The morning call., 1895-01-29

more who would be chosen he would own
three.
Hurley is now under arrest and two
charges, one of bribery and the other con-
tempt of court, have been placed against
him.
He says he is innocent-that he never
thought of tampering with the Mcdonald
jury-but in contradiction to this Melon
AIDS attorneys say he has been working on
a Matchmaking scheme for months, and
that since the spring of 1894 they have
been watching him and waiting for the
final act of all-the drawing of the jurors
whom he had corrupted.
Eight months ago, according to the story
told by E. ]. Livernash, chief counsel for
Mcdonald, Hurley came to him and
opened the subject. His offer was this
If the defense would pay him his price
and his price was not small one by any
means-they could have a jury which
would acquit Dick Mcdonald of any charge
which might be brought against him re-
gardIess of the evidence produced at the
trial, and regardless of whether he might
be guilty or innocent. But if the defense
did not like his offer-oh, well, there was
no harm done, and verdict of guilty was
easy to obtain, and much more likely to
happen under the changed condition of
affairs brought about by a refusal of this
glittering offer.
The offer was declined; Hurley betook
himself again to his saloon, and only a
few times during the intervening months
did he breach the subject again. Last
Friday evening, however, he called on Mr..
Livernash at the St. Nicholas Hotel
Here, says Mr.. Livernash, he came out
boldly and bosted of his hold upon the
jury. The trial had been going on
for two days, and after examin-
ing so many talesmen that the regular
venire was exhausted, eight Jurors were
secured as acceptable to both sides and
were sworn in. The court ordered a spe-
cial venire of fifty talesman to be sum-
moned to appear in court yesterday morn
ing, and the case was put over until that
time.
"Why did Judge Murphy adjourn court
so suddenly" was the question which ran
riot through the gloomy corridors of the
City Hall yesterday afternoon. That some
thing was wrong every one suspected, but
no one knew that the Judge had Just
learned of the gigantic conspiracy which
was working IN his courtroom and right
under his eyes. In the morning Captain
Lees of the detective force had come to
him and had told the story which G. NJ.
Johnson had told in his office, how
Hurley had approached him the night
before, how he had told Johnson there was
money in it If he got on the jury and how
he was summoned in the morning, lust as
Hurley had said he would be.
BY L O'Clock two more jurors had been
secured, and, one having been excused on
account of sickness, there was left only
three vacancies to be filed. AT 2 o'clock
Clerk Morris was ordered to draw three
names from the cylinder, where the slips
with the talesmen' S names upon them were
kept. G. T. Mead was the first name, Ger
son Harsha1 was the second and c. NJ.
Johnson was the third. The three men
rose from their seats in different parts of
the courtroom and took their places in the
jury-boX. rise and be sworn, said Nor
ris, but Judge Murphy stopped him.
"Wait moment, Mr.. Clerk" he said
"Gentlemen," turning to the attorneys,
aexcuse me, and he left the courtroom
hurriedly. He came back in a few min
utes, but only to demand the list of tales
men and disappear again. He was gone
about ten minutes. People in the court
room wondered mildly what was the mat
ter with the Judge, but it was not causing
much concern. Perhaps it would have
done so had they known he was closeted
with Captain Lees in the anteroom. When
he returned again it was only to say, ''Ad-
iourn court until tomorrow at 10 O'clock, -
and so ended the case for the day. That
was all there was to it to the casual spec
tator, but all the afternoon the police were
busy, and about O'Clock Hurley was led
into the prison and formally charged.
C. NJ. Johnson, whose statement brought
the matter to light yesterday, is an ex-
police officer and became acquainted with
Hurley through meeting him in and
around the prison, where he used to solicit
business for the police court practitioners.
He called at police headquarters about 8