The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-12-19
COURT ORDERS Il.
PROSECUTOR TO I
TAKE HIS SEAT
Continued From Page One.)
lection, and admitted the print to evi
That $1,000 Item.

mat $1,2OO Item.
The alleged fact that $1,000 of
1917 automobile registration receipts
were deposited in the closing months
of 1916, to which the state attaches
much importance again was brought
out in the testimony of Deputy State
Treasurer j. o. Lyngstad. He stated
that approximately 400 So items were
deposited in 1916 and about 900 such
items in 1917 before the tag number
as a mark of Identification again ap-
peared, and that the numbers then be-
gan at 1900, which he acknowledged
would correspond with hts records
The large amount Of currency deposit
ed the day following the reopening OF
the safe in the automobile registration
department was produced in court
and identified by Mr. Lynkstad. BY
stipulation, this wealth was then re-
stored to isafe-keeping in the state
treasurer's vault.
- ..a-.. Roger on Stand.
L. s. Roger, cashier of the Mer-
chants National bank of Mandan, tes-
titled that Mr.. Hall had been loaned
$500 on a note endorsed by W. II.
Stutsman. Oct. 80, and that this in
creased the defendants Indebtedness
to that bank to $2,214. Harold Wright,
MArtin Thompson and A. w. Carlson,
employees or former. employees of the
Automobile registrations department,
testified to having endorsed checks
written in their favor ny the defend
ant and presented to them by E. NJ.
Walla with the request that they be
endorsed They admitted that they
owed Mr.. Hall nothing at this time
and that he owed them nothing. Miss
Margaret Wynkoop testified that in
six months preceding the October de-
nouncement she had handled deposits
and that no currency had been de.
posted in all that time.
Fight Over Statements.
Lyngstad's testimony as to the
statements made from time to time
by the secretary Of state, showing the
receipts from automobile registra-
lions, as required by an act of 1917,
was admitted only after long and
spirited debate between the opposing
counsel Attorney w. H. Stutsman,
for the defense, contended that Halls
affidavit was binding only as to the
receipts of his office, and that any
other information contained in these
statements, filed with the state audi
tor and the state treasurer, were mere
estimates Of expenses and expendi-
lures, matters purely discretionary in
their nature. H..
Competent Evidence.
Assistant Attorney General Bren-
nan argued that any statement which
Mr.. Hall may have made as to the
condition of the automobile registra-
ton fund in his office, even though
it might have been a mere memOran-
dunn, or a letter to friend, so long
as it bore his signature, was Compel
ent evidence, especially in view of
the evident intent of the defense to
convince the jury that the defendant
was not familiar with affairs in the
automobile registration department of
his office. The fact, contended Bren-
nan, that Hall had sworn to the re-
ceipts from automobile registration
fees at various times during the last
year must be accepted as proof that
he had some familiarity with the de-
tails of that department.
Hall hffidavits.
At the suggestion of the court, the
took advantage of half
hour recess to prepare statement Of
it's claims in connection with the af-
fidavits of Mr.. Hail. This offer was
not read, but was filed with the court,
and in it the prosecution proposed to
show that the secretary of state had
taken advantage of these periodical
statements to cover up shortages ex-
listing in his cash drawer, and that he
had made statements as to the amount
of cash and checks on hand which had
a direct bearing on this case.
Judge Coffey, after noting that "the
state can not try man on the prop
osition that lot of things shall be
introduced with possibility that they
may prove material" and that it
would be impossible for the state to
prove that Mr.. Hall had drawn any
warrants or had any first hand know
ledge of warrants drawn by the audit
or and paid by the treasurer, finally
overruled the objection of the de-
tense; the afTidavits under discussion
were introduced in evidence, and the
of Lyngstad, with a view
to proving that false statements had
been made in these affidavits, con.
tihued,