The Washington times., 1913-01-06

second and third mortgages aggregated
sI000O0. which made a total indebted
ness of s1,500.0e0. To that was added
stock that was sold for cash: sold at
some of it'll do not think any of it
my recollection is that none of 1t was
sold under par. That aggregated, my
recollection is, about $4,000. I would
not want to be more accurate than that.
] think II might have been $4,000 to be
accurate. but ii was not more than S40.
oJ0-which would make the total In
debtedness-the outstanding money in
debtedness, S1.54O.O0.
Pact With Builders.
The bonds were sold-well, before I
get to that, there was a clause in the
contract with the Thompson-Sterrett
people, who were the builders that pro-
vided for a cancellation of the second
mortgage bonds, provided the building
did not exceed a certain cost. / do not
remember now what that was"
Gould YOU provide the committee with
a copy of that contract" asked john
son.
No, sir. / haven't it," answered Bak-
er, the records are all with the South
ern Building Corporation papers, wher-
ever they are. l have no papers. They
were all left with them
Those bonds were put in escrow
into the United States Trust COMPANY
My recollection is indistincc as TO the
exact amount, but something lke
sle5,O00 of those bonds were put In
escrow. But my recollection as TO that
of course, / have not had the fgures
before me in eight or ten months
but when the building was hnlshed,
at the last meeting Of the board tnat
attended, which was some time In
1912, before the annual election, as
think probably the records will snow,
1t was in April. I am not sure as 10
that date 1t was before the annual
election of last year.
Only Nominal Treasurer.
whilst l was nominally treasurer,
I had not been acting as such since
the January preceding. therefore / took
occasion to look over the record at
that time to see what the exact con-
dition was. I do not know whether the
suit which was filed by Thompson q
Sterrett against the corporation had
been filed at that time or not, but II
was something like $4,000 involved In
that. Ny recollection is that II the
people established
their claim that II would leave approx
imately $4,000 of these bonds TO De
the second mortgage bonds |
THAT would have brought the om1- s,
standing indebtedness down to Sl.3lo. |
TO which you add the cash that was |
derived from the stock and sold, which |
would make 1t about s., 10000, and to |
that amount you add $4,000 approxi-
mately, brought from the sale OF the |
stock, would make 1t ~ 5000
THAT is my recollection as TO the IN
debtedness when my connection was
severed with II.
"The corporation received in cash
from the proceeds of those bonds and
the sale of the stock s1.275, 900.
AIn nf a h-I
ern Building Corporation last year, the
last meeting
Let me go back a moment At the
meeting of the board that l attended,
my recollection is 1t was stated there
that with the exception of this contro-
versy with the Thompson-Sterrett COM
pany, the conditions Of the company |
were in a satisfactory shape, but they
had fairly enough money to meet their
interest obligations. which /
was something like S25.0 900 or $4,000. is
my recollection, and I have not attend
ed to the matter since. and that Is all
know about II, as to my recollection. l
mean, as to the loans and Indebtedness.
It Is a matter of record, the builders /
took about SIS 600 of bonds, the builders |
and architects, but the Southern Build
ing Corporation received in cash for Its
interest a first lien on the bonds of ap-
S1,275,ooo."
Organizers Got Stock.
How did you buy your stock"
asked Congressman Redfeld. resum-
ing the direct examination.
'T would prefer to introduce the rec 1
ords of the corporation" said Baker.
but until get that 1 will testify from
which is not very good.
My recollection is that we started out
rs a stock corporation, and after the
a.. ~ ,Inov nh
the stock was made subject to the
first mortgage bonds. Stock to the
amount of 100000 was voted to the
who organized the corpo-
ration and who had done the work"
"And who were those gentlemen
Mr.. r. II. Mcneil, Mr.. a. h. l..
Leckie, Mr.. C. A. Douglas, myself. and
Mr.. Meek" responded the witness.
Mr.. Baker said the total bonds ana
issue OF stock amounted to $1,000
100. divided as follows:
First trust, 100000: second mort
gage bonds. 1915, 200: third mortgage
ponds. S325.Ooo: preferred stock, $780,
100, and common stock. $2oO,Oo".
that litigation is now in progress
between the corporation and the
builders of the Southern building. III
the Thompson Sterrett people estab-
ish their contention" & he said: ~
to be Cancelled. which
would bring the mortgage indebted
ness down to S1.410.O00.'
G. A. Lyon. jr., editorial writer on an
afternoon paper was on the stand be-
fore the appearance OF Mr.. Baker. He
testified regarding the receipt at his
office Of the statement issued by the
regarding the proposed In
vestigation and the uncertainty of his
paper as TO how to treat II. II
Attorney Carusi. he said, had told the
that somebody would be
hold responsible" II the statement was
published II