The Washington times., 1904-02-27
MACHEN TRIAL COST
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

The trial Of the first of the Postoffice
cases, which ended last night in the
conviction Of August W. Machen.
George f. Lorenz, Diller b. eand Sam
uel a Grof-for conspiracy to defraud
the Government, stands out prominently
In the history OF criminal proceedings in
the District Supreme Court In fact.
going back over the past quarter OF
century, there are only two cases which
were adjudicated in the local courts
which demanded more public attention
ana interest than that just closed.
These are the trial of Charles ]. Gut
teau. for the assassination of President
Garfield, and the Star Route cases. both
OF which occupied the attention of the
trial court for a longer period than the
conspiracy case just ended
Forty Day Trial.
The trial Of the Northumberland
case was commenced January IL. and In
all occupied the attention OF the court
for forty working days. This time in
cludes that taken up in the selection OF
the jury, the taking Of testimony. argu-
ments TO the jury, and the charge OF
Justice Pritchard. The. trial, however,
actually covered a period of forty-nine
days.
In matter of the tirfAp consumed the
Star Route trial was the greatest ever
held in the local court. over six months
being taken to complete the case. In
this connection it may be stated thai
so far as the actual expenses of trial
are concerned. the Star Route case
stands out above the others.
The Guiteau Case.
The next in Importance and public in
terest was the trial of Charles j. Gut
teau for the murder OF President Car
field. This was begun on November H.
1881. and was submitted to the fury
February 3. 1882 The verdict of guilty
returned by the jury. however. did not
by any means end the litigation. 1t was
continued for some time after that. and
was only terminated by the affirmation
OF the trial court verdict by the Su-
preme Court Of the District
1t is a difficult matter to ascertain
the cost of any trial except approx
mately. In that Of the Machen case. a
thing worthy of note Is the quickness
with which a special panel of jurors
was selected. The selection of the jury
was begun on January u, and on the
day following, before noon, the panel
was complete.
Cost Of the Trial.
The original panel Of jurors for Grim
inal Court Of twenty-six was exhausted
without twelve special talesman being
chosen. Justice Pritchard then directed
that sixty extra talesmen be summoned
TO report for jury duty. From among
these the jury was completed on Wed
Eesday. January Is. AS to the cost of
the jury alone. the summoning of the
sixty extra talcsmen cost the Govern
ment $780, To this must be added the
pay for the special panel for the forty
nine days the trial continued, which
amounts to Sligo
Then comes the witness fees Forty
five witnesses were summoned to tes-
tify on behalf OF the Government Many
OF these come from distant States, and
besides having 10 pay them a per diem
OF 81. the Government was also com
PEELED 20 defray their travelling ex-
penses. The cost of this item, IL is be-
lieved, viii foot up several thousand
dollars In considering the cost Of wit
nesses the amount paid them must be
nearly doubled. because the great ma
jority Of those who testified at the
trial were also used as witnesses be-
fore the grand jury which reported the
Indictment against Mdchen, LorenZ
and the Groffs.
Big Counsel Fees
Another item which must be consid-
cred in the cost Of the case is the pay
Of the stenOgrapher. What the amount