Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-15
CONSIDERING THE PRAYERS.
Regular Jurors in Criminal Court Elk
cused Until Thursday Next

ular jurors were excused until next Thurs
day morning ard the special panel sitting
In the Machen-Croff-L orenz case until 1:;0
o'clock this afternoon, the court explaining
that IF the consideration of prayers for
Instructions is not completed by that time
the jury may then go for the remainder Of
the day. r
The government offered two additional
prayers. One had to- do with the state
ments made by certain of the defendants
to post office Inspectors and the other re-
lated to reasonable doubt. Justice Pritch-
ard disposed of the matter by announcing
that he will charge that the statements re-
ferred to shall not have any effect on the
defendants other than those who uttered
them. The court added that he will in
struct the jury that, 1t SHOULD not conju-e
up ina ginary doubts for the purpose of
avoiding the performance Of disagreeable
duty"
Prayers for the Defense.
The consideration of prayers, thirty in
number. offered by the defense, was then
taken up Counsel for the government Of
fered objection to nearly all of them and
extended discussion followed. The conclu-
sion reached in substance, regarding the
instructions to be given the jury by JUS
tice Pritchard at the instance of the de-
Tense follows:
The jury will be instructed that the de-
PENDANTS are presumed to be innocent until
their guilt is established by such evidence
as will exclude every reasonable doubt. A
presumption of innocence, the court will
say, attends the defendants throughout ev
cry stage of the trial, until that presume
ton is overcome by proof that satisfies the
minds of the Jurors beyond a reasonable
doubt that they are guilty of the crime
charged. This presumption is not overcome
by mere preponderance Of the evidence,
not by any weight of preponderant evil
dence but it stands the shield of the
accused through every stage of the trial,
until overcome by proof of their guilt be-
yond a reasonable doubt, and by the term
reasonable doubt" the law means that
the evidence of their guilt as charged must
be clear, positive and abiding. fully salts
flying the minds and consciences Of the
jury.
1t is not suff1ci to Justify a verdict of
guilty that there may be strong suspicion,
or even strong probabilities of guilt, that
the evidence must establish the fact Of
guilt to a moral certainty, and must pre-
clude every reasonable hypothesis except
that of the guilt of the defendants.
The jury will be further instructed that
the charge in all of the counts of the indict-
ment is that the defendants entered into
conspiracy the object of which was to de-
fraud the United States and that after
such conspiracy one or more of the parties
thereto did some overt act with the intent
to effect this object. The issues to be de-
termined are whether the alleged conspir-
acv was entered into with an actual intent
to defraud the United States, and whether
any one or more of the parties to such con-
spiracy SO entered INTO qua an overt act
VII, VIII tne 'isen e ~ $500 sucm opIsI.
uona p % rassonabie donht and IN faUor of
t tu ,o,,arnn,ent,a contant,on thn INV x,,i,i
.ne sose. ii,s ,,a,5ot $3.50 ~ e e 1uiy W."
pe toio, tte sfandants 20 us NJ. suai.y as
70 an VI Inc oeio0'' - any '"o VI iioie
cohspifeo. % ~.
Outy Va eAe ofy'
1t will be the duty of the jury, first. to
da+ermine vbetber there was consniracv
ue'e, NM Nc Ir,,sto. c.e. ooispna oy
10 oeIrauo Tue, oeu STATES ~ manner
and form as seq ,aorth Ia the Indictment. In
deciding this question the jury must keep
IN mind ALWAYS the legal presumntion that
~. aasosa".t. aras Y,nnooa,t a,,s ~.
the oeiehuai's un' anu ina. no
conspiracy exlsleo' until II is proved to
their satisfact9na heyona reasonable
doubt. III they ana the existence OF such
conspiracy the finding must be based solely
and entirely upon the evidence as adduced
in the case II ne tacIs ana circumstances