Evening star., 1935-11-27
ARGUMENT BEGUN
IN M'NE|L'S TRIAL
ON FRAUD CHARGE
Let's Directs Verdict of
Guilty, Defense Counsel
Lynch Claims.
PROSECUTOR GRANTED
INSTRUCTIONS TO JURY
Cross Examination Of Defendant,
Begun Yesterday, Ended
This Morning.

Arguments by attorneys in the Dis
trict Supreme Court trial OF Benedict
M. Mcneil, assistant cashier Of the de-
funct Park Savings Bank, were begun
shortly before noon today after De-
fense Counsel Robert E. Lynch charged
Justice F. Dickinson Let's had, in ef-
feet, directed a verdict of guilty.
Lynch referred to Justice Let's
agreement with five prayers for in
structions to the jury proffered bT
Assistant United States Attorney John
j. Wilson.
Granting these five prayers is tan
tamount to directing the verdict OF
guilty" the defense attorney declared.
The Judge overruled the objection.
The major contested points were
the request by Wilson for the jury to
be instructed that a customer OF
bank who overdraws his account With
intent to defraud the bank is guilty
of larceny and that it is wholly i'm
material in an embezzlement case
whether the person who converts
property of another does so for his
own personal advantage.
Accused With Father.
Mcneil is charged with conspiring
with his father. the late Alexander
Mcneil, and Robert S. Stunz, execu-
tive vice president of the bank, who
committed suicide in 1888, to commit
larceny of $4,000 and conspiring with
the same two men for Stunz to en-
bezzle the same $4,000.
Cross-examination of Mcneil, begun
yesterday afternoon, was completed
this morning without any noteworthy
developments. After Lynch informed
the court the defense rested, his asso-
ciate. James F. Reilly, asked the judge
to direct verdict for the defendant
on two grounds. He contended the
prosecution had not shown the alleged
conspiracy continued after 1929, when
Mcneil severed his connection with
the bank, and that consequently the
statute of limitations gave him i'm
munity. He argued. further, that the
banks charter expired in 1929 and
as a result an offense against the
corporation could not have been COM
mitted since that date. Justice Let's
overruled this motion.
At the beginning Of his argument
Wilson stated he would consume ap-
proximately an hour in his opening
and IS minutes in his rebuttal. The
defense likewise is expected to take
an hour for presentation of its con-
tentions, and the jury probably Will
receive the case in midafternoon.
Played Stock Market.
The jury was startled yesterday
afternoon when Mcneil unexpectedly
testified under cross-eXamination that
he played the stock market with bank
funds and used his profits to bet on
horse races.
Questioned by Wilson concerning
q $4,000 deposit slip to the account
Of the A. M. Mcneil Co., made in July,
1929, the defendant said he deposited
the money in $500 and $1,000 bills,
which came to him from $1,000 bet
on a race horse named Eskimo. He
placed the bet by telephone, he tes-
titled, and the horse won at l3 to l.
Pursuing the inquiry further, Will
son asked where he had sufficient
money to cover possible losses in his
gambling on the races, and Mcneil
replied he had $4,000 in cash in
safe deposit box at the Park Savings.
This sum, he admitted when pressed
by the prosecutor, represented his
profit in the stock market. He said he
bought Wright Aeronautical stock
with funds of the bank and pocketed
the profit when the price of the stock
rose.
Other Bets on Race Horses.
Mcneil admitted he had made other
bets on race horses.
Introducing McNeil's income tax re-
turn for 1929, Wilson brought out that
the former bank official did not report
his race winnings. The report showed
McNeil's gross income for the year was
$1.S74 and his net taxable income
$138.
Earlier in the afternoon w. S.
Strauss, former officer of the bank,
identified the suicide note left by
Stunz when he committed suicide. 1t
stated:
I'm the event of anything happening
to myself or the Park Savings Bank,
no person now employed in the bank
is responsible for any irregularity. I
alone am responsible. All transactions
of whatever nature or kind have been
ut my direction"
The word now" was underlined in
the missive, which bore the date Of
February %, 1888.