The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-06-03
KNIGHT ON STAND FRANK IN ANSWER
 ID THE ATTORNEYS
Counsel Agreed Not to Take Up More Personal As
 poets of the Case
KNIGHT SAYS FIRM WAS
 INSOLVENT SINCE 1905
Practically All His Stocks and Col lateral Were Up With Banks As Security at the Time
 of the Failure

 As Security at the Time of the Failure
 By an agreement reached Wednes- day night among attorneys for John w. Knight, the creditors and the trus- tee, none of the important questions relative to fake bills of lading, who was responsible for them, or any vital question about the Knight, Tancey X Co.,, failure were propounded to Mir Knight when he took the stand yes terday morning for less than one hour
 The much -heralded appearance or Mir Knight and the testimony he of fered were disappointing to those who had expected a sensation.
 MT Knight was expected to disclose the names of one, two or three men who, according to his intimations, were familiar with the issue of false bills of lading. He was also expected to re- late how the bills for 136,000 bales of undelivered cotton were issued, who signed the railroad agents names to them and other decidedly important matters, which have arisen In connec- tion with the creditors meeting.
 However 1t was learned yesterday meeting was held Wednesday night. Attorneys for almost every creditor were present. The lawyers represent ing the trustee were also on hand, as we'll as the personal counsel of MT. Knight.
 Attorney H. H. Oppenheimer of New York. who was the only attorney who would discuss the night meeting, said that time would work wonders, and we agreed to think in unison that the disclosures expected by Knight, and which I think would have been made by him, would serve our purpose bet ter if we waited until a more oppor tune time"
 Knight Takes stand
 Notwithstanding the meeting held by counsel for all parties interested in the hearing, the head of Knight, Yan cey & Co.,, did take the stand yes terday and he gave straightforward answer to every question propounded to him by Augustus Benners of the firm of Percy, Benners & Burr. MT. Knight was extremely nervous while giving his testimony and continually played with his fingers and constantly shift ed his posture He noticed a news paper man sitting near him taking his testimony an he nervously inquired. What are you doing?" When the re- porter explained his mission Mir. Knight T ,.;r~ ,JI rir son." s At a later time in his testimony MT. Knight. in giving a list of bonds owned, neglected to say he had some gold mine stock. He said to MT. Ben ners: T forgot some gold mine stock You can have 1t if you wish" The sally of the witness provided smile over the court room
 Only One Witness
 The case was resumed by Referee Murphy at 10 o'clock The first and only witness examined was Mir. Knight. He remained on the stand less than ore hour. During his examination not one question was asked but what a record of the answer made had all ready been filed in docum entary form MT. Knight was not quizzed about fake bills of lading and the final surprise came when. at the conclusion of MT Benners' questioning. the witness was not examined by MT. Oppenheimer, who has so far severely catechized ev- cry witness offered in the hearing.
 MT. Knight started out by saying that the firm had been insolvent since 1905 except at times In 1908 and 1907. He gave the name of every member of the firm and stated that he was in charge of the business as a general proposition.
 MT. Knight stated that his firm had lost about $1 25o.OoO during the past year the witness did not state how much had been lost.
 MT. Knight said the firm made no ac- tual spot cotton transactions but that there existed an agreement by which Steele-Miller & Co. of Corinth Miss, ana his firm protected each others accep- tances.
 DispOsal of Money
 He said that cotton was placed with the 1SSdtdi peAhhS do COlldtcTd1 dIQ lUdL $70,000 worth of stock was on hand with the Decatur National to protect the bank. He said the indebtedness of the firm to the Decatur National bank amounting to over $1O0.ooo, had been paid in full. MT. Knight, continuing, said in answer to questions by MT. Benners:
 'I gave five shares of stock in a Hart sell. Ala, bank to my attorney, Mr. Godsby, as his fee, or part of it. I paid Mrs. Knight $500 because I owed it to her from land deal I consummated in this city. I sold a piece of property belonging to her and the profit on the amounted to this sum. I gave after the failure which amounted to about $40o and had left I think about $500 sent vankenburg in New York a tele- gram when I foresaw the failure of the firm"
 Why did you do that?" asked MT. Benners
 well. he was in the habit of guar our drafts and I did not care to see him lose," answered the witness. "He frequently insured our drafts in New Y ork by commercial arrangements and he would probably have been the loser If I had not warned him"
 MT. Knight was asked as to a draft for bank.
 ""The draft was credited to our account and checked against 1t and the checks