Maggie Stephens was that the makers of the notes continued to pay the interest at Hall Brothers; we collected the interest and we paid it to him. The $564.50 Wynne note was paid on the 28th day of February, 1908. Assuming that was paid on the note indorsed to Miss Stephens, and we had the money belonging to Miss Stephens, we would not enter it as a credit in the Maggie Stephens account, not until we paid it over to Stephens. I don't know why it was not turned over. After Hall Brothers had received this money from Mrs. Wynne and in payment of the Stephens note, I do not know why it was not credited to Maggie Stephens or Chris. Stephens. As a matter of fact, Hall Brothers had received $564.50, money which was paid by the debtor on a note which Stephens held. Mr. Hall knew that I was receiving money on those notes and not giving the holder of the note credit in his account. I carried everything reading to Frank E. Southmayd under the name of 'S. A. Hall, general.' The 'S. A. Hall, general' account is a bills receivable account to Hall Brothers. So far as I know there was no account whatever with Frank E. Southmayd. The personal account of Sam Hall was carried in the name of A. F. Hall, his sister. The Stephens account never showed the amount of money that had been paid in for him."

There is an abundance of evidence in the record to warrant the conclusion that Hall Brothers, the corporation, was simply a cloak or cover for the operations of the defendant Sam A. Hall. The latter testified: "Whenever I needed any cash I drew on the account of Hall Brothers and charged myself with it; when I needed money I got it there because when I got money in return I paid it back there. As each one of these notes was made it was made to Frank E. Southmayd. The loans were taken in his name for the purpose of convenience and to save a heavy tax and I was attorney in fact for him. Whenever one of these parties, for instance, Mr. Wynne, or other parties would come in and pay the principal on a note, that would be deposited at the Daly Bank in Hall Brothers' account. I always had access to that bankbook. I was not handling the account with the bank but I was

interested in it. The firm was drawing money on the strength of it and declaring dividends to various parties out of Hall Brothers' assets, and I was getting credit for mine. We never notified any of these people that the principal of their notes had been collected. Hall Brothers agreed to pay the interest on these notes. That was the usual custom when money was paid in there; we paid the interest. Mr. Stephens looked to us for the interest on that money. The money that Stephens had in there it was understood that he was getting one per cent per month. I have no knowledge as to how much shortage there is in our accounts, due to this failure to turn over moneys which were collected on those notes. I do not think it is over $40,000."

Wigginton testified: "Every nickel that was paid in there Hall knew about. I think there never was an instance to my knowledge where the party that held the note was notified that the principal was paid. I suggested to Hall that money was paid in by a certain party and this money should be paid over. He was highly insulted and said, 'I will guarantee every note that is sold in that office; it is none of your business.' I know that when Wynne came in and paid his note, we made an entry in the Wynne account showing that he had paid the note, but we made. no entry in the Stephens account showing that $564.50 or any other sum was received for Stephens' benefit upon the Wynne note. I called Hall's attention to the principal on these notes being paid, and told him they should be advised of the payment of the principal. I did not see anything crooked in Hall's buying an automobile or piano and other transactions, but the money was coming out of Hall Brothers; I knew that the money should have been in Hall Brothers and should have been paid to the people to pay the notes, the holder of the notes; it was to them the money should have been paid. I called his attention to it two or three times-to various notes."

3. It is contended that the court erred in admitting the Wynne note in evidence for the reason that it was not shown the defendant had indorsed it or delivered it to Stephens. This contention [3] is disposed of by reference to the testimony of Stephens that

the defendant admitted having received and converted the principal of the note to his own use. The note was properly received in evidence as explanatory of, and leading up to, other facts and circumstances in the case, to enable the jury to understand the relations existing between Hall and his customers or clients, and their manner of transacting business. It was sufficient to show by any competent testimony how the note in question came into the possession of Stephens, through the medium of Hall Brothers, the subterfuge employed by the defendant for cloaking his nefarious operations. It was of no consequence who indorsed it or transferred it. As a matter of fact, however, the indorsement was probably made by Wigginton, who testified that he had full authority from Hall for all his actions.

Again it is argued that there is no evidence to prove that any money was ever collected on the note. We have quoted sufficient testimony, we think, to show that this point is not well taken. Let us make it plain from the outset that in our judgment there is ample evidence that the corporation Hall Brothers, in all the transactions set forth in the record, was simply a disguise for Sam A. Hall; and that his own confession to Stephens was sufficient proof that he actually and personally received and converted the principal of the Wynne note.

4. It is contended that the court erred in allowing the state [4] to prove other offenses of the same nature as that involved in the specific charge. All of these transactions were consummated through the medium of Hall Brothers, and ranged in time. from prior to February 28, 1908, to January 28, 1909. They were numerous, and flagrant of felonious intent and criminal conduct. The transaction of the Wynne note was clearly proven to have been one of a class of similar dealings on the part of the defendant through the agency of Hall Brothers. All of them had similar features. A course of conduct was proven by which the defendant converted to his own personal use the moneys of those who dealt with the Hall Brothers corporation. All of these several felonies appear to have been part of a general scheme or plot to defraud the unsuspecting and credulous people of Butte

and elsewhere, who could be induced to leave their money with Hall Brothers by promises of large returns thereon in the way of interest; and others who, through false and fraudulent representations were persuaded to pay their outstanding obligations without receiving back the evidences thereof, which had in fact been transferred to others without their knowledge. Some of these fraudulent schemes were somewhat different, in details, from others, but all possessed common features indicating a [5] common design. The length of time over which the inquiry should extend was within the sound legal discretion of the trial court. (Spurr v. United States, 87 Fed. 701, 31 C. C. A. 202.) We find no error in the admission of the testimony and no abuse of discretion. (See 1 Wigmore on Evidence, secs. 304, 315, 316;

12 Cyc. 411.)

The author of the article in Cyc. says: "This rule is often applied where the crime charged is one of a series of swindles or other crimes involving a fraudulent intent, for the purpose of showing this intent."

The district court of appeals of California in the Ruef case (People v. Ruef, 14 Cal. App. 576, 114 Pac. 48, 54) said: "The rule is that where several crimes are connected as part of one scheme or plan, all of the same character, and tending to the same common end, they may be given in evidence to show the process or motive and design leading up to the particular crime for which the prisoner is being tried, and thus directly tending to show logically that the crime in question was a part of such common scheme. If the several crimes are part of a chain of cause and consequence so linked as to be necessarily connected with the system or general plan, they are admissible." The case of People v. Hill (Cal.), 34 Pac. 854, is not in point. two separate and distinct transactions, neither of which could have shed any light upon the other.

That case involved

In the case of People v. Bartnett (Cal.), 113 Pac. 879, cited by appellant, the defendant was accused of embezzling certain bonds. The court compelled the prosecuting attorney to elect which particular offense he would rely upon, and afterward instructed the jury that if they believed the defendant had aided or abetted

ous.

in the sale or disposition of any of the bonds, it was their duty to convict him. This instruction was properly held to be erroneThe trial court also advised the jury to consider the sales of other bonds, for the sole purpose of determining the intent of the defendant, but the appellate court declared that this instruction was simply in conflict with the former and did not cure the error therein,

5. The error, if any, in permitting the witness Atkins to testify that Stephens demanded payment of his note and asked to see his receipts, was immaterial and nonprejudicial in view of defendant's admission to Stephens that he had collected all of the notes, and his virtual confession while a witness, that the proceeds thereof had been received and converted.

6. The witness Annie Harrington testified, over objection, that she loaned the defendant personally $2,980; that he gave her a paper that was worthless, that was "no good." She appears not to have been very alert mentally. Two real estate mortgages, one for $184 and another for $1,500, were received in evidence. Both ran to Frank E. Southmayd, and were assigned by Hall, as attorney in fact, to Daniel D. Harrington, a brother of the witness. She testified that the principal of neither mortgage had been paid over by Hall to her brother. It was shown by the records in the office of the county recorder that defendant had satisfied the $1,500 mortgage of record, certifying that it had been fully paid. While the scheme to defraud disclosed by the foregoing evidence is somewhat different, in some of its details, from that practiced upon Stephens and others, we are of opinion that it falls within the general plan that was being carried forward by the defendant, and the evidence was competent.

7. There was no prejudicial error in the action of the court in admitting in evidence the mortgage for $184 above mentioned, and the assignment thereof to Harrington. No showing was made that Hall had received the sum secured by the mortgage. The evidence was simply immaterial.

8. We think the $1,500 mortgage and the assignment thereof were properly admitted in evidence. The whole affair discloses