Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1891-12-18
THE TWELVE SAY GUILTY
The Jury Only Out for
Twenty-Five Minutes.
MARY CLARK BREAKS DOWN.

Not b. Burned-summary Closing of
Famons oase-No Mercy for Conspira
tors-Biggs is Not Afraid OF the "Nevsr
sweats.v
To-day. at 10 25 o'clock, the jury
ended the most famous case in the an
nails of crime Of this county by bringing
In a verdict Of guilty against Edward
Clark, Mary Clark, Joseph Clark and
William J. Gibbons for conspiracy "a
burn the property Of E. l. Dupont de
Nemours & Co.
Court reconvened at 80 o'clock yes
terday afternoon.
Mr. Harrington continued his argument
for the defence de begged the Jury
not to convict the Clarks upon detective
evidence, and especially such detectives
as John Traynor aud Mrs. Noble. ~
say that the conspiracy is one of the de-
tectives. Clark didn't know that they
were detectives, They shut him up and
have kept him shut up ever since.
"fhe Flemming barn had been burned
Six months before Mrs. Clark told Mrs
Noble that they would burn it first
Biggs-"But it had been rebuilt"
Harrington don't know anything
about that
Biggs-"As matter Of fact Il was.
though"
Darlington 1T shows what the
drift of this woman's testimony Isl They
have not shown any motive. There has
been evidence that over 100 persons have
been discharged; that the Clarks were
not discharged and there was no ami
mostly against the DUPONT family"
HILLEs PLEADS FOR GIBBONS.
Mr.. Harrington closed at 3O5 m.
and was.followed by WIS. Hilles for Glib
bons. He said:
The constitution of our state ex-
pressly guarantees to every man charged
with crime a right to speedy trial by
jury.
II want to call your attention to the
fac0 that you must Try this case as an in
dependent one and must not be guided
by any other testimony that you may be
aware Of Irely upon your fsir-minded-
ness.
The crime Of conspiracy is defined to
be an unlawful agreement of two or more
persons to do some unlawful act That
is what it is and what the court will tell
you it is.
II ask you how 1t is possible If two
men and woman get together and say
that you said certain thing, how in the
name of Heaven are you going to prove it.
And yet that is the position Of my client.
William J Gibbons. The state says that
we have no testimony. What testimony
could we have unless we had someone
who was Ia the room when the alleged
conversation took place 1t was to show
you that Gibbons had only been to
Clark's house the one time testified to by
the witness called by Mr.. Harrington.
Ii Is not right that one man should be
connected with the crime upon the say so
of another
The testimony Of a detective to my
mind comes under weight and uspicion
that It is very hard for me to remove. 81
say, with my learned friend, that there
Ea1y DO vases sl0ro Unuy should 30 o4ai-
ployed to ferret out crimes, but let it
stop there. Keep them off the witness
stand. You do not want professional
testimony, even that Of a policeman. L
ask If yoT and the community Will be
satisfied with verdict Of guilty found
under such evidence
Il say to you that there is no testimony
sufficient TO connect William j. Gibbons
with this conspiracy.
The statement that Mrs Noble
makes that Clark tried to incite. William
J. Gibbons at the Logan House shows
tnat Gibbons was not party to the con-
spiracy, for such language would not
have been addressed by one conspirator
TO another. It was the language of one
inside to one outside. It vas unfair for
Mr.. Davis to impute to my client.
trIlo oupatfnn has baau ocLyaI ~,
did not bring witnesses to impeach the
character Of these detectives. These de-
tectives live in the city Of New York. and
we have not the resources to get people
to come here, and that is the reason that
this witness stand is not crowded with
them, aud we cannot compel them 10
90 ae
There is a very important tenn want
ing In the state case. They have nat
proved, and cannot prove, any concert
between William ] Gibbons and any
body else How could we bring evidence
of character with conviction such as
that staring him in the face Character
has no place in il. He is, as soon as he
shall receive his sentence, felon.
II ask you to acqEit him You can do
1t without acquitting anyone else
Your honors, / request yon to charge
the jury as to acquittal OF one or more
of the defendants. and Of the reas enable |
doubt.
BIGGs FOR THE STATE
At so o'clock Attorney. General Biggs
began the closing argument for the state
Il cannot agree with several OF the /
in my learned friends pray.
ers. They are very good as far as they
go but they do not go far enough
II am sure that reference TO the rich
and poor was unnecessary, as You will try
it just the same as If it were member
Of the Dupont family on trial for burn
ing the humble home Of these persons
The reason that preferred that the
warrants should be sworn out before q
magistrate outside of the city, was TO
Keep the matter a secret until such time
as the arrests could be made.
a am responsible for that and for the
bail. There were three charges at SIS. 900
each, which / fixed and did not think ex-
cessive, If 1t was excessive nv learned
friends could have had redress Ia a writ
Of habeas corpus.
mo w-abiding citizen has cause 70 be
afraid of detectives and nc such citizen
Is afraid OF them. never saw any SO
afraid unless guilty Of crime unless 10 is
counsel for criminals and we must not
criticiss them too closely. What would
be the use Of employing a detective If
you do not put him on the stand Such
talk is nonsense
IF Wilkinson's Agency is not
equitable the defence should have raised
30 to bring at least one person here from