Evening star., 1937-04-20
RHODES ADMITS
SLIP SIGNATURE
Former Fidelity Head Tells
of Transaction at Forg-
cry Trial.

Under a vigorous crOSS-eXamlna-
ton, during which he sought heatedly
to explain" the transaction, Fred B
Rhodes, 81, former president of the
defunct Fidelity Building & Loan AS
sociation, admitted at his forgery tria,
today that he had signed a with
draWal slip against the account OF
Desire A Irr, depositor, three
months after severing his formal con-
nection with the institution.
This slip-for sl0-was introduced
as surprise move by Assistant
United States Attorney John j. Will
son after Rhodes, charged with forg.
ing a $500 withdrawal against Irr
an elderly Government Printing o.
flee employe, had freely admitted ir
District Court that the latter slip
was one of series Of record manipu-
lations.
The defense rested at noon and
the argument on prayers and instruc-
tions to the jury was then begun
The case is expected to 60 to the
jury late today.
Rhodes took the stand this morn.
ing before Justice Peyton Gordon n
the Criminal Division l and, under
question by his own counsel, first re.
peated the testimony he gave at hil
trial month ago when the jury wa.
deadlocked.
The defendant, who is the father
OF four children. then told of the or.
ganization of Fidelity in 1929 and hi.
own selection as president in August
1882. He said the concern was op.
posed by the controllers Office at the
Treasury and that when branch ir
Southwest Washington was established
that he drew against IRIS accoun,
eventually to pay off loan on it. Irl
was shareholder in Fidelity and
! according to Rhodes testimony, hae
pledged his resources to aid in thu
fight with the Treasury.
IrT has testified that he had giver
his pledge of support, but that h,
thought whatever money had beer
taken from his account had beer
repaid
Rhodes outlined the involved fnan.
| clal tranSa ctionS in which the $l,5O(
| withdrawal slip figured, and told Of
| others Of the same nature. He ad.
mitted again that the records wer.
not kept In the ordinary records O.
the Fidelity, but on cash sheet
that was in the possession Of Mrs
Ruth S. Horner, assistant secretary
and assistant treasurer.
He disclaimed fatty any attempt tx
| defraud Irr and declared he had nj
personal beneficial interest" in tn,
deals, saying he wanted to benefit tn,
association and protect" Irr.
Taking the witness over for cross,
examination, Wilson wanted to know
If the directors knew Of the transac
tions that were in progress, ane
Rhodes said they knew the none,
was coming from some place.
Eventually, 1t was brought out, tn
directors became cognizant of wha
was going on, and in the middle o
February Rhodes resigned as president
The $1,500 slip was dated Februar
IA, 1896, and Wilson next aske,
Rhodes:
But having disclosed this transac
ton OF February IA by way of the casl
sheets to the board of directors, ther
was no need further to write an
withdrawal tickets, was there?"
How do you mean no need to-?
Rhodes asked.
You did not write any withdrawa
tickets such as these did your" Wilso,
asked, showing the defendant severa
Government exhibits.
Il was not there after that" Rhode
said.
Wilson then showed Rhodes the sill
OF May Is, and the witness identifie
the handwriting as his and the date
Then a heated colloquy resulted q
Wilson tried to figure this $40 slip int
the chain involving the $500.
Rhodes, losing his composure. tol
Wilson he could explain. He refuse
In response to questioning by Wilso
! to say with what officer Of the asso
citation he had taken up the matte
Of this slip.
Wilson tried to get Rhodes to con
cede that he might have taken tn,
matter up with Mrs Horner, but tn
witness fatty refused to.
Wilson finally told Rhodes that h
own counsel could bring out the es
planation that he was attempting t
make of the transaction when Rhode
tried to tell him that he had fre
quently consulted with officers afte
his own withdrawal from the associs
ton.
Rhodes, however, was not put unde
redirect examination.
The charge which Rhodes faces
one Of eight forgery counts on whic
he was indicted. He also was IL
dicted on 40 counts Of larceny.