Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-24
CLIMAX OF INTEREST
Large Crowd at the Post
Office Trial Today.
ARGUMENT RESUMED
MR.. DOUGLASS, FOR DEFENSE,
AGAIN BEFORE JURY.
Concludes Address at 2:45 O'Clock and
MI. Conrad Appears for
the Government.

The trial of the famous postal cases VIII
soon be a matter of history. For Tour
hours today the jury listened patiently 10
the last appeal by counsel for the acquittai
of August w. Machen George Il. Lorenz,
Diller b. Croft and Samuel A. GroH on
charges Of conspring to defraud the gov
eminent through the sale of the Gron
letter box fastener
Mr.. Charles A. Douglass, the last OF the
counsel for the defense, resumed the stana
this morning after having occupied the
entire day yesterday, and talked until late
this afternoon, when he was followed by
Maj Holmes Conrad. special counsel fof
the government. whose argument will con-
clude the case The charge to the jury VIII
in all probability be delivered tomorrow
forenoon by Justice Prichard. 4@e :
From the general atmosphere in the court
room this morning it was evident that the
climax of interest has been reached. stand
ing room was at premium, ana as last
as seats were vacated by those who came
early they were reoccupied by persons VINO
had been standing for hours. -a,tss. J
AS the end of the tedious trial draws
nearer the proportion OF ladies among the
spectators increases, and an unuSudny
large number were present today. The de-
PENDANTS were all In court early. and all
the attorneys, with the single exception OIL
Assistant Attorney General Purdy. were on
hand -
Mrs Machen, Mrs. Lorenz and Mrs. Phil
lipps a sister of Mr.. Machen, were pres
ent and followed closely the progress OF
Mr.. Douglass.
Mr.. Conrad Grows Weary.
Major Conrad displayed tie effects of the
long strain, and frequently closed his eyes.
But he was far from being drowsy, and
if he thought Mr.. Douglass misquoted a
foi LODI n the de-
duction from the evidence which has been
introduced in the case Mr.. Conrad would
lean forward. wide awake, and correct the
speaker or admonish him to abide by the
facts S proved
Colloguys were frequent, and Justice
Pritchard took it upon himself occasion
ally to hurry things along by instructing
Mr.. Douglass to Proceed with the arsu-
ment These colloquys are too frequent
In opening this morning Mr. Douglass
picked up the thread OF his argument
where he abandoned it yesterday after
noon. and recalled to the minds of the
jurors the points already established. He
laid great emphasis upon the transactions
between Machen, Lorenz and the Groffs,
and urged that they showed nothing UNI
natural nothing remarkable and nothing
unbusiness like.
He characterized the defendants as hon
est men, and said Machen had proved to
be one of the most competent officials who
ever held down a desk in Washington,
with $50 subordnates In Washington ana
70 0G0 subordinates in the United States all
of whom believe in his honesty and ability
and all of whom cry to you for his ac-
quitta1. and the acquittal Of his alleged
co-conspiratCrs.
A Personal Attack.
In the course of his speech this forenoon
Mr.. Douglass drifted into a rather severe
personal attack upon Mr.. Purdy, assistant
attorney general. who opened the argu-
ments for the government.
He called him liking magician whose
artistic ability a juggler of facts and
figures challenges that of the weird and
famous conjurors of India" He charged
Mr.. Purdy with deliberately leaving out
certain evidence which would rebound to
the discredit Of the governments cause.
and with Extracting from this mesh of
figures what best suited his purpose and
what best served that misnomer, the cause
of the people,