Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-10-25

ENG TORSTENSON
A witness called and sworn on be-
half of the plaintiff, testified as foil
ows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR..
BABCOCK
My name is Eng. To~rstenson, ! re-
side at Plentywood, Montana, and
have resided there since the fall Of
1922. My position is County Treas
urer of Sheridan county and ! have
occupied that position since 1924 in
March. Prior to that / was deputy
County Treasurer from November,
1923. l was such officer during the
month Of November, particularly on
the Both day of November, 1926, !
had one Deputy. Her name was Anna
Hovet. In addition to her l had three
clerks. Their names were Ida Newton,
Chris Christianson and Glow Krebs-
bach. My deputy was authorized to
do any work l would do as County
Treasurer and had authority to sign
checks. None of my clerks had that
authority.
Sometimes in the fall 1926 ! was
solicited by Mr.. Riba Of Plentywood
for some insurance. He is agent for
the National Insurance Company at
Plentywood. After some conversation
with him l authorized his company to
write some burglary and robbery in
surance for me as County Treasurer.
The amount of insurance was later
on given to Mr.. Erickson who was
employed by the same bank as Mr..
Riba. 1t was customary for Mr..
Erickson to come to my office pract-
ically every day to transact business
for his bank and this is the case DUR
ing all the time / had been in office.
1t was customary for him to have
access to my office so as to familiar
ize himself with the nature of my off
ice and safe and vaults and things Of
that character. At the time Mr..
Erickson took the data for the appli-
cation for this insurance, he was at
my office. The source of the in
formation obtained which was written
down and afterward incorporated in
the policies as statements of facts,
was from his examination of the safe
and also fromchecking up on previous
insurance which had been had or hand
led. At the time he was there he ex
amined the safes in the vault and made
notations as to the kinds and char
acter Of such safes. Whether Mr..
Riba ever at any time prior to that
had been in my vault and examined
the safes | can't remember, but he
was frequently in the office and had
opportunities to examine the safes
] would say Mr.. Erickson was at my
office more frequently than Mr.. Riba
After the ~notatons were taken By
Mir. Erickson from which the policies
of insurance were later written,
had a talk with Mr.. Erickson sometime
about the middle of November, asking
him if he had secured the insurance
an he stated he had not heard, bu
stated he would find out Later on
policies of insurance were delivered
to me by Mr.. Erickson and they wer'
the policies concerning which he am
had had this conversation previously
They were for the amounts and on tn
terms which were agreed to betweel
myself and the agent of the Nation
al Surety Company of Pl%entywood.
have seen plaintiffs exhibits
and 6 before. I first saw them abou
the 22nd or 23rd of November, 1925
/ received them both at the same tim
from Mr.. Erickson. They have bee
in my possession or under my contrt
at all times since that / except l ha
filed them with the Clerk e. Recorde
of Sheridan county, Montana, wit
the Clerk of the Board of Count
Commissioners shortly after recei'
ing them so that they might be al
proved by the Commissioners at the
next regular meeting. The fir'
time the Commissioners met after
received these policies was on or abo'
the 9Th day of December 1926.
@. Can you give the jury any idt
as to the description of the office 0
cupied by you as County Treasure
of Sheridan County?
(Here witness describes general
the number of rooms in his office,
cation of them, etc.
There are four doors entering in
the main office. Two of them emit
from the hallway. The hallway is
Gated on the north side of the ma
office. One of the doors is locate
a short distance form the west ws
that leads into the main office al
one is located a few feet from the ca
wall, or from the Clerk & Recorder
office and it leads into the customer
rl - .-- L. 4