The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-25
HEARING OF PATRICK.
Lawyer Accused of the Murder of
 Millionaire Rice.

New York, Jan. 2L-Ths taking of evi | dence was begun today in the trial oi Albert T. Patrick, lawyer. on an indict.
 ment charging him with the murder ot William Marsh Rice, in this city, In sep | tember, 1900. John P. Wallace, paying teller at Sven sons bank where Rice bad an account.
 and where the checks payable to Pat | ricks order was presented, was the urst | witness. ,
 Wallace identified a check for $25.00t | payable to Albert T. Patrick as one that | had been presented to him: It was the | misspelling of the naue Albert that
 caused a telephone call to Rices apart
 ment, which resulted in the discovery
 that the man was dead. The witness said | the check was handed him for payment rick. Wallace told of the telephonic communication with Rices house, and of the discovery that Mir. Rice had died the previous day.
 question asked on this line on the ground | that the witness could not testify to hear say evidence. but the Recorder overruled l the objections until Assistant District | Attorney Garvan asked who answered the | telephone. He sustained the objection that Mir Wallace could not tell who 1t was Wallace testified that he had never seen Patrick until the day the check was presented
 attended to by Jones, the valet-secretary. Tn your opinion. is the signature on the check the signature of William M. Rice?' asked the attorney for the prose- ecution.
 Counsel for the. defense objected. but the witness was allowed to reply.
 Tn my opinion" he said, it was not written by MT. Rice"
 On cross-examination Wallace said that l when the check was returned to the bank l endorsed by Albert T. Patrick and Albert T. Patrick he stamped 1t accepted" all | though he had grave doubts as 10 the | genuineness of the signature. At the re- quest of patrIck's counsel the witness went over the signature letter by letter ! to point ont what he considered discrer- ancies from Rice's writing. Finally he said:
 T don't know what was wrong with the signature. but I don't like 1t. It does not look natural to me. Tho final curve of the M for instance looks as if 1t was an afterth1ught."
 Mir Wallace had never seen Rice and Captain Baker of Texas. ap executor of one of the wills th dispute together at
 Swensop's bank or any other place.
 W. O. Weatherbee. clerk in the bank Of s. M Swcnson & Son, said he knew Rice for twelve years. He was asked to tell of visit alleged to have been made by Jones. the valet-secretary. to the wit ness's house In Brooklyn. but this was ruled out Weatherbee said he had never seen Patrick until the day the check was handed in at the bank Ho had not known Patrick to be connected In any way with Rice's business. When Patrick called at the bank he saw M-. Swenson.
 Tn the conversation hat day Patrick said Rice's body was to he cremated. as the old gentiepan was crank on ere nation !"
 Patrick also said there had been an un derst tandng between him and Rice as to what was to be done with the proceeds nf the checks Weath"rbee gave it as his oolnion that the S250O0 check was not signed bv William NJ. Rice.
 Counsel for the defense objected to the admission of the s25. 900 check as evidence on the ground that the defendant was under indictment for forging that check and that 1t would not he fair to bias the minds of she furV by admitting it. 'rhis check is one of the steps by which ] in
 tend to prove the conspiracy between this defendant and Jones'" replied MT. Osborne.
 "1'he prosecution should not be allowed to say that murder vas committed. be- cause they think n check was forged" said Mir Moore for Patrick.
 The Rec1r Ter admitted the cheek.
 Ende" cross-examinltiOn Weatherbes was not admitted as an expert in hand writing, as he could not analyze the sig natIirc on the $25. .000 check. The doubt in his mind was more general than spe- eff"
 Erie r.. Sweuson "r tho firm of $. NJ, SwcnSnn and Sons. h1uferS for Rice.
 was thr, ncxt witness Hc reviewed the
 events of the day that the disputed check was presented, and his meeting with Patrick and said; Patrick said be