The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-14
Accountants Will Testify as to Ability of Company to
 Carry Out Contract
OVER 15O WITNESSES
 DURING FIRST WEEK
Government Understood to Have Ap- propriated $10,000 for Prosecution of Case-Mrs. Holiday Most
 Interesting Witness Yesterday

The monotony of the examination Of government witnesses will be broken to- morrow. when Special District Attorney o. D. Street will introduce expert testi- mony purporting to show the financial methods and system of operation of the Standard Home company. whose officials are now on trial in the United States court charged with using the mails for fraudu- lent purposes.
 It is understood the government has appropriated s10.o0o for the prosecution of the officials of the company, and that the agents of the department or justice have unlimited scope in the matter | of procuring evidence against the defend- ant company.
 Witnesses Tell Same Story 1 As an evidence of this fact more than | 250 witnesses have been summoned by the government, many of them from dis | tant states The burden of their testi- mony has been so far that they purchased contracts from the Standard Home com pany for which they were to pay S' a. month and that after paying SIX monthly installments they would be en- titled to a loan of 5000. They also al most invariably testified that after paying the six installments or more they made application for the said loan and that t was refused on the grounds that loans were granted according to the accumula- ton of moneys in the office, and that they would get the loan in the regular turn ! Some of the witnesses testified that they had carried out the terms of the contract for two years or more and that the loar was still not forthcoming, and that or 1 surrendering the contract they received
 less than half of what they had paid in This was the gist of the testimony Of th' 150 witnesses placed on the stand during the week.
 Tomorrow morning the government vii place expert accountants on the stand t' testify as to the proposition of the stand
 ard Home company in regard to it's abil ity to carry out it's claims and purposes
 of It's contract They will also testf'
 as to the plan of operation of the com pany through its agents.
 Went to Trial Last Monday The case went to trial on last Monda. | VI" , different counties that compose the dis trict of Alabama There is not a loca
 man on the jury. the majority of whor
 are agricplturalists.
 l Former District Attorney O. D. Street
 assisted by Assistant District Attorne
 Ralph Quinn and Charles Kennemer, ar representing the government, Distric
 Attorney Robert W. Bell being disauali
 fled on account of former connection
 with the company. Walker Percy, B.
 Allen and E. N. Hamll are representing the defendants.
 The testimony introduced yesterda
 morning was along the same lines as eac
 day in the week, the questions and an
 swers varying but as to minor details
 The most interesting witness was Mrs
 Emma Gabrilla Holiday, 8 sister of tn
 president and vice president of the com
 pany, who was formerly filing clerk | the office of the company. The govern ment sought to prove by the witness tha
 while in the employment of the compan
 she had written letters in reference t
 the contracts of the company with tn consent of the attorney of the company
 and that she had signed her name Nils , Gamma Gabrilla,' emitting her surname It is understood the letters to have bee so written will be introduced in evidenc
 tomorrow.
 Witnesses appearing yesterday were
 Sam Collins of Louisiana, Earl Laphar
 of Birmingham. Celeste Gray of Ne'
 Orleans, o. T. Hutto of Spokane, Wash
 B. M. Lewis of Minneapolis. Fred Stre , Of Birmingham, w. R. Works of Bii |, mingham, Mrs. Mattie Howard of Rom' , Ga: J. C. Clark of Birmingham, N
 Joiner of Tallahassee, Fla; c. w. Brow
 of Sheffield, H. P. Woods of Spokane Dr. r. J. Reynolds of Birmingham.