In Court.
REPORTERS NOTE BOOK
Court Holds That a Newspaper In
ferFiew May Not Be Held
as Authoritative.
Affairs of the American Steel and
Wire Company Continue TO
Be Aired.

New York, May 10. - The second
hearing ia the case of John w Ga.es.
chairman Of the board of directors OF
the American Steel and Wire com
pany. i'ho is accused by George \.
Lamb OF making false statements
concerning its affairs, was called be
fore Aagistr;>-e ZelIer in the Tombs
police court yesterday. Gates had
expected a speedy dismissal of the
case md had announced his inten-
ton . sailing for Europe yesterday.
but owing to the stand that Magis-
trate Le,ler had taken in determining
TO make thorough examination, the
day for his sailing was indefinitely
postponed.
After hearing further evidence Mag
istrate Zeller last night gave out his
decisiCI, dismissing the complaint
and discharsing the defendant. He
said: 1T appears affirmatively that
the witness Armstrong. a reporter of
the Chicago Record. interviewed the
defendant on April 16. regarding the
steel business in general When ask
ed about the affairs of the American
Steel and Wire company. he declined
to dis suss ii. The statement was
never put in writing. never submitted
to the iefendant and could therefore
not be conerrred in by him. nor did it
concern the affairs of the defendants 5
company. All the reports in the vari-
Gus papers seemed to emanate from
the interview of Armstrong with the
defendant and his testimony is the
only one upon which the complainant
relies. Whatever happened after
ward is not material. for the defend
ant could not be held for report
which is not in accordance with the
witnrss' testimony regarding the in
terview. In my opinion there is no
evidence whatever to hold the de
fendant"
After Magistrate ZeIler's decision
was made known Mr.. Lamb had a
conference with the magistrate and
later made the following statement:
Il will begin criminal proceedings as
soon as l have the complaint out
against Gates. The complaint will be
under section 435 of the penal code,
which forbids the circulation of any
stds- xyfrtciI Is cszicui1tt.,7 20 fT1jure a
cOrpuTatfen or depreciate its stock.
This section does not make it neces-
sary for the defendant to be a direc-
tor lib the corporation. This is the
samel section under which prosecu-
tions for the manipulating of the stock
of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit com
pany were lately pushed"
Chairman John w. Gates and a
number of directors of the American
Steel and Wire company met after
the court proceedings. There was a
meeting of the executive committee
and various matters of routine We're
discussed preliminary. it was gener-
ally believed, to Mr.. Gates departure
for Europe Max Pam, the company's
general counsel, admitted that mat
ters of interest We're under discus
sion. but declined to make any dis
closures. The question of electing
successors in the board to Henry Sc
ligman and Frederick Strauss. who
resigned Monday. was considered by
several officials of the company. Mr..
Gates sent word to interviewers that
he had nothing to say about the af-
fairs of the company or the charges
preferred by Lawyer Lamb.