Cooper Review (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, March 11, 1921 Page: 1 of 8
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HART BROS.. Publisher*.
LAWRENCE STEEL RECEIVES
EIGHT YEAR SENTENCE
iti§&
SOOPEB. DELTA COUNTY,TEXAS FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1921.
Barn Burns Ait . Vice President
Ben Franklin t Marshall Coming
Chancellor and Hagccd $500 Fine Each and Har-
per’s Case Put Off.
I-
14
. jW
The cases of Lawrence E. Stell and
others charged wth violation of the
national banking laws in connection
with the failure of the Farmers Na-
tional Bank last May came up in fed-
eral court at Paris Monday.
Monday was consumed by the de-
fense in arguing points of law. Judge
Jed Adams, representing Stell and
Harper, irgued a motion co quash the
ind' imenf, which was overruled.
Phillips and Sweeton, representing
Chancellor and Hagood, asked for j
The Indictment
A large barn belonging to J. E.
| Branch in Ben Franklin together with
its contents was consumed by fire
Thursday evening of last week. The
origin of the fire i3 unknown. The
flames had enveloped the building
when discovered by neighbors while
Mr. Branch was eating supper.
_ _ The barn was filled with hay and
Has Many Counts other feed and the loss is estimated
- at $2,000. It was insured by Foster
Stell Named in Twenty-Three, Harper & Latta of Cooper for $650.
Four, Chancellor and Ha.
good Two.
There were twenty-three counts in.
the indictment against Lawrence E.
Sulphur Springs
Man Dropped Dead
Judge D. Thornton, prominent at-
Stell, former cashier of the Farmers lorney and business man, dropped
severance of the cases butThe" court I National Bank of Cooper. dead here Monday morning about
ruled that they must go to trial to- The indictment was a voluminous 11:20 o’clock while in the trial of a
gether> 'document occupying many pages of case in the Justice court room. Judge
Then followed an effort of the de-' typewritten foolscap; but summarized j Thornton was not personally engaged
fens* for a compromise but the gov-' the various counts were as follows, it | in the case, but was making a state-
ernment was unwilling to do so with- bein* bornc in mind that Stdl 13
out a severe penalty qn Mr. Stell. This named ’n eacn °f tbc counts,
was modified Tuesday morning and it That he embezzled $1.. ,0,)0
was agreed by District Attorney *l’om tbe hank.
2. That he misapplied $178,003 of
the bank’s funds.
3 That he abstracted $178,000 of
the bank’s funds.
Smith to accept pleas of guilty, Stell
to receive a sentence of ten years in
prison and the others to pay fines of
$500 each.
The Paris News gives the following
detailed account of the trial:
Lawrence E. Stell, former cashier
ment of facts as a witness when all
of a sudden he threw his head back
ceased speaking, closed his eyes and
passed away. Death was almost in L
i tantaneous. He only breathed a few
times after the stroke of heart fail-
ure came. Physicians were summon-
ed, but death had done its work and
March 22nd
There are few big men of the na-
tion who are really platform stars—
Thomas R. Marshall is one of the
few.
During the past year Mr. Marshall
has enjoyed experiences which seldom
come even to Vice-Presidents.
Through circumstances it was his
duty to receive and entertain official-
ly the big men and high diplomats of
many governments who visited the
United States.
He is a man of force and earnest
conviction, a fearless speaker who is
gifted with unusual oratorical ability.
He has a firm grasp on all of the big
national and international problems
of the day and he discusses them with
a sincerity that rings true. Hear
him at the High School building
March 22 at 8:30 p. m.
Don’t fail to have your seats check-
ed March 14th, 15 ar.d 10th at Hooten
Drug Store.
Roads Left in Bad
Condition When
Work Hindered
Cooper is almost isolated
bad conditions
roads which
E. Stell Taken to
Atlanta Penitentiary
(Note—These three counts are their efforts were of no aval.—Sul-
merely for the purpose of covering phur Springs Gazette,
the same alleged transactions ex- -
Lawrence Stell, who was sentenced
to M years in the Federal penitenti-
ary in federal court at Paris Tues-
day, left for Atlanta Thursday at 2:20
p. m., in charge of an officer.
Mrs. Stell and their two younger
1 boys, and his sister, Mrs. Boling
Jones, were present when he was sen-
cf the failed Farmers National Bank Pressed in differing legal phraseology Superintendent:
of Cooper, appeared in open eour. * ^ j Newton Elected For
Tuesday afternoon and pleaded guilty That he nusapplit 1 $., .
to two counts in the indictment; the *bat be mnde 01 caus< d )° )l A WO lVlOre Years tencod ancj remained in Paris until he
first charging him with having em- made a false l'ntry on the bo°ks °f i The board of trustoes of Cooper left
bezzled $178,000 of the funds of the the bank: makin* an entry ,of *2/° | schools has re-elected Superintendent Mr< stell and several other witness-
bank; and the fourth, charging him when the draft was ln reallty’ for J’ H’ Nevvton for more years’ Ho es were called before the grand jury
with having entered a $9,000 draft on $9-000- ^ , . . !S closin<' hls 14th/ye\as superinten- Wednesday> but n0 indtctments were
the books as being $2.50. 6’ That he made a false etltry in dent of CooPer school^, duripg which r(?turnod and court adj9urned.
Stell was sentenced to eight years the individual ledger; and that it la | time the schools have made a fine _
in the Federal nrisnn at Atlanta* further alleged that in doing so he i growth and has attained a high stand-'
The remaining 31went^counts -os aided and abetted by A. S. Harp- ar dof efficiency,
were dismissed by the government. er’
Defendants W. E. Chancellor and i
R. B. Hagood pleaded guilty to one individual ledger,
count on the indictment, that charg-
ing them with having aided and abet-
ted Stell in making false entries; and
each wras fined $500. The remaining
against each of them was dismissed.
Defendant A. S. Harper, charged in
four counts with having aided and
abetted Stell, refused to plead guilty
and his case goes over to the next and *"bat ’n *b*8 be was a’ded and
That he made a false entry in! 15. That he made a false e: / in
the ledger.
16.
War Dept. Offers Co.
Catterpillar Trucks
County Judge Berry is in receipt of
8. That he misapplied $15,000 of | 10‘ That he made a false entry in a letter from the Highway depart-
the bank’s funds. \ *be 'pdger. ment offering the county all the cater-
9. That he made a false entry in! That he made a false entry i*1; pillar trucks from the war department
the general ledger; and that it is : *-be ledger. . it wants for road work if it will pay
further alleged that in doing this lie1 That he made a false entry , tbe freigi,t on them. The Comnais-
aided and abetted by W. E. Cban- tbc 'edgcr. ( sioners have not yet decided whether
19. That he made a false entry in they will order any of them or not.
the ledger. i _
was
cellor and R. B. Hagood.
10. That he made a false entry;
tern of court.
The case was intensely dramatic.
The wife and two of Stell’s boys were
in court; and witn Mrs. Stell were
friends. She sat quietly ^throughout,
her eyes suffused with tears as Stell
broke down when he made his plea
of guilty. She sat without speaking
as the district attorney made his ar-
(Continued on Page 7)
abetted by A. S. Harper,
11. That he misapplied $3,750;
and that in this he was aided and
abetted by A. S. Harper.
12. That he made a false entry;
and that in this he was aided and
abetted by W. E. Chancellor and R-
B. Hagood.
13. That he embezzled $5000.
14. That he embezzled $2000.
20. That he made a false report to Jwo Civil Cages Jo
the comptroller of the currency.
21. That he made a false report to
the comptroller of the currency.
22. That ho misapplied $125,000 of
the funds of the bank.
23. That he entered into a con-
spiracy to misapply the moneys of
the bank, its funds and credits; and
A. S. Harper is also named in this
count.
Be Tried in Co. Court
Two civil cases, styled Bill Dugan
vs. an Insurance Company and J. T.
Crumbley vs. Allen St.Clair are to be
tried in county court Friday.
As Judge Berry is disqualified to
try the cases County Attorney James
has been agreed upon to try the cases.
have been torn up by the contractors
I in buildisg permanent roads and now
that the road funds are tied up and
| the work nearly at a standstill it will
l likely be some time befoi'e they can
be remedied much.
The Klondike road is in such condi-
tion that people have to take a cir-
cuitous route to reach Cooper, but
two bridges are being built so that the
people can travel it. The grading is
bang held up by injunctions which
prevents work being done on the road
through the Gray and Poteet farms.
Efforts are being made to get the
legislature to amend the Delta county
road law which would enable the
commissioners court to condemn land
for roads where necessary.
The highway toward Lake Creek is
in much better shape, and a few
teams are now hauling gravel and
putting on the road on this side of
Brush creek.
All travel has been cut off from
Hopkins county over the Harper’*
Crossing on account of mudholes and
the levees on either side of the creek,
ooo
Would Fix Harper’s Crossing.
Three car loads of Cooper citizens
went to the bridge last Friday to con-
fer with citizens of Hopkins county
on building an adequate crossing over
these levees but the Hopkins county
citizens failed to come.
A meeting was held at the Cham-
ber of Commerce rooms Wednesday
night with Engineer Cock and Com-
missioner Brown present to discuss
plans for providing a suitable cross-
ing.
While $20,000 state highway money
I has been set aside for this road to
the creek, right now there is no funds
available for the work. Two plans
were discussed for the crossing. One
is to concrete the approaches over the
levees on either side and to the
bridge on either end. It was esti-
mated af a cost of $5.00 per lineal
foot. A 12-foot wide trestle could be
built for about $11 per lineal foot,
but it would probably not meet the
requirements of the highway com-
mission, as they would likely require
a wider trestle. In case a trestle is
built the bridge will have to be raised
from its present foundation 8 or 10
feet.
There is about 1000 feet from the
levee on the Delta county side to the
bridge and about 400 feet from the
bridge to the trestle on the Hopkins
A charge of dynamite was exploded
under the corner of a negro house
occupied by Oliver Williams, a negro,
on the hill in the edge of Ben Frank-
lin last Friday night. The house was
pretty badly wrecked, but fortunately
the negroes were not hurt—only
scared to death.
No arrests were made.
Commissioners Ask
Co-operation lit
Maintaining Roads
The Commissioners Court was in
session Thursday considering road
finances.
The Commissioners are very anx-
ious to build up the county roads and
are asking the co-operation of the
people in helping to maintain them.
They especially ask that people quit
plowing into the ditches and stop
throwing tin cans, rubbish from fenc*
rows, etc., into the ditches.
Fire Rate in Cooper
Reduced 6 Per Cent
The final fire rate in Cooper has
been reduced 6 per cent by the firo
rating board on application of the
Secretary of the Chamber of Com-
merce for a reduction in rate.
The premium of fire insurance car-
ried in Cooper amounted to $30,000
last year and 6 p<?r cent reduction
will make a saving to the property
owners of $1800 a year.
Mrs. Geneva Glaspie, who has been
visiting relatives here, was called to
her home in Arkansas Wednesday on
account of the illness of one of her
grandchildren. She was accompanied
as far as Winster Junction by her
brother-in-law, W. H. Glaspie. Mr.
Glaspie returned Thursday evening
and he says they had a very heavy
frost at Winster Wednesday nfght.
Suits, to measure, made right and
a right price.—Robertson & Mangum.
county side, makng a total of 1400
feet to be built.
Mr. Edmundson, who is in charge
of the levee work, was present and he
ogered to throw up a grade from the
levee on the Hopkins county side south
to high ground 675 feet long, 25 feet
wide and 3 feet high for $625. He
will likely be employed to do the
work. The highway commission will
be consulted before ttie plans for the
other work js decided upon.
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Cooper Review (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, March 11, 1921, newspaper, March 11, 1921; Cooper, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth996241/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Delta County Public Library.