The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1910-02-04
FORCED Names
Of SELECTMEN
For. Town Treasurer OfFram-
ingham Makes Confession
WITNESS IN CUMMINGS TRIAL

lombard So Broken Down That He 10
Hardly Able TO Give His Testimony
Against Note Broker-psss Not Re.
msnbsr How Many Nstss He
Fssssa. but Says They Number at
least Tsn--VsIsntar3iy Tsils otery
eanSriAxs. Mass. Feb. 1.--Te<-
2ertAg 10 the witAess Stand % ns arm
u ssurt efhser, rsplytag 70 tbs
lssttsas Of tie government attsrncg
d veiss tAAt seald net As heard ten
Bet away. Jehn d. lombard, former
" tswn treasurer sf FTsJAinSham,
low IN odd. brehsn man. confessed
10 fsrsing the names Of ne beard Of
Selectmen Of Framinghan 10 q prem
Assory nots Of s1B, zee.
lombard was the Third witness
called In the trial Of Charles q. Cum
minss, the note broker, whs was in
dicted in the birmingham case and
who II specifically charged with lar
ceny on two counts and uttsring
forged instrument on one count. One
charge Of larceny is that he stole $14,-
$40 from the Washington Savings In
stitution of Lowell while the other
charges the larceny of SIS, 900 from
the town of birmingham. One of
these charges will be dropped. The
promissory note for SIS, 900 of the
town of birmingham.
For an hour or more before he was
called to the witness stand Lombard
had been sitting at the side of the
court room Those who knew the
former treasurer of birmingham and
w'o had not seen him for some
months hardly recognized in this bowed
and sad-faced person the fnelook !
ing man whom they used to see. His
long gray curly hair hung almost to
his coat collar, his face was sshen and |
he looked sick.
When Assistant District Attorney |
Wier called out the name John B.
Lombard, he attempted to rise from
his seat, but was unable to do so only
after a stalwart court of1cer went to
his assistance. Hardly able to drag
one foot after the other, he went to
the witness stand and was seated by
permission Of the court. Even that
effort seemed to exhaust him, and he
had TO be given a glass of water be-
fore he could give his name In answer
to the query of the government at
torney.
The witness then told his story, an
swering in monosyllables whom posi-
BILE, and hardly above a whisper. He
said that in 1908 he knew the defend
ant Cummings and that he was q note
broker dealing in promissory and
ton after question, brought out the
pitiable confession OF the former
trusted Official.
Lombsrd was cross-questioned by
Henry G. Long, counsel for Cum
mings. Lombard said he could not |
remember when the wrong doing in
connection with the issuance Of notes
began. He first met Cummings when
the latter worked for e. H. Gay &
Co. He did some business with him
and later with the agents for other
brokers. He said he felt he was in
trouble about two years ago. He had
worried a great deal about the mat
ter and his memory was so hazy that
he could not remember just how many
notes he had forged, but that there
were at least ten such notes. He said
he had kept partial memorandum of
the notes.
Lombard, continuing, said that he
had gone to the district attorneys Of
fee two weeks ago voluntarily and
told everything about the matter he
could remember. Long asked him II
1t had occurred to him IL he gave up
these facts II might not give him
Tighter sentence IL he should be SEN
fenced Lombard said that the had
not considered that. and that nothing
had been said about any sentence.