The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-11-05
STAR ROUTE CASES.
The Arguments ContiBue-In
gersOII Saying His Little
Piece.

Washington, Am the star route
cases, to- day, Colenel Ingersoll for
defenes, followed Bliss. I first call
attention to the question of prob
able cause; and in the examination
OF this question, / not only have a
right, but must necessarily inquire
into what is charged in theinforma-
ton itself, because the court will re-
member that the charges in the in
formation were made part OF the
affidavitS ;and the afidayitS, together
with the information, are all the evil
dence, and all the probable cause in
this case. l do not examine the
information for the purpose OF
demurring to it. or for the purpose
OF moving to quash it, but simply
for the purpose of showing how
much it amounts to as evidence.
What does it prove? What is there
here charged against my client, Mr..
Brown? He took up, seriatim, the
counts Of the information, cTiticiSing
and ridiculing them as he pro-
ceeded. His objection to the first
count was that it left to the prose-
cution to say whether he be charged
relative to expediting the mail
service where unnecessary. 1t
was a question first to be
decided by the postoffice depart
ment, whether it was necessary to
carry the mails, one or seven times
per week; OF two, three or five miles
an hour. 1t was not for the
pleaders to say it was necessary.
They must SIT forth the circum-
stances, and it was for the court to
say whether or not it was necessary
or improper. 1t had been remarked
that mails had been carried when
the amount received by the United
States was meIe bagatelle. Was
that the only evidence of extraya-
gance charged? Did government
carry the mails for the purpose of
making money, or did people
regard the carrying of mails as one
of the instruments of civilization &?
His doctrine was the people of the
west had as much right to mail one
week as his friend from New York
Bliss has four distributions pei
day. 1t was not sufficient for the
pleaders to say that the thing was
extravaganza; they must set forth
facts in order that the court might
judge as to whether it was eX-
travagaHt or not.
Ingersoll then proceeded to
call the attention of the court to
what he termed the inconsistencies
which appeared upon the face of the
information, asserting that il
charged McDonough with conspir
ing to defraud himself; that il
charged Brady and McDonough with
oonspiring; and then charged Me
DonOugh with paying his client
Brown, $12, 900 for influencing Brady
to conspire. Was it possible thai
one conspirator would apply to an
outsider to use his influence to
get the conspirator to con.
splre? Did not a knowledge Of
human nature show it to be
impossible? Did not knowledge OF
The transactions of men prove it to
ne absolutely absurd? If it should
turn out to be true that McDonough
paid Brown to influence Brady to
conspire, that allegation would be
evidence to any court on earth that
Brady had not cOnsplred. The time
had passed, if it had ever existed in
this country, when pleader could
usurp the place of the court, and
when he could GUST the jury; and
the time would never come when.
in a case like this, a pleader could
Gust a grand jury. Ingersoll will
conclude his argument tomorrow