Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-02
z HELD FOR
FRAUDS IN
B A n K
S, {. Smith and H. S. Miles Give
$ll,500 Bond Each-0ne
Count Felony Charge,

S. E. Smith, president of the
Guarantee Trust and Banking Com
pany, and H. S. Miles, secretary and
treasurer. were indicted by the Grand
Jury Wednesday on charges of de-
claring false dividends, buying back
their own stock and doing business
without a proper license.
Five indictments were drawn
against each of the men.
Warrants for the arrest of the two
men were served upon them by Dep
uty Sheriff Picnic Miner and they
were taken into custody at 1885
o'clock at the banking house in Ala
bama Street.
Smith and Miles went to the office
of Solicitor General Dorsey soon after
the warrants were served on them
by Deputy Sheriff Miner and sought
to get a reduction of their bonds from
S11,5O0 each. They represented this
as excessive.
OF the five indictments, two are
for felonies, the bonds being fixed at
$4,000 on each of the felonies The
remaining three Indictments charge
misdemeanors, on which the bond
was fixed at $500 each, totaling $11,-
500 for each man.
Refuse to Talk of Case.
Neither man would make any COM
ment on the action of the Grand Jury
when seen by reporter
The action of the Grand Jury is in
the nature of a sequel to Judge John
T. Pendletons appointment last week
Of James Robinson as receiver for
the company. An appeal was taken
to the Supreme Court by the com
pany.
Attorney Frank A. Hooper has been
designated as prosecutor in the case.
owing to the disability of Solicitor
General Dorsey. The Solicitor was dis
qualified from the fact that his law
firm is acting az counsel for the pc
titioners in the case
Long and Bitter Fight.
The return of the indictments is
another chapter in one Of the long
est and most spirited fights in the
recent history Of the Fulton County
Superior Court. The case was insti-
tuted by Matthew Delaney and others
and the trial was entered for May
with the plaintiffs charging that the
defendant company was insolvent as
the result of fraud and mismanage-
ment and the company contending
hiatt it was amply solvent and able
to meet all outstanding obligations.
The first important step of the
plaintiffs. after the filing Of their pc
tition in court, was to serve the de-
PENDANT with a notice to produce IN
court all its books, records and ac-
counts and to cause the testimony of
the president, secretary and chief
bookkeeper to be taken under oath
before a commissioner. The stenog-
rapher's transcript covered more than
500 typewriter pages.
Receiver Is Named.
On motion of the plaintiffs coun-
sell the court appointed c. J. Metz
as auditor OF the books and records.
Following the report Of Mr.. Metz, the
plaintiffs contended that every allie
cation made by them had been sus-
tanned and that the business Of the
former Guarantee Redemption Com
pany had, at a time when the com
pany was insolvent, been sold to the
Guarantee Trust and Banking Com
pany for a bonus of S250,000, the
greater part of which sum was paid
TO Smith and Miles.
The decision of Judge Pendleton
declared that under the evidence, the
officers Of the company had been gull
ty of violating the trust relations i'm
posed b. its contracts and by the laws
Of Georgia and was unable to meet
the measure of solvency fixed by the
statutes Of the STATE The decision
Was formally concluded by the filing
OF an order granting all Of The pray
ers of the plaintiffs and designating
James d. Robinson receiver.