Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-04
clerk of the District auditors ONCE, wa
the next to appear as q witness.

| the next to appear as witness.
colloquy Between Attorneys.
The colloquy that ensued late yesterday.
| during which watson's defense was an
nonnced. was as follows:
Mr.. Baker-"Our contention is this. and
| 1 might as well state it to the court: We
| expect to show that the auditor Of the Dis
| triet of Columbia had no authority for the
| handling of these checks in the manner in
which he handled them. and that. that be-
| ing so. Watson could not be said to have
| handled these checks as an employe Of the
| auditor. and as property belonging to the
| District of Columbia I take 1t that they
nave to prove the allegations OF the in
| dlctment. that the money Is the money OF
| the District Of Columbia. and that 1t came
| into our care and custody"
| Mr.. Beaoh-'Not money"
| Mr.. Baker-"T mean the checksI beg
pardon-by virtue of the office that this
defendant held. II the man that handed
him the checks in question. saying. as he
| does In his testimony. that Mr. Watson was
this check to the bank, had no authority to
DO 1t. why, of course In law. take 1t that
this defendant could have no authority.
therefore. We want to find out Just what
authority the auditor of the District of
Columbia had to handle the checks here
mentioned in the several indictments"
Mr.. Beach-"I may perhaps cut short the
situation. If Mr.. Bakers contention is that
missioners' authority for handling this fund
while we have 1t. will admit We have
not"
Mr.. Baker-'T want to know whether you
have any written authority defining the
that"
Mr.. Beach-''No. We do not need it."
Mr.. Petty's Recital.
Mr.. Petty reci~4l. in part, Of what oc-
CURED in the auditors Office the evening Of
Thursday. June 4. 1903. as he testified in
| court, was: when I found that he would
| not explain these difficulties in the ac-
counts and would not help to unravel these
| difficulties. I said to him: Mr.. Watson.
| 1t is evident to me that you have taken a
admitted that he had. Mr.. Tweedale ask
ed him how he came to take 1t. what he
| did with it. or something to that effect;
and he replied that he had taken it to use
| in stock transactions. He referred particu-
| larly. as l recall. to the fact that he had
| lost good deal of it In the operations of a
bucket shop that he had been running in
connection with his father. Well, / think
| then he went on to say that money had
| been deposited here In Washington by Gus
| toners and he had sent 1t on to New York
| to a correspondent there, and that CORES
pondent had failed, and he had taken this
money to reimburse hts losses. That was
| one Of the explanations he gave, but he
| spoke also of losing the money in general
stock Speculations.'
| Mr. Petty also testified: 81 think spoke
| to him about the fact that this money was
money Of the citizens of Washington. and
| that 1 felt very keenly the loss that would
come to them, 1t having been deposited by
them in good faith, and that I was very
anxious to have the money made good, if
possible; and I asked him If he could not
| do something to make 1t good 1 think his
remark was that he could not do it; that he
| had done wrong and would have to pay the
| penalty; that he could not make it up
Further. Mr.. Petty stated to the jury that
| Mr.. Tweedale asked Watson how much
money he had taken. Mr.. Petty added:
MIR. Watson hesitated to answer"
II then interposed with this question:
| Is 1t $4,000? He said Yes l may have
| used the words, is it as much as $4,000?
| is it as much as 1900? He said Yes.
| Is 1t as much as S20OOO? He said Yes.
| Is 1t as much as $50 COO? He said Yes,
and, as he said that, he threw up both
and said: I cannot stand this any longer.
| I must go out And he left the office.
That was the end of the interview that
evening"
Describes the Fund.
Mr.. Petty described the deposit and as
sessment fund.- which figures prominently
in the trial. as follows: "It was composed
of deposits made by plumbers, the gas light
companies and the Chesapeake Telephone
Sotnpahy. those. corporations indae .ife-
Guent cuts In the. concrete pavement of the
| roadway. and these deposits were made by
them for the expense of repairing these
cuts. They were made with the collector Of
taxes, deposited by him in his bank. apd
made requisition on him from time to time
for lump sums-say 5000 OF 5000. what
ever the amount might be needed-and
deposited the check that got upon that
requisition in the Traders National Bank,
and on that fund. in that bank, we drew for
the pay rolls of the deposit and assessment
fund