Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-05
BUSINESS Of
CHECK FORGING
Disclosures of H. B.. Smith in
DeLyle'S Trial.
FOUR OF THEM AGREED
Motion To Dismiss the Charge on a
Technically Was Over
ruled.
FOUR OF THEM AGREED

ruled.
The case OF the state against Fred De
Lyle, charged with forgery, was taken up
In Judge Clancy's court this morning.
When the matter was called G. r.. keliy:
representing the county attorney, askeu
for a -postponemert ON he GROUND thaI
Major w. Smith, one OF the witnesses
for the state, was absent from the Guy;
but the defense, represented by Mackel
& Breen, objected to h proposed con-
t~inuance and said it would admit that to
which Mr.. Smith would testify. The OBJ
lection was presented by Mr.. Mackel IN
forcible language. and in reply Mr..
Kelly animated that Mr.. Mackel was
simply making a ~grandstand play. ne
then asked the court for permission TO
endorse the name of III. B. Smith on the
information, and Mr.. Mackel raised an
other objection. =.
"Put the name on the information"
said the judge.
Then he asked Mr.. Mackel is he de-
sired a continuance:
mo. sir" was the prompt response.
"Call a jury exclaimed the judge, and
| the clerk called IL men t&the box.
The defendant is about % years old
, and is said to have been at the head or
a gang of youngsters who 1tade forgery
a business. There were seveI'al members
Of the gang, but all save DeLyle were
practically boys. One was Howard NC
| Kenty of Denver, who, before leaving the
| Centennial state, cashed a bogus check
bearing the. alleged signature OF his
father, realizing $500 on 1T. With this
money the gang came to Butte n be-
gan operations with the intention OF
cleaning up a few thousand and then
moving west. Several checks were
passed, but before the zenith of success
had been cached the gang was taken
into custody. Since her the younger
members have been ~endeavoring to
throw the entire lame ON DeLyle IN
order to clear themselves. DeLyle was
brought to trial on one charge several
months ago, but secured his release on
a technicality. AS soon as he stepped
out of the court house, however, he was
arrested on another charge, that OF pass
ing a bogus check for SIS on Delphus }.
Giard, an East Park street grocer, on
April 20, 1899, and has been awaiting
trial. The check in question was pre-
scented to Mr.. Gdard by DeLyle in per-
son. 1t was made payable to William
O'Neill and bore what purported to be
the signature of Major W. Smith & Bro.
DeLyle, 1t is alleged, told Giard he was
O'Neill, and as he was rather a decent
looking man, Giard parted with the
money and accepted the check.
The jury comprised Frank Murray, r.
K. Leggat, Samuel Barker, w. H. Alb
bolt, Enoch Johns, Charles Maggie, Jos
Freethey, Pat p. O'Neill, J. August,
Peter McCabe, w. F. Parker and Gus
Kohler.
Mr.. Giard was the first witness, but as
soon as he began his testimony the de-
Tense objected to the introduction of fur
Their evidence, on the ground that 1t hao
not or. could mot be shown that at the
time the check was passed the hrn
whose name it bore had money in the
bank on which the paper had beer
drawn. The question was presented BY
Mr.. Mackel, who called the attention Of
the Judge to the fact that a motion OF
the same kind, and presented under TIT
same circumstances, had been sustained
by him in the case of the state agains'
the belief that in view of the position
taken by the court in the other case !
was not necessary to go into details.
Mr.. Kelly opposed the notion an
stated that since the decision in the othel
} case he had fortified himself with au
thorities to show that the court hat
! erred in sustaining the motion. An ar
gument vas precipltated, and while l
was On the jury was excused.
The balance of the morning session wa
consumed with the argument, n at
} o'clock the court overruled. the motion
I Mr.. Giard then resumed his testimony
and after he had finished H.. B. Smitl
took the stand. He said among Othe
things that several checks had bee
} drawn by him and given to Higgins, on
\ of the gang: McKenty and DeLyle, tw
other members. Some of the paper
had been delivered in person, Will
others had been sent through the mai
} Those sent by mail a been drawn i
\ Anaconda, because he (witness) was i
. that city at that time. There We're eigh
: of the checks. Witness did not kno'
whether they had been subsequent
: cashed. One of the checks was tn
TO'Neill check. Witness further said h
had known DeLyle since March, 1899.
On cross-examination Smith said h
was a brother of Major w. Smith, an
up to December of 1898 he had been
member of the firm of Major Smith
Bro. He had been in the county Jail fo
eight or nine months, but he knew nc
, what for. He could, however, surmis'
He had not been requested to testify, h
said, by amy of the county officials tn
first time the question came up, and ha
not been promised immunity from pur
] ishment. At first he had been confine
in the general corridor, but later ha
been transferred to the witness depart
ment. Mr.. Connolly, he said, had Gale
v him to his Office and asked him il h
> wanted to make a statement. He ha
answered in the affirmative and told M
Connolly in the presence of McKent
that DeLyle, Higgins, McKenty and hin
y self had entered into an agreement
. go into the check forging business.
= until tomorrow.
C0NRT pR0HIRITS