New-York tribune., 1902-03-05
ZONES CORROBORATED.
r,,rRBEE TELLS OF EFFORT TO GET
NM TO BE EXECUTOR UNDER
1900 WILL.

~ the morning session Of the Patrick trial
81 sav was taken up with the testimony of
-, in handwriting who were called by the
eATo..+,n 70 declare that the disputed sigma
" NJ. Rice in evidence in the trial had
hean written by Mr. Rice. Among these
p,,,esses were John W. Truesdeli, of Syracuse;
.nsrd B. Mutually. paying teller Of the
,so.,,x Bank and Andrew A. Knowles. paying
- of the Mechanics National Bank.
.be afternoon, when Assistant District At
~ Osborne had examined another paying
+oT,.r and called William J. Kinsley. the expert
:, hondvvriting, Recorder Goff said the line must
s-swn. We surely have had enough Of this
s-t testimony he said. IF you examine
AZ 4cinsley you must not examine any more
bank teLers-
1fr osborne decided not to examine Mr.. Kins-
,.r He recalled Walter o. Wetherbee, of Sven
us hank who told Of a conversation with Mr.
r,cs on January l. 1900 and of a visit Jones
made to him two days later at his home. No.
200 Greene-aye., Brooklyn.
DTeu all the conversation between you and
1opes on that OCCASION" said Mr.. Osborne.
The defence objected. saying that except from
Tones who had not been corroborated there was
no evidence Of a conspiracy between Jones and
the defendant, and that consequently Patrick
was not responsible for any of the actions Of
Jones in January. 1900
Mr. Osborne made long argument in reply.
THE Recorder at first ruled that Jones had not
been sufficiently corroborated as to the existence
or a conspiracy to commit murder at that date
and sustained the objection. Later he reversed
The ruling and allowed the question.
Zones called upon me-" Wetherbee said. "on
January and told me it was useless for me to
ask Mr.. Rice for money. and that Mr.. Rice was
done with me. Then he brought up the subject
,f the 1886 viii and asked me If I was not
witness 10 1t. said I was"
The defence renewed its objections, and the
court quoted from Jones's testimony that he had
1old Patrick all that occurred at that interview
Mr. Wetherbee said he discussed the terms of
the 1896 VIII with Jones
Jones told me-" he went on. that Mr.. Rice
had accused me Of stealing a $1,000 bond OF
course I told him that was false, but he said
had better not go TO Mr.. Rice's house again.
Then he said. I have a business proposition to
make 10 you I asked him what 1t was. He
said he had prepared a new Will for Mr.. Rice
10 sign. He suggested that he bring the will to
me for consideration. said 1 did not want to
see It. He told me the names Of the. executors
of the 1896 WILL and proposed that let my
name he substituted for Judge Bartine. Jones
said: Sometimes Mr.. Rice goes TO sleep in a
chair and he wakes up "dopy." On those oC-
casions 7 can get him 10 sign anything. We can
fix up the viii. You get one witness and III get
the other. You'll make a good thing out Of it
and no viii be the loser
What did you say?" asked counsel
II declined the proposition. Jones told me his
lawyer had been after him, and had suggested
the idea One lawyer, he said was a Texas
man, with an Office in The World building
while the other was connected with the Man
haitian Railroad Company. l asked him If Mr..
Rice knew the lawyers, and he said he had met
one Of them Jones said the viii could be drawn
so that the mouths Of all the heirs under the
1896 viii would be closed by legacies"
The cross examination Of Mr.. Wetherbee was
postponed until this morning, and Edward c.
Manners was called. He was stenOgrapher
at the hearings in the RiCe-Holt litigation. He
said that to the best Of his knowledge in the
sixty days he was employed at the hearings he
did not see Mr.. Rice and Patrick together.