The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-06-23
.SPOOK GUIDED BANK
WRECKER CONVICTED

DAN fHANClSCO, June Z3.-
Crushed and stunned by the blow
Of conviction, and almost certain
Of having to join his former bust
ness associate, ]. Dalzell Brown,
in prison, Walter J. Bartnett, bank
err, attorney and politician, is today
confined to his home on the verge
Of collapse.
His chief counsel gave notice OF
intention to take an appeal from
last nights verdict finding Bart
nett guilty Of embezzling the Col
ton securities, the loss Of which
caused the failure of the Califor
mia Safe Deposit & Trust Co.
Meanwhile Bartnett is out on
100000 bond. Sentence will be
pronounced Tuesday morning.
Prosecutor Cook says today that
he will not press other charges
against BARNETT. The jury was
out less than an hour.
Special Correspondence to The Press
SAN FRANCISCO, June 2S.-If
you had seen a hundred or more
honest, hard working men, entrust-
ing each week to a big financial in
stitution, a few cents or a few dol
lars saved from the fruits Of six
days labor, that their wives and
little ones might never suffer the
pangs Of poverty and restitution
If you had seen that financial in
stitution crash in ruins, carrying
with 1t the little hoard so carefully
and bravely laid by
II you had known that sorrow,
anguish and despair was brought
into hundred homes solely
through the traitorous dealings OF
a gang of a great city's most re.
spected" citizens
If you had been told that that
gang had criminally used the
money entrusted to them in furth.
ering wild schemes directed by ad-
visors in the spirit world
II you had heard one of that
gang confess in open court his
guilt, his confidence in spirit ad.
vice-tell of astounding acts OF
law-breaking-
Then would there be any pity in
your heart save for the working
man who was robbed of his little
all?
IAN absurd question:" ->
1t is not. For right here in San
Francisco there are men and wom-
en- who not only sympathize but
are expressing their sympathy for
]. Dalzell Brown and Walter ].
BARNETT, former officials of the
California Safe Deposit & Trust
Co., the failure Of which few
months ago was the most sensa-
tional in the financial history Of
California.
J. Dalzell Brown Ia convict
now. His identity for more than
a year to come will consist solely
in a number entered in the register
of the penitentiary. Once he was
Banker" Brown, a leader in San
Franciscos most exclusive set.
With the failure of his bank, with
charge following charge of mis-
management and embezzlement,
strengthened daily by damning evil
dence of criminal financiering Of
the widest schemes, Of lending
large sums of depositors' money
on worthless security, Of the sub
stitution and hypothecation of sc.
curities entrusted to him, Browns
spirit broke. He came into court
and confessed his guilt.
1t was not until Brown, the con.
Wet, was placed on the witness
stand in the trial of Walter ].
BARNETT, a former director of the
defunct bank, that the astounding
fact became established that
ghostly seances had been the guild
ing influence Of those bankers in
the use of hard-earned dollars Of
honest men.
You have read about the letters
BARNETT wrote to Brown just be-
fore their flimsy structure fell
about their ears,
Dear friend" he wrote once,
-four bank presidents have been
forced to resign. This should be
a warning to us to put our house
in order The spirits warned me
after the fire to get the books In
order and to harmonic them
The bank commission
ers will examine the bank in time
with care. In the past the spirits
protected us in the examination OF
the bank. The time is coming
when they will do this no more.
They have said so +"
And again. in speaking of some
proposed projects, Bartnett wrote:
'In these matters l have always
followed The Power. So far there