Evening star., 1923-05-04
PAYNE DEPOSITION
ON M0RSES TAKEN
Case Halted to Allow Law
yerS for Defense to Be
Present.

The deposition OF John Barton
Payne. special envoy to Mexico, is be-
ing taken this afternoon for use. If
necessary, at the trial of Charles w.
Morse. his three sons and four others.
on charges of conspiracy to defraud
the United States in connection with
war time ship contracts
Justice Stafford adjourned the trial
or the case at 2:30 o'clock until Mon
Gay morning to permit counsel to be
present at the examination of Mr..
Payne.
Inc deposition was taken 1t the Of
noes of Attorney Wilton ]. Lambert
ior the defense in the Munsey build
Ing.
The contents of tho statement OF
Judge Payne will be kept secret until
.ne delense is called on to present
estlmony in the event that Justice
SttaIlord decides the government snail
Irr,, mage out Its case OF conspiracy
a.;eu 4 tna;' states Attorney Gordon and
and Allison were on hand to crnss-
eHannlne e,s the former head of the
ehippins Board. Judge Payne ey-
peCts 10 start for Mexico Sunday
Scrutiny OF Ffnanccs.
!. lose scrutiny of the financial ab,,-
.S or the Morses. and especiaIIv ~
mari, ma ndeed nd ta states Steamship Company,
Inc, rno prosecution today. The govern.
nieht Is seeking to show that while
on paper the Morses were miljiono
aai,d alreS and the steamship company in
was conn nnancial condition. there
Tor,l Stniho them. r, G. Higley of New
YORK. closely related to tho Morse
concerns. declared that the cash bal
ance or the United States Steamship
about $4,000 and was at no time nesr
Sno: SSi,oUo;o9o: He testified that his
nmoWIeuse came from daily state
ments furnished him by Nehemiah
NJ. ~, NampbeH, treasurer of the COM
pany and one of the defendants.
After his disagreement with Charles
w. morse over the question of locat-
Ihs the virginia Shipbuilding Cor
porauon. Higley said the attitude OF
worse toward him changed and the
I'm; lin Ihis was early in 1918. and
OF that year.
Higley Testines.
b G. Higley OF New York, former
director of one of the Morse com
panleS. continuing his testimony, pre-
sented additional evidence tending TO
the minds Of Charles w. Morse. his
three sons and others for the forma-
ton OF the alleged conspiracy 10 de-
fraud the United States On shipbuild-
ing contracts.
At the same time defense counsel
ELECTED from Higley the statement
that he knew of no TACT then and
had known of none since. which
ing government ships were entered
INTO for the purpose OF defrauding,
delaying, thwarting or perverting the
purpose of the government
Moreover, the witness testified that
while he was connected with the COM
panies he used his very best efforts to
carry out the contracts. He stated also
that Charles w. Morse had repeatedly
voiced a desire to use every effort to
help the government and stated his will
fice" in seeing that the government go,
ships to aid tn carrying on the war.
Identifies Minutes.
Higley, in his direct testimony. identi.
fled minutes of meetings cf c. w. Morse
and Company, Incorporated, and the
Groton Iron Works.
Questioned by Attorney lockwood OF
defense counsel. igley said the United
States Steamship Company, a Morse
Groton Iron Works. had assets Of 'sev-
eral millions of dollars at the time the
government contracts were entered into
by the Groton plant He testified also
that the steamship company owned a
controlling interest in the Hudson Navi-
CATION Company. which had gross assets
of approximately s12.O00.000.
Government counsel brought out that
the Hudson Navigation Company had
an outstanding mortgage Of $4,000. 200
.r,@
in the assets Of the United States
Steamship Company had been detroyed
one Of them never being heard from af-
ter starting for Russia.