Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-09
To HIDE
bad PAPER" LAID
To n. c. BANKERS

! WILMINGTON, n. c., Feb. T.
! U'y the Associated Press.) - Sharp
| tits between attorneys hitherto no.
ticeably absent, marked today's SEES
sion Of the trial Of Lieutenant Gov
ernor w. B. Cooper and Thomas e.
Cooper in United States district court
here on charges Of conspiracy in con-
nection with the failure Of the Com
mercial National Bank Of Whining
| ton. Objections were made to vir-
| tually every point of testimony, and
| the defense was successful in pre-
venting the reading Of certain cor
respondence which the district attor-
ney sought to get into evidence.
District Judge Henry C. Conner,
who is presiding. permitted the let
| ters to be made part of the record of
the case, however. and said he would
rule later as to whether they should
be read before the jury.
bad Paper" Charge
! A charge that the Coopers had
used alleged uncollectible notes as
collateral for loans obtained from
other banks for the purpose of con-
cealing this alleged dad paper" from
bank examiners was made by the
| district attorney in connection with
the testimony of James r. Worsley,
assistant cashier of The First Nation
al Bank Of Rocky Mount, n. G. Mr.
! Worsley testified that the Cooper
bank had borrowed $25.0 from the
Rocky Mount bank in December,
1922, giving as collateral a number
Of notes, many of which had proved
uncollectible.
False Records Charged
The district attorney also charged
in outlining his reason for offering
this testimony that records Of the
Cooper bank had been falsified and
this transaction Lad been entered as
a deposit of $4,000 by the Rocky
Mount bank with the Commercial
national. The defense sought to
prove that part Of the collateral in
question had been good, and that
$4,000 had been made on one Of the
notes.
G. H. billiard. Of Mullins, S. c., tes-
! titled that he signed an accommoda-
ton note for $500 for T. e. Cooper
when he was a "cropper" on q farm
owned by the bank. and said Mr..
Cooper had requested him to do this.
He said Mr.. Cooper told him he was
to buy the farm from the bank. He
also testified that Mr.. Cooper made
number of improvements on the
property. This note and property
are involved in one of the charges
in the indictment charging CONVEX
sion and mts-application of funds,
Notes
The testimony Of E. e. Smith, Of
Mullins, S. c., which followed, re-
lated to the origin of a note for $13.-
900 signed by him. and alleged by
the government to be one of the pa
pers by which the Coopers effected
their alleged conspiracy. Mr.. Smith
testified that he had signed the note
in July, 1922, at the request of r. E.
Cooper and received none Of the
money.
''The farm on the sound" which
figured in the billiard testimony and
$500 acres of Georgia farm land list
ed as collateral for the note, were
not owned by him, and he made mo
pretense Of owning them, Mr.. Smith
stated.
c. D. Weeks, of Wilmington, tes-
| tilted concerning q note for $7603
given by him to the banks and ex-
hibited an agreement signed by T. E.
| Cooper that the note had been given
during negotiations for purchase by
Mr.. Weeks of the farm on the
sound" and would be returned to
him if the land was not purchased.
He said he had given no one author
ity to hypothecate this note. but he
said he had since received notice
from the war finance corporation
| that the note was in it's hands and
payment of the full value was de,
handed.
Reserve Bank Refused Credit
From testimony of state and ma.
tlonal bank examiners Tuesday, il
was revealed that in December, 1921,
| closing of the bank was recommend
ed unless losses exceeding 5000, 900
from alleged uncolleCted loans were
made up by stockholders or direc-
tors; that before the bank was given
a national charter the COopers were
required to take up 100000 in bad
| notes" previously carried on the
| books; that when the bank, as the
Commercial National, became a
! member of the federal reserve sys.
tenn, tbs Richmond Federal Reserve
! bank at first refused it credit and
/ later allowed only limited credit, and
that in August, 1922, the comptroller
Of the currency notified the directors
that uncollectib1e loans had impaired
the banks capital to the extent of
$4,000 and that they must replace
the amount.
The witnesses at the opening ses.
sion included A. +. Bing, Raleigh,
former national bank examiner; Vir.
gil d. Wall, St. Louis, Mo-, former
examiner for the Richmond Federal
Reserve bank, and Thurman Will
liams, Greensboro, N. c., state bank
examiner. Reports made by the Of
fetal examinations were introduced
as evidence.
Alleged excessive loans made tc
the Cooper family and their rela
tives; 'kiting" of checks between the
Commercial National and the Mer.
chants National Bank Of Raleigh
when 7. e. Cooper was vice presi
dent Of the latter institution; failure
to maintain legal reserves and use
of the names of two banks at Way.
cross, Ga, as recipients of loans
long after the banks were alleged 10
have passed out Of existence, were
among charges of mismanagemen
made in the reports Of the three ex-
aminers
President Coolidge
n II III