The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1902-12-02

not been completed when the
hour for adjournment arrived.
When court re- convened Wed
nesday morning the examination
Of Senator Noel was continued,
! being concluded about 10 o'clock.
The rest Of the morning session
and part Of the afternoon was
/ consumed in arguing legal points,
and shortly after three O'Clock
the hearing Of testimony was re-
sumed. The deposition Of Mr..
E. FL. Hawkins, manager of the
Western Union telegraph office
at Meridian, who sent the tele-
gram referred to above, was read.
At the conclusion of the reading
Of this deposition Mr.. Sykes, the
plaintiff, was placed upon the
stand.
In his direct testimony Mr..
Sykes gave a detailed account as
to how and when the twelve hun
dred dollars Of the company s
funds, which he admits having
appropriated to his own use, were
taken and the purposes for which
the money was used. He stated
that the first date on which he
took any Of the company's mon
ey was on Ocotber 25th, 1901, on
which day he took $4,000. OF this
amount he used $4,000 to meet a
note which the Walker Evans
and Coggswell Company, Of
Charleston, S. c., held against
him, and which fell due about
that time. He, according to his
statement. made out a voucher
for this sum, which he signed
and placed in the safe, saying
nothing, however,to the manager
or to any of his fellow employees
about the transaction. The next
time that he took any money was
on December oath following, on
which date he again appropriated
$4,000 making a total of S1200.00
which sum he charged to himself
and the ledger, and also destroyed
the original voucher for S830.00,
and made out a new one for
S1200.00 to cover the total amount
taken. In charging the money
to himself, however, he did not
enter it on his personal account,
but opened a new account on a
separate page of the ledger. At
the close of the day he had a
misunderstanding with the man
ager of the mill and left the en-
ploy of the company. At this
time he said nothing of having
appropriated the money and later
when the balance due him on his
Decemb Der salary was handed
him he still kept silent on the
subject.
On cross examination by Mr..
Smith, of counsel for defense,
witness admitted that in making
his cash balances from day to
day that he had transferred the
$4,000, first taken from one ac-
count to another, entering it on
some days on the personal ac-
counts, on others among the rail-
road and freight accounts and on
occasions as money in
safe. When asked to explain
the last named entry witness said
that it referred to his personal
voucher, which was in the safe.
Mr.. Sykes examination termi-
mated about noon on Friday, and
after introducing several news
clippings in regard to the
alleged libel as evidence, the
plaintiff closed.
At this juncture a motion was
made by counsel for defense to
exclude all testimony on the
ground that the plaintiff had
failed to make out a case. The
remainder of the day was oceu-
pied in arguing the motion, and
at the conclusion Of the argument
Judge Hall announced that he
would withhold his ruling until
nine O'Clock Saturday morning,
and court took a recess until
that hour.
When court reconvened Satur-
day morning Judge Hall announ-
ced that he had decided to sus-