The sun., 1900-10-10
Is CONFIDENT
lie and Jones Laugh at Charges IN
hICt td~Cs ----5 EgagzsE
CLERKS STORY OF A PLOT,
walter o. Wetherbee Makes Ahhda'
Wit That Jones Tried 10 Induce
Him To Become IA COnspira-
tor For Rice's Millions.

New York, Oct. 9.-Whilc Albert T..
Patrick. counsel for the late William M.
Rice. and Charles +. Jones. his valet. are
held safe the district attorney, aided by
central Office detectives, is weaving coil
of evidence about the men that may in
the end drag them into prison. And yet.
i'm spitc of the forces arraycd against
them. these men, who are charged with
4 consniracy to dcfraud the heirs of the
eccentric old man out of millions of dol
4 liars, laugh at the charge of forgery and
n say they have no fear.
H Jones. upon whom the burden of evi
Adence rests the stronger, is apparently the
more cheerful of the two, and those who
hooked into his face while he was in court
Iffound it hard to see any indication of
crime there. Whether they are innocent
& or guilty the prospect before the lawyer
4 and the valet is not very cheerful, for it
4 is probable they will ut least have to
sppnd months III Jail. No bail has been
4 offered for their release, and Frederick
4 l.. Howe. their counsel. will probably not
offer amy. Ii would take S2O,0UU bond
IL gain freedom for the men. and then
4 they might he rcaiIested
Though Assistant District Attorney o.
horrc says Jones will bc directly charged
Il with having committed forgery IN com
nprton with the checks for %2I,uO0 and
4 Sii5,uOu and Patrick with uttcrng or At
tcmpjn. to pass the forged checks. it is
reported that the handwriting experts
say thry viii not. under any circtnl-
stanccs. testify that Jones wrole his EN-
plpyol's name ON tile checks. The eX-
pcrts agree that the Rice signature is a
forgery. the signatures having been made
by what is known as the forearm and
thumb movement.
wetherbec's story.
Interest in the mysterious case centers
Low on Walter O. Wctherbcc an en-
ploycc of the banking house of Swcnson
Il Sons who has made an affidavit charg-
. ing that Jones tried to inspire with him
about II year ago to lay claim to Mr..
n l,ice's millions through spurious will.
According to the story given ont by
A one who processes to know, Wetherbec
4 refused to consider the proposition and
q reported what had happened to Mr..
Swcnson. The employer suggested that
Wethcrbee put the occurrence in writing
while it was fresh in his mind. This he
did, and it is said that what he wrote
then forms the body of the affidavit
which he has made. Not long after
this happened Mr.. Swcnson spoke of it
to Bowers & Sands, counsel for the firm,
and Lawyer James w. Gerard was as
signed to the case to advise as to wheth-
er or not the matter should be reported
to Mr.. Rice at once. 1t was finally de-
cided not TO do so, since. if Jones had
such influence over Mr.. Rice and since
the latter had some trouble with Weth-
crbee, the old man might easily be led to
believe that it was Wctherbce and not
Jones who was plotting against him.
Wetherbee was instructed to reopen me-
Eotiations with Jones, and he did so.
Jones told him soon after however that
he had decided to drop the whole matter.
The trouble which Wcthrrhec had with
Jones and Mr. Rice and which was refer
rcd to by Patrick At the first stages of
the ease was over an .Atchison, Topeka
and Santa l1c bond for 81 900 which Mr..
Rice had placed with Swcnson Il Sons.
1T disappeared in Somc way, and Jones
suspected that this was due to the care
lcs>h"ss Of Wclhcrhec He told Mn.
lticc ~, ana tie millionaire raised a row
A about it aad threatened To withdraw his
account from The firm. lii snmo way,
4 however, the natter was smuothed over.
y Patrick said thai it was this affair
A which supplied the auiluus of Swenson
N y Sons toward him and Jones.