The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-05-07

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fraught with the gravest consequences,
when the momentous import of the issue is
considerOd. We are led to conclude that
the jury Undertook to try the case when it
was submitted by their own estimate of the
value of the statements made by parties not
called as witnesses. With strange unanim.
ity they dwelt upon what they knew by
reading and hearsay of certain incidents
OF the assassination prior to the trial, and
made those basis of powerful pe rsuasion
tor giving the accused the benefit of the
doubl and concluding their deliberations In
/ their favor
1t is clearly brought out by the evidence
! of the jurors that as affecting three of the
accused-Politz, Scaffedi and Monasterio-
the jury were enE aged in their deliberations
in their case some four or five hours, at
tended with great excitement, and on all
repeated ballots the jury vote stood six
fined indication of the convictions of the
jury as to three of the accused. 1t
impresses us deeply as it must every oneto
whom the fact is conveyed, and forces the
conclusion that the evidence was sufficient
| to justify six jurors who stood resolute and
determined on verdict of guilty, making
it well nigh impossible to reach any other
conclusion than mistrial. These three ac.
cused before named were probably unwill
ing actors designated by the leaders of the
conspiracy TO execute villainous part in
which they had neither personal motive or
| interest.
FOLLOWING THIS INVESTIGATION
it was quickly learned from various sources
that talesmen had been approached, wrre
visited at their homes by Interpreters, while
on their way to the court house they were
stopped, in the corridors in the court and
while the WORK was deliberately carried for
ward in the court room during the trial one
favorite expression was that "big money
might be made by going on the jury and
doing right" There is no posi-.
bic doubt that such attempts
were made by various parties in the service
of the defense, entertained by some of the
talesmen and scornfulIy rejected by others.
These are fac given on the evidel ce of
talesmen, who quickly discerning the true
meaning of the men who addressed them,
Indignantly repelled any attempt to con-
troll their line Of conduct by these emissar
les. Another class of talesmen took es
pecial care to deny any knowledge OF the
vile work or showed remarkable deficiency
as to what they had told their friends, caus.
ing us to conclude that they were silent
from fearor had been seen and cautioned
about discriminating any one till their
tongues were silent as with the hand of
death.
We can plainly state that a number of
witnesses most emphatically denied hav
ing been approached or spoken to about
service on the Jury, even after telling
| it to their friends who had Informed us.
| Among the talesmen number of our
citizens have nobly come forward from a
sense of duty relating their experiences.
| At least some of the missing links in the
chain of circumstantial evidence was
drawn around recognized gang of jury
! l.
! work was Systematically executed after
careful preparation and it had to be done
quickly. AS the hours were few and time
precious the necessity was imperative for {
complete list of the talesmen but such list;
were as easily obtained as at any othel
trial and the jury knew that the list of t0(
talesmen in the Hennessy case was in the
office of o Malley & Adams at IL O'Clock
Sunday morning, February %. 1891.
| MANIPULATING THE JURY.
Although the trial judge issued special
orders Saturday evening that the list was
not to be made public or given to counsel
of either side until Monday morning
Great and small pieces of evidence show
that list of the names were tampered with
when drawn from the jury wheels and be-
fore they reached the jury box in coz TT.
O'Maley was put in possession of lists al
|
d avn and before they reached the Distr CT
Attorneys office in, due course. In
flueGce alone could accomplish this
eni, but it was secured in the
person of one of the commissioners
lately removed. IL Is further shown that in
| the Office of the detective agency is kept a
book of names and addresses of jurymen
Out of 300 names drawn for the Februry
| panel thiry-two were on the list in O'Mal-
ley a. Adams Office and late as the ta lesmen
we're drawn many n ore names appered that
were on the private list at the time that
special lists we're brought to the jury com.
mjssioners which, one of them stated, had
been prepared elsewhere and being looked
over by Others went into the jury wheel.
Truly the business of this enterpising detec-
tive agency was facilitated when thirtytw
names of their selection could be drawn on
a panel of 80 jurors from wheel
containing one thousand names.
in searching for the true causes of criminal
acts connected with the impaneling of the
Jury in the Hennessey case the sworn state
ment of Thomas G. Collins is found ofgreat
value, and in this place we take occasion to
declare that Collins was selected especially
for the duties to be performed and for this
purpose secured employment in OMalley
& Adams office, which being done, he was
commissioned special officer by the mayor
and paid by the city for this service.
| COLLINS DUTIES.
The difficult and dangerous duties as
sumeG by the special Collins, while acting
in his double capacity were performed with
strict fidelity as evinced by daily reports in
writing of everything seen or heard. la the
attempt to influence talesman of the Hen
messy case no visible act was committed by
words only and what are known as visible
30 which might be witnessed by other
persons and tell-ta of crime in the at
tempt to influence talesmen were whispered
words conveyed insinuating or he directly
offered money or Influence.
THE MAFIA,
The extended range of OUR researches has
developed the existence of 8 secret organl
zation styled Malta" Evidence comes
from several sources fully competent in
themselves to attest its truth, while the TACT
is supported by the long record OF blood
lcurdling crimes, it being impossible to dis
cover the perpetrators or secure witness.
AS if to guard against exposure the dagger
and the sti1ettO is selected as the deadly
weapon to plunge into the breast or
back of the victim and silently do Its
fearful work. Revenge was their motto.
Jealousy and malice speedily found solace
i'm thoSa m of Mods uhilo tho hurninp Vpnpe-