Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-05-16
SITTING THE RUMORS.
judo Wickham and tto Grand Jury
Looking Into the Smith Trial.
THE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS CLAIM.
He Will Insist That the Goid-Brick
swindIer Must BE Taken Before
the Federal Court First-stafe-
ments Made Yesterday.

The Smith goId-brick case Is engaging
| the attention OF the Henrico county
Court again. The second trial Is not 10
begin until the 9th. but evidence equahy
| az interesting as that affecting the gum
| or innocence Of the noted prisoner was
being taken yesterday. Judge WtcKnam
was making inquiry into the rumors tha'
| have been In circulation about the recent
mistrial, and the special grand jury wouio
| have taken up the same subject hao ho'
| the pressure of other business prevented
| The inquiry by this tribunal Will proceed
| on Saturday. Messrs. w. Y. Morueca'
(foreman), William NJ. McGruder' II. H.
| Crump. Jacob w. Nuckols. X. n. Cross
r. II. Gillian, Oliver Cartwright, j. L.
wb,tlock and John Lawrence (colore0
| constitute the grand jury. Judge WICK
ham, in explaining the purpose OF tne
investigation, said rumors had been me
for some days rejecting on the cohouc.
of parties associated with the recent
trial of Smith alias Parker the so'u
brick man. He thought that even though
no evidence of fraud had been produced
II was due to the good name OF the
county that an investigation should De
held. and the rumors sifted to the bottom.
THE JUDGES INVESTIGATION.
While the grand jury was In session eA-
aiming into other cases Judge Wickham
ascended the bench, and calling Messrs.
Christian and Schermerhorn, OF the jury
who failed TO find verdict in the gold
brick case and Sheriff Solomon. Deputy
Russell, and Mr.. W. T. Larus, inaugu-
rated an examination on his own hook
with reference to ascertaining whether or
not the court ofiicials-Messrs. solomon
and Fussell-had been guilty OF any I'M
proprieties or contempt while the go'o-
brick jury was in their charge.
The examination was not very searching
though IL brought out some new facts in
connection with the case. and several
charges and counter charges were made.
Mr. Christian was first called. and his
testimony was principally OF a eliminating
nature He stated that on one occasion
Mr. Russell took the jury to the reservoir
on a street-car. and while en- route gem
tleman entered the car and took his seat
between the Deputy and a juror, and en-
gagged the latter In conversation. He 1ur-
Their testified that Mr.. Larus. the Deputy
Clerk, had been in the room at the hotel
with the Jury on three occasions instead
of one, as had been published. and on
one Of his visits the Deputy Clerk said
to one of the Jurors, I'm the presence or
others. that IL was reported at the court
house Tor down town. that eleven OF the
Jury were for conviction and one for ac-
quittal. and that Mr.. Withers 0he gold
brick victim) had said that he would give
$50 for the jury to agree on acquittal. He
testified further that Mr.. Larus while
with the jury was not always in the I'M
mediate presence of the Sheriff or his
deputies.
THEIR VERSIONS DIFFER.
Mr. Schermerhorn. also of the jury, was
placed on the stand, and his testimony
was practically refutation of that given
by Mr.. Christian. He stated that the
facts set forth by Mr.. Christian had en-
tirely escaped his observation. though he
was present at all of the times alluded TO-.
Just here Mr.. Solomon interjected a re-
quest to be allowed to ask the witness a
question. and addressing the Court said
in explanation: II seem to be on trial"
Judge Wickham told him that such was
not the case, and gave him permission
10 ask any question he might desire. The
Sheriff asked Mr.. Schermerhorn IL II was
not a fact that Mr.. Larus was in his
(Solomon's) presence at all times, while
he was In the jury-room. To this he re-
ceived an affirmative reply.
Mr.. russell was then called, and made
deavored to keep any one from speaking
to any Of the jurors. He did not remem-
Der but one visit OF Mr.. Larus to the
jury-room. and positively denied having
let any one sit between himself and
juryman on a street-car.
MIR. LARUS'S EXPLANATION.
Mr. Larus was next put on the stand
and testified that he was certainly in
the jury-room at the hotel twice and
perhaps three times. On the first occa-
sion he spent half an hour in the room,
and played setback with the jury. He
then went back on Saturday night and
spent the night with Sheriff Solomon.
which occurrence. he said. had already
been explained by him through the
columns of the Dispatch. Not for
moment was he out of the presence OF
the Sheriff or his deputy while in the jury
room, and although he did say some
thing about the Withers episode he
couldn't recall his exact words. but re-
membered that Sheriff Solomon was pre-
sent and reprimanded him for talking
to the Jurors and told the jurors them
selves that Tom. Larus was not MEM
Der of the jury, and unless they stopped
questioning him he would have TO leave
the room.
Sheriff Solomon was invited to make
statement upon the conclusion or Mr..
Larus's testimony, and said he remem-
bered seeing Mr.. Larus In the Jury-room
only once. He did not recollect what Mr..
I.arus said TO the jury. but did remem-
Der having reprimanded him for talking
TO them. At this juncture Mr.. Christian
smoke. and said that he did remember
having heard Mr.. Solomon say that Mr..
Larus must not talk.
At his own request. Mr.. Samuel Wad-
dill. Clerk Of the County Court, was al
lowed to make a statement. He dis
claimed any knowledge OF Mr.. l-arus $
intention OF going to the hotel. He
was grieved beyond expression that
his deputy should have done so. and had
he known OF Mr.. Larus's intention he
would have advised against his going
where the fury was. Upon the conclu-
sion of this statement Judge Wickham
said: ut was undoubtedly most ir-
regular proceeding
Mr. Christian was allowed 10 again
take the stand. and. after setting forth
his desire to do nothing but justice, he
said that Mr.. Solomon had performed his
duties as a conscientious officer, and that
when he (Christian) asked him questions
about the case the officer declined to
answer them.
This concluded the examination, and
the Judge stated that he would have other
members OF the jury before him to-mor-
row.
MANY INDICATIONS OF FRAUD.
The grand jury reported about 800
o'clock and returned the following bills
of Indictment:
For feIony-Mosby Melton. Charles
Evans, David Jackson. Joseph Blazer.
Samuel Davis. Leigh Dean. Mat. Mel
son, Thomas Green, Joseph Nelson.
William H. Richards. and Mamie Penn.
For misdemeanor-Leigh Dean, Edmund
Pendeton. Olivia Stevenson, and Julian
Bryant.
Not true bills were returned In the cases
of John H. Smith and William G. Over
by, charged with misdemeanors.
The amount of work before the grand
jury Is so large that II was impracticabe
for IL to finish yesterday. and hence
was adjourned over until Saturday, when
the investigation OF the aspersions cast
upon the petty jury will be gone into.
whose Prisoner Is smith:
Mr. L. o. Wcndenburg. Of counsel for
Frank Lockwood Smith. the gold-brick
swindler whose movements for the past
few days has given rise to rumors OF
more habeas-corpus proceedings. returned
TO the city yesterday morning. and
when seen by a Dispatch man stated thai
he had given up all hopes Of obtaining
bail for his client. He said he had been
at Ocean View for the past few days,
but further than that he did not account