Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-26
FAILED TO SHOW FRAUD.
THE GOULD EAiBEZZLEMENT
CASE ENDED IN A MISTRLAL.

9he Claim OF Defaloation Unsupported
nv Eyidence-Attorneys' Arguments
Upon the AdmissibiIity of Testimony
The Treasury Transcript the Only
Ground Upon which the Governm ent
Based its Case.
The Gould embezzlement case was con-
tinued IN the United States Circuit Court
yesterday. and ended in mistrial. The
case was placed on trial on Friday, the
particulars being given in the NEWS yes
terday. After opening the Gaze to the jury,
District Attorney Darrell offered trans
criptfrom the books and proceedings Of the
Treasury, certified by Register Bruce
and authenticated under the seal of the
Treasury Department, which gave state
ment Of GOuld's account as Collector of
Internal Revenue, for the period CON-
mencing July /, 1869, and ending Jan. IT,
1870; also another statement tor the pc
riOd commencing Jan. IS, 1870 and end
ing Feb. II, 1872 and finally transcript
forming a statement OF differences.
In submitting this transcript the attOr-
ney asked and obtained leave of the
court TO divide it, thus making
portion of it apply to
the former period, when Gould was act
ing under a temporary bond, while the
other portion applied to the period when
he was acting under a permanent
bond. The motion was resisted by the
defendants attorneys, but sustained by
the court, when the defendants noted
their exceptions to the ruling.
The defendants on their part then
made their plea, and Of
fered in evidence that portion
OF the transcript covering the period
commencing Jan. IS. 1870. This paper
was objected to by the District Attorney
afor the reason that the evidence was
irrelevant,
The court ruled against the defendants,
who excepted and introduced L. c. Rice
as an expert in internal revenue &C
counts, together with the books of
the revenue Office during Gould's
term. This class of testimony
was objected to by the District Attorney
for the reason that the statutes provide
that when a collector is in default he may
make his claim against the government,
and his books and accounts shall then be
examined. After the examination, if his
claim is disalloWed, then he may offer his
books as evidence in his defense. This
course the defendant neglected to take,
and therefore the evidence he undertook
to introduce was ruled out as inadmis-
sihle.
The defendants introduced a certified
copy Of Gould's recorded bond. dated j an.
IS, 1870, which was admitted in evidence,
but copies of reports OF the Fifth Auditor
were ruled out. At this point the case
was about to be submitted to the jury
with instructions from the court to find a
verdict for the government, when the de-
fendants' counsel objected, for the reason
that the government had not made out
its case. A protracted discussion was
begun at this stage OF the proceeding,
when the court finally decided that the
District Attorney had not shown enough
to overcome the presumption that Gould,
as public officer, held the 81, SS4 10 with
which he was claimed to have defaulted
officially and had not misapplied or en-
bezZled it. The transcript was all the
evidence the government had tending to
show a defalcation on GOulds part while
acting during the short term. 1t only
showed a balance unaccOunted for on
Jan. Is, 1870. That to simply show a
sum of money in collectors hands on a
certain day, without showing a demand
and a refusal to pay, or that the amount
had been misapplled, was not sufficient to
make out a case of defalcatIOn. The
court directed the withdrawal of juror,
and a mistrial was declared. Thus has
ended, for the time at least, very re-
markable case.
The United States courts we're adjourn
ed yesterday by Judge Speer until next
Tuesday morning at 10 O'Clock.