Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-16
crime committed by men of mature years.

crime committed by men of mature years.
The speaker dweit at length on the i'm
portance of the duty that has devolved on
the jury. TIE Latter is called upon to pre-
serve the government from rotting ard de-
caying. No government can endure If 1t
permits corruption to continue.
1T is just a 9 important to the government
that these defendants be acquitted If inno-
cent" said Mr.. Purdy. las it is that they
be convicted If guilty. All that is asked of
you. gentlemen of the jury, is a verdict
that is honest conscientious and right, =
Mr.. Purdy then directed his attention to
1.-The sea of fact connected with the case.
He recfted the provisions of section 5440
of the Revised Statutes of the United States,
and explained that the defendants are not
on trial for ''defrauGing'' the United
States. but are accused of "conspir,ng to
defraud'' the United States 1t was not
necessary that the conspiracy should prove
the defendants should c9nspire to do a
certain thing-the law does not contemplate
an actual consummation of the purpose
The speaker commented on the fact that
in conspiracy charge the crime can only,
be proved by circumstantial evidsnce--by
showing the relations of the parties and the
acts that they do. He confidently express
ed the belief that the jury would be, con-
WINGED. beyond reasonable doubt, OF
the guilt of the defendants.
Il intend to convince You of the guilt Of
these defendants out of their own mouths.
declared Assistant Attorney General Purdy.
II will devote little time to the govern
ment's case. will take the defense and
convince you of the guilt of the defend
ants
1t was admitted. Mr. Purdy continued,
that Mr.. Machen had the authority to pur-
chase supplies. and that he had the power
to and did reduce the price of the Croft
fastener from $1.50 to $1.25
Mr.. Douglass Interrupts.
Attorney Douglass interrupted to say that
the defense had admitted no such thing.
This induced Attorney Holmes Conrad to
suggest that ruling be made that counsel
should not be interrupted while arguing to
the jury. Mr.. Purdy ended the controversy
by announcing that the jury should be
guided by their remembrance Of the testi-
mOny and not by his recollection of the
same.
Continuing. Mr.. Purdy reviewed the story
of the ordering of Croft fasteners, of the
payments made to the Groffs, of the re-
mittances by them to Lorenz. of the drafts
forwarded to Machen, and of the deposlting
of the same by Maehen in the bank at
Westminster. Md. In view of these occur
renceS. the speaker asserted, no one would
have hesitated in placing the matter be-
fore a grand jury.
With the facts cited before Them Ma
chen's official superiors asked him for an
explanation. In reply lie called for an
investigation. saying he was not conscious
of having done any wrong.
How did he make good?'' remarked Mr..
Purdy. When asked regarding his trans
actions his answer was Private business
Did he say anything about note for So
900? We never heard of that note until
this trial began.
Assistant Attorney General Purdy next
pointed out what he described as 1.-The very
ingenious scheme the defendants con-
GREETED. They adopted u scheme that had
all the earmarks of a legitimate trausac-
ton And for eight years it worked beau
hfulfy. Nobody. not even Mrs. Lorenz,
knew of the transaction in which LorenZ
and the Groffs were engaged d. B. G1ofI
would mail check to Lorenz for ~ per
cent of the amount Croft had received in
be returned to GroT and an examination
of the bank ledger would not throw any
light on the deal
"Lorenz was the 'go-be tween between
Machea and the Groffs'' Mr.. Purdy con-
tended. He is the man who was pa ID to
take the chances. He had several bank ac-
counts He deposited the money received
from Croft to his w.fe's credit He de-
posted SS0,c10 to her credit so that she
could pay small bills in connection with
her daughters marriage
MIR. Purdy declared that IL Mr.. Lorenz
had kept an account at one bank only the
fact that one-half OF every remittance he
received from this city was Immediately
sent back here from Toledo would have
been suspicious TO the bank officials There
fore, he had accom- with several banks
and shifted from one to another so that
the records OF any one of them would not
show just what transactions had been car
ried
Rests on Defendants Statements.
The spez ker re tera .cd his. ranaarx tb n 7, a