Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-02
THE NAVAL VOUCHER CASES.
THE TRIAL OF Y. Il. DEMPSEY BEGUN.
no VERDICT IN THE DREW CASE.

When Judge wyife took his seat I'm the Criminal
Court, al 10 O'Clock, this morning. the court room
was well filed with The friends OF MI John w
Drew and Mr.. Vim. II. Dempsey. and others in
| terested in the navy voucher cases Mr. Dempsey
sat with his counsel, MeSSrS. Jere. Wilson, George
B. Corkhili and A. h wfliams at the counsel table
The jury in the Drew case, which retired at 1890
O'Clock saturday, remained sim locked up in the
jury room, no word having been received from
them indicating an agreement
THE CASES AGAINST DEMPSEY AND KIBKwoop.
The district attorney announced that the cases
against Mr.. Dempsey and Is. c. kiriwood indicted
with Mr.. CarTlgan, set for trial to-day. Kirk
wood, he said, had been sent for, and he believed
the van was then on It's way from the Jail
the court decided TO wait few minutes for
kirkwOods arrival.
About fire minutes later Mr. Kirkwood entered
the court room.
Mr.: worthihgton arose, and again announced his
readiness TO take up the CASES
Mr. Wilson made motion 10 have the defend
ants tried separately. He said that they appre-
hended that there would be certain testimony In
PRODUCED ia the case which would be applicable
alone to Sir. kirkwood, and not TO sIr. Dempsey.
He called attention 10 the fact, also, that evidence
similar TO thar introduced In this 10 Kirk
wood would be similar TO that offered In other
c passed upon by tie same panel ie submit
Tea that such a jury would be incompetent, and
that the jury would not be uppreJ JUDGED.
Mr. DEAPSEY's AFFIDAVIT ASKING SEPARATE
TRIA1.
Mr.. Williams then read an affidavit by Mr.. Demp-
Sey setting out In due form his belief that Injustice
would be done him il he were tried Jointly with his
codefendlnt, ana his belief that large portion OF
the testimony TO lie offered by the government re-
lated 70 entries made on omitted to he made 10y
klrkWood as clerk Of the bureau OF medicine and
surgery in the books Of that bureau, a matter OF
which the a1liant has no knowledge, and could not
be held responsible. The aifidayt also expressed
the belief or the aff1nU that evidence would be IN
troduced as TO the movements or Daniel Clrrigan
In Boston and New York in August lSs3 and of
transactions between the bureau with a. : Wei
I an, A rha
| am mt had no Connection whatever. Mr.. Dempsey
expressed his conviction that his interests III the
Case would be greatly injured by joint trial.
Mr. Williams said this affidavit rt4ated To only a
portion OF the evidence that had been introduced
against Mr.. Dempsey. lie thought that in this
case, more than any other, one feature would be
efforts on the part o. the United states To iatro-
Quce testimony as u MI. klrkwOod, which VIII b.
intended, or Will, as a matter of Iact, prejudice
Mr.. DtmpSeyS interests, although he n al no con-
nectl0n with the transactions referred to- He re-
ferrei TO the difficulty jary would have in carry
Ing IN their minds the testimony applicable only TO
one deIendant or the other. Speaking of Kirk
woods case, Mr.. Williams said that he thought a
ton.
MI. Northinyton said that he was surprised at
tue Insight into. the governments case shown 10y
tillS allloiaVit. The government, he said had
Intention TO offer evidence Is to The movements OF
tairgan in August, lse3 or as 10 any transactions
except that in which The rM0 ,iefen;iaDtS were
Jointly mplicat ID. lie did not he said propose to
oIer in evidence any voucher which hal been used
Lii Inc preceding cas- s lie suggested that the
that some OF the jurors On the panel had sat in
previous ctseS IN which Krkwood was interested.
so lar as he was concerned. he was willing aud
offered to have NV jury. As 10 the Wctmore
transactions no evidence had YET been presented ia
regard To them, and lie expected TO allude TO them
In these cases, but not 10 connect the defendant
Dempsey with them.
THE COURT OvERRULEs THE MOTION FOB SEW
FRANCE.
Judge Wylie said this statement disposed OF most
Of the reasons on which the motion was based. lie
f.sa rraI 81 .I.y.,
convicted and the other acquitted It was the
duty OF the jury TO diScrlmnIJe in the testimony.
The government ought not to be obliged 20 ndct
every one separately, especially where the crime
charged az linSt enc WAS not complete without the
acton OF the other. He did not thin, the cOnyic-
ton OF one In former case could raise pre- ludlce
against another who had never been tried. IL Mr.
Dempsey was innocent there would be no trouble
at ali in acqIitting him. As the nature OF the
crime charged inyOy the assistance OF others IL
the view OF the court ii necessary TO try them
together. The court would endeayOr to keep out
all evidence as to the Independent act OF one.
which might prejudice the Of the other, so far
as it waS possible to draw the line. He oyerruled
the motion for severance.
The court then directed that a jury be called and
the case proceed TO tr al
SUMMARY OF THE CASES
The cases against Messrs. Dempsey, Kirkwood
and Carrigan are set out in six indictments al
leging the presentation and payment OF false
claims for books, medical journals, hospital sup
plies and surgical instruments and appliances, to
the following amounts: January 30. 1852, s215 Sep
TENDER , 1882, sS9; January g. 1881 81 06 20: Sep
tember l. 1888. S3S2i; September 4, 1883, 1872 and
October 20, 1885 5y50 making total OF 1850
SELECTING A JURY.
During the process OF forming jurylt was nee
essary to summon taesnen. Mr.. O. B. Billiard was
excused, because he was over 65 Mr. Ryneal was
excused on account OF illness. In the course OF the
examination of Mr.. Ryneal he was asked whether
be was lawyer, a doctor or minister, and re-
Piled in the negative.
HE has no small vices, your honor" said Mr.
Wilson.
Mr.. VIM. II. Crosby, Of the National hotel was
accepted. When asked by the judge if he were
minister OF the gospel, he laughed and replied "a
II thought, said the Judge smiling "you looked
as though you might be a minister
Mr.. Robert o. Edmonston was also accepted as
taeSman.
Mr.. Joseph G. Carroll was excused because he
had formed decided opinion generally TO the
guilt OF kirkwood.
Messrs. CruikslIank and Eaton of the regular
panel claimed that they had formed opinions rs to
kirkwood'S guilt, but not particularly as To these
Gases. The court declined TO excuse them.
During the examination OF the jurors the de- |
Tense objected TO all those jurors who had sat In
former cases OF similar character, but the obJec
ton was overruled
The court, remarkng upon these objections az to |
the foundation OF opinion said 'sThe truth is that
these objections to ur0rs-Objections of This char
acter-are wonderfully magniiied. | think, as a |
general thing, juror who has formed ana ex- !
pressed opinion, after he has taken the oath !
and heard the evidence. Is just as competent 10
reach correct conclusion as any other man.
and newspaper accounts he continued, "Is really
very much Overrated.'
Mr. Samuel Bacon, summoned as taesman, was
excused because he had formed an opinion. sub
Se1uently Tie court excused also Juror Eaton
upon re-eXamntng him as to the character OF the
opinion he had formed. Mr. James MCDermOtt
was accepted as a taleSman. Mr. w. W. Curtis
was excused from service as taleSman because
he is one of the managers and treasurer Of the
Industrial Home school, OF Georgetown. Sub5e-
quently Judge Wylle said, after consulting the
statute, that he thought he had done wrong In let
ting MIR. Curtis go; his impression was that the
statute said "manager,n but the Statute, as a
matter OF fact, said "keeper OF charitable inst-
tuition. A recess was then taken
THE JURY COMPLETE
After recess the jury was completed. as follows:
VIM. 7. Payne, Enoch Moreland, James Kennedy.
Addison Day, VIM SomervilIe, Richard Turner
VIM. II. Crosby. Robert o. Edmonston, John b.
Kendall, Daniel p. Mealy, Andrew Goddard. ana
Henry ID. Barr.
At two o'clock Mr. Coyle began the opening for
the government.
MI. Coyle concluded about half-past two O'Clock,
and was followed by MI. Wilson, for the defense.
Nominations To-day.
The President sent the following nominations to
the Senate to-day:
TO be postmaster5-Cornelius A. Field, at Hano-
yer, n. H.; Roswell g. Petuibone, at Ogdensburg.
n. H.; Isaac S. Alden, at Warren, Pa; CHRISTOPHER
c. Sheldon, at Athens Ohio; Z. K. Ingham, at