The New York herald., 1874-04-29
THE NEWARK RING TRIALS.


The state Rests and tho Defence Beg gins
Another Adverse Decision OF the Court
for tho Accused-One or the Indicted ON
the stand.
In the trial Of the indicted oicials and contrac.
tors OF Newark, which has now occupied nearly
one week OF the Courts time. the prosecution
came to q rest yesterday. For cross-examinaton
Mr.. James E. owen, Chief Engineer OF the Road
Board, who had been called by the state as an ex-
pert on Teford pavement and who. on his
direct examination OH Monday, had given
important evidence for the prosecution, called.
The defence tried to take the sting out OF his tes
mony, but nothing OF ~H0 .tts elected.
After some unimportant tcsrihonyNoy Nr. Wight
man the State rested, and, amid quite . buzz Of
expectation, Mr. Cortlandt Pafker, one or the
counsel for the accused persons, alcse and rather
surprised those In court by moving thar the Court
take the case out OF the hands OF the jury and de-
eide it. The learned counsel argued that there
was no evidence suf1cient to frame any conspiracy
as charged in the Indictment. Alderman Statnsby, he
said. had done nothing wrong. Neither he nor the
others should have been indicted. for nothing had
been shown to prove that they had acted dis
honestly. The only thing that was shown against
them was negligence The contractors, Stanley
and O'Connor, were the only persons who had
made money out OF che contract. In the Senate OF
the United States there were men who neglected
their duties, but why were they not indicted?
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
replied with great earnestness ana strongly op.
posed the motion OF counsel. He argued that
there was ample evidence before the Court to
prove that there was conspiracy and that II the
accused were innocent OF the charges, as alleged,
they owed it to themselves to 60 on the stand and
disprove, If they could. the evidence against them
v< hoffa fnr
case considered by twelve men than Dy one
man. II is not question for Your Honor,
decide whether there was sudicient evil
dence to prove a conspiracy, but for the jury.
Continuing, he said The counsel for the defence
spiracy. This ne admitted. Instead OF sparks
there were brilliant flashes OF lightning proving
the charges mot the lightning that flashes through
the SKIES but that which strikes and peneLrateB
deep into the EARTH tAt this point the audience,
carried, away with the remarks OF the Attorney
General. broke into applause which was, however
quickly checked by the Court.) Was 1t no evidence
OF conspiracy to and Stainsby signing, month after
LYING CERTIFICATES,
which enabled O'Connor and Stanley to draw over
Did the defence mean to say that stainsby did not
know what he was doing when he signed that final
work had been satisfactorily completed. and yet
four months afterwards, IN March, 1873, he was
T. = meesng Of property owners
pacihcatory letter OF OCOnnOr cOnfessing that the
work was not yet completedi More applause sup.
pressed by the Court.) Was 1t attempted to be said
that OConn0r did not know whether it was Telford
pavement pays,n or % house ne was ;,, building &C;
his argument and claimed that the officials, by
non.performance Of their duties, had contributed
to the fraudulent extraction the city treasury
OF large amount OF money, and thereby were par
ties to the conspiracy. Mr.. Parker again rose alter
Mr. Gilcnrist concluded, and denied tnat any
easy he said, to win applause IN these times by re.
q frpf
some thought, to Jersey City. while Others thought
New Yors n tnis case the only thing shown was
contractors out, there was nothing wrong shown
against the others
adversely to the motion, and said that 1t fully
agreed with the Attorney General that con-
cumstances attending it. AS there was evidence
In this case to show that the work had not been
eod o tne - .noa @ nrv
The decision OF the Court was received by the
audience With an unmlStakabe murmur OF salts.
faction.
Alter a recess Of ten minutes the case for the
defence wast then opened. Counsellor Guild said
he was well satisfied with the decision OF the
Court, and then went on to make out cleverly
worded showing Tor the accused, and declared that
conspiracy He said that this case had been STYLED
an important one by the state. He thought the
only Importance ~ ~ N It was the SIZE o. the indict-
Attorney General NsughterJ
ohCCs NOuAuAIsStODCA nuScTS, HOW Culci vi
Police and one OF the parties indicted. On his
direct examination this witness swore that the
dirt was used by his orders In order to facilitate
the rollers work; In some places the roller would
not work without It; hence he believed 1t neces-
sary to use some dirt: he measured the excava-
ton repeatedly and found 1t sixteen inches, and in
one swampy place authorized field stone to
be LAID as a subfoundation; once he lound dirt
being dumped on the street and ordered Its use
stopped. On cross-examination the Attorney GEN
eral took the witness In hand and extracted from
him the evidence that the gutter stones were lald
on the earth and not on the pavement. as required
by the contract. This was done according 10 his
orders. This. 1t Is estimated effected a saving to
the contractor OF several thousands OF dollars.