Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-29
CR|SS|NGER'S PART
IN SMITH CO. TOLD
Ex-CIerk Charges Order Not
to Make Letter Copy
for Associate.
Continued From First Page.)


special assistant to the Attorney General
asked him if he had ever seen any of
the company's records placed in these
trunks. The witness said the trunks of
records were taken away from the
Smith Co. Building in a truck driven
by Anthony Senes, who, he said, was
employed in a confidential capacity by
Pitts.
After instructing the jurors to keep
open minds during the week end, Justice
Hitz adjourned court until Monday
morning at 10 o'clock.
Testimony was given by Richard G.
Davis a former mail clerk of the firm,
that he frequently had deposited large
sums of money in the Southern Mary
land Trust Co. at Seat Pleasant, Md,
for the defendants.
Defense counsel made several objec-
tons to the manner in which Davis was
questioned. Nugent Dodds an assistant
to the Attorney General, insisted, how
ever on drawing a detailed account of
the transactions from the witness.
Davis testified that during his pc
Rod of employment by the Smith Co.,
from February, 1927. until September.
1929, he made numerous trips to the
Seat Pleasant bank to deposit money
to the personal account of Pitts. He
said he had sometimes made two or
three such visits to the Maryland bank
each month, while at other times he
had made two or three trips there each
week
How much money was it your Gus
DoddS inquired.
always $4,000" Says Witness.
"Alwavs SIC. 600 in cash" the witness
responded.
money you deposited?"
There generally. were nine 81 900
bills and $1,000 in paper money Of the
smaller denomination"
The testimony of Davis was in line
with the plan announced yesterday by
Dodds in his opening statement to the
jury to seek to prove the defendants
had conspired to embezzle funds of the
Smith Co. by sending messenger toaa
Washington bank to cash check and
then sending another messenger with
the proceeds to deposit it in the South
ern Maryland Trust Co., or some other
bank, to the personal account of Pitts.
Davis declared he made the deposits
at the instructions of Anadale and A.
Manning Shaw, private secretary of
Pitts. He explained he always had
taken a duplicate deposit slip with him
to the Seat Pleasant bank as well as
Pitts pass book.
Tells Of Packing Documents.
The witness also told of aiding in the
purchase at a downtown store in May,
1929, of a large number of trunks,
alleged by the Government to have been
| used in removing from the Jurisdiction
ledgers and other records of the COM
pany. He added he had assisted Ed
wards in packing the trunks with the
documents.
The first witness Of the day, Theodore
L. Weed, new president of the Smith
company, was on the stand only a few
minutes. He was asked by Dodds
whether he was in a position to pro-
duce certain checks or debit slips drawn
in october, 1927, by officials of the
company, as directed in his subpoena.
He declared he had been unable to
find the checks or any record of them
in the general journals.
The five checks involved were for an
aggregate sum of $10,056.53. The largest
was for $4,000. Another was for
$2,355.8l, third for 81 ,265.81, a fourth
for $1,234.91 and the fifth for $1,000.
Frank G. Raichle of defense counsel
asked Weed on cross-eXamination
whether certain records of the company
had been submitted to the Department
of Justice prior to the date on which
he received a subpoena. He answered
in the affirmative.
The defense attorney then demanded
TO know II Weed knew whether any rec
ords had been removed during a period
when the company was in the hands
of receivers.
Hitz Interrupts Defense.
Associate Justice William Hitz inter-
rupted at this point with the remark:
I'VE don't want an explanation of
what he doesn't know"
Defense attorneys soon desisted in
their efforts to prove the missing rec
ords might have been removed by 9TH
er persons than the defendants after
Justice HitZ informed them their line
OF questioning was such that it would
be necessary for them to call Weed as
their own witness should they desire to
continue
Charles Coffin, deputy District Su-
preme Court clerk, identified several
subpoenas he had issued for witnesses.
Copies Of the certificates of incorpora-
ton of the Smith company and asso-
ciated firms were introduced in evil
| dence by Neil j. Burkinshaw Of the
prosecution, over the objection of de-
Tense counsel.
Testimony Of Gerald r. Trimble, for
mer Smith company secretary, that
during one year he cashed some 80
checks for large sums and turned the
moncy over to Anadale and Edwards,
was outstanding at the session yester-
day afternoon. TTimble said these
checks were made payable to bearer
or cash" and wers for several thou
sands of dollars each.
H also testified that he had packed
five trunks with a set of records known
as loan files on or about May g. 1929,
at the direction of Edwards. About 80
other trunks were packed by other EN-
ployes, he said, and taken to Mary
land farm.
Certain documents, said to relate to
bank accounts of one or more of the
defendants, were identified by Allen
Mccullough. secretary of the Southern
Maryland Trust Co., and Grover Lee
Michael of the Central Trust Co., Fred
erick, Md.
Mccullough said that certain records
of his bank were destroyed last Winter
by flood. 1t was brought out, how
ever, that note register was missing
from the bank. and that it was not
among those documents destroyed by
the water.
Argentina hak decreed that all cos