The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-08-19
End of the Star Route Defence.


Washington, Aug. THE de-
fence in the Star rOute trial closed
to-day so precipitately that the
prosecution was taken by surprise.
1t was supposed that some more
evidence would be submitted to-
day, but the defence had not wit
ness to offer, although five defen-
dants are in town, and three of
them, Vail. Miner, and Turner,
were in court. Mr.. Merriek, the
bright, clipper counsel who does
most of the talking for the prose
eution, smiled pleasantly as he re-
marked that he never knew more
complete abandonment of a case.
Mr.. George Bliss also seemed very
happy as hs fingered his docu-
ments and papers, and made smil.
ing suggestions to Merrick. The
lawyers for the defence, ON the
other hand, sat at their long table
with their feet, as usual, perched
on it, and looked very glum. The
truth is, il looked very much like
IA break down for the defence, and
even the almost irrepressible In.
gersoll has lost his almost custom.
AIRY cheerfulness of disposition.
Wilson made some sharp thrusts,
and Totten came in behind. Mr..
Sweeny did all he could to cheer
up his gloomy associates, but the
effort was a decided failure.
The general feeling among the
lawyers who have watched the
case carefully from the first is that
the jury cannot avoid bringing in
a verdict of guilty against Brady.
He has certainly been shown to
the satisfaction of most of those
who have listened to the evidence
to be guilty of conspiring with 9th.
ers to defraud the Government.
The jury may disagree with the
bar, but that it is the opinion of
the profession that Brady has been
proved guilty there can be no
doubt. Walsh's testimony stands
uncontradicted. 1t was fatal
mistake to call Bucll to contradict
him, for the result was that Buell.
bolstered up Walsh and destroyed
Brady. 1t was Brady's only re.
course, however. 1t was neces.
sary for him TO make an effort to
break down Walsh, and he threw
Buell. into the breach. The mass
of contradictions and the naive
confessions that this witness made
are yet the subject of conversa.
ton in Washington. Brady's ef.
fort to escape the effect of Walsl's
testimony was an ignomhious fail
ure, and ever since the Rings edi.
tor staggered off the stand with u
manned reputation, the defendants
and their counsel have been en-
gagged in angry contention as to
which of them all was responsible
for calling such a witness.
Brady, however, has not seen fit
to repair the evil, if it can be re-
paired, by taking the stand him.
self. The prosecution insist that
he dare not become a witness.
Merrick twitted the defence on
this point all day. Some one
would fail to prove a letter or doe.
ument. "Why don't you call Bra
dy Z" he would say "he wrote it;
he's the proper man to call !" or
"Why don't you call Miner : He's
in court" The defence sat gloom.
lily silent under all these taunts,
and no defendant was permitted to
90 on the stand. The prosecution
say that not only is Brady a very
bad witness, and dare not face a
cross.examination, but that all the
defendants are afraid, because of
the mass of testimony IN the hands
of the Government that can be
used on their crOss-examinatiOn.
Woodward smilingly said: "Brady
doesn't want to be witness: He
knows that his experience would
be worse even than Buell's.
have got a lot of documents that
would absolutely destroy him."
At any rate, the defendants have
not availed themselves of their
privilege to take the stand and to
testify in their own behalf, and
this is commented on unfavorably
to them. The feeling has been
growing, even since Walsh was
put on, that the prosecution has
not been as much asleep as it
seemed at first, and that while Dor.
sey may escape, Brady and some
of the others are in a very tight
place.
Heat Produced by Mirrors.