The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-24
THE TRIAL OF MORSE
THREE
IMPORTANT DEVELOP nlENTS IN CASE.
Comptroller of Currency Ridgely Had Foreseen Impending Failure of Bnnk--Some Queer Methods
 tn Financing.

New York, Oct. 23.--There were three important developments to-day in the joint trial of Charles w. Morse and Alfred H. Curtis who are oharg- ed with conspiracy and violation of the Federal banking laws in the man sgement of the defunct Natlonal Bank of North America.
 First the prosecution proceeded to show that Comptroller of the Cur rency RIdgely. had foreseen the i'm pending failure of the bank and that he had written a number of letters to Morse and Curtis warning them against making such large loans on what he termed unsubstantial collat- erai. to the officers and directors of the bank.
 Mir. Ridgely said in one of his let- ters that the Morse interests at one time owed the bank s3.370,0oo. the loans to the Morse steamship com panles alone amounting to si.7s4, 900.
 Newt the prosecution presented evi- denca to show that a large loan made by the bank to Miss Kathe erina NJ. Will son, MT. Morse's secretary had been paid in part by profits coming out of the financing of an undertaking of the New Haven Improvement" The profits, Edward B. Wire. former cash fer of the bank, said should have gone to the bank. but he testified that Mir. Curtis and Morse had arranged so that the profits went to cover part of the Wilson loan.
 Third. the prosecution had Mir. Wire testify regarding a note for $200,0e0 deposited with the Knickerbocker Trust Company, one of the institutions that went to the wall during the fin- ancial panic. In tracing this note. It was shown by banking records that after passing through the Knicker- booker Trust Company. 1t bobbed up in the Bank of Commerce as a credit to "E. B. Wire"
 At this point Government Bank Ex aminer Edward Maxey was called to the stand and he endeavored to show how the s2o0.0o0 obtained on the note had gone to finance the Morse steam. ship undertakings. Mir. Hoxey traced payment of interest on the s200.000 to show that the interest of six per cent had been charged against the account of the National Bank of North Ameri- ca. No debit against MT. Wires per sonal account could be found.
 Mir. Wise, recalled, said that Mir. Morse and Charles T. Barney, the late president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company. had ask ed him to sign the note saying the proceeds would be used to finance a deal in steamship stocks.
 MT. Wire said that after making the note he turned over a check for the amount. to Miss Wilson. He said that later he received stock of the New York and Cuba Steamship Company. Ca Morse concern) from Mir. Morse to the amount of $200.00O and later when the Consolidated Steamship Company was organized. he was given bonds of that company for the New York and Cuban Company stock. The account in the Knickerbocker Company. he said remained there until October 21 one day before the panic. when Mir. Barney called on him for collateral for the loan and he turned over the steamship bonds. After this Mir. Wire withdrew the deposit, but he did not say what became of the money.
 E There, was some ainteFast toward the end of the session when the prosecu tion put on the. stand Miss Julia M Wolfe, a stenographer for the Knicker- booker Trust Company. -t
 An effort was made by the prosecu- ton to have stenographic notes talk en by the young woman of a converse ton with Morse and Mir. schuman, the latter counsel for the Knick erbo ocker The defense objected on the ground the conversation took place after the dates on which Mir. Morse and Mir Curtis are charged with violation oT the banking laws.
 The prosecution indicated that the reading of the stenographers notes would be very much in the line of a confession. Judge Hough said that he would require time to pass upon the question of admitting the notes.