Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-25
TO-DAY TO DECIDE.
The Case of George W. Delamater
Now in the Hands of the Jury.
THE COURT FAYORs THE DEFENSE
Ina Charge Accepting IA of the II Points
Raised by Counsel.
G. B. AND 7. A. MUSTN'T BE CONVICTED

seat in the Crawford County Court House
was filed this morning at 9:O5 o'clock, al
which time Judge John j. Henderson began
his 40-minute charge to the jury in the Del.
amater case. The defendant, who, through.
out the entire trial, has preserved cool de.
meanor, sat by the side of his counsel and
eagerly listened A pi1-drop could be
heard as the Judge reeled off his opinion af-
| irming the points of law raised in behalf OF
| the defendant
The Judge began his charge by referring
to the act of Assembly under which the in
dictment was found and among other things
said in that connection:
The act of Assembly, as you will observe,
|. Is new to criminal jurisprudence in this
commonwealth, and you are engaged in the
trial of perhaps. the second case which has
come to the attention of the courts in the
Commonwealth since the adoption of this
act. The Commonwealth in the present
case assumes the burden of satisfying you
that the defendants are guilty under this
statute and ask you to say from the evil
dence which has been offered that a case
has been made out
G. B. and I. A. Must Not Be Convicted.
dence presented against G. B. Delamater
and I. A. Delamater, and said:
When the Commonwealth has all the evil
dence in and has failed to exhibit such n
state of facts as would warrant the Court in
permitting conviction to stand if verdict
of guilty should be found, and to instruct
the jury that under all the evidence a ver-
dict of guilty ought not to be rendered,
therefore the Court advises you at this state
OF the proceedings that as to G. B. Della
mater and I. A. Delamater the Common
wealth has failed to present such evidence
as would sustain a conviction, and that,
therefore. your verdict as to them should be
not guilty.
Judge Henderson then defiued the mean
ing of the act of Assembly under which the
indictments had been found, and for 90
minutes carefully explained the full and
legal meaning of every word of the act and
the duties of the jurors in their disposition
OF the case, saying among other things:
The act of Assembly provides for the evil
dence of four states of fact as indispensable
conditions to the establishment of this Of
tense. First, there must have been a bank,
q banking institution OF a banker; second
deposits must have been received, or de-
poslt must have been received; third, at the
time such deposit was received the banker
must have been insolvent; fourth, at the
time of receiving the deposit the banker
must have known he was insolvent.
Big Task for the Prosecution
You will observe that the burden cast
upon the Commonwealth in establishing the
indispensable facts necessary to support a
conviction under this act of Assembly are
heavy, because of the unfortunate condi-
tions which surround the transactions from
which the prosecution must necessarily
make up its case. There must be a bank, a
1Nar, ,1ya,-
edge OF insolvency by the accused.
The Judge then briefly reviewed the evil
dence as presented to the court, touching
the four conditions noted above, after which
he took up the II points of law as presented
by counsel for the defense, and after DENY
ing the first three, as stated s'for the pur-
poses of this trial, affirmed the remaining
IA, which practically called for finding by
the jury of a verdict of not guilty.
While instructing the jury as to the man.
ner of finding verdict in this particular
case, the Judge said:
You have, gentlemen, the evidence bear
ing on the question of solvency or in
solvency as to all OF the defendants, and this
Is the first proposition for inquiry; and sec
ond, the question of knowledge or lack of
knowledge of insolvency. The question of
solvency involves the honesty of the belief
of the defendant in his solvency, whether
there were grounds on which he might
fairly base his belief of so1vency; whether
the grounds were SO clearly known to him
beyond doubt up to and before the lth of
December that there is no reasonable doubt
that he knew at that time, or each of them
knew at that time, that they were insolvent.
Points for AcquittaI or Conviction.
If the Commonwealth has failed to make
out by clear evidence beyond reasonable
doubt the fact of solvency or insolvency,
the defendant should be acquitted. If they
have shown you by evidence, which removes
all reasonable doubt, that the partners were
insolvent up to and before the 4th day of
December, 1890, and if they further
show you that they knew they
were insolvent before that time, as
bearing upon the defendant, G.. W. Della
mater, particularly; if that facti established
the Commonwealth has made out the case
charged in the Indictment.
After further reviewing the evidence
presented touching upon the relevancy of
testimony, the Judge referred to the good |
character established for the defend |
ant by the counsel for the de- |
fense, and told the jury that among |
the other things to be taken into their con- |
sideration was the costs, which in all cases |
of the character presented were to be fixed |
by the jury. The jury retired at $40 A. |
NJ, but up to P. M. nothing lad been |
heard from their room. At 4:50 r NJ court |
adjourned until A. NJ. tomorrow morning |
IF a verdict is reached tonight it will |
not be made public before morning.