Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-20
THE TRIAL OF W. m. DEMPsEY.
OF the Court % the Hurry,

When the trial Of w III. Dempsey aud Edwin
c. Kirkwood, charged with presenting ffaudu
lent claims against the bureau OF medicine and
surgery Navy department, vas resumed this
morning, District Attorney wo-thington con-
tinued his argument for the government, claim
Ing that the goods were not delivered, and thai
the signatures 10 the orders were forged, ana
submitted for the inspection OF the jury a num-
Der OF the papers In the case.
PRAYERS OF THE pKFESsE
After recess Mr.. Wilson presented a series of
three prayers on behalf OF Mr.. Dempsey. Two
of them set out that the jury should acquit IL
they believed he had furnished goods called for
by the bureau: had presented bill for the same
and the bill or voucher had been changed In the
bureau without his knowledge or connivance,
and he had not received more money than he
was honestly entitled to- The third raised the
not a crime under the statute unless il was pre-
sented in support OF a false cleim; In other
words, the presentation OF false bill to collect
an honest claim is not n crime. Mr.. Wilson
argued these prayers at some length:
Mr.. worthfngton replied 70 Mr. Wilson.
THE CHARGE TO THE JURY.
Judge Wylie began his charge Mt hslf-past ona
O'Clock. He said the jury could find one 90
both OF the defendants guilty or not guilty, OF
could find a verdict as TO one and disagree as Ia
the other. He said the statute made criminal
the presentation OF any false claim 10 the gov.
eminent by a person knowing the same 10 be
false or fraudulent IL furthermore made IL
certificate affidavit in support of false claim,
III was necessary in this case for the govefnment
to show that the certificate OF DIR. Wales Was
false or fraudulent
Referring 10 the admissions by the defense In
the case OF certain OF the vouchers in question,
that the articles described had never been de-
liNered, he said, these Were false claims. The
certificate OF DIR. Wales TO these vouchers, he
thought, must necessarily be regarded a. .
false and fraudulent certificate. H. instead OF Q
certificate; there had been an affidavit attached
Una, that such sach goods had been delivered,
davit. The same rule in this instance ays
piled TO a certificate to an affidavit The Ger.
tificate followed the nature OF the claim. III the
defendants knew that the certificate was of this
character the governments case was made out
The defense claimed that the claim e
hrst presented was valid one. The de-
fendant had right 20 act upon the ad.
vice of those In the bureau as TO
the form of the claim that the claim was
false, only in form, but valid In substance 1t
was universal doctrine that TO CONSTITUTES .
crime there must be union Of evil act and evil
intent, but 1t was necessary TO discriminste
was false, and the certificate was false.
The question was whether the In
a just claim set out by the defense. took away
the criminal act In the opinion of the court
II did not Ii he knew when he presented
the claim that IL was false and the certificate
was false, the crime was complete. Ii was no
more excusable than would be the act of lar
Gh the o. for the
stolen owed a debt TO the person com uniting
the larceny, who may have had no other means
of collecting the debt. 1t would
| never do TO emasculata the law
| To such an extent To allow criminals
after violating the language 81 the law, toget OF
upon setting up that their intent was TO accom-
| pish something good. IL would not do to allow
men TO escape the consequences of acts by say.
ing that there was no harm done; that his in
tention was not 10 defraud the public, but TO do
justice to himself The public could not afford
| to allow persons to take justice into theii
own hands; to commit frauds in order to secure
Justice to themselves. Ii these false and ficti.
tious claims were TO be allowed the country
would swarm with these claimants, who would
| make combinations with clerks En the depart
ments and where would the security be. That
was the evil which the law foresaw. IL was
said To be a common practice in all these de-
partments TO pay claims out of appropriations
| Tor different objects. That was an erroneous
practice IL IL did exist, but such q practice did
| not Justify what was charged I'm this case.
There need not be, he SAID, any other evil In
tent than the consciousness OF doing what was
| forbidden by law. III there were intent know
ingly To violate the law, the further intent that
Mr.. Dempsey may have had 10 collect q lust
debt was no justlcaton at al. w hat he had said
related to three of the cases under considers
ton, which were admittedly false, the defence
being that the government had received an
equivalent in other things.
THE JURY RETrREs
The judge finished his charge at O'Clock, and
after Mr.. Wilson had noted his exceptions q
the charge, the jury retired.