The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-09
NET HOPE AS ORGANISE.
c. A. SmurthwaIte Tells How He
Gave Up Money.
(SpeciaI to The Herald.)


Ogden, July SC. A. Smurthwaite of
the Smurthwaite Produce company, one
Of the concerns for which Beresford Hope
had promised to negotiate loan OF $50,
600, expressed himself today as being both
amused and pleased with the expose made
by The Herald of Hopes transactions. He
admitted THAI negotiations were COM
menced with Hope as early as the LIST OF
last April, at which time he was intro
duced by Ia friend TO Hope in Salt Lake.
The amount advanced TO Hope by the
Smurthwaite company was $50 and the
size of the proposed loan s250,00.
AT the time l met Hope" said Mr..
Smurthwaite today, he was playing on
the tabernacle organ in Salt Lake. Being
extremely fond of church music, In
quired of him when ne would again play.
| made a special point to go TO the tab
ernacle at the time mentioned and heard
him play for probably an hour. he was
a fine performer on the organ, and in a
conversation afterWard Hope represented
Bridge, now organist at Westminster alb
hey, London. | related TO MIN that L
sang as a choir boy under DR.. Bridge S
direction when he was organist OF the
cathedral in Manchester, England, my ma
tive city. Hope talked entertainlngly OF
England, and | feel now that he must
have had some compassion for me in the
transactions which followed on account
of my being an Englishman like himself.
Il did not trouble myself to look up any
of his credentials. l took il for granted
that the man was all right when his ere
dentials were pronounced TO be good Dy
David Eccles of this city and Lafayette
HOlbrook of Provo as published in the
newspapers 1t was suggested that l
telegraph to London in regard to his
standing, but l advised that all we had
to do was to hold on to our money until
he came up with his and in this way we
could lose nothing. In addition to accept
ing the published Judgment of Mr.. Ec-
cles and Mr.. Holbrook, l was further as
sured that Hope was all right when he
asserted during the negotiations that he
would only permit US to take $1,000 of the
proposed loan al any one time. This
looked like genuine business.
Il unfoided my plans TO Hope for the
building of fifteen grain elevators and the
erection of other buildings, all of which
he approved of We went so far as to
have c. A. Graves, our architect, prepare
the plans for these buildings: On one
occasion | took Mr.. Graves with me to
cali on Hope and as late as last Friday
Mr. Graves had not lost confidence In
the fellow. When the deal was closed Tor
the loan. Hope presented bill for sla,
which we paid him. He might just as
took great care that our negotiations
should not become known to the public
and succeeded in keeping it from the pa
pers. AS early as six weeks ago | grew
suspicious of Hope and confided my sus-
picions to Mrs. Smurthwaite. who grew
skeptical over the matter some time pre-
viOus. Since that time we have often
joked on the subject. I now think that
if all your paper prints is true, and !
have no doubt but that it is, Hope should
be prosecuted if he can be located.
From the article printed in your pa
per this morning. ] would take it that
Hope was after Silver Bros. bonds. which
he evidently intended to get away with.
This would in a measure explain his mod
estv in fees It was with the Knicker-
booker Trust company of New York that
he said he would place our proposed
loan