Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1914 — LEITER FREED OF PAYING OLD DEBT [ARTICLE]

LEITER FREED OF PAYING OLD DEBT

July Lets Ex-Wheat King OffJudge Intimates Illegal Conspiracy Making Notes Void. Chicago, 111., Dec. 15.—Joseph Leiter peed not pay ’ the $380,933 in notes given the Interior and Monarch Elevator companies to pay for grain during Leiter’s attempt to corner the wheat market in 1898, according to the verdict tonight of the jury which heard the elevator company’s suit to recover. Leiter’s sole defense was that the late Frank H. Peavey and the late C. A. Pillsbury, both of Minneapolis, representing the elevator companies, had agreed with him to wjtnhold their wheat from the market. Their failure to keep this alleged agreement piieventd Leiter from effecting the corner and caused him a loss of aibout $12,000,000, according to the testimony. Leiter testified he had paid all other indebtedness following the wheat deal. His father, Levi Leiter, sold Chicago real estate valued at $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 after the wheat failure in order to keep his son’s record clear, he testified. Leiter said he had held" the Minneapolis men responsible for his loss.