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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
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