The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-10-18
.SABATE IS GUILTY
ON FIRST CHARGE
DID NOT TAKE JURY VERY LONG
TO DECIDE ON A CONVICTION.
HAD POOR DEFENCE.

The jury in the case of Jean Sabate,
charged with OBTAINING, delaying and
or9ning mail matter entrusted to him
az q carrier returned verdict of guilty
this morning in less than five minutes.
The verdict was guilty on all the eleven
counts in the indictment
The case was submitted after brief
arguments by counsel on both sides, and
a lengthy charge by Judge Estee. The
jury was allowed to use the courtroom
as a Jury room and arrived at a verdict
almost at once. The offense of which
Sabate stands convicted is punishable
by one years imprisonment and $500
fine for each of the eleven letters which
he retained in his possession instead of
delivering 1t to the addressee.
Judge Estee's charge to the jury con-
tained the following regarding the pos
tai service:
1T is the policy of the government
of the United States to protect all the
people therein from any improper or IL
legal handling of the mails. The office
of a letter carrier, while 1t may be an
inferior one in the postal service, as
compared with some other offices in
that department, is yet Of the gravest
Importance to the people in the district
where the incumbent of such office re-
ceives the mail for delivery to whom it
may be addressed. Under the employ
ment of the defendant as such letter
carrier, he was bound to deliver to the
person to whom it was addressed all
such mail matter, in letters, which was
or were entrusted to him or which had
come into his possession, for delivery as
such letter carrier; and he was bound
to deliver such letters or mail in the
condition in which he received the same
In other words such letters were to be
delivered intact, and without any de-
lay or detention"
Jean Sabate took the stand this MORN
ing i'm Judge Estee's court, and was the
| only witness for the defense. The gen.
eral theory of the defense proved to be
denial of the charges, and intimations
| that f.. S. Gill and Mrs. Gill, the prin-
! cipal witnesses against Sabate, were
! prejudiced against him. Sabate de-
! clared that Gill had tried to get him to
/ take a position as assistant in the water
| front shipping business of Turk Le-
wis. This was during the month when
! the Heavenly Twins went to Oahu Jail,
and Mrs Turk with the aid of Gill, Nept
/ the business up. Sabate said that he
refused to go into the business, and
/ that later Gin tried to make him ship
%, a sailing vessel Il refused to go
and the next day swore out warrant
accusing me of larceny" said Sabate.
Attorney Vivas handed the bunch of
] % letters dlleBGu 70 nave GCtl dNlcllliNu
| to Sabate and asked him IL he had had
them in his possession or had detained
them, when he was a carrier. He look
ed them over, and denied that he had
kept them. He declared that he had
delivered all letters given to him, or had
returned them to the postoflice.
Under cross-eXamination by Breckons
Sabate said that he was a native of
France, and had not been naturalized,
though he had volunteered in the
Spanish war. He denied that he had
taken oath that he was an American
citizen, when he took the civil service
examination and secured position in
the American postal service.
You are familiar with the methods
of doing business in the postoffice, are
you not?" asked Breckons.
The witness replied that he was and
he was then asked the following ques-
ton, 81 times, with reference to each of
the letters introduced as exhibits in the
case: Il will ask you, If in the ordinary
course of business, judging by the
marks on this letter. it would have come
into your possession on the date
stamped on its face?' To this question
the witness answered Yes in nearly
all the cases. He qualified the state
ment later by saying he could not be
positive that he had ever really had
any of the letters. He declared that
the basket in which the letters were
found at Glrs house had been left
empty by him.