Dorsey v. United States

101 F. 746, 41 C.C.A. 652, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4462
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 26, 1900
DocketNo. 1,270
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 101 F. 746 (Dorsey v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dorsey v. United States, 101 F. 746, 41 C.C.A. 652, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4462 (8th Cir. 1900).

Opinions

THAYER, Circuit Judge.

This writ of error was brought to review a judgment of the district court of the United States for the district of Nebraska, whereby Prank M. Dorsey, the plaintiff in error, was sentenced to imprisonment for various violations of the act relating to national banks. Three indictments were returned against the accused, which were subsequently consolidated for trial, and together contained numerous counts, charging different offenses. Upon the trial the accused was convicted on 13 counts. A like sentence of six years’ imprisonment was imposed for the offense described in each of the 13 counts, hut, as the sentences run concurrently, ihe accused was, in effect, sentenced to one term of imprisonment, for the period of six years. The indictments are framed under section 5209 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and charge three kinds of offenses, namely, six counts charge the making of false entries in the bills-receivable register of the First National Bank of Ponca, Neb., of which hank the accused was cashier, five counts charge the making of false reports to the comptroller of the currency, and (he remaining two counts charge the unlawful abstraction of funds. The offenses were committed between July 19, 1892, and April 13, 1893, during which time, or at least until February 1, 1893, the accused was [748]*748'acting in the capacity of cashier as well as director of the bank. The false entries in the bills-receivable register consist of entries therein •showing that certain notes held by the bank had been paid, and the dates of their payment, when they had not been paid, while the false 'entries in the reports to the comptroller consist either of false statements concerning the amount of overdrafts upon the bank, or concerning the amount of its loans and discounts, or concerning the amount due to it from other banks and bankers, or concerning the extent of the liability of the directors to the bank. The assignments óf error are very numerous, but as counsel have grouped them, for convenience, into classes, and have thereby reduced their number somewhat, we shall pursue the same course.

The government claimed on the trial that the accused had practically the entire control of the First National Bank of Ponca during the period when the alleged offenses were committed, and prior thereto; that hé had made a practice of rediscounting notes held by the bank, with the bank’s indorsement thereon to give them currency; that many of such notes were worthless when they were thus discounted; and that on the rediscount of such worthless paper, with the aid of the bank’s indorsement thereon, the accused had caused entries to be made in the bills-receivable register of the bank that such notes were paid, with intent to conceal the bank’s liability upon the paper. The testimony which was offered to sustain these charges was both voluminous and cogent.

The first assignment of error is that the court erred in admitting in evidence the following entry, “Paid 11/19/92,” which was found in the bills-receivable register of the First National Bank of Ponca, in the column of “Remarks,” opposite a note made by J. E. Strong, dated “9/7/92,” which the bank had discounted, and which matured, according to the bills-receivable register, on March 7, 1893. The objection to this entry when it was received and read in evidence was “that no foundation has been laid, and it has not been shown that defendant was sufficiently connected with it; that it is not shown that he has ever directed this entry.” While the objection so made is not as specific as it might have been, yet we understand that it was intended to raise the point, first, that the Strong note had not been produced, and that it had not been shown that the entry complained of was made by direction of the accused. It appears, however, that the assistant cashier of the bank, who seems to have acted at all times under the immediate direction of the accused, gave evidence which tended to show that the accused had on several occasions given him instructions to enter notes, which were held by the bank, as paid, although they were not paid, but were merely rediscounted with other banks, and that the entry in question was an entry made by him pursuant to such instructions. Other evidence that was introduced showed that a note made by J. E. Strong for $2,000, dated “ninth month, seventh day, 1892,” and due on March 7, 1893, was rediscounted by the First National Bank of Elkader, Iowa, for the First National Bank of Ponca, Neb., on November 25, 1892, and that it was held by the former bank until March 15, 1893, and was ¡not then paid, but was replaced by other notes received from the [749]*749First National Bank oí Ponca. There was other evidence produced which showed that due search had been made for the Strong note, and that it could not be found, but had probably been lost or destroyed. The evidence, taken altogether, was sufficient, we think, to warrant a jury in finding that the First National Bank of Ponca- had held a note of J. E. Strong for the sum of $2,000, and had procured its rediscount with another bank, and had entered it as paid on its own books, although it was not paid, but was simply rediscounted, and that this had been done by direction of the accused. The point which is made in this court respecting said note and one or two other rediscounted notes, which were not produced, — ■ that there was no specific proof in the trial court to show that such rediscounted notes were indorsed by the First National Bank of Ponca when it procured their rediscount, — was not made in the trial court as an objection to their introduction, and for that reason the point is not open for consideration here. But it will be proper to observe in this connection that there was testimony to the effect that “rediscounted notes” are notes held by a bank, which it indorses and procures another bank to discount, so that, when the various witnesses testified in respect to the several notes that the First National Bank of Ponca had rediscounted them, the statement implied, in the light of the testimony as to the meaning of the word “rediscounted,” that the notes had been indorsed. Moreover,.such of the rediscounted notes as the government was able to produce were indorsed by the last-named bank. We are of opinion, therefore, that the objection to the introduction of the entry in the bills-receivable register to the effect that the Strong note was paid on November 19, 1892 (that being the purport of the entry), was not well made, and was properly overruled.

The second, third, fourth, and sixth grounds for reversal that are relied upon by counsel for the plaintiff in error have reference to entries found in the bills-receivable register of the First National Bank of Ponca, and relate to notes held by that bank which were made by WT. A. Hickman, John Forbes, J. E. Barker, and W. E. Holmes, and were subsequently rediscounted with other banks. These entries are the same as the one already considered. They showed that the several notes were marked as paid on the bills-receivable register as of given dates. The objections made at the trial to the introduction of the entries were in substance the same as those already noticed, and the proof tending to show that the several notes were outstanding and unpaid long after they were marked “Paid” was substantially the same as that respecting the Strong note. There was also the same species of proof tending to show that the false entries as respects these notes were made in obedience to instructions, general or special, that were given by the accused to his subordinates, and in accordance with which they acted.

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Bluebook (online)
101 F. 746, 41 C.C.A. 652, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4462, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-united-states-ca8-1900.