The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-24
LAURA BIGGAR JURY OUT
FROM I:SO r. VI. TILL MIDNIGHT,
AND STILL NO VERDICT.

Actress and Her Fellow Defendants Think
That Means . Disagreement. Anyhow
-Rumor That the Jury Is q 70 3 for
Acquittai-(harge OF Judge Heisley.
FREEHOLD, n. j.. Dec. 2S.-The jury in
the case of Laura Biggar, the actress; DR..
Charles c. Hendricks and Samuel Stanton,
who are accused OF conspiracy to secure
the entire estate OF the late Henry n. Ben
nett, retired at 4:4O o'clock this afternoon
and were still out at midnight.
Because Of the eight hours delay Miss
Biggar and the other prisoners are conf
dent that they will at least get disagree
ment. The only rumor that has leaked
out of the court house tonight is that the
Jury stands to 8 for acquittal.
Miss Biggar was recalled to the stand
for the fourth time when court opened to-
day. She qualified az an expert on the
interior arrangements OF sleeping cars.
by telling of the many miles she had travelled
in them, and then swore that it would have
been impossible for Mollie Deskin to stand
at the water cooler in the car and at the
same time see man crawl into Miss Big
CARS berth.
Miss Biggar also testified that 1t had been
impossible for her to secure the presence
in court Of any OF the several men who
were mentioned on the stand yesterday
as having been her paramours.
This summing up required five hours
County Prosecutor John Z. Foster opened
for the State He was followed by Joseph
NJ. Noonan and Aaron E. Johnston Of coun-
sci for the defendant, and Edmund Wilson
closed for the prosecution.
Prosecutor Foster asked the jurors To
remember the fact that the woman de-
| PENDANT and several other persons inter.
ested as witnesses or In some other capacity
were stage folk and accustomed to acting.
THE woman" said Mr.. Foster. lis a
| good actress, but her best acting here
gentlemen of the jury. was poorly timed
| The time that she cried was when she toc
| of the loss Of diamonds. She showed nc
| emotion in telling Of the death Of the baby
| and Of selecting the casket for the body
Mr.. Noonan said that the only witness
| for the State whose testimony was worthy
| Of any consideration whatever was heogh
| the theatrical man. who swore that Bennett
was with him in New York on the night Of
| the alleged marriage in Hoboken. Ano
that testimony, Mr.. Noonan declared, wa
| worthless because il was not corroborated
| LAWYER Johnlt IN said that there had beer
| a conspiracy, not on the part of the three
| defendants, but on the part OF the mel
who want Laura Biggar sent to jail so tina
they may have oil Of the Bennett estate
| for themselves.
In his charge to the jury Judge Heisle,
! ma med the attempts to show an ALLEGED
false marriage. an alleged false birth o
| a male child resulting from that marriage
and the death of that alleged child as tn,
threa> main points OF the conspiracy charged
1T il not necessary. the Judge con
tinued, for the state to prove that al
three OF these things were false. II II Il
shown that the marriage, the birth or tn
death was false the conspiracy as charget
is proved.
III there is a verdict Of guilty it mus
apply to at least two Of the three defendants
| for at least two are necessary to form
conspiracy, but you may convict two ant
acauit one or acquit or convict all.
| If YOU believe that keogh war tellin
| the truth you must convict stanton an,
Riggar II is not sufficient for you to be
lieve that there was a common-law mar
| ria oe between Bennett and Biggar to acQui,
because they have claimed that there Wa
a ceremonial marriage according to lay
by a Justice Of the Peace.
| If there was a conspiracy II was mon
| strous crime. II was TO defraud innocen
| people Of the bounty intended for them b
Bennett II was fraud upon the Twin
and the dead. sympathy or mercy shout
plav no part in the deliberations of jur,
| and YOU are not TO consider sex"