National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-09-20

homer A. Four o'clock, or little after. / an
q. Alter they went to the Police Court, did
they return to the office again7 A. Mrs. Snyder
did; she had left her satchel there.
q. DID this man Green come back againf A.
q. Are you sure of THAR A. No, SIR. cannot
say that he did not come back, because may
Q. How often were you out that day7 A. Three
or four times.
Q. How long at q time, do you remember A.
think was once out at Mr.. Stars office, and
stayed there may be an hour.
q. Was that in the afternoon? A. Yes, sir.
q. After they had gone to the Police Court
A. / co"ld not say positively.
O. Did the woman Introduce the man in any
other way than you have stated. A. No, sir.
9; She said here Is gentleman? A Going
Q. Did Mr.. Evans make any inquiry of himr
A. No, sir. He said, "You will have to 90 down
to the Police Court with me-"
q. Mr.. ClarvOe is frequently in the habit Of
coming TO Mr.. Evans office, is he not2 A. 1 hsve
seen him once or twice; not whils this case was
q. You had before that seen him -frequentIyr
A: nave seen him pass by and stop IN and have
9. That was quite frequent, wasn't it, A.
By Mr.. Cook: q. What did you say Mr. Evans
said to you when you met him down on street
coming from the Police Court? A. 1 said: Mr.
Evans, Mrs. Snyder and gentleman up at the
them will be there directly" That a an hs
said to me. Then l ran on back to the office.
u DlCn you say ne SAID something about his
expecting somebody to go bail? A. That was
what he said before. down at the Police Court.
He asked Mr.. Eckloffif any one had been there
to see him about going bail for Mr. Snyder
Q. Was that before Mrs Snyder and Green
came to the office? A. Yes. SIR
Dir. Cook; That is all the evidence, gentlemen,
as understand, that exists to-day. At the same
time am Informed
Mr.. Henkls. You are not gong to run this out
all summer
Mr.. Cook: cannot help IT; am informed thsrs
will be some additional Witnesses
Mr.. Herkle. Will state to the Commissioners
that Judge Fisher called upon me yesterday and
requested me to ask the board to allow Mr. Uhas.
g. Fisher, his son, as his name had been brought
in here, TO make sworn statement so as to ex-
plain what has been said in regard to him. I
suggest the matter to the board, and will add
think that 1t Is but justice to him that this
privilege should be allowed.
Mr.. Nichols think so, too.
Mr.. Cook. have certainly no objection to it;
his name has been freely used, and think It is
only proper that he should have the privilege of
The board decided to hear Mr. Fisher, and he
was accordingly requested to come forward
TESTIMONY OF CHARLES G. FISHER.
Charles G. Fisher sworn
By Mr.. HeAkle. q. Now, Mr.. Fisher, you can
state what you desire to In explanation Of what
has been testified to about you In this transaction
A. will state thst along about the last DAYS Of
the session Of the grand jury, previous to their
called to number OF cases that were pending in
the Police Court for further hearing for inal
grand Jury; and, as there were q number Of cases
among them that required great deal of testt-
mony to be taken, and as both sides Of the case,
as matter Of course, could be heard before the
Police Court, and as the testimony was er pGrte
before the grand jury, deemed Il would be al
vantageous to our office, and at the same time
effect q saving Of time to the court below, and q
saving Of expense In bringing the witnesses here
twice, to send those cases before the grand jury
Among other cases that were awaiting a hearing
was the case Of this man Snyder and two or three
cases for conspiracy to defraud the Government,
and bounty and pension cases and post Og1ce cases.
suggested to my father that 1t was better to send
the witnesses in this case before the grand Jury
That was probably two or three days before the
close of the term. He than told me he had left
the matter entirely In the hands OF Mr..
Ross Perry, and he would speak to him
in regard to II. I made out the preclpe
however for the witness to go before the grand
jury, at time previous to speaking to him whether
they should be sent or not. The witnesses were
the term the grand jury returned presentment
against Edward Snyder for grand larceny of some
Perry's store. of that amount there was an in.
yentory made by Mr.. Perry in the sum of s3O4B
which had been recovered and I, not looking over
this inventory, thought that 1t contained all tho
articles that were stolen. did not know that the
other articles which had not been recovered yere
not included in the inventory contained in the pre-
sentiment, for l should have thought it very
strange that the presentment should not have
contained an entire inventory of the articles stolen
so far rs known, and not only of those which had
been recovered. About the nth day of July
Mr.. Henkle. Mr. Fisher, right there, perhaps,
you had better explain to the members of tho
board what you mean by "presentment." They
are not accustomed to these terms.
Witness. will do so. A presentment is q pre-
lminary proceeding to the finding of bill of in
dietment before the grand jury. The only other
step requisite, after the presentment has been
found, is to have an indictment drawn from this
grand larceny, or whatever crime is set forth in
the presentment. This indictment is filed before
the grand jury by the attorney prosecuting for the
commonwealth, and II Is Endorsed upon the back
of the Indictment a true bill by the foreman,
which makes it an indictment good in law.
Mr.. Cook: 1t is simply the repOrt:Of the action
of the grand jury prior to the findings of an in
dictment? a. Yes, sir.
@. And after the presentment is once found, all
that is necessary is the preparation of an indct-
ment and its Endorsement true bill by the fore
man. These witnesses, say, were sent before the
Sion. Their term had been drawn out from time
to time in order to get these cases before them
On the afternoon they were discharged there was
presentment sent in In three different cases; two
conspiracy cases to defraud the Government and
this case Of Snyder's for grand larceny. They
were sent down 10 the office and they were sent 10
us by Mr.. Middleton, the clerk for the criminal
branch ofthe court. This presentmentwas sent tous
in the afternoon late, of the day on which the
grand Jury adjourned, and consequently We had
no opportunity whatever of drawing up an indiet-
ment from the presentment and having IL Endorsed
as 'strue bill'' before the judge discharged the
Jury. II, we had drawn up the indictment it
would have had to have been done between the
time the foreman of the grand jury turned in tho
report, and handed over his presentments, and tho
discharge would have taken place q moment af-
terwards. Accordingly the presentments were
placed away in the desk at the office to await the
time when the grand Jury should reasonable on
the sd Of this month, think, but at that time
the Indictment should have been drawn from the
Jury for Endorsement as a true bill, ;" and then
filed with the Clerk of the Court to be placed on
the trial calendar. After that the case went out
of my mind altogether until the 18th Of July, or
Whereabouts. nix il at about the 10th Of August.
The nth, think, was the date of the release of
Snyder, was it not?
foupsaI Yas
Witness. Then It was about the 10th Of August,
about ten days before the release Of Snyder about
sitting at my desk in the afternoon, after having
returned from the Police Court; he said that the
wife Of this man Snyder, Of Perry robbery noto-
riety or the man who committed the larceny st
Perrys store, has been to see me to request me to
fnd out how much bail will be required for her
then, the matter suggested itself to me that as is
had been Q long time since Snyder had been
arrested that the hearing Of the case ought not to
way promoting the ends OF Justice to have any
case laid over IN the Police Court any great length
Of time before preliminary hearing IN ,f order or
the grand Jury; So accordingly, brought the case
to my recollection; went to the court; looked
he i next day, and asked Mr.. EskiOtf to summon
the witnesses accordingly; II the hearing had
taken place the next day, as II should have done,
finally committed for the action of the grand jury;
It would have been out Of the jurisdiction Of the
Police court 10 nave acCepLou jail, anu 1 10 hui
think that Mr.. Edes or anybody else could have
poked himself of on Mr.. Marshal Phillips as bail
for Snyder, and Snyders release have been
having set this case for hearing, and the warrant
al the Police Court will show that had 1t set for
trial; Mr.. Ecklofi will testify that the witnesses
were ordered TO be suop9naed, but that sub
roma or summons, was served only on one
Nitaess Mr.. NeDevitt; l believe / went
mn TO the office and started from the ofhce
down here to get further Information in
regard to the case previous to the pre-
lminary hearing before commitment from that
court Mr.. McDevitt having been the officer and
was therefore, In the case, and deeming that he
knew more about 1t than anybody else, proper
person to 90 to for Information, started from our
Office down to headquarters to see Mr.. MeDeVitt,
and to confer with him In regard to what testt-
mony should introduce; as came across, saw
him sitting in his buggy opposite Mr. Evans
IMac, have set this case Of Snyder, the Perry
robber for tomorrow, and want whatever In
formation you think necessary He then said to
me: 81 do not think 1t Will further the ends Of
Justice" or something to that effect, ITO have
the case called tomorrow; let It go over Tor lew
days" He spoke somewhat Of the testimony In
the case not being perfected, as II was not. ne
said ~ do not think that Snyder's counsel VIII
have any objection to its going over" thon
called Mr. Evans, who was standing by him, and
Was engaged in conversation with him, In Iactl
when I came up to him in the buggy; ne saysa
isMr. Evans would you have any objection, as
the counsel for Snyder to letting the case go over
for few days" Mr.. Evans said Noi eeting
upon his suggestion, that II would iurtner the
ends Of Justice postpone the hearing Oh the case