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# THE BANK OF PORTLAND.
# Examination of William N. Goold.
The examination was continued at 3 p. m., yesterday as follows:
Q-How long before the first check of $4,895 was drawn was this arrangement, spoken of in the foregoing answer, made.
A-But a short time before. It was within a month certainly,
Q-As I understand your statement of the arrangement it was made to enable Clement, and yourself if you desired, to obtain temporary loans of money from the bank from time to time, to be paid in a short time. Is this correct?
A-It is.
Q-Was it known or supposed between you and Clement, at the time the arrangement was made, that the bank was in a bad condition at that time?
A-It was known to both of us at that time that the expenses of the bank were very heavy. We made no figures at this time in regard to the weight of the expenses.
Q-Was it made to enable Clement to withdraw privately what he had put in, in view of any possible failure of the bank?
A-It was not. It was a matter of borrowing.
Q-Then your position is that this arrangement was not a scheme in contemplation of the failure of the bank to get Clement's friends out whole, but rather a method of borrowing funds from the bank?
A-It was simply a method of borrowing.
Q-Clement had three separate modes of doing business with the bank then as I understand. First he began Dec. 29th, 1873, to make his large permanent deposit continuing to Dec. 30th, 1874, amounting to $32,984.47, from which he withdrew nothing up to the time of the failure. Second, he had an ordinary deposit account beginning April 2d. 1874, and continuing till March 26, 1875, from which he drew from time to time in the ordinary manner, leaving, as appears by the books, a balance $2,968 41 due him at the time of the failure. Thirdly, independent of these two modes, he used to borrow of the funds of the bank from time to time, sums of money. by the checks which you have enumerated in your answer to interrogatory 24, none of which were paid, and which amount in the whole to $42,070. Is this correct, or, if incorrect in any particular, plase state the exact facts?
A-It is correct.
Q-Will you state also whether or not, from time to time, Clement, after he began to do business with the bank, got notes discounted in the regular ordinary way?
A-He did.
Q-State, whether or not, at the same time whilst Clement was borrowing money by means of the checks enumerated in your answer, which he never paid, as you say, he was making deposits from time to time in said general or special accounts?
A-He was.
Q-Calling your attention to the first check dated May 1, 1875, for $4,895, which was drawn for a $5,000 note discounted, please describe said note, who was the maker, to whom payable, its date as near as you can, and on what time it was given, and the rate at which it was discounted?
A-I think Twitchell, Champlin & Co. were the makers. It was payable to Moses B, Clement. I do not recollect the date. I think the time was for four months. I do not remember that any rate was made on the note.
Q-Judging from the amount of discount deducted, víz, $105, cannot you tell approximately the rate and the time the note had to run?
A-Not knowing the date of course I cannot make the figures.
Q-Was it discounted by you for Clement on the date of the check, May 1, 1874?
A-I permitted him to draw against it. It was discounted at that time.
Q-Then after discounting the note as above, I understand you to say that you took this identical note and raised money on it elsewhere which you let Clement have, and for which Clement drew his check of exactly the same amount and thus received twice $4,895 on the same note?
A-I did not receive twice $4,895, but drew but one check, the note not having been entered on the books of the bank, the second $4,895 which he receive i being raised on the note outside of the bank.
Q-From what source did you receive the money on the note?
A-To the best of my recollection, from the Everett Bank of Boston.
Q-Do you mear that you got it discounted there?
A.-I think that I obtained a loan, leaving the note with others as a collateral. I do not recollect the amount of the loan.
Q.-Are you sure that this note was not discounted for you by the Everett National Bank?
A.-I think it was not at that time. I am not sure. The books of the Everett will probably tell. I am not sure but what it was discounted.
Q-Then the transaction of your raising money upon the note is not entered upon your books? I mean the books of the bank.
A.-I will ascertain and see. I do not recollect.
Q-Do you know that the transaction of your discounting the note of Clement is not entered on your books?
A.-I think it is not. I will ascertain and report.
Q-Was the transaction of your discounting the note of Clement entered upon his bank book?
A.-I do not recollect. I can tell by examining his book. On examination of a copy of his bank book, I should say it was very evident that it was entered.
Q.-Why was it that it was not also entered on the books of the bank?
A.-It was a common occurrence in the course of my business when parties presented notes for discount, and they were discounted, for me to figure the discount at once, and enter the avails on the credit books of the bank before entry on my discount book, In this case the entry was made in the same manner, at the time Mr. Clement presented the note. As his request for the additional amount borrowed was made before I had an opportunity to enter the note, and as he agreed to repay the amount borrowed in a short time, I did not enter the note, but let the matter rest. To the best of my recollection it was never straightened out on the books of the bank.
Q-How did you manage on the books of bank in regard to the $105, the amount of the discount deducted?
A. The matter never being straightened out on the books of the bank, the $105 was never called into account.
Q-What straightening out could there be if there was no entry on the book?
A.-I mean there was no entry on the said book
Q.-This loan and all the others spoken of in answer to interrogatory 24 were understood to be of a temporary character, you say. This was made more than a year before your failure. Was this one or any of the others paid? If not, why not?
A. They were never paid. Mr. Clement would make repeated excuses for not paying them.
Q.-Why were they not deducted from as offset against the sums deposited previous to and during the time said loans were made?
A.-Because of the arrangement between Mr. Clement and myself in regard to temporary loans.
Q.-How could you manage to get along with your business with more than four times your capital and more than the whole amount of your deposits in Clement's hands not drawing interest?
A.-By re-discounting notes for my loan whenever I had an opportunity and by making temporary loans from other banks. This was my principal method.
Q-Were you not greatly pressed for money during the last year of your carrying on business, so that you were obliged to incur large expenses and adopt extraordinary means in raising money?
A-I was.
Q-Why then did you not then collect those temporary loans from Clement?
A-I relied on Mr. Clement's promises to return the money which he made from time to time, having full confidence that he would do so. The reasons that he gave were principally that he wished to use the money a very short time longer, and in was inconvenient for him to pay it then, and similar reasons.
Q-Did he know that you were paying one-quarter of one per cent to the Eastern Express Company to transfer money by telegraph on the morning of one day to meet checks drawn the day before on the Everett National Bank?
A-He did.
Q-Did you know or did said Clement tell you for what purpose he wanted so large a sum of money?
A-I did not know; neither did he tell me. He stated to me at several different times that he was engaged in speculations outside, mentioning among them operations in sugar, mackerel, and, I think. in connection with a Capt. Bartlett in some West India venture.
