The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-25
EIGHT COUNTS GOOD.
CONTINUED from. 1Oth Page.

ported that Carter should so fraudu-
lently exercise the power of his office
and the discretion vested in him that
i,e Oouid cut on competition in bidding
for contracts to be, let by the United
states, so as to relate to the contracts
of October S, 1885, for on the first day
of January, 1897, all bids for contracts
of October s, 1896, had been offered
Hence say they ita was impossible to
apply this conspiracy of January l.
1891, to the contracts of October g. 1896,
nor was it possible on January l. 1897
that the fraudulent device to the end
that work in said district should be
let at high and exorbitant cost to the
| United States and done at little cost
TO the contractors and in a worthless
manner, could relate to contracts of
1895, so they argue with regard to all
the other alleged methods of the plot
and of the conspiracy.
This is however by no means a
practical or wholesome view of the
| power of the law over offenders who
enter upon that most subtle and dam
| geIous OF all crimes, a continuous con-
| spiracy. 1t is a crime in which organ
ization, combination, leadership, num-
bers, the power and effectiveness of
astute and trained intelligenees can all
| be directed, as an army by a COM
| m9nder, against the integrity of gov
ernment and the welfare of the people,
| If it be true, as charged in this in
| ,dictment, that this scheme was formed
| as early as 1891, and its details were
from time to time put in operation
and finally in 1887 that it was made
! TO apply to particular works of the
government then in progress, with a
| view to obtaining fraudulently a share
of the sums appropriated for the pub
| lie welfare, not only would there be no
| duplicity in the. narration of the sue
icessive steps, but the final act, even
though the statute of limitations had
INTERVIEWED as TO other incidents, would
remove the bar and bring the entire
scheme and all of it's "details under
| the scrutiny of the court in order to
determine from all the facts whether
| the parties were guilty of the conspir-
acy which it is charged was renewed
or was completed a date when the
penal authority of the law was in full
| force and effect"
1T matters not that the specifications
| of these particular contracts for work
| at the entrance of Cumberland sound
| and on the training walls at Savannah
may have been drawn and adopted in
1896, nor that as early as that date or
| previously, the secret underst tanding
| between Carter and the other alleged
| conspirators to shut off other bidding
or to advertise for costly work and
| permit cheap work or to do any of
| the other details had been formed be-
| fore the statute interviewed, yet if
within the period of effective prosecu-
| tion before the date of the indictment,
! joint action was taken. by the alleged
conspirators or by two of them in pur-
suance of the general scheme, SO in
stanti the tenacious grasp of the law
seized upon the parties and the courts
will proceed to lay bare from it's in
ception every incident of the conspir-
acy. The train may have been long
! laid and the public may remain uncon-
scious of the pending catastrophe, but
| if the match is applied, seasonably to
the enforcement of the law, and the eX-
plosion follows, society is no longer
powerless to redress the consummated
crime, not less aggravated because long
contemplated and prepared for.
Making Criminal Trust.
''It is said that there is no sufficient
description of the fraudulent purpose
of the conspiracy. Can this be true, in
| view of those pregnant averments to
the effect that these parties had con-
spired to prevent competition and by
this and by unfair inspection and by
| keeping bidders in ignorance, not only
to destroy the opportunities of the
| government to secure cheaper bids,
! by, if the charges are true, thus perfect
| ing what may be termed a criminal
| trust in river and harbor improve
ments the profits to be paid from the
public treasury and the injuries inllict-
| ed on the commerce of the country.
! These devices are all set out in the
| first count, which charges that the
| contracts had been obtained fraudu-
| lently and by means of the fraudulent
scheme and set forth. 1t is not neces-
sary in charging conspiracy to aver
that it was successful. The crime is
| After the conspiracy is shown, in the
language of the law, if one o. more of
the parties do any act to effect the OBJ
ject of the conspiracy, all the parties
shall be liable to the penalty.
1t is said, however, that the overt
acts charged in the second. third,
fourth and fifth counts, are not set
out with sufficient fullness to put the
accused on notice of the fraudulent
character imputed to their claims for
| labor and material. They contend that
the forgery of the names of guarantors
and other persons imputed in the in
dictment to Carter and Connolly is not
sufficiently set forth; that the fraud
ulent character of the claims present
ed to Carter for approval as engineer
officer by all of the conspirators and
approved or paid by him is too indefi-
mite. This contention might be true
if we were trying the accused solely
claims. 1t would seem proper on sep
arate indictments for that crime to
inform the accused of the nature and
character of the falseness or
fraud of which they were
i accused. AS far, however, as we
have as yet considered this Indictment
! that is not the character of the crime
charged. The crime is conspiracy, by
! means set forth, to defraud the gov
ernment in many ways. and as we have
seen that if any act, whether criminal
or lawful, is done by either of the
| conspirators to make that conspiracy
effectual, the crime is complete. The
| language of each of these counts
charges that forgery was done or
fraudulent claim was wilfully and
knowingly presented or paid in pursu-
ance of the conspiracy. How can it
be said that this does not put the ac-
cused upon fair notice of the overt
act they are to meet? The counts
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