New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-01-15
PRICE FOUR CENTS.
ALBANY.
GEO. d. LORDS TRIAL.

| pICKETFD To INFLUENCE TILE JURORs-AD-
| sOLUrELY NO DEFENSE LETT TO LoRD-HIs
| DEJECTION-TIIE JUDGES TERRIBLE cuAEGE-
TWO OBSTINATE JURORS.
[FRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or TUE TRIBUNE
ALBANY, Jan. 1.-THE great personal and polti-
cal influence of the Lord family, in their section Of
the State has sufhced not only TO keep Of them
ont of the State Prison but to keep from the public
the inner history Of the way this apparent fraud on
justice was accomplished. A gentleman who has
just returned from Buffalo and watched carefully tho
whole of the trial. gives some interesting incidents
in connection with it. HIS statements know to DO
entirely Trustworthy. As of the first cxpedients
Prince George. as this great, brawny chief Of tho
Canal Ring is called, had swarm Of men in Buffalo
watching the arrivals at every little tavern in tho
city, as to find and, if possible make Of the
incoming farmers who had been summoned on tho
jury. The poll numbered 300 and with all the
efforts Of these the greatest difficulty was ex-
perenced in obtaining jury because almost every
one seemed to have made up his mind that Lord
guilty. Several said that no evidence could change
their opinion; they knew he was guilty. However.
in the jury that finally selected the event proved
that there two who, for some good reason, had
made up their minds to vote for Lords acquttal,
first and last.
About the trial itself there were two things re-
markable he first was that much OF the import
ant testimony for the prosecution was extracted
from unwilling witnesses-Thaddous c. Davis and
VIM. II. Bowman, Lords counsel, and the Canal
Commissioners who made the frst award, John ID.
Fay William w. Wright, and George w. Chapman
all of whom seemed badly frightened, and did ~nuch
painful shutting and turning. The second that
the defense which had been prearmnged broke
down completely. John Riley, who was Lord's
dummy in the contract with Hand for getting tho
bill through the Legislature for which Lord voted,
,st1f %.
part in the transaction, showing himself the prn-
cipal in the case. But his courage failed him.
Though he suJpenacd by the prosecution. they
compelled To get out attachment for him in
order TO keep him in court One of the lawyers OF
the prosecution said privately that he wanted Riley
TO hear the testimony The device worked well.
Riley, during the testimony of witness whose fore
head was covered with great beads OF fear, himself
exhibited the utmost trepidation, and at the adj
joummcnt of the Court disappeared. He did not
return, and the defense announced THAI they would
take TIE responsibility of not calling HIM. This
broke the back bone of the defense. There abb
solutely nothing left of it. They did endeayor to
prove that the bargain between Lord aud Hand was
made before the opening of the term Of the Legiss-
ture-a point about which the prosecution cared
nothing; and they did call various battered and
broken down members of the Legislature ~ 1871,
uch rs Loran l.. Lewis, II. Is. Ransom, the notorou,
lobbyist and eG-member, Francis = Ihaycr until
recently large dealer ia State certificates IN tins
city, who lately went into official bankruptcy.
These worthless, and others like them, all testified
that Lord asked them 10 vote for the bill; bat
when il was found that Tweed and Jarvis Lori in
the Senate, and Thomas C.. Fields III the Assembly.
he latter the only other man ever indicted under
The same act under which Lord was being triol.
conspicuous friends of tine bill this point
less pointed.
The last day of the trial Lords biayado seemed TO
have given out. He wept and grew more and more
melancholy as Judge Danelss charge proceeded.
! This charge was the heaviest assault which Lord
| had to undergo While marked with the utmost
fairness and suayity, il terrible in the way in
which every aspect told against the prisoner Almost
every time l.0rs counsel called the attention OF tho
Court to certain portions of the testimony which IN
their opinion were favorable to their side il seemed
only to remindthe Judge of some other point con
uectei with it which weighed much heavier the
other way. Yet there was not so much As a sus-
picon Of unfairness in his rulings
After the jury had gone ont the suspense of Lord
| and his friends was marked. Perhaps they began TO
he doubtful Of their jurors, in the fac oi the over
whclming evidence, but the talk of IN, friends Was
10 the effect chat il was not tight TO send him 10 tho
State Prison. The public mind had undergone
great change in the past fonr years. These things
looked very differently in 1879 from 1871 iDe
ought TO be enough. Their anxiety about the jurors
was misplaced Il is said that the two Who held out
TO the last and were believed To have been IN cOia-
munication with one Wiley. well known Albany
lobbyist and exnember, refused 10 discuss the mat
tel with their associates, and silently voted for ac-
Quttal from the start, carrying with them third
juryman who would have voted guilty If these two
had done SO. The remaining nine were solid for a
verdict of guilty from the first ballot.
No sooner was the failure - agree announced
than Attorney General FarcAild was on his feet
calling for a new trial 10 begin that very day. 90
no - said Lords counsel; we have other things 10
attend TO-" "No, Sir said M. Fairchi.d; "wo
have this to attend TO, and | propose TO 20 on"
Jadge Daniels unable, however, to continue;
but the new trid! will begin N three weeks and IL
there il disagreement, another Will follow that
Mr. Fairchd said the other day 70 4 friend that no
proposed to 20 Oh with the case until Lord WIS
either convicted acquitted, il il took half dozen
trials to do it, Meanwhile athe oorruPtiblc residents
ofErie County ars doubtless being cOrapted1antci-
patton of the next jIr. Ii ths escapes, 1t will
be a lasting rproach TO our courts and our Laws.
There has never been before in this State oppor-
tunity TO convict man Of bribery on the eyi
dence of his own written agreement to Ice bribed,
and il ought not To 10 lost. To George ID. Lord
IN convict dress earning forty-two cents day ior
the State, would be moral lesson to the r02ues
sharper IMAM a htalrod messages or Newspaper ex-
posurrs. Neither be the rest Of these Ilcn can
be reached in any other way. They have no social
position 10 lose, and are are incapable OF shame
What they do fear Is the harsh touch Of prison
suit
UNEXPECTED RESIGNATION,