The Portland daily press., 1888-02-24
the DEFENCE.

At o'clock, Mr.. Gillen proceeded to open
the case for the defence. He said: 1T is
with almost feeling of timidity that enter
into this case. / feel that the prisoners
counsel will prove their innocence If they
are able men and amply qualified. Through
the columns of the newspapers the public
mind has been prejudiced against the prison.
ers in this remarkable case, which reads al
most like romance"
Mr.. Gillen defined the law briefly, and
then went on to review the case ''The main
evidence in the governments case is the tes-
timony of Charles f. Stain and John Har-
yey." "They are the trunk and the other
witnesses the branches. WhenIthe govern
ment intend to convict by circumstantial evi
dence, they must prove every cir
cumstance Now, if you tear down
the main trunk, the whole fabric falls You
have to go to Massachusetts to prove that
the testimony of Charles F. Stain was that
of a treacherous, designing william. We win
show you that there was never horse
shipped on the Star of the East in July or
September by Stain, and that every horse
that has gone on the steamer was given to
his owner. We will show TO youi that
neither of the trips in July or November
were made. We Shall also prove, by a relia-
BILE witness from Massachusetts that David
L. Stain purchased bill Of goods on the 10Th
of February, 1878, from parties In Medheld;
that Charles Stain was not in Medfeld from
the 9th of November, 1876, to the 3rd OF JAM
uary, 1877. That he was in Augusta jail
during February, March and April, 1877,
while he swore twice that he was never IN
that Jail, and John Harvey, with knife;
attempted to take the life Of David l.. Stain"
Mr. Gillen outlined the well known suicide
theory and presented plan OF the Dexter
Savings Bank to the jury and held that the
wounds on Barrop's head was made by push
ing the vault door Against it by the bank Of
ficers; that the only marks in the coal dust
were the footsteps of one man going to and
from the coal bin; that light and screw
driver were found in the vault; that in
drawer in safe were two packages OF mon
ey so that, if any men came in there for the
| the purpose of robbery they never touched
| it; that there was not thing taken from
| that bank; that Mr.. Barron, time and again,
| has fixed his books and sometimes charged
| also produce trial balance to which two
| men placed their names," said Mr.. Gillen.
Afterwards six figures on it were changed
| by Barron. We shall further show that the
| figures S21S,0O0 on the books were altered to
| goo, 900 and shall place five different wit
| nesses on the stand whom Cashier Barron
| credited with money they never deposited
| and charged with sums which they never
| drew. We shall introduce anotner witness,
who went into the savings bank Feb. %.
1878 and found :Mr. Barron on his knees
alone, praying"
| Mr. Gillen reviewed the evidence of the
| defence which would be introduced to prove
| an alibi. They would show that the 18th of
February, 1878, q man went TO Stains
| house to get pair OF boots
tapped and on the 21st following they were
delivered and Stain took pay for them; that
on the 22d of February these men were in
their own houses with their own families.
They would introduce the public record to
show that Cromwell took his little daughter
| to school the Goth of February of that year,
and again on the 25th, and show rhe where
abouts of the prisoners in August and Not
vember,
Here the prisoners Foster and Whitney
were brought into court and arraigned for
assault on and robbery of Peter Bennett, at
Newport. Foster pleaded Guilty" and
Whitney ''Not Guilty"
Adjourned.