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Show i j Effort Made in Court j to Introduce Evidence' j Records in Merchants i Dank Were Destroyed I Cy Irn C. Tichenor A N KKKOKT v.ns inal; in I'ouil in eimneetiiiii with! i ti e rm.e of t'.te Western Keeuri-I :t!"s eompany iiiiiiinst Snlcm Spiro j ; to introduce It-si iin..ny that II. P. j 'Tirk. t irmrr ir. M; l nt ..f the ter- IiunI!. l.ank, , r.l r--'l the li-ink lute j i nlKhi. ' nfur .1. ',n riri!,ir-e tvn.i ,. ;icl'd -rif iri.nt V "'a In-m h vault i I ' ' - : ' '''''I tin' il.rf.'U.lh." iiu:.i. v. -lev?. ' the next i ! Tin riiinu. them were t iiitiil in the fire- ! I i-' u-- t hjrreil iier.n of Imoks anil i ; il- 1 B. j 'i hi- evidence w.. not admitted, tun ( . tl,,. f...'-ntf In nltllll )t! It 1 1 Mid IM I lOltl I v.. is .1 f'lttng dinnx to fie bilter letal j c. MvM Ihat for H. vei.il d'l.va h.s , ' bee 1 eiu;nged in betueen H P. Clark an.: : .'Inn ipfft, who for several years j were .'. i closely rehit.-d i:i the r sM-ial j and fmaiuial affairs that, facetious- j ly pr- .kin ;. th" made hut one shadow. I Tsw nfiair also- pnved to lie the Slot m pierti' tf l to swe p over the j case as tl'.e result of IN- net on of I corinel for ('Ink, a day or two pre-! I viously. m c.iusi::K Spiro in admit j thai, while (Mark wa toniirci-d with' another bank, and previous i hit a-- j isoeation w.th the Merchants bank, he 1 iSpiroi drew a cheek for about J.L'iHij j when he had on deport upiru...rnteiy j only $1700 ! ANOTHER SENSATION. ! The tvent also was productive of 1 another renatnn which fita in well ! ; with the chain of sensations develop- 1 i ing in the affairs of the defunct M01-. chants bank, and which, as a whole. I may reach a climax as the result of j the inquiry now being conducted by the i:rand Jury, which is Hearing the' end of its third week's work. j f,,mr.j fty epmi wtthUaid Ua iiiutl powerful bomb until the fiuM ar-, ar-, rag', but while it proved. In a way, i I to be a "dud." the force of the impact, j when H landed on the legal field of ! buttle, was so great that it mtftht have I jarred the scales held 1U tile hand of J the blind goddci-a. , Signs of the approaching storm were j not wanting. During the forenoon session, ses-sion, and while Clark wn being sub- j tected to a further examination, Frank j Nvbeker. of counsel for Spiro. bean ! to ask question as to the destruction of a copy of a certain contract which haa a bearing upon the suit in to what was desired to be shown by testimony of the witness. PAPERS REPORTED DESTROYED. 1 Me aiid that aa early as Iecember. I! IS, In the presence of the witness. 1 Clark ileatv ; 1 i puera of a Clark I com 1 nn jr. 1 Proceed n. Xelieker deeard that ' Inte one n'glit. two days after filigree tiMik charge of the Men-hunts bank, j thu 1 wtnxas. . whila imiiing from a-l 1 heat re, saw a light in the Merchants 1 bunk and, upon Investigating, saw Cl;nk In the boik vault of the Instl tii tion. Chirk later apiieared with ' books and paet s and went Into the ' directors' room. The next morning the witness saw fn the fireplace partially par-tially Incinerated hooks and papers. After extended arguments the object ob-ject ions to the evidence were sua- atned, exceptions tuken by council for Spiro, and the storm subsided even more suddenly than it had apiieared. ap-iieared. Arguments then proceeded lo I'l" c:tse progress. I DENIES DESTRUCTION, The questions led up to the time of the reorganization of the Merchants bank. Nebeker finally nskt-d the point-blank point-blank queetion if (Mark did not remember re-member having destroyed books of the Merchants bank after he ceased to be president, to which the witness quietly but emphatically replied In the negative. nega-tive. Clark, in reply to question, declared de-clared that he never entered the bank nfter office hours. Just previous to or shortly After his resignation as president, and burned any books or pa Iters. He isuid that the Western Securities company tvid a private steel cabinet in the safe and alwo had sa f e t y de poa 1 1 box ch, and to these he went on three occasions In the daytime after the change in the presidency. HAD NO KEY. He declared that he did not retain a key to the bank after the change j i;i the management; that he knew the combination of tho book vault, but that he did not work It after leaving the bank. To the question as to whether he waa In the bank all alone or with I the Janitor at nit'ht after he ceased ! to be president, Clark replied that he ! didn't think so. and again denied having ever tak n books and papers and burned them. There the matter rested until the opening of the afternoon session, when Mr. Nel -: er called for A. il. Jackson, who proved to 1m ve been employed throughout the i t Menee of the Merchants bank us Janitor and collector. After a few prelim inarv m -jest ions had been. put to the Wll'ie-.-; A. Hoppaugh, of counsel for ("l.irK. ot-Jeetrd ot-Jeetrd to the testimony, w hereupon Mr. Nebeker. after remarking that some hook of the Merchant bank ' were miiT.r,nT:ide a wiitement as . |