The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1906-01-11
BANK CASE
A Verdict of ''Not Guilty" is Order.
ed by the Court in the First
ROCkhOld Case.

The case of the state of Iowa VS.. A. L.
Rockhold, charged with fraudulent
banking, which was on trial at the time
of going to press Friday, came to sud-
den end Friday afternoon, Judge Towner
directing the Jury to return a verdict of
not guilty.
At the April term of court six indict-
ments were returned against Mr.. Rock
hold, four of them charging fraudulent
banking" in that he had received de-
posits knowing that the Bank of Line
vile, of which he was cashier, was in
solvent, the only difference in the in
dictments being in the names of the
persons making such deposits. The par
tieular one on which he was tried was
that charging that he had accepted a
a deposit of S125 from &. M. Daily on
the 18th day of May, 1904, issuing him a
certificate of deposit therefor, knowing
that the Bank of Lineville on that day
was insolvent.
The contention of the state was that
the Bank of Lineville on the above date
was unable to pay it's obligations, by
reason of the impairment Of it's capital
and that Rockhold as cashier was know
ing to this fact, and the bank books and
the testimony of expert witnesses was
introduced to substantiate the conten-
tinn Tho fo1- ne hn Anfn lar
began Thursday morning and was COM
plsted Friday noon.
Friday afternoon the introduction of
evidence on behalf of the defense began
and witnesses were introduced to prove
the financial condition: and standing of
the individual stockholders of the bank.
To this the state objected and the ques-
tion of the admissibility of the evidence
brought out that the line of defense was
that the bank being copartnership tits
charter having expired four years before
and never been renewcd) the property
of it's individual share holders over and
above their stock was liable for its
debts, and until this was exhausted ii
could no. be held to be insolvent. In
support Of their contention they cited
the Caswell case III which the supreme
court Of Iowa held to this theory and
also decision of the supreme court OF
Minnesota recently rendered to the
same effect.
In the Minnesota case, somewhat
similar to tho one at bar, the supreme
court held that "every dollar Of the
property of the partners is liable 70,
the debts of the corporation and must
be exhausted before it can be claimed
to be insolvent," and that "all that prop
erty must be taken into consideration
before insolvency can be claimed.
The Iowa supreme court in the Cas-.
we'll case held that "if the assets Of the
firm, and Of the individual member.
thereof, are insufficient in value to pay
the debts of the firm, within reasonable
| time, then it is insolvent."
The case was ably argued by Horac,
Carter and Hon. V. X. McGinnis for tn,
state, and Hon. Lewis Miles for the dc
fense, and Judge Towner held that evi
dence as to the financial resources o
4 the individual stock holders was admis
sible, and ruled that theirsprivatc prop
erty was held for the debt of the banl
Icopartnership, and that until this wa
exhausted the bank could not be CLAIM,
ed to be in an insolvcnt condition.
| Under this ruling the state admitte'
that the assets Of the bank and of tn
individual stock holders was suflicien
to pay the indebtedness and on motio