The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-21
THE QUAY TRIAL
Damaging Evidence Against the De.
fendant-Ffrst Victory for the De.
Tense

tense
Philadelphia, April 17.-Meyer Gold
smith, commonwealth expert account
| ant, was on the stand all day in the
trial Of Senator Quay, making state
ments of facts that are apparently
| damaging to the defendants side Of the
case. Goldsmith is the main witness
for the prosecution and il is through
him that all Of the documentary evil
dence is to be presented. This wit
| ness has examined the banks books
thoroughly and he came into court this
morning with a number OF typewriter
sheets containing figures that he gath
cred from the various books, relating
mainly 10 the deposit Of the state treas
| urer n the account Of Senator Quay.
He swore to the correctness Of his
| work. and then the district attorney
formally offered the paper in evidence.
This was objected to by the defence on
the ground that such a paper was not
testimony. L was insisted that the
books themselves should be placed be-
fore the witness and his tatemen ut
tered from what he saw entered in
them. The judge decided in favor Of
the defence, thus giving that side the
first piece OF comfort IL has experience
ed since the trial began. Although the
defence apparently gained this point,
the paper was practically in evidence,
Witness Goldsmith using it's contents
in framing his wv to the district
attorneys questions. When the Quay
lawyers objected to this, they were met
by the judges explanation that while
the paper could not be used as sworn
evidence, the witness might use it to
refresh his memory One effect of all
this was to make it certain that the
case will now go to the jury, there
having been some doubt on this point
up to the decision to admit all that
Goldsmith might a to say.
Just before the close of the days pro-
ceedings, there was another ruling by
Judge Biddle in favor OF the defence,
which may hav an important bearing
on the future of the case. The statute
of limitation has been pleaded again
and again by senator Quay's lawyers
as a bar to much of the testimony pre-
scented by the commonwealth. AS Mr..
Qnay was indicted on November Il,
1898, the two.y years allowed by the
statute for prosecution would extend
back only to November II, 1896. On
this basis Mr.. Watson has frequently
urged Jude Biddle to exclude mention
Of transactions dating back of 1896,
when Mr.. Quay was state treasurer.
The court has uniformly held, in eff
feet, that the statute of limitation
does not affect the evidence but does
affect the crime.
The district attorney pointed out
that he alleges the defendants guilt
during the two years the law confines
him to, and to prove this the corrobor-
ative evidence of the previous years
should certainly be admitted. Judge
Biddle decided against the
wealth and the Quay lawyers were very
happy. He ruled that the evidence
should be confined to the conspiracy
alleged and not relate to some other
conspiracy.
The lawyers for the defence claim
that the decision practically rules out
the figures prior to November II, 1896.
Mr.. Rothermel says it's effect will be
to prevent him from offering much of
the evidence he hoped to present. ALI
day long Mr.. Goldsmith read out fig
ures taken from h banks books, en-
bracing the various settlement peri
DDS of six months each, dating back to
October 81, 1898, showing the amount
Of the state deposit, the amount loane
to senator Quay during the six months,
the amour of interest allowed the
state treasurer for hat portion of the
state deposit apparently not set aside
for Senator Quay's use, the amount of
interest, if any, the senator paid on
his loans and the amount of o
used to purchase stock for him. The
deposit during the years mentioned
ranged from 81, 200, 900 to $500, 900. Sena-
tor Quay's loans were shown to be as
great as $3.50, 600 in one period of six
months. Occasionally, the witness said,
smaller and inadequate payment Of in
tereSt by Senator Quay were shown,
but generally there was nothing to in
dictate that he paid for the use of the
banks money. While all these figures
were going in, counsel for Senator Quay
sat silent and motionless, listening to
the monotonous routine of question and
| answer. This was in of an
understanding that the defense object
| ed to every answer; that the objection
was over-ruled and an exception noted.
This is for future use in a higher court,
1 &c