OCR Text |
Show I LAWYERS IN FORMIDABLE ARRAY AS ELLISON-PI NGR EE CASE OPENS Banker Sues For Return of $75,000 Worth of Stock Which Defendant Says Was Wrested From Him On Threat of Prison Bars. I With an Imposing array of legal talent tal-ent lined up for anion, the ease pi K p Ellison, chairman of the board of the National Hank of i 'ommerri.. , gainst James Plnree. the osdon ' packing fk Provision company andi -,..rmi!iue of creditor?, opened thin 'L morning In the district court before j.ilgo Jamet N. Kimball. Mr. Ellison seeks the return of stock of the alleged value of ?75 00 ol Lyton Sugar company and the BUI , s,n Ranch company, which he fclaim. he loaned to James Plncras temrar- lly and which, hp claims, was o ln from Plngree by the commitiee ol creators of the packlnfi omm.-ny .through threats of criminal pr. liCTo this suit Mr. Ptngree answ-n-d Wrate v and charges that the stock r,PnoW m the hand. ol the creditor, committee and wa forced from Mm through threats to llhve him prosjeu-ted prosjeu-ted and sent to prison for sendln gi false .statements: through the. 1 nltea We malls of financial oond Won. ol the packing company while he wai H I president I ' I . LEGAL mam l n i kim. V1' I The l"lrl few minute, during the XJ opening of the case this morning WU j , iS marked by legal maw uverl r as to Who .hOUld take the lead In the i it. Thl ws brought to an end by . itate-mcnt itate-mcnt of Judge Kimball that he was not entirely familiar with all the phases of the case and suggested that the complaint bo read. I Reading of the crOM-compiaiiu James IMngree. the amended complaint com-plaint of Mr. Ellison, the separate answer an-swer of the Ogden Packing & ProvU-ion ProvU-ion company then followed, which consumed the entire morning session. This afternoon the separate answers of the other defendant, will be read Practlcallv all of the seats within I j 1 I the court railings were occupied b attorneys representing the various parties In the suit or the defendants themselves. The seats outside the railings were fairly filled with spectators, which included in-cluded many igden lawyers. The firm of Johnson & Henderson, is representing C. H. Poppenhusen and Carey W. Rhodes, defendants. The iaw firm of Devinc. Howell, Stine and HI owiiiiam. with a. W. Agee, Is representing repre-senting the Ogden Packing company and members of the creditors committee commit-tee of the company. slT l,Wl ATTORNEYS Mr. Ellison is represented in the suit by J. D. Bkeen and E. M. Bagley, lyflfll of Salt Iake. HlJlnl' Following the suggestion of Judge Kimball that complaints and answers be read before th. ease proceeded, H. ' H. Henderson took the floor and read Mr. Plngree's crosf-cmplalnt. I.. ,J 1 In the cross-complaint It was admitted admit-ted that the stock or Mr. Ellison B wa turned over to Mr. Ptngree It was, declared that Mr. Plngree then entered en-tered into a contract with the Packing & Provision company and us Committee of creditors to transfer the i ptock, but the contract fas tdgned only i by him after threats had been marie to have him prosecuted for violations pf the postal laws If he did not com-! com-! U ply. it was set forth that on February HUP 20. 190. Carey W. Rhodes who represented repre-sented the Commercial National bang I of Chicago, and U poppenhut-en, representing O. L. Becker, creditors came to Pingret s office and by HM threats of prosecution, which they said would bo followed by a run on the Plngree bank, of which Plngree fwjlijl was president, forced him to sign the LL'l H contract which provided that Ellison's stock should be turned over to the creditors. STOCKS Tl'RNKI) oVEK The contract also called for the turning over stock belonging to Mr. i Plngree it was net forth, and with Mr ' Ellison's stock included shares In the Layton Sugar company, the Ellison, Ranch company. Hooper Sugar com- 1 pany. Plngree National bank. .1 m Plngree company, the Osdcn Packing Pack-ing & Provision company and real DS- ! tate valued at approximately $500,000. ' 'KiMlil was further set forth In the cro-.s-complalnt that Mr. DevtnS, who had ' lluill ' hcen a personal friend of Mr. Plngrec'st for years, advised the signing of the oonraci and staled that If Mr J'ln-IgTe. J'ln-IgTe. refused he would r.e criminally prosecuted and that the bank would collapse. The cross-complaJnt stated that Mr. Pingree was under the care of a physician phy-sician and confined to his home when he Slimed the contract and that the stock was extorted from him. The prayer In the croas-complalnl askf that the Ogdetl Packing & Pro-vi.lon Pro-vi.lon company and the committee of creditors bs demanded to return the to k or persona Judgment be given against the individuals for Its value. Mi Henderson then read the amended amend-ed complaint of Mr. Ellison which names Plngree, the Ogden Packing & Provision i ompa ny ami tho creditors committee as defendants. Mil vi i i BE EIBTURNJSD It was set forth that tho stock of Mr. Ellison was given over to Plngree j for temporary purposes with the , agreement that security would be giv-en, giv-en, thai title would not pass and thai it would later be returned to Mr Ellison. Elli-son. At the time the transfer was made It was set forth thaht Mi Ellison believed be-lieved Pingree t he solvent and able to return It. As a matter of truth and fact, the complaint read. Plngree was at that time threatened wih financial reverses and Insolvency. which was unknown to the plaintiff It WSJI aliened that at the time of transfer Plngree had no Intention of returning the stock or furnishing se curity and aia not ten me piainuii he was faced with Insolvency. When Mr. Ellison discovered the Insolvency In-solvency of the finances of Mr IMngree, IMn-gree, he made a demand for the return re-turn of the stock, it Is nlieed, and was refused by Plngree and the other defendants de-fendants Who threatened to dispose of the shares. He claims this stock to be valued at upwards of $75,000. The complaint set forth that the stock was extorted from Pingree I through threats of criminal prosecu-Ition prosecu-Ition and that Pingree became exhausted exhaus-ted ind his will overcome and he I made the transfer. Mr Ellison prays I return of the stock or personal Judg-I Judg-I ment against the defendants for $75 000. At this point Mr Henderson made .statement to the court In which said the Ellison complaint incorporated all the all. Ration of the Plrvjree cross-coniplaint. cross-coniplaint. that Plngree was the true plaintiff in the suit and asked permission permis-sion to proceed with the case on that basis SEP M! TE INSWER Attorney James A. Howell then asked that he be permitted to read the separate answer of the Ogden Packing Provision company and later tho asp rate answer of the other defendants. defend-ants. He then proceeded to read the answer an-swer of the packing company which admitted that a creditor's committee had been formed and was still acting. act-ing. The answer set forth that at the time the stock of h?r. Ellison was turned over to Plngree the two were close and confidential friends and each was the owner of stocks In various var-ious companies At that time Mr Pingree was Indebted In-debted to the Ogden Packing & Provision Pro-vision company for a large sum It was alleged, and he had obtained loans through the utterance of false financial finan-cial statements of the company from the Pecker company and the Commercial Commer-cial and Continental bank of Chicago. Plngree stated he would pay all his Indebtedness In full, it was se forth. Un March 2. 1920. Plngree. In order to avoid action being brought against the packing company, and following conferences obtained tbe consent of .Mr Ellison to transfer the stock as security se-curity for $320,000 which Pingree owed the company. The contract and transfer was accepted ac-cepted with the knowledge and con-rent con-rent of the plaintiff. It was alleged. The answer set forth lhat Mr. Ell I -.son has no Interest In the stock except ex-cept the right to repurchase before November 25. 1920. which was contained con-tained in a clause in the contract. Neither Mr. Plngree nor Mr. Ellison ook advantage of their right to re- purchass the stock before the time expired. It Is alleged. The answer admits that the stock is held by the creditor's committee of the packing comp-in as security for IndebtednSSS Of Mr Plngree. which Is $426,000 and that tho stock was for-fsited for-fsited when neither Plngree nor Ellison Elli-son exercised their right of contract to repurchase It. It was estimated at noon today that the trial will consume ten days In hearing , -,o |