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TRICKERY CHARGED IN BISCHOFF FAILURE Creditors' Lawyer Alleges Fraud in Receivership Proceedings. CALLS JUDGE PARTNER Claims. He Says. Will Be Made Against Estate of Dead Jurist. Irving L. Ernst. one of the attorneys for the creditors of Henry Bischoff & Co. and the Bischoff Banking House, Inc., told Judge Hand in the United States District Court yesterday that he was convinced his clients had a substantial claim against the estate of the late Supreme Court Justice Henry Bischoff and that they would attempt to levy the estate in order to satisfy their claims. Justice Bischoff fell down an elevator shaft last March and was killed instantly. It was supposed at the time that he had disposed of his interest in the Bischoff banking enterprise. AccordIng to Mr. Ernst the depositors had every reason to believe that the Justice was a member of the partnership up to the time of his death. Mr. Ernst told the court that the Bischoff bank never invested a. dollar of the money deposited with it in any good securities. All the money, he said, went Into the "pockets" of the importing and exporting business of Henry Bischoff & Co. Lawyer Accuses Becker. After Maurice Deiches was appointed geceiver in the State Supreme Court, WillSam J. Becker, one of the Bischoff partnera, drew his entire account of $400 from the National Park Bank, according to Mr. Ernst. Becker, he said, also oolSected rents from his property on Ninetysixth street, which he failed to turn over to the "receiver, although he afterwards turned over the property itself. Mr. Ernst accused Albert P. Massey, attorney for the Bischoff bank and also for Deiches. of arranging the suit brought by Carl Wittman, which resulted in the appointment of Deiches as receiver. Wittman was an employee of Henry Bischoff & Co. He sued for $500. According to Mr. Ernst, Wittman had no treat claim against the concern. Massey, Mr. Ernst said, told him that the suit was brought after a conference between the partners of the banking house and Wittman. Mr. Ernst asked that Deiches be made receiver in the bankruptcy proceedings. no that he would be liable to the Federal courts as well as to the State courts. Judge Hand denied this request. but orHered that all the books of the Bischoft enterprises be opened for inspection. He added that he didn't think that a receiver could, with propriety, issue powers of attorney calling for his appointment as trustee in bankruptcy. Able to Pay All, Says Massey, Albert P. Massey told Judge Hand that Henry Bischoff & Co. had cash assets amounting to $100,000 in excess of their debts. Becker, he said, had turned over $158,000 of his stock in the Bischoff Banking House. Inc. Deiches, he said, had asked Becker for his other assets. including the rents on the Ninety-sixth street property. "But," concluded Massey, "Becker is a hardheaded Dutchman." Attorney James Wheatland Smith, also representing the creditors, said that he had been quoted to the effect that the whole affair was a. rotten inside job. He said that he had looked the word "job" up in the dictionary and found that it meant an undertaking ostensibly for the public good. but in reality for one's own good. That characterized the proceedings against the Bischoff enterprises in the State courts, he said. Neither the public nor the depositors knew the truth about the business of Henry Bischoff & Co., he said.
