Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-08-07
4kRDER BANK Case
Explanation Concerning Conduct of
Case From Ex-Prosecutor Wolf
No Evidence on Which to Base a
Conviction.

have said repeatedly that ]
would like to see Ed. L. Barber
punished for squandering the hard
earned money of our people who had
entrusted it with him. Ispent many
weeks searching the law and hunt
ing for evidence upon which / could
bring him to justice, but in spite of
my efforts to punish him, the evi-
dence could not be found to convict
him under the criminal laws of this
state.
In my determination to punish, Ed
Barber, had Hon. w. W. Campbell,
of Napoleon, appointed assistant pro-
secutor and he spent many days ex-
amining witnesses before the grand
jury to get some evidence to bring
about q conviction. Every person
who knew anything about the trans
action in the bank was subpoenaed to
come before the grand jury to give
their testimony. These witnesses
were questioned by the members of
the grand jury as well as by Mr..
Campbell and myself concerning
their transactions with the bank. All
the testimony given before the grand
jury was reduced to writing and was
turned over to Mr.. J. B. Templeton
when he became prosecuting attorney
of this county. After all this evil
dence had been taken and consider
ed. Mr.. Campbell gave it as his
opinion that under the law and the
evidence Ed Barber could not be con-
victed.
Mr.. Templeton was nominated and
elected to the office of prosecuting
attorney of this county upon the pro-
mise that he would send Ed Barber
to the penitentiary. Frank 5. Ham
was appointed to assist Mr.. Temple
ton in prosecuting Barber, and yet
with all their effort, together with
the testimony and information that |
had secured and which / gave to Mr..
Templeton, they never presented to
q petit jury a single Indictment grow
ine out of Ed Barber's bank transac-
tions.
They did try Ed Barber, however,
on crime Of embezzlement which
grew out of transaction which oc-
Cured about four months after the
failure of the Barber banks, with
Robert brennan and his two brothers
concerning the handling of some
telephone bonds, but this transaction
was in no wise connected with the
Barber banks as they were out of
business. 1t was in this case that
Judge Scott directed the jury to re-
turn q verdict in favor Of Barber
Judge Scott was condemned for this
action by Messrs. Ham and Temple
ton, bl1t they never carried their case
to the supreme court as they had
right TO do upon exceptions to the
courts ruling under sections 1851
and 13682--to reverse his decision
and get an interpretation of the law
and which could have been done at
the cost Of an attorneys fee Of not to
sxceed 500 and slight court costs
n they were sure they had case
against Barber, why did they not
take the case to the highest court? ?
If Judge Scott was wrong IN his de-
cision. the higher court would have
sustained the exceptions and revers-
ed him and then Barber would have
had to stand trial in the other Dren-
nan cases.
AS have said in the beginning, /
would have liked to have sent Ed
Barber to the pentitentiary, but af-
ter I had exhausted every means to
do 80 that ] knew and was convinced
that it could not be done owing to
loose laws, decided it was better to
save hundreds Of dollars of the tax
payers money than to squander it in
prosecuting q case which ! was sure
at the time Of commencing. ! or any
one else was bound to lose: To have
brought a suit knowing that defeat
awaited me at the end would have
been playing the part of hyprocrit
TO gain popular applause and would
have been betraying the trust that
the people had reposed in me. The
events Of the past have proven that
nv action and decisions were found
ed upon the law. These statements
are facts which the criminal court
record Of this county will verify:
FRED WOLF.