BANKER ACQUITTED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 818, 16 May 1910, Page 5

BANKER ACQUITTED.

4 ■ . HEINZE ACCLAIMED IN MONTANA. Uy TolecraDO-Prcss AESoclatlon-OoDyrlehL (Rec. May 15, 5 p.m.) New York, May 14. In 1908 Mr. Fritz Augustus Heinze, known as the "Copper King" through his big mining interests in Montana, was arrested on a charge of illegally certifying a cheque on tho.Mercantile National Bank, the presidency of which he had resigned on October 17, 1907. He was further accused of the illegal certification of other! cheques, amounting to 400,000 dollars (^£80,000). The jury of the Federal Circuit Court of New York has now acquitted accused of the charges ' of illegally certifying cheques and of wilful misappropriation of the bank's funds. The acquittal has caused great rejoicing in Butte City, capital of Montana. The prosecuting attorney was burned in effigy. Heinze states that he spent £600,000 on his defence. [Mr. Heinzo first became noted through his career in Montana in developing copper mines there, in opposition to the Amalgamated Copper Company. He then embarked as a financier in NewYork City in connection with tho United Copper Company aud the Mercantile Bank. It was after an investigation into tho affairs of the bank that the charges were made. The offence carries with it a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. Mr. Heinze studied in Germany, became a mining engineer, and has been active in Montana politics as a Democrat.]