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larceny as bailee, and fourth with embezzlement on a check. Now, as you see, there are four
counts here, as we lawyers term them, and the reason there are four counts is as follows: A
man may be guilty of larceny and embezzlement at the same time, or of larceny or
embezzlement separately, and without being guilty of the other, and the district attorney
representing the people might be uncertain, not that he was not guilty of both, but that it might
not be possible to present the evidence under one count, so as to insure his adequate
punishment for a crime which in a way involved both. In such cases, gentlemen, it is customary
to indict a man under separate counts, as has been done in this case. Now, the four counts in
this case, in a way, overlap and confirm each other, and it will be your duty, after we have
explained their nature and character and presented the evidence, to say whether the defendant
is guilty on one count or the other, or on two or three of the counts, or on all four, just as you
see fit and proper--or, to put it in a better way, as the evidence warrants. Larceny, as you may
or may not know, is the act of taking away the goods or chattels of another without his
knowledge or consent, and embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation to one's own use of
what is intrusted to one's care and management, especially money. Larceny as bailee, on the
other hand, is simply a more definite form of larceny wherein one fixes the act of carrying away
the goods of another without his knowledge or consent on the person to whom the goods were
delivered in trust that is, the agent or bailee. Embezzlement on a check, which constitutes the
fourth charge, is simply a more definite form of fixing charge number two in an exact way and
signifies appropriating the money on a check given for a certain definite purpose. All of these
charges, as you can see, gentlemen, are in a way synonymous. They overlap and overlay each
other. The people, through their representative, the district attorney, contend that Mr.
Cowperwood, the defendant here, is guilty of all four charges. So now, gentlemen, we will
proceed to the history of this crime, which proves to me as an individual that this defendant has
one of the most subtle and dangerous minds of the criminal financier type, and we hope by
witnesses to prove that to you, also."
Shannon, because the rules of evidence and court procedure here admitted of no interruption of
the prosecution in presenting a case, then went on to describe from his own point of view how
Cowperwood had first met Stener; how he had wormed himself into his confidence; how little
financial knowledge Stener had, and so forth; coming down finally to the day the check for sixty
thousand dollars was given Cowperwood; how Stener, as treasurer, claimed that he knew
nothing of its delivery, which constituted the base of the charge of larceny; how Cowperwood,
having it, misappropriated the certificates supposed to have been purchased for the sinking-
fund, if they were purchased at all--all of which Shannon said constituted the crimes with which
the defendant was charged, and of which he was unquestionably guilty.
"We have direct and positive evidence of all that we have thus far contended, gentlemen," Mr.
Shannon concluded violently. "This is not a matter of hearsay or theory, but of fact. You will be
shown by direct testimony which cannot be shaken just how it was done. If, after you have
heard all this, you still think this man is innocent--that he did not commit the crimes with which
he is charged--it is your business to acquit him. On the other hand, if you think the witnesses
whom we shall put on the stand are telling the truth, then it is your business to convict him, to
find a verdict for the people as against the defendant. I thank you for your attention."
The jurors stirred comfortably and took positions of ease, in which they thought they were to rest
for the time; but their idle comfort was of short duration for Shannon now called out the name of
George W. Stener, who came hurrying forward very pale, very flaccid, very tired-looking. His
eyes, as he took his seat in the witness-chair, laying his hand on the Bible and swearing to tell
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