Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1895-07-19
THE MASSEY TRIAL
Mr.. AND MRS. MASSEY ON THE
STAND,


newspaper and others has been rather draggy
since our last. Mr.. Massey has been ON the
stand from last Thursday up to yesterday,
seven days. and is probably still there. His
is being conducted by Capt.
John S. Wise who seems to have met hi
match In the old parson. At one time during
the week there were three men in the court
room who had filed the place of Governor
O'Ferrall, Cameron and Mckinney. We give
below some extracts from the examination of
Mr.. and Mrs. Massey
REGULATIONS.
John 7. Lee, lawyer, " Franklin county,
Ga nephew 0f Kobt. g. Lee); Geo. Helms of
franklin. ex- Internal Revenue Collector of
the Western District of Virginia. and N. q.
Caper Of Franklin, all swore that they knew
U0l. Waddy 7. James Of that county we'll
Ethe ex-member of the legislature that testili-
ed that Mr.: Massey offered him 81 200 to vote
for HIM ana would not believe him on oath.
j. r. Wingdeld, Treasurer Of Albemarle
county; Sheriff Watts of Albemarle; Com
missioner Of the Revenue Fry of Albemarle,
and the clerk of the court of Albemarle, all
testified to Mr. Massey's high character Tor
truth and honesty,
MRS. MASSEY.
Mrs. Massey testified that she was thirty
eight years of age, and was married to Mr..
Massey in October, 1890. She brought 50, 450
with her from her home in Alabama to Vir-
ginia' In April. 1894, she deposited 5000 in
the Peoples National Bank of Charlottes-
vile, Of which 81, $50 was hers and s., $50 was
MI. Ms. Mr.. Massey got his part OF it out
Of secret iron drawer in the bureau where he
kept money. She gave Mr.. NJ. $1,000 to in
vest for her in 1890, and also the $500 that she
lad received from the teachers in Virginia as
wedding present. The deposit of $4,000
was to buy home in Charlottesville, as Mr..
Massey's duties called him away so much
from their country home at ''Ash Lawn"
Mr.. Massey assigned to her the stock in the
Staunton Land COMPANY Che had RECEIVED
various other sums Of money from her Ala
bama brothers, since she had been in Virgin
la. Mr.. NJ did not settle any money On her
at their marriage; she did not marry him for
what he had
MR.. MASSEY ON THE STAND.
Mr. Massey took the stand on Thursday
and kept it till yesterday. He began by ASSERT
ing BADLY and pointedly that he had never.
under any circumstances received any money
from any person for services rendered either
as superintendent of Public Education OF
member Of the State School Board. He gave
full account Of the deciding and re-deeding
of property to his brother. This he did not
to cheat his creditors pPt to pay his areditors:
He had become surety Tor DR.. Williams ad-
ministrator Of the Albert &. Mauzy estate in
Rockingham. DR.. Williams had paid the
heirs more than the whole estate came to- but
had not paid it TO the guardian Of the heirs as
the law required. Having examined and
found by Dr. Williams vouchers that the
heirs had been fully paid, he determined not
to pay as surety and transferred his Ash
Lawn estate to avoid paying what he did not
believe he was morally bound for.
In 1880 his son who was principal OF the
Sherwood Female Seminary at Staunton, had
fallen financially behind, and to aid him he
agreed to purchase oneeighth of piece OF
boom property (the Sherwood Land Com
pany) paid 81 900 for his share, Hebrew the
money with other money out Of the Planters
National Bank at Richmond. The statement
of De Lea. agent of the book company, thai
he came out of the bank with j. W. Womack
or was with him, was false, as was everything
else De Lea testified to. He paid for his trip
to Toronto himself and nobody else paid a
cent. He received polite attentions from Mr.
Womack on the route, but not as numerous
or polite as those MI. Plimpton of CHM &
90. showed him.
On his visit to him at Ash Lawn to get Star
boll,e r n nouono Toccopco an tho hooly CT
witness said MI. r. E. Byrd spoke of unpleasant
things having been said about him Massey in
the New York World and by Senator Flood OF
Virginia. Byrd also said that if he Massey
would reopen the list it would concllate the
book publishers and Senator Flood. Witness
was indignant at the proposition and declined
to ride to Charlottesville that day with MI
Byrd, saying he had conveyance of his own
Nothing was said on that occasion about the
Toronto trip or Mr.. Womack. Witness went
over to Richmond, however, and had a meet
ing of the Board of Edncation but "Tarbell's
Language Lessons" were not adopted. Wit
ness had previously examined them. He was
not going to have the book put on in order to
change his enemies into his friends. Mr.. Wo
mach did not meet them when they reached
Richmond.
The statement of James of Franklin, about
his having offered him bride of 81 900 was
false and without foundation. The statement
of his offering Parr and Dickinson money fol
their votes. were also false. When he went
to Floyd county to speak, Amos Dickinson
was in the meeting and he called on him to
remain as he haG something to say that he
Iebo NJ, of +ba NJ
once. Parr had already left the county.
Mr.. Wise: You lost your friends by this
operation, did you not?
Il lost their support by the influence of
Malone and his collar-Wearers.
"Was one of his collar-wearers %
eyes, you were. You said, Lead on Mas
ter, I'll follow thee"
Il served notice on you, did l not, that
was going to charge you with bribery at a
public meeting?'
81 do not remember
"Were you not openly charged with bribery
by James, Parr, Dickinson, and myself, and
did you resent it then or claim $4,000 dam
ages 90
81 considered the source-I had such low
opinion of the quartette that l would not
notice theil charges
.'What is the story about the turkey-cock
which was published in the Stanton Specta-
tor?''
II never heard of it before you read it just
now"
$40 you think | would carry your valise
for you after the opinion you have expressed
about NEE"
81 think you would if you could make any.
thing out of it.
On Monday. at one time. Mr.. Massey and
Mr.. Wise got into wrangle. and the court
had to call both to order. At another time
Mr.. Massey got tired replying to questions
which he had previously answered and sug-
gested that it took good many answers to
the same questions to get the facts into Capt.
Wise's head. A little later Mr.. Massey ask