Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1906 — McCOY TRIAL NEARS END. [ARTICLE]

McCOY TRIAL NEARS END.

Thought Case Would Go To the Jury Last Evening.

OPINION DIVIDED AS TO OUTCOME Although Conviction is Generally Looked For If Agreement is Reached By the Jury. The sixth week of the McCoyi trial ends to-day at Monticello, and no doubt the case will close to-day, and the case go to the jury to-night. It has been one of the most noted cases ever tried in this section of the State, and it is hoped that a verdict will be secured that will not necessitate the going through with the whole thing again. Unless a 'conviction is secured, The Democrat is reliably informed that the State will be right on hand at the September term of the White circuit court to grind this case all over again or, in case of acquittal, to try one of the numerous other indictments against them. PROGRESS OF THE TRIAL. Following are the more interesting matters of the trial during the < past week, as clipped for most part from W. H. Blodgett’s daily reports of same: The testimony of the State took over 4,000 pages of the court stenographer’s notebooks, averaging 100 words the page, or a total of 400,000 words. The state also put in 158 exhibits. Both Mrs. A. McCoy and “Mrs. Tom” were put on the stand by the defense, but their testimony was unimportant. ’ “Old Mac” was on the stand nearly one whole day, bnt not much of an important—-nature was brought out in his rambling testimony. He said that “the boys” looked after the bank while he looked after the farming and cattle business; said he lost considerable money in the cattle business (and many people in Jasper county used to think that what “Old Mac” didn’t know about buying, feeding and handling cattle wasn’t worth knowing, too); said he didn’t know much about the bank’s business but thought they had property enough to meet all obligations • and have $75,000 to 1100,000 left. “Tom” was put on the stand Monday afternoon. Said he had a general knowledge of the bank’s affairs up to the time he was taken sick, about two weeks before it closed its doori; said the cattle business was bad and they lost lots of money in cattle, but the bank made money and was prosperous; said he never told John Eger that the reason a draft came back to Eger in Dec., 1904, not paid was because $30,000 sent to the bank’s correspondent had got lost in the mails; never had any such conversation with Eger; knew nothing of F. L. Hunt of Lowell sending a letter to the bank several days before the failure demanding his money (but which he didn’t get); said he knew, nothing of the failure of the bank to send Geo. Striokfaden’s Hl,ooo draft to Lafayette until “Strick” spoke to him about it. Many other statements of the State’s witnesses were denied. As a part of the cross-examina-tion of Thomas J. McCoy, the State introduced the schedules in - bankruptcy filed by T. J. and Alfred McCoy and A. McCoy & Co., and the figures made a remarkable showing. The schedules show that T. J. McCoy’s debts were $314,208 46 and bis assets $139,114.50, thus be was insolvent by $75,093.96. The debts of Alfred McCoy were $175,931.45 and his assets $145,634.55; his insolvency amounted to $30,296.90. The debts of A. McCoy & Co , were $472,213 76, the firm to be solvent, by $15,827.60. WORTHLESS ASSETS. Besides this Mr. McCoy testified that almost’ , ss,ooo worth of notes listed as assets were worthless and the notes of the Rensselaer Stock Farm Company listed as a $25,000 asset are in their present shape worthless. If Delos Thompson can be ’ held for them they are good, but that can be decided only at the end of a law

suit. So it is shown by the State that not only were the McCoys as individuals insolvent, when the bank failed, but the firm was also insolvent, although the schedule in bankruptcy showed it to be solvent. .... ■ .... : ■?- OVERDRAFT LISTED AS AN ASSET. Another peculiaf statement in the schedules is that the firm listed an overdraft of Alfred McCoy amounting to $86,594.66 as an asset. Alfred McCoy, in his schedule as an individual, listed the overdraft as $50,594.60, and made it a liability. These are discrepancies that the State will argue on at some length to the jury. Mr. McCoy testified not only had he and his father lost money in the cattle business, but they had also lost money on their farms, due mainly to feeding the corn crop to the cattle. The amount of the farm losses, however, the witness could not give. STRANGE TRANSACTION UNCOVERED. The stock farm deal was a strange transaction according to the testimony. After years of business, which was a losing one, they held a meeting at Delos Thompson’s office for settlement. The stock farm company owed $27,000 to the bank in overdrafts; SB,OOO due Thompson for rent; $4,000 at Lafayette, and about $13,000 in notes to the bank. In making this settlement the partners took in consideration only the $27,000 overdraft and the SB,OOO due Thompson. This would make the individual members liable for something over SII,OOO between each other. Thompson, on bis was given credit for 18,000 rent and he settled in full with his partners by giving them a check for $2,300, of which S3OO was for the purchase of a house from T. J. McCoy, and bad nothing to do with the bank’s affairs. The State was unable to find why Mr. Thompson settled a debt of more than $3,000 with a $2,000 check. At the meeting in Delos Thompson’s office, $13,000 worth of notes, given by the Stock Farm Company, in 1893, to A. McCoy & Co., upon which each partner was security, were not considered. In 1903 T. J. McCoy turned over to Delos Thompson these three notes, and the testimony showed that all T. J. McCoy got for these $13,000 in notes, was his own note given to Delos Thompson for about $2,000. In other words, Delos Thompson traded Tom McCoy’s note of $2,000 for $13,000 worth of notes, the Stock Farm Company owed A. McCoy & Co., and the testimony of T. J. McCoy was that he and W. A. Rinehart gave their notes to A. McCoy & Co. for $13,000 in lieu of the $13,000 turned over to Delos Thompson, and these McCoy-Rinehart notes were not found in the bank after the failure. Thus, accordhig to the testimony, the Rensselaer Stock Farm Company owed A. McCoy & Co., in notes and overdrafts, more than $45,000, and all that A. McCoy & Co. got of it was ’Delos Thompson’s check for $2,000, and the worthless notes of T. J. McCoy and W. A. Rinehart. The State showed on orossexamination of the witness that T. J. McCoy’s overdraft in the bank when it failed was more than $152,000, and Mr. Sellers, from the individual ledger of Mr. McCoy, started to find out how this overdraft was accumulated. He took up the record of checks and asked what each was given for. In many instances the witness could not remember for what the checks were given, except to pay bills. The books, however, showed that Mr. McCoy, from April 1, 1903, to March 30, 1904, had given to W. 8. McLean, a merchant tailor of Chicago, checks aggregating $2,439.50. Most of these checks, Mr. McCoy said, were for money he got from McLean. Another check for $125 was to pay for building a telephone line from Rensselaer to connect with "Jerry’s Island.” The checks asked about were

given to jewelers, tailors, merchants of various kinds and tradesmen of all sorts. The purpose of the State in asking about these checks was to show that Mr. McCoy spent the bank’s money with a lavish hand for his personal use. The evidence closed Wednesday afternoon and the argument of the attorneys began Thursday morning. Prosecutor Thomas of White county, opened for the State, and occupied two hours in his speech. He said the law imposed on the bankers the duty of knowing that they were solvent and could pay dollar for dollar; that the evidence .showed that there were $171,266 in net assets to pay liabilities of $460.401, —"a balance,” exclaimed Mr. Thomas, “that must be divided among the common herd of depositors; that is the per cent., gentlemen, that the contemptible villains who are persecuting these defendants will get.” The prosecutor’s remarks about “contemptible villains” was a play on Mr. Haywood’s opening statement in which he so denounced some of the creditors who were said to be back of this prosecution. Speaking of the “glorious assets of this remarkable bank,” as Mr. Thomas termed them, he said that, taking T. J. McCoy’s own statement as true, his overdrafts of $152,000 would not pay more than 40 per cent. The State insisted, however, that this overdraft is worthless as an asset. “To say that it will pay a nickel on the dollar,” exclaimed Mr. Thomas, “is putting it very high.” “These defendants, under this evidence,” declared Mr. Thomas, knew for some time they were insolvent, knew that they were going down hill. When Alfred McCoy knew of the overdrafts of his son Tnomas, of the notes he had signed, of the liabilities he had placed on the bank, what must he have thought of his son’s financial condition? That is an evidence of intent; he knew it and did not stop it. When the bank failed to send Frank Hunt, of Lowell, his money when it was demanded,’ that showed the bank was hard up, and went to show intent to defaud. Is that the way a solvent bank transacts business?” MCHUGH FOR THE DEFENSE. He was followed by Mr. McHugh for the defense, who also spoke for two hours, and among other things said: No matter if the financial condition of the bank was as rotten as could be, and there was no felonious intent to defraud, these defendants must go free. “The law in this case was intended to catch the fly-by-night swindlers that came into this State with a lighted candle, and after scooping in the victims’ money, fled. It was not intended to apply to such men,” and Mr. McHugh walked across the room and placed his hand on the shoulder of Alfred McCoy, who burst into tears, “as this, the Gibralter of honesty and good in the county of Jasper, a man’vhose seven-ty-six years has been filled with good deeds, a man whose life has been an open book to his fellowmen. It was not intended to catch this man, with a reputation for honesty that no one dared attack; nor, gentlemen, was it intended to catch the offspring of such a man,” and the speaker pointed to T. J. McCoy, who bowed his head and displayed considerable emotion. Continuing, Mr. McHugh said be would admit that the defendants’ debts were greater than even the State said they were, and yet he would show by the testimony that when the McCoy bank failed it had assets of more than $600,000 —a sum far in excess of the liabilities. He paid some attention to former Judge Simon Peter Thompson, who was an important witness for the State on land values, “and who,” exclaimed Mr. McHugh, “became an editor,” referring to a series of articles in the McCoy failure in the Rensselaer Journal. “By the way,” said McHugh, “I am able to say to you that another great literary work is in progression, as my client is preparing to write the life history of Simon Peter.” At that statement Alfred McCoy laughed heartily, and whispered loudly to a friend close to him, "That’s so; I’m going to do In closing he said his clients did not ask for sympathy; they did

not ask for mercy. All they asked for, all they were entitled to, was that the verdict shall be according to the law and the evidence; no sickly sentimentality; no tears; no 1 pictures of broken homes; nothing of that kind was wanted. “The evidence in this case shows that the defendants are not guilty and should go acquitted. And if you have any doubt -on that proposition,” concluded Mr. McHugh, “the doubt must be given to these defendants.” Prosecutor Graves of this judicial circuit followed for the State, Geo. F. Palmer for the defense, Moses Leopold for the State, Judge Reynolds and Mr. Haywood for the defense, Mr. Sellers closing s>r the State, it was expected, yesterday afternoon, and perhaps the court’s instructions would be given last evening and the case go to the jury then. The McCoys are both in a particularly cheerful mood, and express confidence in their acquittal. The court room was well filled with spectators the first time since the trial commenced. The general opinion seems to be that “Tom” at least will be convicted, while “Old Mac” may escape on account of his age.