The evening times., 1900-10-06
SETTLING THE COAL STRIKE.

If I am asked IN court TO tell what 1
know l will gladly do Sc
Bail had not been offered up to this
afternoon for Albert T. Patrick, Mr. Rice S
lawyer, and Charles f. Jones, the secre-
tary of the late millionaire, who were held
in the Tombs police court yesterday on a
charge OF forgery in the second degree in
signing the name of Mr. Rice 10 two
checks, one for $65. 900 and one for SIS 900,
drawn on the banking firm of Swenson &
sons and presented to the firm for certifi-
cation by Patrick on the day that the mil
lonaire died.
Each prisoner is under $4,000 bail.
Frederick B. House, their counsel said
this morning that he hoped to have Pa
trick bailed out some time today and that
he would do his best for Jones. II any
more serious charge is 70 be made against
one or both, the police will not talk
about it just now.
The legal battle promises TO be one of
the greatest ever fought in this State and
it Will involve an estate estimated vari-
ously at from s4.000,0ee to s15. coo 600. Pa
trick remains calm and 5uaye and declares
that all will come right in the end Jones
refuses to say anything about the case.
Inc police are now trying to find out
who this young man is. They would like
10 know where Mr, Rice found him, how
long he was in the aged man S employ and
what were the relations between the two.
Il is known that he acted both as secretary
ard as nurse TO the millionaire He was
the first 10 know that he had died.
Il was said early in the case that all tbs
assignments made TO Patrick by Mr. Ric.
were signed in the presence of Morris Mey-
ers, "a clerk in Patrick Office and David
l. Short, a notary public Of $50 Nassau
Street When Short was questioned about
this he would say nothing more than that
he had seen Mr.. Riceis acknowIedg gment to
many papers. He refused 10 say specifcal-
iy what the papers were. According TO a
statement of Captain McClusky. Short
made the positive statement to him that
he had seen Mr.. Rice sign the papers. the
genuineness of which is questioned.
At the first stages of the ease Patrick
said that he drew up the assignments at
the request Of Mr.. Rice and sent them to
his house for his signature. Shortly before
his death, according TO Patrick, Mr. Rice
notified him he was Teady to sign the pa
pers and asked that the witnesses be sent
up. The witnesses went to Mr.. Rice's
house and, Patrick says, the papers were
signed, the signature was witnessed and
the assignments were returned to him. Now
the handwriting experts say that the ink
used by Mr.. Rice at his house and that
used by the witnesses are not the same.
their names, they DECLARE, is the same as
that used in Mr.. Patrick's Office
With reference to this Expert Carvaiho
made this statement; cit is alleged that
the acknowledgements OF the signatures to
the assignment were made at Rice's house
Now, III tell you something. The body
of the assignments l examined is type
written, and in each case the assignment
executed Is the second carbon copy. That
70 IND hot he
and the first carbon copy had been ex-
perimented with and the experiment was
only successful on the second carbon.
Furthermore, the ink used by the witness
es in acknowledging the signatures is not
the ink used by Mr. Rice at his house.
but is the ink used in Mr.. Patrick's Office
You may take that for what it's worth"
The handwriting experts gave 1t as their
opinion that the signatures to the checks
for S65,00 and SIS, ,009 drawn on Swenson &
Sons, were made by tracing over an old
signature of Mr.. Rice and that the checks
FOR $135, 600 and $25, COO drawn on the Fifth
Avenue Trust Company. were free-hand
forgeries.
Mr.. Caryalho said that the signature to
the assignment to Patrick of everything
Rice possessed in consideration of an an
nuity of $4,000 and certain promises was
also free hand forgery. When Mr. Ha-
gen, the old expert from Troy, examined
the Swenson & Sons checks, which had
been shown him by Capt James A. Baker.
he thought that Captain Baker wanted him
TO prove that they were genuine, and he
said: Il cannot testify for you These
checks bear a forged signature"
Captain McCIusky said this morning
that he had still no opinion to express as
to what was the cause of Mr.. Rice's death
AS to that feature OF the case, he said,
everything depended on the chemical anal
ysis which Prof Witthaus is making. The
analysis viii not beseompleted for over a
week.