Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-04-27

death. ana others made similar state.
ments. Now. some of these statements
were made by Or. Smith at . time
WREN there was no object o. purpose on
the part OF Mr.. Smith TO make state
ments which were untrue Certainly SC
could not have been Contemplated ON:
the part OF Nj. Smith at these times
that he was preparing the way to get.
MIS- property into the hands Of Mr..
Goodrich; or his daughter, Mrs. Good
rich Some OF these statements were
made 81. time when he could have no
object In making them for the purpose
of evading taxation. Now, either he
was misrepresenting the facts at that
time or else 1t was true.
Afterwards when case was
brought against him for evading an
assessment which had been made and
he thought he was aggrieved by the as.
sessment being too large, he appealed
to the board Of equalization and from
there to the district court, where that
very question was raised as to whether
or not this was bona fide Indebted
ness to- Peter Cooper. That was the
sole question to be tried. 1t was in-
vestigated, parties wholly disinterest-
ed in the transaction going to Illinois
to Investigate, and with all the infor-5
nation they could get then and present
to the court. they insisting that he MAS
Withholding from taxation large
amount OF property and he insisting
that he had right to deduct the
amount he was owing Peter Cooper and
to be assessed upon the difference. upon
a full investigation of the matter when
1T was fresh and all the facts could be
ascertained. 1t was finally determined
in the district court that that was true,
that it was bona fide indebtedness
and that he had a right to deduct 1t,
Now, 1t cannot be said that at this time
Mr.. Smith was preparing to defeat the
rights of this plaintiff do not mean
the plaintiff here-defeat the rights of
his daughter, Mrs. Moore, who was the
object OF his affections as much as was
his other daughter. Mrs. Goodrich, SO
far as the evidence shows. and it can
not be said that Mr.. Goodrich was
using bothsttese parties for the purpose
of manipulating this estate in such a
way that he might become enriched to
the extent OF these assets that were
Withdrawn from the estate.
Then afterwards Mr.. Smith goes
With Mr.. Goodrich to Illinois, selects
out OF his notes and evidences of in
Observation-Disclosures, believe they
were. or notes and mortgages-which
he took over there for the purpose of
making a settlement with Mr.. Cooper,
and they figured up the amount, and
he had notes and securities nearly suf-i
4 ficient to pay OFF that indebtedness to
Mr.. Cooper. lacking $1,000 or $4,000, and
he paid the balance with money.
Now, il that was all a fraud and all
scheme to either defeat the assessor
and thus escape just taxation, or to
plan something for the future. 1t was a
very peculiar way to do 1t. 1t was
| not necessary to, do that, But 1t is said
that Immediately after turning these
securities over to Mr.. Cooper they were
passed back to Mr.. Goodrich and he
brought them back under power OF
lattorney. Now If that stood alone as
one transaction in which Mr.. Goodrich
at this time comes into the transaction
\ and becomes a party to the transact
4 ton, without anything that had gone
4 before, 1t would be very suspicious
You may look at 1t in a way that
makes 1t very suspicious. IL you look
\ at 1t with the thought in mind that
4 these three men are. rascals and rogues,
\ then II was a very questionable trans
i action. II, onathe other hand, you do,
4 as. the court must do. until the cons
trary appears. look upon them as hon-
est men transacting their business in
\ an honest way, there Is nothing SO very
strange about it, because Mr.. Goodrich
\ had been the trusted. confidential agent
i of both these men for number of
years in different transactions. He had
the complete confidence of Mr.. Smith
1t is even alleged to that extent by the
plaintiff. or the party who makes this
contest, Mrs. Moore. so much so
| that he had an undue influence
over him. Mr.. Smith was in
good health at this time and was capa-
BILE Of doing business. and he certainly
knew wha It he was doing. He had the
|sconfidence of Mr.. Cooper and i think
any one who locks at this testimony
and the manner in which Mr.. Goodrich
did business, the extent of 1t. and the
systematic way of doing much OF the
business at least. must come to the con-
clusion, as / have, that it was not a
VERY urbusiness-lik thing, or an UNI
usual thing. for man living in Illinois,
who had large amount OF securities
for money which had been loaned in
Iowa, to entrust those securities to a
good. responsible agent. such as he be-
lieved. undoubtedly, under the testimo-
NY, Mr.. Goodrich 10 be, and let him
bring them back here and handle them
/ for him. And II we can put that upon
4 the ground that it was an unreasonable
thing for him to do. under all the CIR
cumstances, he having done business
for both of these men for many years
before. and the securities being loaned
in community where MIR. Goodrich
lived. then we must take the more IA.
ivorable view rather than the unfavora-
BILE. AS said before, IL all this was a
scheme at that early date In the his
1tory OF this transaction to defeat either
a Just assessment, or to prepare a blind
to. at some day, defeat one OF the heirs
lgof Mr.. Smith, in order to take the lat
ter view the evidence must be pretty
clear that that was the design and
plan. or else we must give It the char
acter OF an honest transaction.
sayVithnlif going infn the details nf