The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-10-19

Grier to the E1eCt Inat he Ac-
cepted the Money from Harris for
the Purpose of Having Him Ar
rested for Attempting to Bribe.
Court Will Rule on the Question
This Morning.
At noon yesterday the commonwealth
rested in the case against Councilman
James Grier, Of the Third ward,
charged with soliciting and accepting
bribes for his vote, and during the af-
ternoon the case was opened to the
jury for the defense and Grier was put
on the stand. An effort was made to
have him testify to certain statements
he made prior to going to the Hotel
Rudolph to accept the $40 from Harris.
but this was objected to by the COM
monwealth.
The object of this testimony was to
prove that Grier was actuated in taking
the money by a desire to have Harris
arrested for attempting to bribe coun-
cilmen, and that with this end in View
he took the $40 and deposited it with
his attorney, NJ. A. Mckinley, who has
had it ever since. Court will rule upon
the question this morning. If the tes-
timony is admitted a big prop will have
been knocked from under the common
wealth's side of the case.
In the case on trial, Grier is charged
With accepting a bribe of $40 and also
with soliciting brbes. If it can be
shown to the satisfaction of the jury
that he accepted the $40 for the pur-
pose above stated, it will have an I'M
portant bearing on the case. The case
wherein he is charged with accepting 4
bribe of $1,4OO for himself and other
councilmen is independent Of the one
on trial, and in this action he could not
be convicted of this offense.
CROSS S-EXAMINATION RESUMED.
The cross examination Of A. B. An
derson, one of the detectives, was re-
sumed by Attorney George S. Horn
after court opened in the morning and
he was questioned at some length as to
the matters he testified to in his eX-
animation in chief.
Detective f.. A. Whitney was then
recalled and testified that when he got
the 81, 400 from Fred r. Beers he read
off the numbers and the series Of each
bill to Beers, who made a memoran-
dunn of them. During the times when
Grier was in the room at the Rudolph
with Harris, and he was watching and
listening in the adjoining room with
Anderson, they kept their room dark.
If Harris and Grier went into No. "a
before they got into No. %, Harris
would make a lot of noise by opening
and shutting drawers, ETC., to drown
the noise Of their entrance into the
room next door.
Whitney was shown a plan of the
room and door between Nos. "a and %,
and identified them as correct. He was
then questioned about the poker game
which he referred to in his cross-ex-
animation. He said they met man
named Eavers, a gambler and a great
friend of Councilman Coleman. The
game was suggested by Eavers, and
they went into it because they felt sure
that Eavers must have something he
wanted to lead up to or he would not
have suggested the game to them,
knowing who they were and what they
We're there for. They wanted to give
Eavers chance to show his hand, but
nothing transpired during the game to
show that Eavers had any ulterior
motive. There We're seven persons in
the game, and Eavers went home
broke.
HARRIS RECALLED.
Detective Joel S. Harris was recalled
and corroborated Whitney about the
poker game. Both men said that the
game was played Monday night instead
of Sunday night, as testified to by
Whitney on his cross-eXamination.
Fred T.. Beers was called and gave
the numbers OF the bills in the batch
of 81, 400 which passed into the hands
of Grier through Harris. He got the
money on his own personal note from
the First National bank. The note was
endorsed by +. b. Sturges and Colonel
Fl. M. Boies. and the money was OBJ
tanned for the Municipal league, and
he was directed to use 1t in such man
ner as he deemed advisable.
J. II. Rittenhouse, a civil engineer.
testified to making measurement of
rooms Nos. "a and 20 of the Rudolph,
and of making tests Of seeing and hear
ing, He found that he could see from
No. 25 into No. "a through the holes in
the doors and that he could hear dis
tinctly what was said In No. "a. A. b.
Dunning gave similar testimony.
The prosecution then asked that tha
jury be permitted to go to the hotel
and examine the rooms and the doors,
but this was objected to by the de-
fense. on the ground that 1t would
be improper to have the jury do SO
until it had heard the evidence for
the defense. Judge Edwards said he
would not rule upon the matter then,
bat suggested that the motion be re-
newed later.
OPENING FOR DEFENSE.
When court resumed after the noon
recess Attorney John +. Scragg open
ed the case to the jury for the defense
He read the act of assembly under
which Grier was indicted, which
shows that a conviction can be fol-
lowed by an imprisonment OF five
years, that being the maximum penal
ty. Mr.. Scragg referred to the great
importance of the case to the defend
ant, as well as to the commonwealth
Glier he said, has for years been the
great commoner of the city, the man
who stood up for the people against
and other influence which
are against the interests of the whole
people.
Mr. Scragg then passed to a con-