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TESTIMONY OF CHIEF SCHECK READ IN
Miss LOEBEL Reads Into Record in DE RYDER Case the Testimony of the Late Chief -- Charles VOIGT Makes Good Witness for the State -- Case is Attracting Wide Attention
Oshkosh, Wis., Jan. 23 - Practically all of the ground covered by Mr. VOIGT when he told his story of the alleged conspiracy by DE RYDER, MORAN, MAXON and others to defraud him out of $6,300 was gone over again and again in the cross-examination, but not a great deal of additional information was elicited. Mr. VOIGT testified, however, that MORAN paid him for his services and all of the expenses attached to the negotiations that finally culminated in the purpose of 10,000 shares of stock for $7,000 from O. C. MAXON at Decatur, Ill. MORAN also paid the $700 demanded by MAXON for the option. The other 6,300 was paid by VOIGT and the stock was made payable to him, although he would not admit that he was the sole owner of the stock, which he maintained he had purchased from MORAN under an agreement that he was to receive one-third of the profits rising from their subsequent sale.
AS TO PROFIT
Mr. VOIGT would not commit himself as to the amount of profit he expected to make; he did expect to make something on the deal, however, if the stock sold anywhere near what it was expected to sell for. The stock secured from DE RYDER or SMITH had sold for exactly twice what had been paid for it. After considerable badgering, Mr. VOIGT stated to the jury that to the best of his judgement the stock purchased from MAXON with his $6,300 and made payable to him in reality belongs to MORAN if the money VOIGT advanced and otherwise expended in its acquisition should be repaid to him.
It was also developed in the cross-examination that VOIGT drew the $6,300 out of the Bank of Sheboygan the day before he paid DE RYDER or SMITH $700 for the stock on which an option had been secured in Oshkosh and on the same day before he left Sheboygan to join MORAN in Chicago and close up the deal with MAXON in Decatur. The night before he left Chicago VOIGT slept with the $6,300 under his pillow, he testified. He could not recall what time he left Sheboygan next day for Chicago and Decatur, although Attorney FAWCETT made every effort to get him to fix, even approximately, the time of his departure. He stated that although he took the $6,300 with him, he had not yet positively made up his mind to go into the deal for the purchase of stock held by MAXON and upon which MORAN had paid $700 for an option.
CASES NOT SIMILAR
In reply to a direct question, Mr. VOIGT said he thought it was all right for MORAN to make $800 off "SMITH" through the purchase of the latter's stock at a price much below its real value, but he did not think it was all right for MORAN to make $6,300 off him, for in the latter case MORAN had defrauded him.
Mr. VOIGT was subjected to a grilling inquisition in an effort to break down the testimony he had given on his direct examination, but in the main he did not deviate materially from the statements he had made on any material point. Mr. VOIGT is himself a lawyer and the cross-examination, conducted by Attorney FAWCETT for the defense, at times resolved itself into a battle of wits between the examiner and witness and sharp passages between the two were not infrequent. These served to keep the interest of those in the court room keyed up to a high pitch.
At the conclusion of Mr. VOIGT's testimony, J. L. COLLINS of Milwaukee was called to the stand as a witness for the state and his examination occupied nearly all of the remainder of the morning session. Mr. COLLINS is a private detective and had been engaged by Mr. VOIGT, he testified, to run down and bring to justice the men, who, Mr. VOIGT claims, entered into a conspiracy to defraud him out of $6,300 through a deal in "fake" mining stocks.
Mr. COLLINS testified that he arrested Mr. DE RYDER at Waukegan, Ill., last summer and took him to the Sheboygan county jail. DE RYDER made no resistance to arrest and did not make a fight against extradition. Mr. COLLINS testified that in conversation with DE RYDER the latter admitted to him that he was well acquainted with Charles ("Chappie") MORAN, charged by Mr. VOIGT with having started the alleged swindling conspiracy; that he, DE RYDER, had known MORAN for several years and knew his reputation and character were bad and that MORAN had once been arrested by COLLINS on a criminal charge.
The friendly relations between DE RYDER and MORAN existed prior to December, 1910, when the alleged fraud against VOIGT was pulled off, Mr. COLLINS testified. Mr. COLLINS testified to other damaging admissions he said DE RYDER made to him following the latter's arrest and incarceration in the county jail at Sheboygan, but he would not swear that he had at any time made the statement that DE RYDER said "MORAN was no good and had double-crossed him" in the VOIGT mining deal matter. MORAN, DE RYDER said, according to Mr. COLLINS' testimony, never worked but always appeared to have plenty of money.
MORAN, it is supposed and alleged by Mr. VOIGT, acted in conjunction with DE RYDER or SMITH in working the Oshkosh end of the alleged conspiracy as related in Mr. VOIGT's testimony and reported in these columns yesterday. Ostensibly, when VOIGT and MORAN came to Oshkosh to see "SMITH" the latter and MORAN were strangers to each other.
Mr. COLLINS underwent a sharp examination at the hands of the counsel for the defense. In reply to one question, he declared that all DE RYDER told him was told voluntarily and that he had used no force or other means to get DE RYDER to talk. Replying to another query, Mr. COLLINS stated that he had endeavored to run down and arrest other men implicated in the alleged conspiracy, but had not been successful. He stated that DE RYDER told him, however, that if he, DE RYDER, could get out of jail, he could locate MORAN in Chicago.
Mr. COLLINS admitted that he had caused to be delivered to DE RYDER what purported to be a telegram from MORAN and which was signed "C. M." This "fake" telegram was written on a Western Union blank and enclosed in a regular Western Union telegraph envelope. When Mr. COLLINS was asked by Attorney FAWCETT if he did not know that using a telegraph blank and envelope in this manner was against the law, Mr. COLLINS said he did not. The purported telegram and its envelope were introduced and marked as an "exhibit."
The examination of the detective was full of interest and punctuated with objections to questions asked by the attorneys on both sides. He was finally excused from testifying further at this time and Miss Elsie LOEBEL of Sheboygan was called to the stand just before court took its usual noon recess until 2 o'clock this afternoon.
Miss LOEBEL is the stenographer who took down and transcribed the testimony given at DE RYDER's preliminary examination at Sheboygan last August and her testimony is sought to verify the stenographic report of the testimony of one witness who has since died. This witness was the late Chief of Police August SCHECK of Sheboygan.