The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-29
new CROP
OF |. 0. u S
TRYING TO PASS THE WALTER A.
WRIGHT BUCK UP TO WILLIAM
H. WRIGHT.

Another crop of l. o. us supposed
to represent money which should have
been paid to the Territory came to
light this morning in Judge De Bolts
court, where the preliminary examina-
tion of Walter A. Wright, charged with
embezziement, was held. The largest
of them was the following, dated sew
eral months before William ". Wright
skipped or Walter Wright was arrest
ed, and said by the prosecution to be
a fake 1. o. U.
"Hanapepe, June 2S, 1902
Il. o. U.
"One thousand six hundred and fifty
dollars, payable July 3rd, 1902.
sun KWONG SING"
The defense outlined during the ex-
animation appeared to be that of
throwing the responsibility for the
shortage of the Kauai man upon his
brother, the defaulting treasurer. Judge
De Bolt, however, refused to allow i'm
quiry into Treasurer's Wrights doings
and sayings at the time of the inves-
tigation of the defendant.
That William H. Wright had full
knowledge of his brothers shortage
about July 1, was shown by the testi-
mOny of former Assessor Conant. At
that time he received from Gay and
Cook, bondsmen for Walter Wright in
wrong, and that he had better look
over Wright's books. With the treas
urer he went to do so, and both Con-
ant and William H. Wright, after
spending a couple of hours going
through the books, came to the con-
clusion that there vas a shortage of
$2,S4S.6O. The amount collected as Civ
en- by the cash book and the tax re-
ceipt stubs was the same, but it was
had been turned in.
There was a good deal of difficulty
about getting testimony in as to how
the shortage was proven = exist, oW-
ing to many objections. Conant was
finally asked by Deputy Attorney Cen
eral Douthitt if he knew of his own
knowledge that the shortage existed.
The witness stated that he couldn't re-
member the total collections, nor tie
amoult turned in but he knew that the
latter was $2,S4S.60 less than the form
er. About $500 in l. O. us had been
collected it appeared, making the
shortage, as charged in the warrant of
arrest $2204.G1
Conant said under cross-eXaminatiOn
that he found the books all correct,
| IWtlnout any attempt at. concealment in
| them. Did you make a demand upon
Walter Wright for the money you said
was short?' he was asked by Peters.
Il did" replied the witness, "and lie
| told me that he had |. O. US out
standing for the whole amount"
The |. o. e. for 81, $50 was introduced
in evidence, but the witness stated that
! he had no others with him. They ag-
! gregated $2S more than the shortage,
The Treasurer turned the |. O. L. over
to me-" continued Conant, "and said
had better try to collect it that night,
which l tried to do without success. We
had a little general talk, during which
Treasurer Wright expressed the hope
that his brothers |. O. us would turn
out all right"
1t was also developed that William
H. Wright had agreed to make good
the amount, and had said the l. o. us
were all right
when you found that William H.
Wright had gone away and had not
made good, then you decided to arrest
Walter A. Wright, did yOu? asked Pc
ters.
Il had nothing to do with it, The
acting Treasurer caused the arrest of
Walter Wright when he took office"
Peters proceeded to go into the ac-
tions of Treasurer Wright proposing TO
show that he had accepted the l. o.
us as payment, and that as he was
Walter A. Wright's superior officer, the
Kauai Wright could not be charged
with embezzlement. Douthitt objected
on the ground that the testimony was
immaterial The attitude of William
H. Wright is one of the main issues in
this case" argued Peters. IF we can
show that the Treasurer, this mans
superior officer, looked at these i. o.
US representing money of the govern
ment and said, It's all right, this man
certainly cannot be charged with EN-
bezzlemeut In any business transac-
zion, If a man owing money hands over
paper which the man to whom he owes
says is all right, there cannot be a
criminal accusation" Judge De Bot
however, refused to allow the defense
to proceed on that line.