The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-31
PLEAS OF GUILTY
Tame Termination Of the Gut
tenberg Raeetraek
Prosecution.

-
The sGuttenberg trials were called at the
Court House this morning and q large
crowd of sporty mep assembled to enjoy
them. The boys wero disappointed. AS a
sensation the cases were a hzzle. The four
principal defendants plead guilty and SEN
tence was postponed until June ID.
The bench was occupied by all four judges
of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, a sight
never before seen in this county: The de-
fendants were represented by Allan L. Nc
| Dermott and Asa Dickinson. District At
torney Winfield appeared for the State.
When Judge Lippincott announced at half
| past ten o'clock that the Court was ready to
| proceed, Mr.. McDermott arose and said
IF the Court please in the matter of the
| indictment against Dennis Mclaughlin, John
N. Crusius, John C. Carr and Gottfried
| Walbaum and others, after consideration OF
the case against all these defendants | have
advised four of the defendants, and they
nave accepted my advice, to withdaw their
plea Of not guilty and plead guilty, and the
plea therefore of the four named OF not
| guilty will be Withdrawn and the plea of
guilty entered
care they in courtp' asked Judge Lippin-
colt.
The Prosecutor-"They are here"
ssThat plea may be taken formally. There
is some question whether the plea can be
taken through an attorney or not" said
Judge Lippincott.
The four defendants mentioned then
formally pleaded guilty.
E CASES.
On application of Mr.. McDermott, Judge
Lippincott set down next Thursday week TO
hear pleas of counsel regarding the sentence
to be imposed.
Mr.. Winfield said:-s'In relation to the
ethan lataeIa,,tc ~, t1ic i,6iorpapt QC |
understand the law to be, horse racing is not
Illegal nor is anything connected with it IL
legal except betting, bookmaking and that
sort OF business. | do not under
stand that any of the other defend
ants,s with the exception of Thomas F.
Egan had anything whatever to do with that
part of this dis0rderly house, which makes
it such. The others were visitors and in the
employment of matters outside of the
gambling, and / have just talked with Cap
tain Graham and he says these men were
not there on the day they made the raid, so
that with the possible exception>o OF Thomas
f. Egan, | ask leave to enter 7lolte pros.
Egan, l understand, was the superintendent
of the betting ring, and | desire TO inyest1-
gate that before / take any other steps
against him.
There is another Indictment covering
this sans groAld of conspiracy to keep q
disorderly house. If seems to me the law is
SdtlSLl6u Wu0u bIGS5 LlGu ai6 COut1CucQ VI UuS
substantial offense. and in that matter | sug-
gest the prophet y of nolle pressing all in
Guiding the four, they having plead ID guilty
to the substantial otfense. To charge them
now with conspiracy TO do that same thing
it seems to me is like heaping up more than
is necessary"
Are those all of the indlctmentsg' asked
Judge Lippincott.
There is one more which | am not pre-
pared to say anything about now because of
this situation Mr.. Winfield replied, "they
are indicted for conspiracy in obstructing
constables in the performance of their
duty. The men who were there to
ception Of Captain Graham, were not
officers, but were deputized by a justice of
the peace to serve the papers, while in the
indictment they are characterized as con-
stables, and this is a question of law to be
looked into before move the case as to
whether that Indictment Will hold as against
the men who We're not constables. Because
of that / am not ready to move that case
this morning, ? replied Mr.. Winfield.
NCLLE Presses.
Judge Lippincott said:-siI DO not think
the court will take tha responsibility, SO far
as the court is concerned, of granting leave
to nolle PROSE- the indictments against the
other defendants. As to the other motion,
for leave to noite PROSE- the indictment for
conspiracy, that is put by the Prosecutor
upon the ground that the plea of guilty
which has been entered here would answer
the demands of justice. The four de-
PENDANTS have placed themselves completely
within the power of the court upon
this subject, and we are unanimous in our
opinion that that plea answers the demand
Of justice, and that they are within the
power of the Court for the purposes of pun-
ishment or other disposition, as fully as if
they had pleaded guilty to the other indict-
ment, or as if there had been a trial
and conviction, and the Court grants
the application of the State to enter a noue
pros, and we justify the Prosecutor in that
| request. So far as the other defendants are
| concerned the court feels there had better
be some other disposition of the cases, by a
trial or otherwise. This is the conclusion
| the Court has reached"
Some further colloquy between the bench
and Mr.. Winfield elected the declaration
| that, except in the case of Thomas F. Egan,
| the State had NO evidence to submit to a
jury. A long wrangle as to the exact posi-
ton of the State followed. The ultimate
result was the entering of orders to nole
pros in all the cases except that in which
the pleas of guilty had been fled-that
| against Egan and the charges of obstructing
| officers of the law. These were handed
down to the Court of Sessions for future
action hv the Prosecutor