Omaha daily bee., 1922-03-08
Potash Case
to Be Given
Jury Today
Court Excludes Much Eyi.
dencc Offered-Defcnse
Rests Without Present.
ing Tesli' ny.
Counss,.M,s%s.H y Witness

~ -" A. l.. kreiss, stal
,N a,-N he government in III
N,s'N INST w. A. MeWhorter, w
{ ehipley, Charles Wohlberg ant
Jacob Masse for conspiracy 10 dc,
iraut in promoting the William BERG
eGm, featured closing arsu,
ments iof the defense late yesterday
The case will go 10 the jury this
morning. ]. {. Kinsler, United
States attorney, is directed to con.
elude the case in IS minutes after
court conyenes at $50. Fedora
Judge Munger will then instruct the
jury.
Kreiss Assailed by Counsel.
A. l.. Sutton and ]. NJ. Parsons
counsel Tor defense, assailed Kreiss
as the man who made the mos,
money out OF the potash deal, for
which the four defendants now face
the possibility of prison sentences.
HE gets an immunity bath for
leading these sheep TO the slaughter
and getting them into government
custody" thundered Sutton. I'll
anybody here is going to the pen,
that man should" pointing finger
in the direction OF Kreiss.
"Kreiss is the man who led Nc
Whorter into the trap by pouring
Arabian nights tales OF potash wealth
into his ears. It's McWhorter's mis-
fortune that he met Kreiss,' Sutton
declared.
Testimony. Largely Circumstantial.
Parsons continued the assault OIL
Krciss. He also argued that the gov
crnment's testimony. aimed to prove
a conspiracy to defraud. is largely
circumstantial and is as consistent
with the innocence as with the guilt
OF the four men.
Everything went down i'll value
after the war" he argued. "If potash
prices had stayed up, these four de-
PENDANTS and everyone who bought
stock in the company would have
been rich men today"
A. w. Lane. assistant prosecutor
for the government, denied this allie
CATION. -
These four conspirators robbed
the company OF SO much at the out
set, it could never be put on its feet,
even if the armistice had not been
signed" he declared.
Plant Termed "Only a Bluff"
He said construction OF the potash
plant at Merriman, Neb., was "only
q bluff to, help in selling nlore stodt
Their advertisements that every
dollars worth of stock in their COM
pany was fully paid up was bald
faced lie, as they stole $4,000 at
the outset without 81 Of considera-
ton he asserted.
Judge Munger early yesterday
afternoon ruled out a large part OF
the governments testimony that it
took nearly five days to present. He
said it was not sufficient legal evi-
dence OF fraud.
TlOll tHe government STANDPOINT,
the most important thing he ruled
out was the Neb-Ota company ac-
QUESTION of 100000 on June 26, 1918,
whereas the prosecution contended
the company was not organized
until August II, 1918.
Four Points at Issue.
Judge Munger instructed the
prosecution to conhne its arguments
to the jury to these four points: That
defendants issued $4,000 to them
selves without payment; that they
advertised all stock to be paid up;
that they represented no more stock
was to be had, and overt acts such
as sending letters with this informa-
ton through the mails.
The big surprise was the decision
Of counsel for the defense to present
no testimony. 1t was presumed the
four defendants would be placed on
the stand. Three of them are under
another indictment in the Missouri
Valley Cattle loan case.