Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-04-24
The Plea of J. w. Ketchum Char
ged with Completely in
Bank Wrecking.
TRIAL BEGUN IN RUTLAND
D. II. Lewis Taken from the House Of
Correction to Attend the Hearing
improved tho Opportunity to
smoke-K stcham Appears
Calm.

Rutland, April N.-The long deferred
trial Of the famous Vergennes bank cases
in which Lieut.-Gov. NJ. r. Allen of Fer
risburgh and ]. w. Ketchum of Vergennes
are defendants was started at the federal
building to-day. The trial OF Ketchum was
first taken up and it was well in progress
when court adjourned at o'clock this af-
ternoon until tomorrow. There were many
spectators present, prominent among them
being N. +. Dunshee of Bristol, president
of the defunct bank and Howard J. Hill OF
Bristol, its teller.
The three most important characters In
the present trials, Lieut. Gov. M. f. Allen,
John w. Ketchum and ex-Cashier David
II. Lewis, arrived at the federal building
about two o'clock. Allen and Ketchum
were accompanied by their counsel and
Lewis was In charge Of Keeper John
Smith of the House of Correction. Lewis
looked WELL In a suit Of black and a black
derby hat He puffed constantly at q cigar
and explained his evident enjoyment OF the
weed by saying to Ketchum. who refused
proffered Havana, Well you've been
where you could smoke whenever you felt
like 1t. l haven't"
Mr.. Allen and Mr.. Ketchum were to all
appearances cool and possessing con-
fidence in favorable outcome. ketchum
looked decidedly better than on his pre-
vious appearance in the court room last
February.
ter the usual formalities of opening the
session the case of tho United States VS..
Alfred Swynier for selling liquor without
paying the revenue tax was taken UP. Dis
trict Attorney ]. L. Martin explained that
the matter had been satisfactorily dis
posed of and at his request nollc
proseuui was entered. The district attor-
ney also asked to have mol pressed, the
four indictments yet standing against NJ.
A. Mcclure who Is serving seven years for
completely in wrecking the Merchants Ma
tional bank of this city. The court COM
piled with the request.
w. l.. Burnap Of Burlington, appearing
for Or. w. G.. T.. Flanders in the Mullins
Flanders case spoke Of the stay In the pro-
cecdings granted by Judge Wheeler and
in response Col. Joel c. Baker. for the
plaintiff, said his client was willing to let
the matter stand as it is for the present.
KETCHUM ARRAIGNED.
The case against Ketchum was called
and the prisoner araigned. Ketchum
spoke firmly in the Affirmative when asked
If he had read the indictment and under
stood its meaning. On being asked by the
clerk what he wished to plead to the
charge. he replied clearly. Mot guilty"
The district attorney explained to the jurors
who we're empanelled that the indictments
against the prisoner were for making false
entries in the books Of the Farmers Ma
tional bank of Vergennes. abstracting
funds and aiding and abetting Cashier
Lewis in the abstraction Of the bank 8
funds. After excusing 10 jurors. the fol-
lowing Jurors were sworn at 3:b o'clock:
Brigham 7. Phelps of Westminster Sta
ton, A. 3. Roberts Of Dorset, James Gran
ger of Middleton Springs, Sewell o. Thayer
and James A. Amidon of Brattleboro. Hor-
ace Gibbs of Proctor, NJ. j. Green of Fair
IInt I ~ D,,tl
B. Patterson OF Bennington. John w.
Stearns, Michael McKeough Of this city. j.
=. Benedict of Poultney.
District Attorney Martin explained at
some length the governments position In
the case, claiming that the false entries by
ketchum consisted In charging twice or
oftener checks drawn by depositors on
their bank accounts; also padding the
individual accounts of depositors He took
the accounts OF Mr. Quinlan and Mr..
Allen to illustrate his statements and said
the former had upwards OF $4,000 of checks
Irecharged and the latter some IS. 500 during
Ketchum's service at the bank. He said
that deposits were enlarged in amounts
when transferred from the day journal to
the Individual accounts and this in the re-
spondents handwriting. The district at
torney said the cash balanced according to
the books each day and the difference be-
tween the amounts of recharged checks
and which were never paid must have gone
from the bank.
After statement by the district attor-
ney and Attorney Cushman for the defen-
dant Ketchum, Frank L. Fish. State bank
examiner and receiver of the Vergennes
bank was called to the stand. His testi-
mony was in regard to the discovery of the
ranks shortage which he said was between
$4,000 and S130,OO.
David II. Lewis. the imprisoned ex-
cashier, testified regarding the bookkeep-
ing system and the purpose OF the differ
ent kinds of records. He spoke indistinctly
and showed some little nervousness toward
the last when pressed by MIR. Cushman as
to his reasons for keeping the account OF
Dunshee. Allen and Quinlan separate from
those of the other depositors.
Court adjourned at o'clock until 8
o'eiock tomorrow morning.