The herald., 1898-01-31

himself as thoroughly in the attitude
of q tool as he did by what he testi-
| fed to against the defendant. 1t II
hardly probable too. that had these
men merely been looking for some irino-
cent man whom they could make the
principal Of conspiracy to rob, to
which they had evidently been parties,
and had been actuated in that feeling
| alone, that they would have chosen
that member of the board whom they
knew better than any one and whom all
know by common report to be tha
strongest and most aggressive person.
ality upon the board. 1t rather appears,
In the light of all the facts, that Az
tel told the truth when he testified that
nis actions In the matter were dictated
by the feeling that IL he had to suffer
Tor his part Of It, the man at the real
cnief planner and plotter In the whole
oisgraceful conspiracy, should be COM
peiled to bear his due share OF the
burden.
HARDLY CREDIBLE
II the defendant is not guilty Of the
matters with which he has been
| charged; II he had no guilty participa.
tion in them, or connection with them.
| OF knowledge of them, then certainly
| no man, by the tricks of fate. was ever
| innocently placed in so .compromisinr a
position. Every wrong, and robbery.
and steal that has been testified to
here, Is shown to have been directly
| participated in by the individuals most
intimately associated. by the business
| of the board, with this defendant. Az
tell, was the Superintendent of Buildfnga
| with whom the defendant, by virtueof
his position as chairman Of the Supply
Committee, was brought in daily con-
tact; Adams one of the co-members OF
defendant upon this same committee.
and one who Is shown by the evidence
| to have most often Joined his name
| with defendants to the acquisitions
| issued by that committee for Asuppliea
and a salesman of Director Bartlett
a co-member with defendant of the
Teachers Committee and his most in
innate business associate, having, as
| the evidence showed, removed his
| business to the same store room, where
| that of the defendant was carried on,
| a short time after the two took office
in the pesent school board apear to
have been the direct actors in these
disgraceful and criminal episode. In
| addition to that 1t hardly seems cred-
| ible that Adams would have dared
use the defendants name as he did in
| his negotiations with Miss Hawks in
soliciting a money consideration from
her under promise of promotion with
! Rohde, in demanding money from him
in the name of the defendants neces-
sities with Morris, in assuring him
| that he would receive the increase In
compensation for which he paid, with
| out knowing that the defendant, not
| only would not resent such things if
he discovered them, as he most likely
would. but that the defendant had an
| interest in the results to be accom-
plished by such use of his name and
reputed power on the board.
CORROBORATED EVIDENCE
| 1t is hardly possible in any argu-
ment, not transcending in length the pa
| tience of an audience. to go fully into
| all the various details and ramifica-
tions of the testimony introduced by
| the prosecution on this trial. and in
what l have said I have endeavored
merely to note and comment upon
| those features of 1t which address
themselves to me as being most i'm
portant in substantiating the charges
made by the League for Better City
Government against School Director
Webb. In view of the evidence which
have referred to, 1t certainly cannot
be said that the only evidence tending
to show the guilt of the defendant
consists in the uncorroborated testi-
mony of Adams and Axtell: on the con-
trary, take the case as made out by
| the prosecution, with all its surround
| ings and incidents, the relationship OF
the accused with the parties acting di-
rectly in the collection of bribes; TAX
ing the fact that these scandals were,
in all but two instances, connected
with the work of committees of which
defendant was a member and that
| those two were connected with the
work of a committee of which Adams.
the defendants close associate on the
supply committee, was member, to-
wit the janitors committee, and that
Adams was the only member of the
janitors' committee having any knowl-
edge of these matters, it would appear
that the statement contained in the
resolution exonerating Mr.. webb that
there was no testimony against him save
that of Adams and Axtell is to speak
mildly, unsupported by the facts,