The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-10-18
TRIAL NEARING THE END
1ngham- hewitt Case Will Soon Be
Given to the Jury.
A MOST SEVERE ATTACHMENT,

District Attorney Beck Compared the
Accused TO Judas Isoariot, "who
Had the Good Sense to Go Out and
Hang Himself"
Philadelphia, Oct. 1s.-The notable
trial of Ellery P. Ingham and Harvey
X. hewitt is near its end. The de-
PENDANTS have had their opportunity
to submit evidence to disprove that
they were in conspiracy to protect
the Jacobs endig counterfeiting gang
by bribing an agent of the United
States secret service. and the govern
ment had every jot of its evidence in
when the United States district court
was opened yesterday morning.
The defendants declared on the wit
ness stand that they were entrapped.
They affirmed that Jacobs and Kendig,
the Lancaster tobacco manufacturers,
who confessed to being principals In
the counterfeiting of thousands Of dol
lars worth of internal revenue stamps,
had retained them as counsel. The
defendants swore that Jacobs and Ken
dig had said to them that they were
the possible victims Of conspiracy
Of business competitors, who were
striving to get evidence that would
induce the government to seize their
factory, to ferret out the conspiracy
and prevent them from being sold out.
Ingham and hewitt said they accord
ingly hired William J. McManus, secret
service operative, and paid him 1000
to do private detective work. They
averred that McManus and other secret
service men laid trap for them. They
sought to break down the testimony OF
William L. Kendig, who told that he
paid nearly $4,000 to Ingham to pur-
chase protection for him in his coun-
terfeiting scheme and avowed that
Ingham had played him false" pay
ing out only $1,000 of the money given
and leading him to believe that Uni
ted States official was serving as a
go-between with McManus.
District Attorney Beck, in opening
the argument for the prosecution de-
manding a conviction, spoke nearly
two hours and half. His speech was
voted one of the greatest he ever made.
His denunciatory speeches sent thrill
throughout the court room.
Dwelling upon the motives for the
testimony by the government Witness
es, Mr.. Beck said Mr.. Shields attributed
revenge to prompt Kendig to testify
as he did.
"That is inconsistent" he argued;
Ordinarily there is honor among
thieves, but there was none shown by
Ingham and hewitt in their dealing
with Kendig and Jacobs. They took
$1,000 of their clients money under |
false pretense and then betrayed their |
interests They did not use the money |
as they promised. A paltry thousand |
dollars was paid out where $4,000 was
intended to 60, and when Kendig |
learned of this he saw no reason why |
he should not expose them"
Presidents were then cited where
eminent men had fallen and betrayed I
their fellowmen for money. Men of
highest character commit the gravest
crimes" said the district attorney, as
he recalled how Benedict Arnold had
won a brilliant reputation before he
yielded to traitorous instinct, and how
Lord Bacon had confessed to bribery
to the house of lords in England. He
then awed the court, jury and specta-
tors by declaring:
Judas Iscariot had high charac-
ter. He would have been the last to
be accused of betraying Jesus Christ.
At that last supper the Lord said:
There Is one among you who will be-
tray me this night and they all an
swered by asking, Is 1t I. my Lords?
For 80 pieces of silver Judas Iscariot
did that awful thing, but he brought
back the money, dashed 1t on the
temple floor and then had the good
sense to go out and hang himself"
When the district attorney had fin
ished the smile profound stiffness per-
vaded the court room. All eyes were
conferred upon him, and the defendants
were spellbound by the terrible COM
parison. After again warning the jury
to beware of his opponents brilliant
rhetoric and extravagant illusions. Mr..
Beck closed his argument by simply
saying to the talesmen:
do your duty as l have tried to do
NINE"
In presenting the case of the de-
tense to the jury Attorney Shields re-
hearsed the testimony adduced on both
sides and announced that he was will
ing to meet the prosecution on the is
sue of the credibility of witnesses. He
asserted that, with one or two excep-
ions, every witness called by the gov
srnment had practically convicted
himself of perjury and was conse-
luently unworthy of belief. He scored
he secret service operatives unmer-
,ifully, and spoke of the testimony
against Ingham and hewitt as having y
,manated from blacklegs and confess
- ssi-,,iss aIa