Rocky Ford enterprise., 1908-09-25

= the Cefunct State Bank OF Rocky
. Ford:
= Jasper Miller, farmer, Fowler.
y !. A. Griffin, laborer, Fowler.
3 Albert Knapp, laborer, Fowler.
p w. E. Pellet, farmer, Fowler.
- E. H. Willard, carpenter, Fow-
. D. P. Bagby. carpenter. Fow- Z
: x. E. waddington. farmer. :
. S. A. Hardy. laborer. Fowler.
I. F. Dixon, farmer, Fowler.
3 Edward Harris, farmer, Fow-
: William NORM. farmer. Man. :
: W: o. Meclimans. farmer. Z
$+$*$+++++++++++++
On Friday morning the trial OF
John E. Godding commenced in the
district court at La Junta, and great
aumber were down to hear the open
ting statements of District Attorney
White. His address was scathing
asraignment of the accused Official
and was in substance as follows: :,
He stated the bank was organized
about twenty years ago with a capi.
tal Of $4,000. only one-half Of which
was ever paid in and that John Z.
Eodding was the president and one
Of the directors and in fact managed
the affairs of the bank; that as far
back as 1903 he commenced to use
the funds of the bank; that he had v'r-
tualy stolen from the bank about
troo,ooo: that both he. his father and
lis brothers had all received large
loans from the bank with practically
no security; that on Aug. ! or 2. 1907,
their annual statement showed that
tie bank was in good condition. when
ls a matter of fact they have over
Drafts out amounting to 100000.
"Thcv claimed to have deposit TO
their credit of $4,000 in a bank IN
Chicago according to their books,
declared Mr.. White, "whcn as a mat
ter of fact they only had s36.6r. Their
,books also showed they had depos-
III with the Rocky Mountain Savings
bank Of Denver Of $1,000. From their
statements they should have had six
ty odd thousand dollars OF deposit in
"a sh when as a matter of fact they
only had $4,000 and on that date
an the;. capital stock and surplus was
lost and besides large amount OF
bad notes which they were carrying.
They claimed TO have $4,000 or de-
posit At Pueblo. when as matter
Of f,ct their account at Pueblo vas
overdrawn. The bank had pledged
their good notes and securities to
other h.nts for loans and aT the time
they closed they had borrowed from
everybody they could"
He also stated that the president
had allowed the cashier. f. J. Smith
nm nn securities
that were not worth over 5000 and
that he had allowed w. r. Fcnton 10
borrow $4,000 from the bank. the
most Of which was unsecured. Fen
ton lad given a pretended security on
1850 acres of state land which he hat
lerecd to purchase from the state
and ha, only paid 500 on, and on
which he owed some $1,000 or 1000.
Fenton had also given them mort
gage on 900 head of cattle. but these
had .,cen previously mortgagcd with
Kansas City firms for $4,000. He
claimed that Godding had his own
notes in the ban: for $4,000, while
brother. NJ. c. Godding, had notes
SI,4oo: T. r. Godding, Sr., had notes
amounting to $4,000 in the bank. and
that T. F. Godding. Jr.,. had borrow
ed S2.zoo without security. Godding
Dhad offered for his security 40 acres
of land near Longmont. which was
Oncumbercd for $1,000. NJ. D. Thatch-
er of Pueblo held warranty deed
on this land. "For months the affairs
Of the bank had been going from bad
10 worse" said White, "and they had
offered a real estate man in Rocky
Ford named McKelvy, $40 for every
thousand dollars he could get dcpos-
tied with them. J. E. Godding built
. house in Rocky Ford worth $1,000
and paid for II with checks on the
bank when he had no money there on
deposit"
After the noon recess the defend
ants entered an objection to the in
dictments claiming there was no law
on which the defendant could be con-
victed and that the offenses charged
did not constitute crime under the
laws of Colorado. The court over
ruled their objection as this was the
same point he had heard before and
they were entering it again merely to
gain a point in order to carry the
case to the supreme court. They also
objected to the introducing of any
testimony at this time owing to tho
fact that Cashier F. J. Smith was not
present. They claimed that Smith
had promised to aid them in the trial.
that he had failed to appear, but that
the shelf had been sent after him.
They wanted him present when the
testimony was given as he was famil-
lar with the books.
The prosecution then brought into
court dray load of books and pa
pers belonging TO the bank and placed
Lloyd Pollock, who had been cm-
pIoyed in the bank for five years. on
the stand 10 identify those books and
papers. Most of the afternoon was
taken up with the identification OF the
hooks and SOME thirty-hve or forty
INHERENT PAPERS and young Pollock