Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-19
AMAZING STATE OF
AFFAIRS IS SHOWN
Official Admits That He Paid for
No Stock. Attended No Meet
inq. Saw No Books and
Is Ignorant of
Affairs.

Denver, Colo, August 19.--With
Lost Bullion Spanish mines case is
getting its testimony in. r. C. Hunt.
first president of the Lost Bullion
company, was "at the bat" for sew
eral hours telling a tale of innocence
as counsel for the defense drew ii
out and undergoing a rather severe
grilling at the hands of Assistant At
torney General Bone.
81 never invested one cent in the
property, was never connected before
with any mining industry, and do not
know if there was one dollar i'm act
ual cash invested in the claim" said
he. at is true l allowed my name to
appear as president of the corpora
tion, but never attended any of the
meetings. If my signature appeared
on the minutes of the meeting as be-
ing present, it is false
rs it not curious he was asked.
that as president of the company,
you Gid not attend these meetings?"
Had Other Business.
He replied that his time was oecu-
pied by other matters and that he
trusted the others to attend to the
business. 81 never looked at the
books and did not know what the
company was doing" he said.
to be investigated for your own per-
sonal interests, the Lost Claim"
mo, sir: ! did not. 1 took the word
of the mining engineer and the direc-
tors. 1 resigned from the office on
January 2. 1907"
How many shares of the capital
stock did you own?"
about $1,000. These I offered to
return to the company upon my res
ignation. as 1 did not think I had
earned them
But He Kept His Stock.
After a few more questions the
witness stated that when he learned
that the company had passed resolu
tions giving him a vote of thanks for
his valuable services he decided to
keep the shares, and that they could
not now be purchased for less than
one dollar per share, the par value,
and that had not the government
taken up the investigation he would
have invested several thousand dol
lars in the company. The witness
further stated that he did not know
where the records of the company
were kept and does not know at this
time where they are. When asked II
he, as president Of the mine, would
object to the records being shown,
he replied that he did not know
know what? Whether you would
or would not?"
Either one" was the reply
Official i'm Name Only.
1t would seem from DIR. Hunts
testimony that he never had exactly
understood his relations to the other
members of the company. He did
realize that when he and w. r. Will
son incorporated the company and
capitalized it at $10,000,000 he was
elected president, but he said he
never attended any Of the meetings
and knew nothing whatever about
the management of the company,
minutes regularly and that the same
name always appeared prominently
in all the doings Of the company at
the time he was president.
Under cross examination, DR.. Hunt
| expressed his abiding faith in the
Lost Bullion property and said that
when brighter days should come and
the troubles of the officials were at
an end, he expected to again invest
in the mine, or cave.
Wrote Recommendations.
George F. Fonda, druggist. and
vice president of the First National
bank at Boulder testified that he
purchased 500 shares of stock in the
company from Wilson. who, he added
is a warm friend Of his. He said he
went to Silver City with Wilson and
that they went together to inspect
the Lost Bullion property. He was
much pleased with the property and
| he wrote letters of endorsement,
praising the mine and the manage
ment in the highest terms
on cross examination he admitted
that some of the letters of endorse
ment were dictated by Wilson.
w. b. Cameron, vice president of
the Lost Bullion company and one Of
the defendants, testified to the same
effect as did Fonda, relative TO the
great value of the ore he found in
the cave, or mine.