Carl T. Blakeney, former cashier of the Bank of Midland, was given a preliminary hearing before ‘Squire G.M. Lore on a charge of burning the bank building on the morning of April 8th.
The hearing was 30 minutes late in starting, the defendant with his counsel, Frank Armfield and M.B. Sherrin, reaching the court room about 10:30.
At noon only two witnesses had been heard with indications that the hearing would continue most of the afternoon. The State called more than a dozen witnesses and it is understood that a number of others will be called by the defense.
Blakeney entered the court room with his wife, father and uncle. The latter two are his bondsmen.
Dr. J.C. Sossamon was the first witness called. He testified that he was a director of the Bank of Midland, that notes amounting to $2,5400 made payable to Blakeney had never been approved by the bank’s loan committee and that when an audit of the bank’s books was made in March, there was a discrepancy of about $4,000.
Later on cross examination Dr. Sossamon said the auditors who examined the books in March had called this discrepancy a shortage of funds.
Dr. Sossamon also told of the physical examination he gave the defendant on the orning of the fire, declaring that he could find no evidence of Blakeney having been struck on the head. He was questioned at length about the examination on the cross-examination in Mr. Armfield, saying he gave his patient some dope because patient seemed to be in such great pain.
The witness said Blakeney told him he had been struck on the head and that he examined his head carefully. There was no sign of a blow, he said. The patient’s pulse was rapid, Dr. Sossamon said.
On cross-examination the witness said the bank had never made any money but had had the largest number of depositors in its history during the time Blakeney had been its cashier. There was a deficit of about $1,800 before Blakeney was secured as casher, he said.
Dr. Sossamon said he heard a pistol shot on the morning of the fire and said he thought he heard the shot about 30 minutes before he saw the fire in the bank.
G.I. Miller, Midland merchant, was next called. Miller was given a long cross-examination which was in progress at noon.
This witness said he went to his store, about 20 feet from the bank, about 4:30 in the morning of the fire. When he reached the store he saw a light in the bank and fearing something was wrong, peeped in the window. There he saw the defendant.
Thinking he had been seen, Miller said he walked to the front door of the bank, where Blakeney saw him, and in answer to his question Blakeney told him nothing was wrong, that he was just trying to catch up with his work.
Returning to his home for breakfast, Miller said, he saw the fire just as he stepped on the porch of his home, about 30 minutes after he had left the bank. He rushed to the building and saw three men carrying Blakeney. Later, he said, Blakeney told him two versions—one that he heard a noise and left the bank to look about and was struck down while picking up a piece of wood. The other that he was working in the bank when struck and that the fire must have started from a lamp he probably knocked off when he fell to the floor.
The witness said he rushed to the rear of the bank and threw a bucket of water on the vault door so he could shut it. It was then he saw a gallon oil can, he said, in flames. The fire at that time was burning between the counter and vault which contained no furniture. He described it as a space filled with “floor and fire.”
The day after the fire, the witness said, when he was aiding in clearing the building, he saw a metal box filled with paper. In the box was a jug which he said some other workers told him had a little liquor in it. He said he did not examine the jug. He said never before the morning of the fire had he seen Blakeney in the bank before daylight.
The hearing attracted a large crowd, many of those in attendance having been depositors in the bank.
From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Tuesday, June 22, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-06-22/ed-1/seq-1/
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