The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-02-17


Both Beck and Pidgeon said that Noonan
borrowed ten dollars and Beck said: i
want security for that and Noonan took
off his cuff and gave it to him. Is there
any probability in that? We found
man in New York who had nothing to do
with the case, an intelligent young man,
and he told you he saw the cuff fall off
Mr. Noonan hand Beck seized it; he
wanted to bolster UP his case and came
here and lied about it, Both Beck and
Pidgeon said that they were not at the
Gilsey House that night, and yet We
brought the manager who said that they
were all there that night. Where do
you stand, gentlemen, as between the
story of those two gentlemen here and
the scoundrels. Beck and Pdgeon?
..These rascals said that Noonan made
an appointment the next morning to re-
ceive the money in Jersey City, but was
Mr.. Noonan there? Mol he had left
his office and left no word where he had
gone. Was that the conduct of man
who had made an appointment to receive
money? No! because Mr.. Noonan never
made any appointment at all with these
fellows
Counsel then enlarged on the receipt
possible that Simpson would be such a
fool as to give a certificate to the world
that he was attempting to corrupt the
Assistant Prosecutor of the Pleas. AS to
the difference of dates, there was no
doubt, he said, that the date had been
altered.
Judge Hoffman then. reading from a le-
gal decision of the Supreme Court OF
Michigan, handed down by Justice Coo
ley which denounced jobs to make 9TH
ers commit crime and said those who
engineered it were themselves criminals,
exclaimed
Listen to that, Mr.. Rappleye, and We
scoundrels Beck and Pidgeon; that's the
law of the highest authority in this coun-
try or any other.'
Here counsel turned totne seats usually
occupied by the individuals named. ''The
whole fabric of this structure, of this
bolstered up Journals case is a lie, con-
fessedly lie, and these men, Beck and
Pidgeon, are confessed liars. There
ought to be a whip in the hands of every
honest man to lash these rascals, Beck
and Pidgeon, naked through the world.
Look at the defendant Noonan, with
no faults but one frailty. Think of the
men in the vicinage who have testified
as to his reputation for honesty and pro-
bity; the Chancellor of the State, Judge
Lawrence, John Mullins, President Wash
burn of the Hudson County Bank, AL
Ian L. McDermott, Major q. K. Pang-
born. Mayor Hoos, Mayor Pagan, Mr..
Hasking and long list of eminent citi-
zens, all of whom knew him for years.
Then think of the two infamous wretches,
| Beck and Pidgeon, who make an accusa-
| ton like this and who now fly to another
city to hide their heads in everlasting
| shame and igriomny and infamy."
''I don't care what is to follow con-
cluded Judge Hoffman. 81 know that I
| am soon to be followed by the eloquent
and able Attorney General, who will
wrest the facts in this case from their
| true relation: but I don't care, know
| that there is not jury in the land who
| would do anything else but acquit these
| defendants of such a charge as that
| brought by the scoundrels of the Even
| ing Journal Beck and Pidgeon. Just
| think of it, I nearly forgot it, the Attor-
| ney General said that the book of the
| Pole had been doctored. Just think of it.
| Can it be that his association with Beck
| afidPfdgeon has~defiled him?'
/ Counsel finished an impressive and
| Enthusiastically eloquent speech, de-
| manding vindication and acquittal of the
| defendants. 1t was just quarter past
! eleven when he sat down and the Attor-
ney General rose Immediately afterwards
| to close for the State
| He began by briefly stating the case
| against the defendants and reading the
| counts of the indictment found against
| them which he said had not been at
| tackled and consequently the only ques-
/ ton to be decided was the guilt or inno-
| cence of the charge of conspiracy. Mr.,
| Grey said that he was aware fully of the
| gravity of the charge and he agreed with
| the defendants counsel that If convicted
| the defendants would suffer, but the
! charge was of such a character that if
the crime was permitted, it would strike
| at the basis of society itself and affect
the very administration of justice, which
upheld society.
1.-THE State of New Jersey" said the
/ Attorney General, seeks from you gen
| tlemen no verdict of guilty unless there
| are such evidences of guilt as will satisfy
+! YOU in your minds without a reasonable
doubt that they are, guilty as charged
You must be certain beyond a reasonable
doubt in your minds that they attempted
| this conspiracy or took steps towards its
| consummation-then the duty of the
State which has assumed the responsible
ity of proving this ends and your respon
sibility begins.
"Now. when did these defendants take
steps to effect. these ends? / propose tt
rest in this case not on the evidence o.
| the States witnesses, but on the inlheren
i testimony of the defendants themselves
/ 1 will not rest the case on the evidence
of, two men whose characters have beer
broken down and declared disreputable
but on the very acts of the defendants
themselves.
s.When these two men of the Journal
started out to find corruption, they didn'
go to an office boy; but they went t
4 the Assistant Prosecutors office and say
Mr. Noonan himself. The door had beel
open for years, so said Mr.. Noonan. A
| that time, when Beck and Pidgeon cam
to the Office, Beck proposed to close tn
door and Mr.. Noonan closed it. 1t wa
closed, and Mr.. Noonan acquieseed il
that closing, what to most men must hav
suggested a suspicious circumstance
Why didn't he say:-sWhy close tn
door? am here alone and have no rea
son to believe that any one will betra,
! any secret you may have. There is n
reason to close the door. Did he do that
On the contrary, on the suggestion OF a