New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-28
THE SHERIFF ARRAIGNED.
LEGALITY OF THE INDICTMENT DOUBTED.

A QUESTION AS TO THE CoNsnTUIioNAli"i VI
THE SPECIAL GRAND JURY's ACTION
The two hundred, chairs the ascending rows Oh
vepches and all the space affordlng stanuhe ~
Of over and TermnerI were allied at II a. M; yes
ferdsv. at the arrangement of Sheriff Alexander V.
Davidson ndi sssse for esS GSdnn a and d.
t ,soai interested in the case, the Sheriff
was the first to arrive de was sn acS W BgonrSe
66y Rs MIS- Davidson took chair at the
seps table directly in front OF the justice
He appeared calm and at ease. Mr. Cochran piacedd
hacS Of him Mr. Vanderpoel took his station. Dis
trict-Attorney Olney next arrived, wearing hgo gu
overeoat and with silk hat in hand. de bowed ana
smiled. shook hands with the opposing counsel ana
then stood waiting until Assistant DIstrict-Attorney
Parvls had bowed aud smi led and shaken hanas
with Messrs Vanderpoel and Cochran, A.
this moment a rap-rap-rap was sounded vigorously
from the north side of the Justices enclosure 10y
the knuokles of the Court officer, and Justice bar,
the bench Court Crier Arnold tripped in upon the
heels of the Justice and declared the Court open
NV clerks have not yet arrived said Mr.. Olney.
gazing around anxlously. aud looking appeahngly
to Justice Barrett. The words were hardly out OF
his mouth when two athletic yonng men from the
Overwhelmingly ONCE rushed IN anu essu of of
law books. MIR. Olney then stepped TO ting desk
and held consultation in a low tone with Jnsticee
babeas corpus was issued directing that Wlliian
Mcdonald now IN Jail in Albany for contemPt OF
the Senate in not answering the queSllous vi INC
Roosevelt Committee, be produced before Gne
Grand Jury to answer certain questions IN the IN
yestigatiOn which the jury Is making, 1900 D..
Mr. Cochran then said that 1t would ne proper 10
arraiRn the Sheriff upon only one indictment Ut
time whereas there were three indictments. lie
would first however, after entering the plea not
guilty" put in the plea that the Sherln had NOT
been indicted at ALI on the ground that the specla
Grand Jury which had handed IN document pur-
porting to be an indictment was not legally con-
stituted body since another Grand Jury was SIT
ting i'm the Court of General Sessions when the doc
ument was handed N, and the matter belonged 10
that body for consideration. The special Uranq
Jury he urged had been sitting under no ACT Oh
the Legislature. There was no code OF law TO pre-
vent the raising of question OF the constitution
ality of the sO-called Indictment. lie continued
II our view Of this matter is oveued then we shall ask
Mr. Oney addressing the Court-If the plea should be
overruled without due cOnslderatontney propose 70
ADVANTAGE of H. have not yet seen the plea ana sug-
gest matter stand until Monday untu can
examine the grounds put forward Ihe COue OF Orllns
Procedure prescbes that all previous rules and procedure
are abolished No such plea as that now put lOfWaru Is
known To the Code, as understand II. -. -, ,,o
Mr. Cochran suggest that an arraignmeht DC nlaue
Mir 0lneyI cannot consent that that plea shall be put
In at all That must first be decided Under the
Code there only three peas-gullty not gully anu d
preyious conviction and punishment for like offence
Mr. COckran-We claim that the organic law OF the
State is and protects the accused person IN
his rights IN the indictment has been improperly made
there can be no arrangement That right the Constitution
OF the state cOnt6rs. We do not care mucn ABOUT ts
nlea hut We are anxious TO have the tried oni mer-
IT, We make the plea of improper Indictment simply
that may be spread upon the record We snoulu Oe
glad be Oyer-ed take an exception and theh y tue
case next week. -, -
tune to reflect upon the plea Let the aIragnnent stand
over unit Monday and meanwhile the District Attorney
can be informally furnished with the plea.
Mr. COckranff the plea is rejected we shall then move
10 quash the indictment -
Justice Barrett-!That will come up laer.
Mr. Olney-I shall hasten the case to a traI on Jus
merits
The case was then adjourned until Monday.
MIR Omey said later that the cOnstitutiOnality OF
two Grand Jures sitting at once had been upheld
by the courts and that the custom had existed for
years He wished an adjournment until Monday IN
order that the plea i'll question might be carefully
considered, so that if the case was appealed the
ground could not be taken that the plea had been
overruled hastily.