Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-06-16
THE STAR ROUTE FAhUE.


Comment on the Star Route verdict is
still rife at Washington. There is, gen
orally speaking, no fault found with
the jury. 1t appears from a poll of the
jury that but four of them are Republicans
and eight are Democrats. They are all
considered honest men by their neighb: rs
and incorruptible. The real difficulty was
in the indictment for conspiracy, as was
pointed out in these dispatches a year ago,
before the first trial. A conviction for
conspiracy had never been obtained in this
district. Under the legal rules here. if it
had been actually shown that each man
received money illegally the fact of con-
spiracy could not have been established
unless it were shown that there was a
division of the spOils or an overt act after
the cOllusion of individuals. 1t is said
prominent member of the bar Friday that
be was all tho time conscious of tho diff :
culties which surrounded the prosecu-
bring an action for conspiracy when the
overt act, which must be proven to make
tho indictment hold water, is of itself
and bring him to punishment. Any one
VA hhoA0 "a VHOoO uOAOhuouto htbSO
swindled the government without con-
spring with each other or anybody within
the meaning of the statute, and for such a
punished by direct action. In such case
would be comparatively q simple matter
aud tho evidence would be of such a char
actor that any jury could easily grasp it.
Whorovor oOnoniroov oo,,l1 no nrovon ho
direct method would be certain and SIM
pie, and from this certainty and simplicity
the action against the individual is prefer
able. The other conspiracy cases will
probably be abandoned.
Dorsey Receives a Seronade from q COlOred
Club and Makes y speech.
S. w. Dorsey was serenaded late Friday
evening at his residence on K. street, by
colored Republican club of the city. He
made brief speech in acknowledgment
of the courtesy, in which he said: thank
you for the heart you have shown in call
ing here this evening. I thank you, not
only for himself, but for all the defend.
ants. l thank you not only for tho de.
PENDANTS and their families, l thank you
for the courage you have shown in the
presence of all the dishonor that the gov
ernment has tried to put upon me in plas-
tering the graves of mothers and the era.
dies of babies with the infamy of unjust
power. You are brave enough, you
are strong enough to raise up your
voice and your right hand against
this attempted injustice. l thank
you for the courage that you have shown.
I thank you for the pluck that men like
you can show looking in the face of power.
But over and above all that, this verdict
has told a story in whose presence humanity
will bow down. Possibly not this year or
next, but the time will come when it will
be pointed to, as Macaulay pointed to the
trial of Warren Hastings. The trembling
wires of intelligence that boro the message
of acquittal to Berlin, Moscow and Dub
lin, told the poor, the lowly and the hope
less that there were yet twelve men could
be found who would deal justly by them 4;
that there was not government large
enough !; that there was not a public
treasury fruitful enough that there were
not leads of gold thick enough and there
was not executive power great enough to
seduce the judgment of twelve honest
men. l do not care about myself.
1t is a matter of little consequence
who is convicted or who is not.
1t is matter of great consequence wheth-
or there is any government powerful
enough or whether there is any treasury
full enough to COW down a citizen, how
ever humble. This trial and this verdict
has placed upon tho books of justice a
splendid record of tho manhood of mon. A
jury made up of Democrats and Republi-
cans, of colored men and white men, of
Protestants, of Catholics and of atheists,
all agreed that the men charged were not
guilty. So it turns out that in the Distr iot
of Columbia, where the cloud of power
casts its shadow over every individual, the
twelve men could be found who 'would
not bend the pregnant hinges of the knee
that thrift might follow fawning.' A
halo of the glory of truth will hang about
them as long a. they live and it will deco.
rate every thatohed cottage that has been
built or will be built in the next thousand