New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-11-19
Store Accounts Battered
bV State and Defence
at the Trial.
HONORS EVEN AFTER
EXPERT IS RAKED
Figures Give New Turn to
Middle of Assets and
Liabilities.

lFrom stan Correspondent OF Tho rrihunel
Geneseo. Nov. IS.-It is a fair guess
that Henry Siegels twelve country
jurymen went to bed tonight a little
uncertain whether figures lie or liars
figure. or whether II is simply that
two and two might make -four or might
not when 70 comes 90 big city de-
Partment store finance.
SieCels lawyers got after John Flint
the prosecutions expert ln cross-eN-
animation, to-day, and the result was
that the court closed with the queS-
ton IN suspense as 60 whether. ON ihc
face of matters as they stood, the de
fence or the prosecution had the best
Of Mr.. Flint's testimony.
TIE end for the day came without a
climax more like the breaking of OF
an exciting serial al the most indie
terminate point m an adventure. The
ctoss-eNamiuers were IN the midst OF
hard fight 20 draw admissions from
Mr. Flint which would make 10 look 10
The jury that he had deliberately ms
represented the conditions OF the Sle-
gel books 20 please the purposes OF
the prosecution.
The witness was answering all cues
tfo0s smoothly and smilingly, while
lr Train. the prosecutor, and his as
....nts looked on with unrufed con-
rderce After il was over they ard
that certain unfayorable aspects would
be cleared up rapidly by other wit
nesSes.
The attorneys for the defence drew
from M Flint the admission that,
while in his analysis of SiegeIs books
he had listed certain undlsclosed lla-
bilities as tending TO show a purpose
on Siecel's part 10 overstate the actu@i
value Of his business. he did not give
S;erel credit for an almost equal
amount Of certain undisclosed assets
as tending 90 eQualIze these undls-
closed liabilities.
Defence Gets a Jolt.
a short break IN Fints testimony
was caused by placing on the s.aLu
Joseph r. Pridday, Office manager Oh l"e
S;eoel Boston store. The purpose was
a. identify the store books so inai
Flint could go ahead, but no was Iyu
much further than this. ana gave tAe
defence a bad half hour.
In describing the books as accurately
kent. he said there were certain eNCep
tions 20 this accuracy ln me -OI"t ="
altered entries. He said mat ne hao
changed with his own nand certain en-
tries from lNe lINtl4ANAs
merchandise in the store. ,Y
"Tbe private ledgers were posted
te said "from the inventory statement
taken by the buyers IN charge OF 'he
various departmentS. The totaI OF
tbese statements showed merchandise
on hand of s797.385 so. In Mr.. Slese- 5
handwriting a number of the mdlviduuaa.ii
entries were raised from oouU 20 9'''vV
sacb raising the total valuation 10
s817,885 So "a g.
Under cross-examination he said 10
was true BUYERS sometimes puIpoSeS
undervalued the merchandise IN theI
depsrtments, and that nr. oiegei' DtlL5
an experienced Judge of values cou'u
bv inspection determine Whete s-N"
uudervaluations occurred ana I"'.
them. l.or odd.
But this did noa help great deal, as
MIR Flint had testified that the boston
store credit statement gave me VaIUe
~ merchandise a, S921S84 81. Inc
ectual value. a. shown m the Doha
fde inventory. was S7O1 $50 50 Wnlch
var raised in the private ledger ny
Siaoel 10 SSl7.3S5 so by Jew Wen
rleced strokes of his pen. Even accept
INC this boosted" figure as correct ne
aid the credit statement Woulo De al.
overstatement OF the actual N"Iue OF
the merchandise, as an asset ny '"Oi0
than $4,000
But oyerstatement Of assets and I'M
derstatement Of liabilities failed to Sur
today. What was sensation yes'er--
day became a commonplace today, as
Nr. Flint took up store after store OF
,bc ciegel chain and dissectcd their
credit .tatemcrts and their books.
Flint Has Hard Day.
With the exception Of FRIDAYS half
hour. Nr. Flint was in the witness
chair an day. o. small man in "a long
dark coat. with thick glasses and th'n
hair sitting huuchcd over the endless
chain of books and papers the prose
crtion assistants placed before hlm
one after another ,l
hin, he Said that in addition 10 the
total Discrepancies between facts and
The figure m the credit statement OF
The 14th ST. Store he told a1ouL ze -..
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