The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-12-14
MAY SWORE
At BITING
testimony Somewhat
Sensational In En-
bezzlement Case.

court yesterday when Attorney Biting
was nut on the stand as the chief wit
ness for the prosecution. The prosecu-
ton. by the way, closed its case with
Mr.. Billings testimony and, the de-
Tense not being ready to go on, the
case went over until Thursday morn
ing.
Mr.. Biting had acted as the attor-
ney for the widow Bettencourt in at
/ tempting to collect from May the a.
mount of the life insurance upon Bet
tencourt's life. He told, in detail and
with some dramatic effect, the story
o: how he had tried to collect the mon
ey for the widow, and of how May
puted sum upon various pretexts.
| Finally, as he did not seem 10 make
any progress in the matter of the col
lection of the money. Biting wrote a
letter TO the head Office of the Ger
mania Life Insurance Company, in the
| employ of which concern May was at
| that time. This letter, Biting testi-
fed as an addendum to his main story,
| produced results.
MIR. May came to my Office" the
witness said, land said to me, You
have pushed this matter to the ex-
treme and, d-n you. will hound you
until I kill you"
| May. who had been sitting beside his
attorney, Mr.. Dunno, somewhat ner-
vously lingering his moustache, laugh
| ed a little to himself when this testi-
mony was given, and ripping smile
went around through the jury box.
Biting. resuming his testimony, said
that May had called upon him several
times with reference to the claim of
Mrs. Bettencourt and had finally told
him after Biting had secured a copy
of his release from bond in the sum
of $1,000 for the executrix of the estate |
of Bettencourt, that he had invested !
the. thousand dollars in stock of the
Pacific Mill Company. But" said
Fitting, The never showed me the
stock, and / never saw it,"
1t developed that the defendant him-
self was the promoter of the Pacific
Mill Company, and that he had invest
ed the money, according to his story
to Biting, in his own company.
There was no cross-examination Of /
this witness, and at the conclusion of
his testimony Attorney Dunno moved
that the court instruct the: jury to ac-
quit the defendant. This motion was
denied. Then Mr. Dunno argued that
the Attorney General should have put
on a certain witness one Dutra who
was not called, and whom he had ex-
pected to be called. This matter was
threshed out at some length and, as
Mr.. Andrews said that he did not in
tend to call the witness, Dunno said
that that determination left him rath-
err in the air, as he had no witnesses
on hand. 1t was on this showing that
the case went over until Thursday
morning. u
The session yesterday morning was
devoted largely to the testimony OF
Mrs. Bettencourt, the widow of the
man whose insurance policy May is al
legged to have enbezzled. She testi-
fed that her husband had policy for
$1,000 which she had given to May after
her husbands death, so that ne could
get the money for her.
May said he would have to have
some proof of her husbands death.
May was agent for the Germania IN
surance Company. May had gone on
her bond as Administrative and after
she had signed all the papers, May told
her he had sent them to the Germania
Company. She then signed a draft in
Mays Office, she thought this was for
the amount TO come from the policy.
May said that he could keep the money!
in his Office for her. The arrangement
was that May was to keep the money
for six months so that if there were
claims against her husbands estateI
she need not say anything about the
money. May told her to be quiet about
it as he was her bondsman and it might
set him into trouble
After Dutra had told her something
about the money she went to see May ,
and asked him about the amount of
the policy May said he was very sorry
but he had invested her money with
$4,000 in the Pacific Mill She had not
told him to invest her money at any
time. He gave her no stock. nor even
a receipt. After that she called many
times but never got any from him so
she went to lawyer Biting about it.
May told her that he did not like her
getting lawyer. He got very angry
Here Attorney General Andrews prof.
duced an agreement which Mrs. Bet
teneourt identified. Tt was to allow hert
to reside in q house on Punchbowl
from month to month until he could
pay her $1,000. less SIS a month for rent.
She had not signed this paper Nav all
so offered her three lots in Kaimuki in
settlement of her claim.
Cross-examined by Attorney Dunnei
Mrs. Bettencourt said that her husband
left no other estate than the $1,000 pol
icy. Her husband she knew had beenI
in debt and she feared that if the cred r
itorS, knew of the insurance nnonevl I
they would take it. Dutra suggested
that May should be asked to act as 4.
bondsman. May at first refused but n
agreed.
She denied absolutely saying thatI
when the money came May could investI
II Tor her so that he could pay himself
Tor having done the favor to her.
COURT NOTES