Weekly journal-miner., 1917-03-14
FRAUD CHARGES ON TRIAL IN
 J. 5. COURT
KNOTTY LAW POINTS IN VOLVED IN FIRST DAY
 OF TRIAL OF JOHN s.
 WICHMANN; L. A. BASE BALL MAN IS WITNESS.
CFrom Tuesdays Daily.)

ANhONNy ing the admissibility of evidence arose in the opening stages of the trial of John C. Wichmann, charged by the Federal authorities with hay ing used the United States mails to dcfraud.
 Ed. K. Maicr, prominent brewer Of Los Angeles, and recently leading figure in the Los Angeles team of the Pacific Coast League, is the complain ing witness in this case.
 But little progress was made i'll the case yesterday, owing to the. fact the selection of jury did not start until shortly after 1:S0. Maier was the first witness for the government.
 Just before the noon recess, L. 5. Arnold of Los Angeles, one of the attorneys for Wichmann, secured per mission to introduce a demurrer to the complaint, bringing up the point that there was discrepancy in dates that Inc held faultcd the indictment. | The demurrer was ovcr-rulcd, and the indictment read to Wichmann. Tn [ it, Inc was charged with having att tempted to compound scheme to de- | fraud Maicr in a mining deal, and us- | ing the mails to promote the scheme. | It seemed that Maier and Wichmann had entered into an agreement to start mining company under the laws of Arizona; that for funds ad- vanced by Maicr, Wichmann was to come to Mohavc county, Arizona, and | buy and otherwise acquire certain mining claims. The fraud plot IS al legged to have been this: That Wich- mann purchased or agreed to buy | four claims, known as the Maggie, Mary, Alice and Dcluge, from one | John Ford, for. the sum of l,5OO and that he tried to secure from Maicr, the sum of S2,4O0 to pay for them. In other words, while working for Maicr, as it were, he tried to charge him 5000 more for the property than he had agreed to buy it for.
 Talesman Is Witness. An odd contrctcmps was revealed shortly after the examination of tales men began, when E. s. Clark, one of Wichmann's attorneys, stated that Roscnburg, a banker of Kingman, tailed as talcsman, was likely to be summoned as witness for the dc fcnsc. Roscnburg was excused and | another talcsman called. Later, when the defendants witnesses were called to come forward, Roscnburg was the only man who responded.
 With the opening of the case by Jones for the United States, Clark raised the objection that no money had been secured, according to the indictment, and that it did not appear in the indictment that the claims for which Wichmann was alleged to have tried to collect S2,40O were not worth that sum, or even a much larger ono. The objection was ovcr-rulcd, and Clark asked Clerk Nose Drachman to note his exception. II then developed that the government IS not empower cd to employ a stcnographcr in this | case, and the defense stated that Il had something on the United States, for it was empowered to do so, and would when court opened on the morrow. Clark stated that he would submit a bill of exceptions to be used in the absence of transcript for the ! first day.
 Agreement Produced.
 Beginning his examination of Maicr Jones brought up the subject of an agreement, entered into by Maicr and Wichmann. Clark produced a NlllNl ilN IsthNNu ONNi iO the government attorneys. Maicr then identified it as the agreement en- tered into by himself and Wichmann, regarding the claims in question. The instrument bore the date of Dcccm- Der ,, 1910.
 M this point. it was pointed out that the letters, with which it IS al- legged Wichmann sought to promote his scheme. were dated November Q, Is and Y, l9l6-a fortnight prior to the date of the agreement This mat ter was strengthened out-Whcn ii was brought out that the written agreement was sum of other oral agreements, under which the dcfcnd ant and prosecuting witness were working at the time of the alleged fraud.
 \ check for $500, dated November } and made payable to Nichmann by Maicr. was then introduced.
 \ line of questioning was then be