Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-09-14
THE IRWIN TRIAL.
Longiey's Opinion of Judge
Chambers.

From Bellaire Independent April Is, 1S75.l
The first trial of this cause was had il
March, 1874, which resulted in verdict fol
plaintiffs of S17,436 10. This verdict wa:
set aside by the Court, on motion of defend.
ants and a new trial granted.
I As this is matter of vast importance to the
people of this county, reaching far beyond a
mere recovery of the moneys uniawfully
taken from the Treasury in this instance, and,
in its result, saying to future delinquents,
practically, that they may abuse the trusts i'm
posed upon them by the people, and, if caught
in the act of robbery, they need disgorge but
a small part of the plunder, We propose to
consider some of the causes that have pro-
duced this extraordinary result.
First The Court. Judge Chambers is our
neighbor 1t would afford us much more
pleasure to speak of him in terms of praise
than of eensure. Judge Chambers first fatal
step was in setting aside the verdict of the
jury that first tried the case. In cases of this
kind the law saws there shall be no second trial.
He admitted. in delivering his opinion, if our
recollection is not at fault, that the verdict
was sustained by the evidence, and that he
had not sufficient ground to set it aside, but
stated that the law did not allow a second
trial, as in other civil cases, and that sit can
do no harm to let defendants have further op-
portunities for investigation" He thus ussr7-
ed the Ooscers of legislation, eccusing tie act By
sayinq .'it cIn do no harm" Throughout the
last trial his rulings Ioere so nlGnitestly unfair
and his conduit on the bench so reprehenss5k as
TO put to shame tie administrator Of justice.
We do not desire to dwell length upon this
disagreeable feature of the trial, but will mere
ly give an example of each, which serve to-
illustrate them all. The allegation of plain
tiffs was that, on the .31st of August, 1870,
Irwin received large erroneous credits upon
the Auditors books. They offered TO prove
by the Assessor of Richland Township that he
returned for taxation, in April, 1871, SILL
900. They were prepared to show pretty
conclusively where this sudden aud tremend-
Gus increase came from. All this testimony
was ruled out While Gen. Goldman was un-
dergoing a cross-examinatiou at the hands of
Mr. ST. Clair Kelly it was discovered that the
witness had reached over into 1rwin's second
term and grabbed several thousand dollars of
vouchers, in order to cover the erroneous
credits. As bond after bond, plainly stamped
redeemed after the 1st of September, 1870,
some of them in 1871, but which were in
cluded in Godman's statements CT bonds re-
deemed prior 10 september l, loaO, were
stuck in the old fellows face and he was COM
PEELED to acknowledge the cheat, two or three
of the attorneys for defendants sprang to
their feet in an excited manner aud all CON-
menced talking at once The Court, instead
of stopping this upwarranted interference, in
an angry tone called out, 'Adjourn Court till
8 O'Clock tomorrow morning" Mr.. Kelly
was doing what he had an undoubted right to
do, and this rude interference with the cross
examination of Goldman soas u1acaSIed for and
lLnqentlemanLY.