Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-10-19
U. s. CIRCUIT COURT.
The Disi'ranchisement Trials. I'm
der the EniOrCemenG Act.
Archibald Give Found Guilty OF
"MakinS False Eeturns.'


Court met at 10 o'clock, Judges Strong and
Bradford on the bench.
L. = rs. Given resumed
MIR Whiteley, for tue defence, made his ad-
dress to The jury. He remarked, in opening
that we were now writing new page in the
Judicial history of the country never before had
/ a similar case boen inside our court rooms He
reviewed at great length the character Of the
| lith and 10Th Amendments, and of the Enfor O.
| ment Act. and detailed the process NJ making
/ assessment and collecting taxes. He insisted
| that the county assessors and collectors were
merely officers of revenue, and were not charged
with any duty of qualifying citizen to vote. The
| offence charged did not, therefore, come within
the provision OF the Enforcement Act. He re-
viewed the evidence, and claimed that it failed
/ to prove the charge
| AT II o'clock Hon. Thomas +. Bayard COM
meuced his argument also Tor the defence He
called special attention to the necessity Of prov
| ing upon Given, IN order for conviction, not only
/ wrongful act but one committed with the
guilty 'intent' of thereby deprlvng Black aud
| the other colored men Of their votes, and this
| because Of race or color. He argued that
| the evidence showed that Given made every rea-
| aonable effort to col ect the taxes, doing acts
which he Mr. b. would not have done in leay-
| lug blank receipts, signed, for Traynor and
/ others to fill up. Referring to that part of
| the indictment which charges Given with procur-
| ing the names to be strnck of the Assessment
| LISTS by names OF false returns, he said he did
not approve of such scenes as we're enacted at
New Castle, nor would he seek to jusiif, Giyeu's
conduct as to the matter OF prOpnety, but he
garded the charge die posed of by the fact that
| Given, when these occurrences took place had
turned his book over to the Levy Court. the al
luwances on his list having been made lie asked
| the jury to start with the presumption Of the
innocence OF the accused, to weigh the testimony
and give the prisoner the benefit of all reasona'
| BILE doubt
The Court then took recess for 20 minutes
| and re-assembled at two o'clock. r. NJ.
| Mr. Spruance, OF the pro secuuon, closed the
| argument. He entered at once into a critical
| examination Of Giyeus dealings with the men
| named in the indictment, arguing that none Of
| the facts proved 10y the prosecutor had been
dlsproyed by the defense, Bscause taxpayers
did not come to Given it was no reason he
| ehunld not hunt them up with all due diligence.
| lie charged that due diligence not used.
and called attention to the alteration OF the
error list by scratching out "can't find and
| substituting left the State, which WIS an act
| Of guilty intent because lie did not show the
| Court why lie did 80 aud where lie got the in
formation. This, coupled with the words used
TO My era and the attitude at New Castle, pruyet
the guilty intent aud that the reason Their race
After recOncling the seeming conflicting tes-
umony Mr.. Spruance paused to consider the
| situation at New Castle, at the March term Of
the Levy Court in 1872 Here Given s seen
trying to cover up his tracks He aud his con-
tederatts take charge Of the error list they
keep 1t aud refuse it to gentlemen for inspection
| sometimes By Given himself, sometimes by
| plying people, who were refused, d" | am bOs-
sing tins job" What did he mean by that 7
| We claim 1t as a clear ray Of light which Ilu-
| mines the whole matter Why would he not al
| low Messrs, Pickles and Cameron to sec that
book Of errors Why not let MIR Challenger
See It Because those errors would DO seen by
those men, and the Levy Court would then be
compelled to add the omitte names to the list
| They knew that " left the State was a lie. and
they were afraid to let it be seen. Believing he
had made a clear case he committed 1t into the
hands Of the jury.
judge Strong then delivered his charge to the
jury, IN winch he rected the nth and 18th
Amendments and the Enforcement act Of 1870
and explained thel bearing and effect as the
supreme law of the land. lie cited further the
provisions of the Constitution and Statutes of
Delaware which related to our system Of taxa
ton and theduties and obligations of tax officers
calling attention pa ticularly to tue prerequisites
necessary to the qualification OF voters and
charge that Congress has no power to compel
) ate officers To perform acts not required by
state laws ut as to acr rel ired by s ate laws
| Congress may take judicial cnguiLance ia order
to prevent any min ect assailment of rights
guaranteed by the Constitution Hecharsed that
any omission tocollcc or receive tax is an offence
against. the United Statos IL done " tL a view to
dls in.uate as to race or color aud so with false
returns, II made wlliully directing the Jury to
carefully weigh the evidence, and to give each
part that due weight whic it in their opinion
demanded. lie charged further that Collector,
]
lectlig or returning to the Levy Court. Ii he has
80 done. It is your duty to return a verdict of
guilty. He Instructed the jury that they might
nnl upon any OF all the in iictmepts.
The jury retired. and at g. oclUck the court
took recess until 10.
The charge to the jury being COMPLETED those
seuilcmeu retired to their room Judge Strong
saying that shonld they agree on a verdict he
"ohld meet them in Court, for the purpose of
receiving It during lie evening.
About 9.45 o clock, the jury having notified the
Judges that they had agreed, tho latter appear.
Z ed lu court, amt the jury was called in. The
conri-rAum was literally jlmmed with people
and the greatest interest was felt in the nature
ut the verdict.
Upon the formal inquiry being made by the
CLERK the Foreman of the JnIy replied that they
found the defendant TuHy on all three coNnt-
o. the indictments, charging him with making
. talre returns to tie Levy Cont and Not Guilt,
A. to the Others. pom an examination of tho
Indictment tue Judge stated that these counts
were the 4th jh sth, 9th, and llth, ard the
verdict WAS recorded.
/ The counsel for defendant asked that the iur,
be separately a-ked C''polled > whether thi,
was their verdict, aud each member answered
that II was.
Counsel for defence then entered a motion III
! arrest OF Judgment. Court adjourned to 10, A
NJ, on saturday
SATURDAY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF THE COURT
The Court met at 10 O'Clock, judge Strong and
Bradford on the bench.
= Argument on the motion for arrest Of iudg
lneut m the case Of the United States rs Arch
lhald Given was fixed for he 2Sth inst Given.
bond was increased to 50 900. which was dul,
signed, Benjamin Q Pearce becoming his secu
rty
The jury was discharged and the other case,
continued until the next term of the Cont