The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-11-14
q. 9. Circuit Court.
BEFORE JUDGE FOX.


TUEsDAY.-United Staies by indictment vs. Geo.
W. Stevens, George W. Kemp, Warren H. Walker,
Charles A. Stevens, Benjamin Written, Taylor S.
Dodge, Henry G. Mills and Edward Merrill.
The public interest in this case has been manifest
ed by crowded courtroom to day. Mr.. Strout be-
gan bis argument at 10 m. and closed at half past
four this afternoon. 1t clear andc egent
tation OF the defence, and, specimen of public
forensic speaking, sadmirable.
The first part of Mr.. Strout's argument was de-
voted to an exposition of those fundamental princi
pies of law handed down from immemoriaI usage.
and embodied 10 the constitution of the land for the
defence of the innocent for freedom speech, and
for the right Of trial by jury He appealed to the
jury to dlvest their minds of all prejudice and look
upon this question with the inpartality which the
opening argument Of the District Attorney and ac-
cused h'm of prejudicipg the case against the re-
spoDdents The great question Of capital and labor
was briefly referred 10. food of testimony, he
said has been presented by the government for the
purpose of concealng the real point at issue. The
prisoners, If convicted, must be convicted of the
charge laid down in the indictment. The respond
ents are charged with conspiracy, not with con.
fRp a,ay to leave the employ Of the Boston Maine
February, 1877, the accused wifuly, knowingly and
corruptly conspired to obstruct the United States
mail In order for the government to make out a
case, it must be proven that the prisoners intently
conspiTed to obstruct the mails. There are certain
rules which the jury should bear in mind in this
First. every man is presumed to be innocent until
he is proved guilty.
Second, the burden of proof is upon the govern
ment.
Third, no act in and of itself can be considered
crime unless it Is accompanied by criminal intent,
or unless the act itself such as the law holds to be
accompanied by crimir al intent.
Fourth, the act which these men did is forbidden
by no law of the land.
Mr.: Strout quoted largely from standard authors
on criminal law to substantate his statements. He
criminal in the eye of the law unless accompanied by
criminal intent, and asserted that the testimony
The em"ny "a 40 MI Whle
of the road, and Mr.. FuIber, superintendent. was
then commented upon, and the petitions presented
by the engineers was read. Mr. Strout claimed that
the substance Of the testimony of these officials,
branded the railroad company as tyrannical. The
appeal OF the engineers was respectful and did not
show conspiracy. Mr.. White told the engineers
that they could better their condition if they want
ed to- that 'be would treat it as a rebellion" The
road made no concession. He compared the action
OF The engineers with the rebellion OF 1876 The en-
gneeEs smbPty wanted Justice They were mem
vice if they wished. There was no contact between
the road and the engineers. The officers of the road
recognized their right to leave. The committee of
the brotherhood notified the officers of the road that
unless their terms were acceded to- they would leave
on the 18th of February, 1877, at O'Clock p. m In
no instance did the engineers refuse give up their
engines to competent men, men whose duty it was
TO take the engines. The clam of the government
that the engines were damaged, is a miserable pre-
tehce. Ii they SO desired. the strikers could have
entirely destroyed the efficiency of the engines The
latter part was devoted to the application of the
At the close of Mr.. Strout's very able argument
Col. Mattocks argued for Mills and Dodge. He ar
gued first that Mills acts, if any had been proved
against him, were done by him alone, aud there
not sufficient testimony 10 connect his acts with
those OF others. Whatever he dill was done on his
own responsibility, and there conspiracy. In
the case of Dodge the testimony went to show that
he did all the work left for HIM to perform that
day, and even worked after O'Clock, and then left
his engine with sufficient coal to take it to the round
house. Neither OF these men were on mail trains
and did nothing to directly interfere with such
trains 1t so happens that the who it is claimed
were bought of by Mills were asked to run the Mer-
curry engine, which has since been repaired and
then said to be unsafe In closing Col Mattocks al
luded to the fact that the jury must be satisfied bey
ond reasonable doubt that the respondents are
guilty set forth in the indictment or they cannot
bring them in gullty.
The District Attorney will begin his argument at
the coming in of the court tomorrow morning at
10 o'clock.
Hon. Nathan Webb for U. S.
Col. G. p. MattocKs for
Taylor S. Dodge and Henry G. Mills.
A. A. Strout, Esq, and W. A. Hayes
for the other defendants.