The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-05-09

Finance for concurrence. In the case of
Maillys bid the Board of Finance waited
from December until January 80 before it
was acted on. The Board of Works fol-
lowed the counsel of its legal adviser,
who, in a written opinion, told them they
could make contract with almost any
one, and that of necessity it need not be
the lowest bidder.
WAS IT CONSPIRACY?
"For this Board to give contract to
other than the lowest bidder is not con-
spiracy. 1t may be wrong or crime, but
it is not conspiracy. If it was, why don't
we have Commissioners Somers and Van
Keuren on the stand. They voted against
these contracts and disputed claims, and
ought to know whether they were fraud
ulent or not.
Now take Cookies bills-they only ag-
gregate a fair proportion of what the ap-
preparation was He did the work and he
has waited ever since December, 1887, Tor
his money. Where is the conspiracy IN
this? To make it appear, the State must
take in the Board of Finance and the
Mayor.
II feel that these four men are accused
unjustly, and that they did not consplre
to defraud the city, and that their 1ndlct-
ment is piece of private spite to gratlIy
some one.
when the case closed for the State
believed that we could reasonably ask the
Court to dismiss it, but we wanted to put
the four indicted men on the stand for
their own vindication, and you have heard
what they said"
This extract from the speech of ex..
Judge Garretson tells but portion OF
what he said. The untold part relates to
the figures of contracts and the technical
evidence of witnesses, all of which was
told in THE JERSEY CITY NEWS as the
trial progressed.
Mr.. WINFIELD SUMS UP.
District Attorney Winfield, armedj with
sheet of legal cap paper filled with notes,
replied to Judge Garretson in his char
acteristic manner. The substanc OF what
he said was:-
"There were couple of propositions
submitted to the Court yesterday that sur
prised me- 1t was claimed that no In
dictment could be found against two per-
sons who committed bigamy or adultery
for conspiracy, and this is untenable IN
law. By this it was intended to show that
it required all the members OF the Board
of Works to agree or there could be no
conspiracy. Now | fail to see why
bigamy cannot be conspiracy, because
the two parties agree to commit crime. "
Judge Lippincott interrupted the Pros
ecutor and said:-"Some authorities hold
that it is not conspiracy where parties
conspire to cheat each other, and is no
crime, and that bigamy comes under that
head"
The Prosecutor was undisturbed at this
comment and said:-"Because the Board
of Finance must concur in the resolutions
of the Board of Works it does not follow
| that they must know what the bills are
| for, and it does not require all the mem
| bers of the Board of Works to sign it to
make conspiracy. Any overt act COM
| pletes conspiracy after 1t has been
| started
"Suppose, for instance, that men are
| employed by these four men, just before
election, for election purposes. The city
| is cheated; and if you believe Dooley and
| three other witnesses, the overt act needed
| to show conspiracy has been produced,
and the four indicted men are guilty.
81 have no other feeling in the case than
| that of duty, and for that reason l have
endeavored to bring out all the evidence |
could.
PRETTY GOOD PROOF.
Suppose it had been proven that
| Dooley was in Russia and Smith in
| Turkey-you would not be bound to be-
lieve that they were working at that time
in Jersey City. Have not we proved sub
stantially that? Did not Dooiey work G al
/ night for the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
| pany and claim to work all day for the
| CITY? Is not this physical impossibility?
dNow, look at Smith He was employed
by the government at $2.50 a day, yet at
| the same time he claims to have worked
for the city at ~ day.
sCould man of his mental capacity
keep his name on the payroll of the Gus
tom House and do work in the day for
Jersey City for month after month, as
| claimed?
"You must believe their evidence true,
or else that they cheated the railroad
company and the government. Dooley
| of l1pait fh of hQ phaafQd tho H.
pany, as Smith does that he defrauded the
government.
''To constitute conspiracy it does not
make any difference whether the Board
of Works knew of the cheating or not. 1t
was their duty to know. The Cook bills
look at them! They are enormous. He
was given $400 week to do what the
brilliant mind of Street Commissioner
Dumont suggested in the way of street
cleaning. This was the cleaning of about
two miles.
That is at the rate of 100000 year,
when the entire limit of the appropria-
tion was but S28000. He worked four
months and received $11 400; and Carey,
who succeeded him. did the work for only
S19 a mile, and all the Commissioners on
trial said that it could be done for that
| price Look at this evidence and say
what you think. LOOK at the
amount of money Cook received and the
positions occupied by Dooley and Smith,
and that is all | ask of you. This is all,
gentlemen, | have to say on the subject"
Judge Lippincott asked for some papers
in rossession of all the Counsel and said
that he would charge the jury this morn
ing.
JUDGE LIPPINCOTT's CHARGE.
Soon after the Court House bell rang
this morning the four indicted members
of the Board of Works entered the Court
of Sessions to hear the charge of Judge
There was a crowded court room tc
greet them. Politicians and contractors
were as plentiful as blackberries in July
and all were very attentive to the charge
The Jurors listened with close attention
to what Judge Lippincott said, and Kern
Hilliard, Wall and Reynolds smiled as
the charge progressed.
They felt so delighted that they meta
phorically tickled themselves. There was
no one in the court room who expected q
conviction after the charge was made.
But this does not settle the trouble Of
the'"Big Four"
There are three indictments against
them for malfeasance in office, OF
which they must be tried, and il
is believed that evidence enough
has been produced in the conspiracy case
to convict them in the trials for NAL
feasance.
Judge Lippincott occupied an hour in
making his charge, which was carefully
prepared. He said:-
"Gentlemen of the Jury:-The defend
ants are indicted for a conspiracy to de
| II inf,N, l1nr-