The Portland daily press., 1890-11-19
THE ALDERMEN DECLARED NOT GUILTY,
But There Are Further Trials In Store
for Them.
Judge Webb Rules That the Act Of
Registration Is Not Complete
Until The End of the Session Before
Election Day.

The last day of the trial of the Biddeford
aldermen began at 10 o'clock yesterday. AT
the coming in of court Mr.. Dyer announced
that his expected witness had not arrived
| and that the government rested its case.
Mr.. Strout put in the new naturalization
papers Of Bolduc. Slcard. Beauregard and
Provencal, bearing date of September 8.
On second thought Mr.. Dyer decided to
recall ex-Alderman Piper, VINO testified that
special meeting of the aldermen was held
at about $50 p. m. March 8, to appoint spec
ial policemen for the city election.
George f. Sands was recalled. He testI-
fed that at the first day of the four days
session in September. Mr.. Yates told the
board that as he understood the decision of
| the Supreme Court it did not deny jurisdic-
tion in naturalization cases to the Saco
court, although he thought there was no
doubt about the Biddeford court. This
closed the testimony in tho case.
Mr.. Strout commenced his address to the
| jury at 10 20 a. IN. He reviewed the charac-
| ter of the defendants showing that they had
always been regarded as upright. honorable
men as shown by the important trusts which
had been committed to them. He then re-
| minded the jury that they must consider the
| defendants innocent unless they were made
| certain by the evidence that they are guilty.
| This certainly must not be produced by the
| Indictment which was the result Of the evi-
| dence for one side only presented to the
| grand jury for the express purpose Of max
| ing them see the bad points of the case, but
by the evidence before the full court He
dad fo tucf nf 10
| ment and showed the jury what, under it,
| they must find before they could find the de-
PENDANTS guilty. He read an opinion bear
ing on the definition Of the term "Iilfully
and knowingly" showing it in the opinion
of Justice Field to mean wickedly and cor
rupily. Mr. Strout then passed 10 the con-
sideraton of the evidence, claiming that
nothing had been put in showing that the
| aldermen put the nine names charged in the
Indictment on the lists, or that they attest
ed the correctness Of the lists or in any way
made the list which came fIom the assessors
| their list after cursory examination, except
| by vote adopting it and ordering its post
| ing. He told the whole story of the natural
| ization trouble and explained that the de-
PENDANTS did what they did in good faith un-
til the case of j.. B. Gregory came up, aud
after that, that they did what they could to
cure the trouble, as they were advised to do
by the city solicitor. In closing he claimed
the government had gone off at half-cock.
Finding that certain things were as they
were at certain time, they jumped at the
conclusion that the defendants were consplr-
ing to commit great crime and brought the
case, while in fact, the defendants were do
ing the best they could, in the best way they
could. Mr.. Strout occupied somewhat over
an hour and a half in his address and was
listened to with marked attention.
A short recess was taken; then at noon
Mr.. Dyer commenced his address to the ju-
ry.
He reminded the jury that the gravity of
the crime consisted in its application to the
most important right of the people, the right
of suffrage. As soon, he said, as you open
the door to violations of the election laws
you commence an attack on the fundamental
support of the entire government, and in or
der that the door should not open, even to
slight degree, the public officers should be
held to strict and perfect performance Of
their duty. Passing then to the Indictment
he repeated its charges and explained them
carefully. He reminded the jurors that
while Mr.. Strout had stated a great deal of
law to them, that was not the law which was
to govern them. This law would come from
the court at the proper time. He next
turned his attention to the evidence, dis
cussing it fully from the Gregory case down
to the September election. He laid particu-
lar stress upon the fact that Alderman Gar
abo do, Ind
Webb told him that the Biddsford court was
not competent court CT naturalization,
went back to Blddeford, and in meeting Of
the board voted for the appointment Of 125
special policemen for the city election, pre-
sumably to protect the aliens in their sup
posed rights. He also emphasized the fact
the aldermen voted to adopt the list on Au-
gust IA as full and correct list of the voters
of Biddeford while they knew, or some of
them knew at least that there were more
than 500 alien names on 1t, and that they set
up the defence that the law required this as
mere perfunctory duty, the real work COM
ing later, at the four days session. Mr.. Dyer
remarked that it was the first time he had
ever heard it claimed that the law obliged
man to lie. He discussed the testimony Of
the respondents, showing where it conflict
ed with government witnesses and showed
that the conspicuous activity of the defend
ants in puging the list of Illegal voters all
occurred after their arrest, and when they
were trying to get their case into as good
shape as was possible before they were
brought to trial. Before their arrest, while
they had full knowledge Of the facts, and
ample opportunity to do so, they did not
strike or try to strike a single name. Pass
| Ing to the definition OF conspiracy, Mr.. Dyer
| said that all the government need to prove
| was that they took common means to reach
| a common end, and he thought it had been
amply proved. Mr.. Dyer occupied the hour
until the noon recess.
When court came in at o'clock in the
afternoon Judge Webb began his charge to
| the jury. Referring to the assertion OF
counsel that the defendants were persons OF
| high character, he said that the Jury must
| 60 beyond that and judge the case upon the
basis Of justice independent Of persons. He
| next directed the jurors to dispossesS their
| minds of all political considerations, to for
get that there were two parties and that
| there was any party action in any way con-
nected with the case.
He repeated the opening made by Mr.
Dyer that the gravity of the case rested in
Its connection with the elective franchise.
Judge Webb then gave the jury the custom
airy directions in regard to the general pro-
positions that affect all criminal cases. Com
! ing to the matter of the law bearing on the
case he warned them that that which should
govern their case would be that which he
1 - ofxra han xuh had
hitherto understood or which had been given
them by counsel. He then passed to the in
dictment which he carefully analyzed and
explained. He said that the charge was not
of doing certain things but of conspiring to
do something and then In furtherance of the
conspiracy, doing it. He instructed the jury
that conspiracy was wilful and corrupt
agreement of two or more persons to COM