Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-06
Gov. LEN SMALL
WILL BE PLACED
on TRIAL TODAY
Illinois Chief Executive Is
Accused of EmbezzIing
100000 While Serving
AS State Treasurer.
Bs The Associatel Press. }

linotS its chief executive will so on
trial during his term of office in
the courthouse here Monday,
! March 6.
Not since the impeachment and
removal of William Sulzer from the
governorship of New York in 1918
has the governor of any American
state faced charges so serious or
which have attracted the wide
/. spread attention as those pending
against Len Small. twenty y-eighth
governor of Illinois, and his fellow
defendants Lieut.. Gov. Fred r.
Sterling and Vernon Curtis. a
banker of Grant Park. III.
In Illinois 104 years of state
Lnod only two other governors have
ever been indicted while in office,
and in each OF the previous cases
the court dismissed the charges
without trial because of their triY-
ial nature.
Three Charged Jointly.
Although Governor Small and
Messrs. Sterling and Curtis are
charged jointly with conspiracy to
defraud the state through embez-
element of funds from the state
treasury during the terms of Mr.
Small and Mr.. Curtis as state treas
urer, only the governor will go on
trial here Monday. Mr. Curtis
whose case was brought to Lake
county from Sangamon county
with that of the governor. was
granted a separate trial by Judge
Claire G. Edwards, presiding in cir
cult court here. Lieutenant Gov
/ ernor Sterling did not ask for a
| change of venue and his case is
still pending in the Sangamon
county circuit court at Springfield
Originally there were four In
! dictments against Messrs. Small,
Sterling and Curtis three of which
involved the governor. but only one
the conspiracy case--remains
One indictment. charging the
three defendants with embez2ling
100000, was quashed by Judge
Edwards because o; technical err
rors. The court also quashed sew
eral counts in the conspiracy in
dictmcnt which remains to be tried, |
and a charge of operating n conf |
dence game The judge then or
dered the governor to trial on an
indictment charging embezZlement
OF 100000 during his term as state
) treasurer, but the state objected TO
trying this case first, and when the
judge insisted c. Fred Mortimer,
/ states attorney of Sangamon couu-
| ty, dismissed the Indictment.
The fourth Indictment, which
was never brought to Waukegan,
/ charged Mr.. Sterling with embez'
aling 100000.
! Conspiracy Charged.
The conspiracy indictm mt char
ges the two former treasurers with
entering into a conspiracy with
Mr.. Curtis to defraud the state
out of large sums due 1t as inter-
est. Curtis owned the charter OF
tho Grant Park bank, former
private banking institution, which,
the state alleges, absolutely ceased
to function as a bank after 1905
Grant Park is a town of coo pop
ulation in Kankakeo county, a few
miles from Governor Smalls home.
To this private bank, the state
claims, Mr. Small and Mr.. Curtis
the former as state treasurer in
1917-1S and the latter in 1919-20-
lent millions of state funds with no
other securt. than Mr. Curtis GER
| tificate of dep sit, The money
was then loaned to four Chicago
packing companies Armours,
Swifts, Morris and the Cudahy
| Packing company-on short term
notes paying from to 8 per cent
! interest, of which, it is claimed
mot more than 3 per cent was
turned into the state treasury.
Bill of Particulars.
The bill Of particulars filed by
the state claims the total profits
in the alleged conspiracy are un-
known because Governor Small
carried away part Of the records
of the treasurer's office when his
term expired and because part OF .
the books of Swift and company
"have not yet been found. The I
state charges the three defendants,
with the late Senator Edward Cur
tis, brother and business partner
of Vernon Curtis, kept $535 900 OF ,
state funds "for their personal ana {
private property and the property
of others unknown in addition to ,
the sums Of intearest retained.
Governor Small and Lieut-Gov
Sterling kept two sets of books
while in the treasurer's office, the
state says, one accounting for So
called "vault fund" which was
loaned to banks throughout the
state, a..d the other, known as the
safe fund" covering money placed
in the Grant Park bank. During
Mr.. SmalIs term the bill of par
ticulars alleges, the funds in the
Grant Park bank alone earnedi
1924, ,066.2S In interest, while the
total amount of interest, discounts
and profits accounted for by Mr..
ali from all funds in his charge
was only S450,01012. The earn
ings on the Grant Park transac-
tions alone exceeded the total of
all interest accounted for by the
governor by $474,056.16 the bill
alleges.
Books Not Found.
The state estimated the earnings
of funds in the Grant Park bank
during Mr.. Sterling's term at
largely in excess of SS43,7SS.21,'
claiming the exact total is unknown
because the Swift and company
books have not been found. The
bill claims Mr.. Sterling failed to
turn over to the state at least
Of the interest earned
on the packers loan
During Mr.. Small's term as
treasurer the Grant Park bank is
said to ha ,e had the use of $17,91S,-
500, while in Mr.. Sterlings two
year term s11 100000 was placed
in the pretended and fictitious
bank"
When Edward A. Miller. presen,
state treasurer. took office In jan
uary, 1921, the state claims the
Grant Park bank still had $4,000 : II
900 of state funds and the de-
PENDANTS delivered to the new !
treasurer twenty false, bogus ana
alleged certificates Of deposit OF
and funds In the false,
pretended and fictitious bank
called the Grant PARK bank" Mr..
the bill adds. unlawful
ly endeavored" to have Mr.. Miller
permit the s10,000,000 to remain
in the Grant Park bank. but the
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