Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-31
|D[V|NE IS ACQUITTED
Jury in the District Court Says
Insanity Commissioner is
Not Guilty.
Acquitted of the Charge of Will
fully Extortine Fees from
the County.
-. r.,. n g
Lively Tilt During Progress Of
Trial.Smith Pleads Guilty
..Court Doings.


sanity commission, has been acquitted
by jury in the district court of the
charge of wilful extortion, preferred by
the grand jury last November.
The case was given into the jury's
hands at 80 o'clock this forenoon.
and at 3 o'clock the verdict was
reached. This outcome of the case was
generally expected and desired by a
great majority of the people of the city
and county. 1t was the last of the
cases brought against county officials
under indictment by the grand jury at
the November term of court. Now that
DR.. Devine has been acquitted of the
charge and exoneraetd of all dishon-
est intentions and actions in the matter
of fees for services as insanity COM
missioner, he will deposit with the
county treasurer or county board the
full amount of the fees which he was
allowed over and above those he is
permitted by the latest construction of
the law to receive.
The testimony was not lengthy and
was concluded before the adjournment
of court Thursday. County Auditor
f. w. Hargrave, Clerk S. p. Knisely
and County Treasurer c. n. Smith
were the main witnesses for the state,
Mr.. Smith testifying to the payment of
the bills of DR.. Devine as insanity
commissioner on warrants issued by the
auditor, the auditor saying he issued
the warrants on approval of the bills
by the clerk. and the clerk testifying
that he had followed the rules and GUS
toms of his predecessors in regard to
the bills of the members of the COM
mission. For the defense DR.. Devine
and ex-County Clerk j. c. Bullock
gave evidence. Mr.. Bullock testifying
to instructing the defendant how to
make out his bills when he first be-
came member of the commission.
and that the instructions We're in ac
cordance with the custom OF the past
twenty years.
During the progress of the trial and
just before the conclusion of the tesi-
nfony Thursday evening the proceed
ings were enlivened by an unfortunate
episode. County Attorney Stone, who
was prosecuting the case, engaged in
several arguments with the attorney
for the defense when the latter made
objections to some of his questions
the county attorney giving thu
court no opportunity to rule on the
objections. Judge Caswell cautioned
him several times without avail, when
a sharp passage at words ensued and a
remark that implied a threat was
made by Mr.. Stone. An apology was
demanded by the court and was grace
fully made by the county attorney.
and the hearing then proceeded as II
nothing had occurred. The episode
created considerable of a. sensation
among the spectators. Messrs. Brad
ford, Boardman and Pierce and few
others were interested onlookers dur
ing the trial.
At the conclusion of the evidence
DIR. Deyine's attorney moved that the
court order the jury to return YER
dict in favor Of the defendant. The
motion was made largely upon the
same grounds as We're those in the
Shoemaker and Northup cases at the
November term, which were sustained
by Judge Burnham, then presiding.
Several reasons for this motion were
presented, chief among which were
the following: That the defendant
was indicted for "wilfully and cor
ruptly demanding fees not allowed by
law. while there was no evidence in
troduced by the state to show wilfui
or corrupt intent and the defendant
had no knowledge at the time that he
was not entitled to the same that it
was incumbent on the state to show
beyond reasonable doubt that when
the fees were demanded and when the
bill was presented and the money paid
the defendant did not believe he was
entitled to the same; that the crime
for which he was indicted was that of
extorting fees, and in order to consti-
tute that crime the claim and bill must
have been secured by some force, or
menace, or other Illegal means, and
that there was no testimony to show
this, or that there was any wilful or
corrupt intent. After the IEesentation
of the motion the court adjourned for
the day.
y This morning the motion to instruct
the jury to return verdict for the de-
PENDANT was argued but was overruled
by Judge Caswell, who instructed the
jury. The instructions were very i'm
plicit on the charge specified in the in
dictment, that of wilful and corrupt ex-
tortion, and 1t was plainly told that
unless there was sufficient evidence to
show that the overcharge in fees had
been made wilfully and corruptly, and
with the knowledge that they were not
allowed by law, then the jury should
return verdict of not guilty. Those
who were conversant with the facts
and the evidence and who heard the in
structions of the court regarding the
law predicted an early agreement on
the part of the jury and the immediate
acquittal of DIR. Devine, unless there
should be some narrow minded mem
Der of the jury who would allow his po-
litical prejudices to obscure his views
of justice and right.
The following jury served in this
case: f. d. Keople, Stephen Shank,
F.. K. Middleton, H. Gle, Charles
Mack, J. O. Allen, /. S. Finkle, M. G.
Hanson, Ned Brace, j. Il. Smith, Ar
chic Clemens and William Jackson.
Six of these jurymen are democrats,
according to the statement of I. F..
Bradford.
SMITH PLEADS GUILTY.
G. w. Smith, the Gilman hotel pro-
prietor who was indicted on charge
of maintaining nuisance. has entered
plea of guilty to the charge. AS an
Injunction has been issued restrain
ing him from selling intoxicants, 1t Is