The Ward County independent., 1922-10-19

Dakota during the past four or five
years, but when men deliberately
falsify, juggle and transfer accounts
to cover their crime and appropriate
money for their own personal use
4 there are no extenuating circum-
stances and they cannot expect to es-
cape punishment by f1imsy excuses
There may be little excuse in the
case Of Bergman, who is a young man
and Wiebe appears to have been a
stool pigeon for Peters largely, but
with Peters there is no excuse. He is
d capable bookkeeper and while some
of the records may have been falsified
in clumsy manner, yet all the way
thru he was deliberate in appropriat-
ing large sums Of money, and at
tempting to conceal the acts by his
records. I
Atty. E. R. Sinkler spoke briefly
in behalf of the defendants, stating
that not one Of them had dollar left.
Before the judge passed sentence,
he gave the men an opportunity to
speak in their own behalf. Peters ex-
planned that conditions had not been
good around the Mohall farming dis
trict for years and large sums of
money had been loaned to the farm
ers, who could not pay it back. He
explained that the directors had bor-
rowed large sums Of money on their
! own credit and placed it in the Peters
Special account for clearing purposes.
Peters broke down and cried as he
was addressing the Judge but later
, controlled himself and continued with
his story.
Wiebe stated that he was the banks
outside man and paid little attention
to the records. He had confidence in
Peters and would sign his name to
| documents when Peters told him to
do so.
Bergman said he had started work
ing in the bank when II years Of age,
at the time that S. H. Sleeper owned
the institution. He had gone into the
! navy during the war and on his re-
turn went into the bank again. When
Sleeper sold his interests, Bergman's
father put up considerable money to
| pay for his bank stock. Bergman
explained that the bank owed his
father $4,000 and that at one time he
bundled up $4,000 worth Of the banks
Liberty bonds, sending it to his IA
ther to pay the debt. He did not con-
slider anything irregular about that
Atty. Furst Of Minneapolis, who
had been retained as attorney for
c. D. Gritfeth, owner of much stock
in the bank, said these men had found
about $4,000 in worthless paper in
the bank at the time they bought it
and this coupled with poor crops and
extensive loans had caused their
downfall. He referred to Peters
record as chairman of the Liberty
Loan Drive in Renville county during
the war, saying he had put it across
successfully.
District Attorney Hildreth stated
| that palnstaking investigation had
been made in the case and that in the
eight years he had been district at
torney in North Dakota, this was the
worst fraud case ever coming to his
; attention. In the. case Of Peters, es-
pecially, the whole scheme was to get
money from the people from Buffalo,
n. Y, to the Puget Sound. Deceptive
literature had been sent thru the
mails, securing money from individu-
ais with small means, including many
women who had worked hard to save
their money. Many surrendered their
Liberty bonds, accepting worthless
c. DIS.
An account of the Northern Invest
ment Co. was carried on the banks
books, running into hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars worth of worthless
paper.
The Trust Co. of Buffalo were pro-
badly the heaviest losers, their losses
aggregating $42,8OO.
The government has been put to
enormous expense, witnesses being
brot from Chicago, Los Angeles and
many other far distant points. It
seems to be one of the evils of the
times for men to get something for
nothing, by giving worthless paper
for good money, the Colonel said. It
effects the morale Of our state and
the business world.
Mr.. Robinson, an expert accountant
representing the governments postal
department, who made thoro exam
ination Of the banks records, spend
ing four weeks at Mohan, recited
transaction after transaction showing
that in May, 1919, about $4,000 in
bad paper had been cleared thru the
Peters Special Account and an addi-
tional $4,000 that never appeared on
the banks books. In September, 1919,
about $150,000 in worthless paper
went thru the Peters Special Account.
The Northern Investment Co. was
organized at Greene, N. D., and the
charter was taken over by Peters,
Wiebe, Bergman and Griffeth There
were no assets and no money was put
in. Notes amounting to almost $780,
900 were foated by this company
Defendants at one time took $685.
600 out CT the bank, replacing it with
worthless notes. A larger portion OF
those notes have no value as receivers
assets. The receiver has about $4OO,.
OOO of such notes, worth no more