The herald., 1896-08-14
It WAS QUICKLY DECIDED
Judgment Rendered in the
Yndart-CorOnel Case
It IS GIVEN FOR The DEFENDANT
The Conclusion of Judge Lu.
Glen Shaw
WAS FORGERY AND PERJURY
The Court, However, AbsoIves Yndart
From Blame in the Matter
There May Now Be One or More Criminal
Prosecutions
George D. nlnes Acquitted Of the Charge Of
Murder-The Shafer.Lsborde Case Not
Panning Out Sensational.
Court Business
WAS FORGERY AND PERJURY
The Court, However, AbsoIves Yndart
From Blame in the Matter
There May Now Be One or More Criminal
Prosecutions

Superior Judge Lucien Shaw lost nc
time yesterday afternoon in rendering
judgment in the case of Yndart VS.. Coro-
mel. Senator White finished his argI-
ment shortly before 4 o'clock. and JEFF
ferson D. Chandler had completed tbs
! summing up for the plaintiff by 4:30
The arguments were among the best
ever delivered in any court in this end
of the state. The talking ended, the
court at once proceeded to pass judg-
ment Every point in the case was de-
cided against Yndart. who is. however
excepted by the court from the general
charges of perjury made against Don
| Manuel de Coronel and the other prom-
| nent witnesses in the case. some of
| whom may now be by the other side
| criminally prosecuted. The decision as
rendered by the court is in full as fol-
lows
The very able and complete argu-
| ments that have been made by the coun-
sci on both sides render it unnecessary,
in fact. for the court to say much in de-
Gliding the case. I have been forced to
the conclusion that this document upon
which the whole foundation of Abe case
| rests. and without which there is no case,
is a forgery1 There are a great many
| circumstances which lead me to this
| opinion. 1 need not state them all. In
the first place. the contents of the doc
ument itself indicate very strongly that
| it was prepared for the purpose of for
tifying itself against some sort of an
10 baI Of
consists almost entirely in safeguards.
which are inserted against future an
ticipated frauds on the part of the trus
tee. which would not ordinarily occur to
any one except a very careful and eX
perienced lawyer. The document itself
vas drawn by a man not particularly
Versed in law nor experienced in it, and
it is not probable that such a person
would anticipate the particular frauds
which are guarded against by the pro-
| visions of the latter part of the instru-
| ment 1t is Il strong coincidence, to
| show that the document was manufac-
| tured afterward, that it So happens
| that almost every one of the frauds that
are limited at in the latter part of the
| Instruments are frauds which would be
| supported by transactions which have
occurred since; which shows that the
| person who drew up the instrument had
in his mind at the time not what he an
ticipated to happen in the future, but
what he knew had happened in the
past
Then the paper, which is executed on
the 4th of March. is somewhat inconsist-
ent with the document itself 1t is not
necessarily so. it is true, but it does con-
tain statement that that is a settle
ment of all the business between Mrs.
Yndart and her two brothers-an admis-
sion which would not be made, without
proper advice, at any rate. if as a fact.
there was then existing other business
which was not settled.
Another thing is that the evidence
shows that the visit was alleged to have
been made to Mrs. Garfias at the time
the document was supposed to have been
delivered; this is exceedingly improbable
under the circumstances 1t is true it may
have occurred that way; but it appears
fairly satisfactory, a any rate. that for
d considerable time previous to the death
of Mrs Yndart she was very sick; and it
is not probable that she would go to a
person who does not appear to have
been more than casual acquaintance
and visit her there for two days under
the circumstances. Then, again, it is
not very probable that an acquaintance
so slight as that of Mrs. Garfias seems
to have been. would be the depository
of a document so important as this one
was
Then the testimony in regard to the
custody of the document is not entirely
satisfactory. 1t is not probable that Mrs.
Gartias would keep the document as she
did. She teStifieS that she was enjoined
to keep 1t until one of the trustees died,
and then to disclose 1t. 1t seems that
she knew of the death Of the trustee for
a considerable period. and did not dis
close it; and, from her testimony, as /
remember it. her final act of disclosure
seems to have been to some extent an
accident. She casually met some of the
parties in the lobby of the court house
here, at the time they were getting
guardian appointed for Yndart: the mat
ter of the guardianship was mentioned,
and all at once it occurred to her that
she had document which belonged to
Yndart. That, of course. might be ex-
planned by the fact that the great lapse
ot time caused her to forget that she
had a document. until this circumstance
brought it to her recollection. But, on
the other hand, it is equally corobora-
tive of the theory that she did not have
any such "a document the length of time
she testified she had it.
The strongest proof, however. to my
mind is the signature itself, and the com
pariSOn of it with other signatures We
have a document here signed by four
have the ordinary. natural appearance
of real. genuine signatures This on its
face, as soon as one sees it. appears to
be different from the others. 1t has
sort of constrained look about it, to start
with. Then. on close Inspection one
sees it is made up throughout its entire
length of wavy lines; and not the wavy,
jerky lines and misshaped letters which
would be caused by extreme nervous
proStration or recovery from drunken
ness, or anything of that kind; but
peculiar WaViness which, SO far as my
observation goes, is never made except
when some one is trying to trace line
made by some one else who is not very
skillful at the business. A very skillfu
engraVcr could probably trace a sigma
ture so that there would not be very
much appearance of Wavness in the
lines. But a man who is not accus-
toned to it seldom does SO. 1t does not
bear the characteristics which / think
would be marked if the signature had
been written under difficult circuIn-
stances, and, as said, under nervous