New-York tribune., 1920-11-06


Travis, to have his client i'll court at
1880 this morning.
When Deputy Comptroller Wendell
was recalled to the stand yesterday an
attempt was made by Mr.. Pecora to
question him as to us personal fnan-
cial affairs The first question put
by Mr. Pecora along this Inc was:
What sources Of income have you had
during the last five years besides the
salary paid you by the state ?"
Louis Levy. Of the law firm o Stanch
field & Levy. who has succeeded Colo
mel William Hayward as counsel Tor
Wendell, objected to this question and
was sustained by Justice kcrnochan.
who ruled that Mr.. Pecora had failed
to connect the Deputy Comptroller with
the crime alleged to have been COM
mitted in connection with the state
bond purchases.
| ,WendclI Threatened With Contempt
Earlier in the day Mr.. Wendell had
been threatened with punishment for
contempt as result of his refusal TO
I answer questions pertaining to several
letters dealing with the so-cal led
moral obligation sale" of November
16, 1917. which appear to be missing
from the Comptroller's correspondence
by the Comptroller's office through
Fanshawe & Judson of bonds to the
par value of S2,0i3,000 at price six or
seven points in advance of that quoted
in the open market. II has been shown
that this transaction resulted IN loss
to the state OF more. than 100000.
After much wrangling between Mr..
Levy and Mr.. Pecora the court de
clared that if Mr. Wendell refused to
answer the questions relating to the
missing letters he would be adjudged
When Mr.. Wendell finally consented
to answer his memory was hazy as to
the missing CORES spondence. He said
he could not recall ever having seen or
written any of the letters referred to
by William S. Fanshawe in his tcsti-
mony one week ago. He would not
swear, however, that he had not re
ccivcd or written the letters He ex-
planned that he signed between 200
and 500 letters every day. and that it
was impossi ible for him to recall the
specific ones which the broker had de-
clared were surrendered to Mr. Travis
as one Of the conditions under which
tEe latter agreed to the moral ohliga-
ton purchase.
Several Letters Mislaid
The witness said that the Comp
troller's files had been gone over many
times in the last six months and that
IS q result several letters have been
mislaid.
In the afternoon there was a pro-
.onged argument as to the part Mr.
Travis had played in the various bond
purchases and the extent of his re
sponslbiilty for them. Mr.. Medalie
declared that under Sections 1868 and
1864 of the Criminal Code there was
70 fraud shown in the payments au-
,horized by the Comp1roller
Section 1858 makes ii a felony for
any pubic oliicia- TO audit or pay a
1laudulentt tolaim upon the state The
offense is punishable by five years i'm
plisonment, & line OF S. 900, or both
Mr. Pecora contendca that Mr.. Travis
shouIq be held under this section ana
that Ju0son should be he d under See
ton 1872, wn.ch makes it a felony to
present fraudu.ently a CLAIM for pay
ment TO state officer Or municipal
corporation.
The decision Of Justice Kernochan
generating Mr.. Wendell came after
the testimony of n. j. Ferber, z re
porter on the staff OF The Brook Il
Times, who inVes .igated the Fan have
and ,iudson bond sa-es last spring. Fer
Der said j}lat whom he went to Albany
10 interview Nh. Travis the latter had
said chat &c was responsible ony for
the purchases that he had made. and
that endeu was accountable for the
others.
Travis Takes All Responsibility
Comptroller Travis testified in the
course Of the inquiry that he was rc-
slonsiole for all purchases made by
his Office since 1915 and that Wendell
had played no autho rtative part in
any of them.
MIR. Wendell took the stand again
sitter Ieroer had testified and Mr..
Pccoru once more made determined
Tort to dclye into his personal tnan-
al operations, which he SAID would
ebow that the witness lid inYestee
arge sums in speculative stoch trans
actions.
Il know what you want to bring out, '
Jost'ce kernochan said, but I feel
that even ii y9u did succeed in intro
ducing this line of tcstimony it wou d
~ assist me N deciding whether on
not cIiNe has been committed"
Mr. lecoia int.mated last week that
Re would place the entire proces lings
hoforc the srand jury regardless Of
fr,i,-o Enr,ccbor,', fn,}i,,r-