Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-11

CRIMINAL CouRr-The Election Riots-Mr
key,fn addressing the jury yesterday, said that
after hearing in evidence the statements of some
ffy-seven witnesses the case was now about to
De submitted to them; and he proceeded to give
what ne believed to be plain statement Of all the
idcts In evidence against the parties indicted; he
SAID that their examination was limited to two
points FIRST, was there riot, He should not,
he claimed, be obliged to pause lono TO acouaiut
the jury with all the evidence which has been
eliclted showing the facts; be then went on to
speak OF crowd Of violent persons coming from
ie ,o,, ana assembling together, and driving
tne people rom the polls, beating their victims,
ana forcing the commissioners to close the polls;
ne spoke Of the Mayor going to the scene Of the
Insurance I and witnessing these painful facts;
and OF his subsequent course In proceeding to cali
out the United States marines after his own Off :
GERS had been beaten and driven Off from the
ground; he asked the jury to render a verdict of
no, ggnty IN the cases Of William Garner Chas.
was not, in his opinion, sufficient evidence
TO show their being implicated in the riots: but
as 20 the rest OF the PARTIES indicted he proceeded
against them, showing that they were clearly mot
only Implicated, but active participants in the
dlsgraceful occurrences of that day u
with regard to the two Stewards he called the
attention OF the lsry to the facts which had been
ELECTED from the witnesses to show that they
were among the leaders Of the party who attac ked
the polls In the morning; that one of them was
seen actively engaged about the cannon on the oc.
casion of its being brought to the ground !: thai
the other one had been seen by competent witness
ses In the street with a gun in his hand, in hot
pursuit OF parties who were flying from him. and
that the other one stood by and cried out. "shoot
you are near enough and that he raised his gun
and would have fired il off, but that il snapped
and did not discharge.
He went on to state that the defence had called
witnesses to show that the gun was spiked and
that, had they attempted to discharge it, they
could not have done so /; that fact. had such been
the case-which was not the case-was no excuse
or paliaton for their acts he stated that the evil
dencc which had been brought to prove the gun
to have been spiked had been contradcted in n
most positive manner by the rebutting evidence
OF the United States who had proved that the gun
was spiked after it had been captured, by the
marine who had given to the jury his evidence
to that fact, and afterwards by Mr.. Rainbow
after the cannon had been removed to the City
Hall.
Passing to the position of the two Johnsons and
Robert Stafford he summed I'D all the evidence
which had been given as to their being impli-
Gated in the riots, showing clearly, as he appre-
hended, their active participation in them, and
their consequent guilt. ~.
With regard to the necessity for the Mayor to
call for the interference of the Executive to a,Iel
the riots which the police force of the city was
inadequate to quell, he went on to show that the
necessity was not only great but imperative for
the course which had been taken by the Mavor
The marines were on the ground for some time
the ground when the polls were closed They
had been tainted and reviled by the mob with
out cause, and when in obedience to the mandate
Of the President of the United States thew were
in the execution OF his orders, and they were
threatened and ordered Oft the ground by a self
constituted committee. they had been stoned and
shot before firing upon the mob as had been
proven.
SO far as regarded the condition of the polls at
the time they were re-opened, he submitted that
there was total inability for voters of a certain
class TO deposit their ballots for after that the
foreign voters were driven away, and in several
instances brutality beaten by the Plug Cglies and
those acting in concert with them; beaten most
numerically. He asked the jury if they believed
these polls were opened freely to erery class CT
voters ....... = ~ '-0
However sad these results may be; however
sad the necessity may be for calling out the mill
tary TO suppress riot, il was an act of stern
cessity, and the Court had instructed the Jury
mat those persons who resisted the military on
that occasion were guilty of riot II those riot
ers ever come here again, and IL they practice
these same infringements against the laws, lie
hoped In God that the bayonets of the military
would be used to exterminate them from the face
OF the earth those lawless bullies who would
hire themselves out to- the party which would
pay them the highest price, and DESTROY and muir
der till their brutal appettes for blood were sated
he hoped had received lesson which would put
an ehectual stop to their infamous acts in future
After Mr.. Key had concluded his remarks the
jury took a recess for a few minutes 80
After the jury had taken a recess Yesterday
Mr. Darlington said that he had had no inten-
ton at this time to follow the District Attorney;
defence that the District Attorney was to be fol-
lowed by Mr.. Scott. He congratulated himself
and the jury, however, that he had in his part of
the argument in this great case so little to Co.
Entering upon the history Of the election riots,
he called the attention of the jury to the last act
Of the strange and horrible tragedy NEGROES and
children, he said. were shot down, and were
the writhing i'm the agonies of DEATH he saw his
nm hat rNH HaId
weiterlng In his blood, and now dragged before
TINS Court TO answer for an alleged riot. The
District Attorney had told the jury that if they
could not find his client guilty, it was competent
Tor them to think that the testimony Of the wit
ness (Frankln Birkhead) was false, and that he
had committed perjury He addressed himself
first, to the proposition that his client had no
criminal connection with the rioters on that day,
unless the fact of his having been shot down by
the marines, as were several other innocent per-
sons, could be taken as evidence of the fact. The
witness who had given evidence against Charles
Hnrdle had said that he saw him come out from
the crowd at AiSton's corner, and had heard him
say that the marines were firing blank cartridges,
and then throw stones; and from that crowd WAS
discharged pistol towards the marines, draw
ing their answering fire to that point This was
all the evidence which had been given against
MS clIent, and was to be taken 10y the learned
Counsel for the United States against the eouaIly-
reliable statements OF the eight witnesses for the
defence, who had testified to having been stand
ing on that corner at that time, and saw nothing
IL was impossible for any person on such day
and during such an excitement to see every par.
ticular of an event like that I'm a manner TO rive
correct statement of 10 afterwards; such events
mast be witnessed by various individuals, and
noted as witnesses for the defence had noted those
occurrences In order to get at a correct and lucid
statement Of them; he commended that the uncon-
tradcted statement Of those eight witnesses were
much stronger and much more to be relied on
than the testimony Of one single individual who
Ind sworn that he could not see from his position
IN the line and for the smoke from the right of
that line anything or person on that corner Mr.
Noakes had said in evidence that he was there
when the marines were firing upon that corner
and previous to their firing, and that his view of
the marines was entirely unobstructed, and
that stone thrown from that point towards
the marines or pistol fired previous to their
fire at that point could not have passed un-
observed by him; he saw no stone thrown nor no
pistol fired. The testimony of the other witness
es agrees with all this, with the exception that II
was much stronger, TO the same point. Dr. Clay
ton also had stated that, most positively, no such
act was committed by the defendant, whom he
represented In this trial; he put il then that If
there was doubt that his client was guilty, then
lac had 4 right to that doubt
no rict l.,I III.