________________________________________________
_ The trial moved on. One witness for the prosecution after another
followed until the State had built up an arraignment that satisfied
Shannon that he had established Cowperwood's guilt, whereupon he
announced that he rested. Steger at once arose and began a long
argument for the dismissal of the case on the ground that there
was no evidence to show this, that and the other, but Judge Payderson
would have none of it. He knew how important the matter was in
the local political world.
"I don't think you had better go into all that now, Mr. Steger,"
he said, wearily, after allowing him to proceed a reasonable
distance. "I am familiar with the custom of the city, and the
indictment as here made does not concern the custom of the city.
Your argument is with the jury, not with me. I couldn't enter
into that now. You may renew your motion at the close of the
defendants' case. Motion denied."
District-Attorney Shannon, who had been listening attentively,
sat down. Steger, seeing there was no chance to soften the judge's
mind by any subtlety of argument, returned to Cowperwood, who
smiled at the result.
"We'll just have to take our chances with the jury," he announced.
"I was sure of it," replied Cowperwood.
Steger then approached the jury, and, having outlined the case
briefly from his angle of observation, continued by telling them
what he was sure the evidence would show from his point of view.
"As a matter of fact, gentlemen, there is no essential difference
in the evidence which the prosecution can present and that which
we, the defense, can present. We are not going to dispute that
Mr. Cowperwood received a check from Mr. Stener for sixty thousand
dollars, or that he failed to put the certificate of city loan
which that sum of money represented, and to which he was entitled
in payment as agent, in the sinking-fund, as the prosecution now
claims he should have done; but we are going to claim and prove
also beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt that he had a right,
as the agent of the city, doing business with the city through its
treasury department for four years, to withhold, under an agreement
which he had with the city treasurer, all payments of money and
all deposits of certificates in the sinking-fund until the first
day of each succeeding month--the first month following any given
transaction. As a matter of fact we can and will bring many traders
and bankers who have had dealings with the city treasury in the
past in just this way to prove this. The prosecution is going
to ask you to believe that Mr. Cowperwood knew at the time he
received this check that he was going to fail; that he did not buy
the certificates, as he claimed, with the view of placing them in
the sinking-fund; and that, knowing he was going to fail, and that
he could not subsequently deposit them, he deliberately went to
Mr. Albert Stires, Mr. Stener's secretary, told him that he had
purchased such certificates, and on the strength of a falsehood,
implied if not actually spoken, secured the check, and walked away.
"Now, gentlemen, I am not going to enter into a long-winded discussion
of these points at this time, since the testimony is going to show
very rapidly what the facts are. We have a number of witnesses
here, and we are all anxious to have them heard. What I am going
to ask you to remember is that there is not one scintilla of
testimony outside of that which may possibly be given by Mr. George
W. Stener, which will show either that Mr. Cowperwood knew, at
the time he called on the city treasurer, that he was going to fail,
or that he had not purchased the certificates in question, or that
he had not the right to withhold them from the sinking-fund as long
as he pleased up to the first of the month, the time he invariably
struck a balance with the city. Mr. Stener, the ex-city treasurer,
may possibly testify one way. Mr. Cowperwood, on his own behalf,
will testify another. It will then be for you gentlemen to decide
between them, to decide which one you prefer to believe--Mr. George
W. Stener, the ex-city treasurer, the former commercial associate
of Mr. Cowperwood, who, after years and years of profit, solely
because of conditions of financial stress, fire, and panic, preferred
to turn on his one-time associate from whose labors he had reaped
so much profit, or Mr. Frank A. Cowperwood, the well-known banker
and financier, who did his best to weather the storm alone, who
fulfilled to the letter every agreement he ever had with the city,
who has even until this hour been busy trying to remedy the unfair
financial difficulties forced upon him by fire and panic, and who
only yesterday made an offer to the city that, if he were allowed
to continue in uninterrupted control of his affairs he would gladly
repay as quickly as possible every dollar of his indebtedness
(which is really not all his), including the five hundred thousand
dollars under discussion between him and Mr. Stener and the city,
and so prove by his works, not talk, that there was no basis for
this unfair suspicion of his motives. As you perhaps surmise, the
city has not chosen to accept his offer, and I shall try and tell
you why later, gentlemen. For the present we will proceed with
the testimony, and for the defense all I ask is that you give very
close attention to all that is testified to here to-day. Listen
very carefully to Mr. W. C. Davison when he is put on the stand.
Listen equally carefully to Mr. Cowperwood when we call him to
testify. Follow the other testimony closely, and then you will
be able to judge for yourselves. See if you can distinguish a
just motive for this prosecution. I can't. I am very much obliged
to you for listening to me, gentlemen, so attentively."
He then put on Arthur Rivers, who had acted for Cowperwood on
'change as special agent during the panic, to testify to the large
quantities of city loan he had purchased to stay the market; and
then after him, Cowperwood's brothers, Edward and Joseph, who
testified to instructions received from Rivers as to buying and
selling city loan on that occasion--principally buying.
The next witness was President W. C. Davison of the Girard National
Bank. He was a large man physically, not so round of body as
full and broad. His shoulders and chest were ample. He had a
big blond head, with an ample breadth of forehead, which was high
and sane-looking. He had a thick, squat nose, which, however,
was forceful, and thin, firm, even lips. There was the faintest
touch of cynical humor in his hard blue eyes at times; but mostly
he was friendly, alert, placid-looking, without seeming in the
least sentimental or even kindly. His business, as one could see
plainly, was to insist on hard financial facts, and one could see
also how he would naturally be drawn to Frank Algernon Cowperwood
without being mentally dominated or upset by him. As he took the
chair very quietly, and yet one might say significantly, it was
obvious that he felt that this sort of legal-financial palaver was
above the average man and beneath the dignity of a true financier--
in other words, a bother. The drowsy Sparkheaver holding up a
Bible beside him for him to swear by might as well have been a
block of wood. His oath was a personal matter with him. It was
good business to tell the truth at times. His testimony was very
direct and very simple.
He had known Mr. Frank Algernon Cowperwood for nearly ten years.
He had done business with or through him nearly all of that time.
He knew nothing of his personal relations with Mr. Stener, and did
not know Mr. Stener personally. As for the particular check of
sixty thousand dollars--yes, he had seen it before. It had come
into the bank on October 10th along with other collateral to offset
an overdraft on the part of Cowperwood & Co. It was placed to
the credit of Cowperwood & Co. on the books of the bank, and the
bank secured the cash through the clearing-house. No money was
drawn out of the bank by Cowperwood & Co. after that to create an
overdraft. The bank's account with Cowperwood was squared.
Nevertheless, Mr. Cowperwood might have drawn heavily, and nothing
would have been thought of it. Mr. Davison did not know that Mr.
Cowperwood was going to fail--did not suppose that he could, so
quickly. He had frequently overdrawn his account with the bank;
as a matter of fact, it was the regular course of his business to
overdraw it. It kept his assets actively in use, which was the
height of good business. His overdrafts were protected by collateral,
however, and it was his custom to send bundles of collateral or
checks, or both, which were variously distributed to keep things
straight. Mr. Cowperwood's account was the largest and most active
in the bank, Mr. Davison kindly volunteered. When Mr. Cowperwood
had failed there had been over ninety thousand dollars' worth of
certificates of city loan in the bank's possession which Mr
Cowperwood had sent there as collateral. Shannon, on cross-examination,
tried to find out for the sake of the effect on the jury, whether
Mr. Davison was not for some ulterior motive especially favorable
to Cowperwood. It was not possible for him to do that. Steger
followed, and did his best to render the favorable points made by
Mr. Davison in Cowperwood's behalf perfectly clear to the jury by
having him repeat them. Shannon objected, of course, but it was
of no use. Steger managed to make his point.
He now decided to have Cowperwood take the stand, and at the
mention of his name in this connection the whole courtroom bristled.
Cowperwood came forward briskly and quickly. He was so calm, so
jaunty, so defiant of life, and yet so courteous to it. These
lawyers, this jury, this straw-and-water judge, these machinations
of fate, did not basically disturb or humble or weaken him. He
saw through the mental equipment of the jury at once. He wanted
to assist his counsel in disturbing and confusing Shannon, but
his reason told him that only an indestructible fabric of fact or
seeming would do it. He believed in the financial rightness of
the thing he had done. He was entitled to do it. Life was war--
particularly financial life; and strategy was its keynote, its
duty, its necessity. Why should he bother about petty, picayune
minds which could not understand this? He went over his history
for Steger and the jury, and put the sanest, most comfortable
light on it that he could. He had not gone to Mr. Stener in the
first place, he said--he had been called. He had not urged Mr.
Stener to anything. He had merely shown him and his friends
financial possibilities which they were only too eager to seize
upon. And they had seized upon them. (It was not possible for
Shannon to discover at this period how subtly he had organized
his street-car companies so that he could have "shaken out" Stener
and his friends without their being able to voice a single protest,
so he talked of these things as opportunities which he had made
for Stener and others. Shannon was not a financier, neither was
Steger. They had to believe in a way, though they doubted it,
partly--particularly Shannon.) He was not responsible for the
custom prevailing in the office of the city treasurer, he said.
He was a banker and broker.
The jury looked at him, and believed all except this matter of
the sixty-thousand-dollar check. When it came to that he explained
it all plausibly enough. When he had gone to see Stener those
several last days, he had not fancied that he was really going to
fail. He had asked Stener for some money, it is true--not so very
much, all things considered--one hundred and fifty thousand dollars;
but, as Stener should have testified, he (Cowperwood) was not
disturbed in his manner. Stener had merely been one resource of
his. He was satisfied at that time that he had many others. He
had not used the forceful language or made the urgent appeal which
Stener said he had, although he had pointed out to Stener that it
was a mistake to become panic-stricken, also to withhold further
credit. It was true that Stener was his easiest, his quickest
resource, but not his only one. He thought, as a matter of fact,
that his credit would be greatly extended by his principal money
friends if necessary, and that he would have ample time to patch
up his affairs and keep things going until the storm should blow
over. He had told Stener of his extended purchase of city loan
to stay the market on the first day of the panic, and of the fact
that sixty thousand dollars was due him. Stener had made no
objection. It was just possible that he was too mentally disturbed
at the time to pay close attention. After that, to his, Cowperwood's,
surprise, unexpected pressure on great financial houses from
unexpected directions had caused them to be not willingly but
unfortunately severe with him. This pressure, coming collectively
the next day, had compelled him to close his doors, though he had
not really expected to up to the last moment. His call for the
sixty-thousand-dollar check at the time had been purely fortuitous.
He needed the money, of course, but it was due him, and his clerks
were all very busy. He merely asked for and took it personally
to save time. Stener knew if it had been refused him he would have
brought suit. The matter of depositing city loan certificates in
the sinking-fund, when purchased for the city, was something to
which he never gave any personal attention whatsoever. His
bookkeeper, Mr. Stapley, attended to all that. He did not know,
as a matter of fact, that they had not been deposited. (This was
a barefaced lie. He did know.) As for the check being turned over
to the Girard National Bank, that was fortuitous. It might just
as well have been turned over to some other bank if the conditions
had been different.
Thus on and on he went, answering all of Steger's and Shannon's
searching questions with the most engaging frankness, and you
could have sworn from the solemnity with which he took it all--
the serious business attention--that he was the soul of so-called
commercial honor. And to say truly, he did believe in the justice
as well as the necessity and the importance of all that he had
done and now described. He wanted the jury to see it as he saw
it--put itself in his place and sympathize with him.
He was through finally, and the effect on the jury of his testimony
and his personality was peculiar. Philip Moultrie, juror No. 1,
decided that Cowperwood was lying. He could not see how it was
possible that he could not know the day before that he was going
to fail. He must have known, he thought. Anyhow, the whole series
of transactions between him and Stener seemed deserving of some
punishment, and all during this testimony he was thinking how,
when he got in the jury-room, he would vote guilty. He even
thought of some of the arguments he would use to convince the
others that Cowperwood was guilty. Juror No. 2, on the contrary,
Simon Glassberg, a clothier, thought he understood how it all came
about, and decided to vote for acquittal. He did not think Cowperwood
was innocent, but he did not think he deserved to be punished.
Juror No. 3, Fletcher Norton, an architect, thought Cowperwood was
guilty, but at the same time that he was too talented to be sent
to prison. Juror No. 4, Charles Hillegan, an Irishman, a contractor,
and a somewhat religious-minded person, thought Cowperwood was
guilty and ought to be punished. Juror No. 5, Philip Lukash, a
coal merchant, thought he was guilty. Juror No. 6, Benjamin Fraser,
a mining expert, thought he was probably guilty, but he could not
be sure. Uncertain what he would do, juror No. 7, J. J. Bridges,
a broker in Third Street, small, practical, narrow, thought
Cowperwood was shrewd and guilty and deserved to be punished. He
would vote for his punishment. Juror No. 8, Guy E. Tripp, general
manager of a small steamboat company, was uncertain. Juror No.
9, Joseph Tisdale, a retired glue manufacturer, thought Cowperwood
was probably guilty as charged, but to Tisdale it was no crime.
Cowperwood was entitled to do as he had done under the circumstances.
Tisdale would vote for his acquittal. Juror No. 10, Richard Marsh,
a young florist, was for Cowperwood in a sentimental way. He had,
as a matter of fact, no real convictions. Juror No. 11, Richard
Webber, a grocer, small financially, but heavy physically, was for
Cowperwood's conviction. He thought him guilty. Juror No. 12,
Washington B. Thomas, a wholesale flour merchant, thought Cowperwood
was guilty, but believed in a recommendation to mercy after
pronouncing him so. Men ought to be reformed, was his slogan.
So they stood, and so Cowperwood left them, wondering whether any
of his testimony had had a favorable effect. _
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