National Republican., 1882-12-22
A FIGHT FOR A FRIEND.
Col. Ingersoll Declares Himself the Friend as
Well as Counsel Of Dorsey.
He Entetains the Jury with New Views
About Conspraces,
The Expense Of Carrying the Mails in Some Of the
Western States Shown.
An Eloquent Argument by n Most Bril-
liant Orator.

Jury in behalf of his immediate clients, Ste
phen w. and John w. Dorsey. lie said he
considered that the right to be tried by jury
was right conservative of all other rights.
1t was the right to be tried by men whose
minds were not saturated with prejudice,
who had no hatred, no malice, no revenge to
wreak, no debts to pay. That was an ines
timable right. He regarded the jury as the bull
wark of civil liberty. He thought it n privilege
that the defendants in this case had twelve
honest men to stand between them and the
prejudice of the hour. He believed that they
would hear this case without passion and
without hatred, and would decide absolutely
in accordance with the law and with the evil
dence. Before this jury all letters of attor-
neys general, all desires of presidents, all pop
ular clamor, all prejudice were turned simply
to dust and ashes, and the jury was to re-
gard them all as though they never had
been. No case should be tried on scraps and
patches and shreds. There must be evidence
There must be solid testimony. A. case had
to be tried according to the rocks of facts,
and not according to the clouds and fogs of
suspicion. 1t had been said by the prosecu-
tion that conspiracy was a crime committed
in secret, and therefore difficult to be proved
Stealing was also a secret crime, but that fact
was never considered an excuse for not pro-
ing it before a man was convicted. Whether
IT MUST BE ESTABLISHED
before these defendants were found guilty
That was a difficulty which the prosecution
had to overcome by testimony. The jury
must not endeavor to overcome it by a ver-
dict. The same rule of evidence applied to
this case as to any other case. The jury must
be satisfied by the evidence that these de-
tendants conspired together that they entered
into an arrangement wherein the part of each
was worked out; that that arrangement was
contrary to law, and that its object was to de-
fraud the government. 1t was necessary for
the government to prove the conspiracy, not
to assert it, The jury had no right to infer it.
No man could be inferred" out of his lib
erty. What part, he asked, had his clients
played in this scheme2 Neither of them had
been bidder up to 1873. But Peck, their
brother-in-law, who was secretary of rail
way company in Arkansas, had been bidder
and contractor since 1874. Peck had made
up his mind to bid in 1873, and sent for John
w. Dorsey to meet him in New York. They
met there in September, and these two and
Miner made up their minds to bid. Was
there anything criminal in that? Mr.. John
w. Dorsey had been spoken of somewhat
sneeringly as a tinsmith. For his Qnger-
soll's) part. he had more respect for good tin
smith than he had for poor professional man.
AS a matter of fact, however, John w. Dorsey
was not tinsmith, but a merchant, who
uedlU Ill SuONtS dilu blDWdiC. ihuu was JOun
w. Dorsey's crime, and on that rested the
terrible suspicion that he was conspirator.
His reputation for honesty and fair dealing
was as good as that of any other man in the
state where he resided. Another suspicious
circumstance against Dorsey was that his
brother was a senator. Whenever (said he)
you find man with brother who is a sena-
tor put that man down as Il conspirator. An
other suspicious circumstance was that Peck
was his brother in law. He had married
sister of Mrs. Dorsey's, and that was
THE BEGINNING OF THIS HELLIsH CON-
sPIRACY.
He must have intended to rob the govern
ment when he went courting that girl.
[Laughter.l A suspicious thing against Miner
was, that he, lived in Sandusky, and that
Dorsey lived there once too. Do you not see
(said he) how they moved to that town with
the diabolical purpose of swindling this great
government? Another suspicious thing
against Miner was, that when he came to
Washington, instead of going to hotel he
stopped at Dorsey's house. (Here Mr.. Inger-
soil initiated Mr.. Bliss pronunciation of the
word "house" with peculiar snap) When
he heard that emphasis (he said) he had a no.
tion to plead guilty. Laughter 1t would
be shown that Stephen w. Dorsey had told his
brother that he would rather have him keep
out of that business, because he (Stephen) was
q senator, and somebody might find fault or
uHNe bubplClOuS. JOHN w. DOTSty ulu lOl
agree with his brother in that yiew and said
he did not see how he could interfere with
him, and that he believed he could do
we'll in that business. Consequently he went
in. There was nothing suspicious in
that Stephen W. Dorsey (said Mr. Ingersoll)
Is man of o good deal of will. He is
strong man. He is man on whom all friends
and acquaintance lean; a man in whose
Judgment his acquaintance have confidence.
He is free, frank, and generous. He is cour-
ageous, and more than that, he is honest. l
feel great, an almost infinite interest in
this case on his account. He is not simply,
my client; he is my friend. i not only re-
spect him, but l admire him. l never met
man with greater, or better, or more sterling
qualities than Stephen W. Dorsey. l endorse
him.
Judge Wylie. That is
TRANSMISSION OF THE RULE.
The rule is that counsel cannot throw them
selves into a case as witnesses. The rule
limits counsel to what they expect to prove,
and what they will be allowed to prove. The
court cannot allow you to prove that Dorsey
is your friend.
Mr.. Merrick. The court will allow proof of
the character of the defendants in vindica-
tion, and should be very glad to have such
testimony offered, SO as to give us an oppor-
tunity to rebut it.
Mr.. Ingersoll. The evidence will show OK
actly what kind of man StephenW. Dorsey is
/ say this because | want you to know that
there is no intention. on our part to skulk
from any act of Stephen w. Dorseys. What
ever he did he knew the effect of, because he
has the brains to know it. He is n man of in
telligence and consequently he knew exactly
what he was doing. | think he has as much
intelligence as any man Inow--as any man
in the present administration.
Judge Wylie. You are forgetting yourself
again.
Mr.. Ingersol. These facts are sopalpable to
me that | can hardly help expressing them
But will stop, although think am within
the line. 1t is so rare for a man to have a
client like this that l like to tell the jury
what kind of q man he is. Whenever man
gets to have some power envy is produced.
That will be one of the features in this case.
i suppose l will be allowed to tell the jury
that this man, by virtue of his political power,
made enemies
Judge Wylie. You could not prove that.
You can only tell the jury that which it is
lawful for you to prove.
Mr.. IngeTsoll think it will be lawful to
prove that any witness who comes against
him has been made euvious or hateful, and
that he did what he did because he felt him
self growing green with envy in the presence
of the other man. When we come to the last
of the case il will be time to do this This
man, then being a member of the United
States senate did what he did out of pure
friendship. He did what he did, for his
brother, for Peck, for Miner, from simple
pure friendship.
Mr.. Ingersoll then proceeded to give
HISTORY OF THE BIDS AND OF THE CON-
TRACTS.