Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-10
MrsnRvE's FLEA IN AVOIDANCE


Columbus Telegram (dem.); When ar.
rested on charge OF embezzlement e1-stats
Treasurer Meserve promised the public, and
his attorneys, speaking In his name. in.
formed the democrats and populists OF the
state that their ex-treasurer would not
employ the technicalities OF the law in order
to escape punishment. as did Gene Moore.
But promises are easy to make. and as easy
to break. Yesterday Meserve appeared be-
fore the court, practically admitted his
technical guilt, but pleaded that It was no
real crime against the state. Some demo-
Gratis and ~populists had looked for better
conduct on the part of Meserve. Gene Moore
did the same thing. He Is now free. Me-
serve will probably escape through a like
legal hole. He admits that he is technically
guilty. The court will doubtless give him
a certificate Of technical innocence.
Fremont Herald (dem): Mr.. Meserve'S
defense, in the trial for embeEslement Of
5000 in state money deposited In the Union
Stock Yards National bank OF South Omaha,
is that the state. not permitting the treas
urer to deposit funds, could not collect In
terest on deposits, so that II . bank did pay
Meserve interest on state moneys that in
terest could not possibly be the property
Of the state. It's about the same line Of
defense put up by Eugene Moore, Hilton
and Porter, in the mixup Of public funds
which stuck to their fingers. He says the
safe in his ONCE was not At to hold funds
and he had to put them In the banks for
safe keeping. II he had been compelled to
pay out this 5000 to have the money taken
care OF by the banks, II would be dis
covered quite readily that the. state was
interested enough for having 1t protected.
Kearney Hub (rep.): In. district court
l. n--.A eRA.-.1- A.-a NAH A~-HNHG00-
urer Meserve admitted. technically, that his
client was guilty OF embezzlement In con
verting TO his own use interest moneys
derived from deposits Of the state funds,
but pleaded that the treasurer had not
committed an offense against the laws OF
the state, and asked that the Judge In
struct the jury to acqult. The law simply
says that the treasurer shall not deposit
money In banks other than those that have
been selected as Repositories, The treas
urer's counsel contends that the vaults
Of the state treasury are not o safe place
In which to keep treasury cash, Hence the
treasurer must deposit the moneys In banks
where they will be safe, even though In
SO doing he is technically an embeszler.
Finally Meserve's counsel contends that
even though a bank does pay the treas
urer interest on state moneys. that inter-
est cannot POSSIBLY De the properly Oh tne
state. So then we are not dealing with
a matter Of fact, but with a question OF
law, and legal te~chnicalities are depended
on to afford a loophole for escape.
Grand Island Independent (rep.); The
Meserve case lie on trial In Omaha and a
fury Of his peers has been selected. But
the attorneys became involved In q warm
argument the very first iop out Of the box
by which Is meant the very hrst question
in the mind OF the attorney for the state.
| Constantine ]. smythe. or smyth, or Smith,
representing the indicted sx-treasurer, OBJ
jected to the question on the grounds that
It was immaterial, irrelevant, etc, and i'm
mediately the jury was excused until this
afternoon to permit the attorneys and the
court to get together on the proposition
whether, presuming Meserve took the In
terest, the state can hold him for 1t. Me-
serve choosing the position that he had
acted unlawtully, technically, In deposit
ing the $50, 900 in the bank at South Omaha,
and, IL be received $4,000 interest, It was
unlawful money and the state cannot re-
cover It, is not entitled to 1t. II will be
remembered that that Is much tho way
Porter got out of putting back the $500
which he should not have taken. OF course
II Meserve didn't take It, one can see no
reason why he should permit his attorneys
TO assume such a position.