The sun., 1905-08-28
10 BE- JEROME'S BUSY MONTH.
rRIALSAND INQUIRIES SET DOWN
FOR SEPTEMBER.

A Special Grand Jury viii he Looking Into
Eauitable Affairs, and the Humnei
ana Mathews Trials Arc Fixed for
sept. lS--Both Promise Surprises.
IN a week or 40 all the machinery Of the
criminal law conferred in the Criminal Courts
Building will have been thoroughly oiled
and set In motion for noteworthy series
OF trials Never before, the clerks say have
30 many important cases been scheduled d
for a single month as In September.
In addition to the trials Of Lawyers Hum
mel. Mathews and Lewis Jarvis Wickes
the affairs OF the Equitable Life Assurance
Society under its old management will
probably get a pretty thorough ventilation
In the Grand Jury room and the District
Attorneys office. 1t Is almost certain
that special Grand Jury will be empaneled
for the Equitable investigation.
It is the opinion Of Mr.. Jerome and his
advisers that the Equitable case Is too in
volved and intricate for regular Grand
Jury to handle and at tho same time attend
TO the routine affairs Of the county. Either
one or the other would have to be shunted
aside. Mr.. jerome realizes fully the i'm
portanoe and magnitude Of the Equitable
case, but he does not believe that the Tombs
should become overcrowded and the crimi-
nal business Of the county allowed to pile up.
1t is known that Mr.. Jerome has been
quietly digging into the Equitable scandal
and he has accumulated considerable
material TO form the basis for Grand Jury
proceeding. He has examined several
persons who are directly involved or who
have knowledge OF the schemes Of the
old Equitable management and their legal
representatives. 1t is not improbable that
while the Legislative committee is con-
ducting It's investigation special Grand
Jury will also be in session. Mr.. Jerome
is understood to have every confidence
in Messrs. Hughes and McKeen, counsel
for the Armstrong committee and there
is not likely to be any friction between
these two forces. So on or about Sept. ii,
or maybe before then, some action may be
expected from Mr. Jerome.
OF the three trials in which lawyers are
the defendants. that Of Abraham H. Hum
mel has excited the most interest, although,
since the disclosures made by John w.
Wooten and May F. Trimble, it is not un-
likely that the public will be treated to .
surprise when Armitage Mathews. secre-
taIy of tho Republican county committee,
is put on trial. The case OF Thomas Par
maRe NNhee Will po Vi ihoIe liidii passing
interest.
Since Capt. James Morse Of Maine, uncle
of Charles w. Morse. went before the Grand
Jury and gave a new version Of the Dodge
Morse marriage and divorce tange which
resulted in the indictment Of Hummel
ex-Justice Edgar l.. Fursman, Benz jamin F.
Steinhardt, Charles F. Dodge and Edward
Bracken, a private detective. the COM
ple1ion Of the prosecutions g cases against
n,p Sal koav rtalI In ,ha
Capt. Morse says he is responsible, in
directly and innocently, for the complca-
the Dodge divorce, He says that he hired
b. Hsm% mel t. nyes'ste @ awea that aoTss on S Snd
SIS ,O0o He has told Mr.. Jerome who got
the money. 1t is understood that he will
supply the evidence that will show how it
was spent.
OF course Capt. Morse will be a witness
against Hummel. He win not be the only
interesting witness. Charles F. Dodge.
supplied with new false teeth 80 that the
jury may have no trouble in understanding
his testimony, will tell the story Of his flight
Jurisdiction; Of who prompted him to flee
and supplied him with money, urging him
on to dissipation that came within an inch
OF killing him, and Of the fight that was
Court to keep him from the clutches Of
Jerome.
But the trump cards Of the prosecution
will be Charles W. Morse and Mrs Dodge
Morse. 1t can be stated on authority
Morse and Mrs. Dodge Morse will be wit
nesses against Hummel. Mr. Morse has
been in France most Of the summer Mrs.
Dodge Morse has been in the same country.
Samuel Untermyer, Mr.. Morse's counsel,
time for the Hummel trial. 1t is quite
possible that Mr.. Untermyer has seen Mr..
Morse and Mrs Dodge-Morse on the other
side, but whether he has or not makes
little, difference, as the DISTRICT Attorney
thing in their power to aid the prosecution.
At the present time there is nothing to
prevent the Hummel trial taking place on
the date fixed, Sept: 1s. Mr.. Jerome is
ready and anxious to have it over. Several
wish that such an astute lawyer as Mr..
Hummel, with twenty-five years Of prac-
tse at the criminal bar, should have the
earliest earliest possible opportunity to vindioate
There have been so many delays in this
case, however, that many. persons think
that II Mr.. Jerome brings 1t to trial before
the year is over he will have accomplished
has been mads BY the Hqmmel forces
Lancey Sicoll viii appear for Mr.. Hummei.
The trial Of Armitage Mathews, Abe
druberS handy man IN the IwenCy-nrS
Assembly district. has also been set for
Sept. Is. Mr.. Jerome's object in fixing
the Hummel and Mathews trials for the
same date was to enable him to go on with
one should there be any legal obstacle
to the trial Of the other. Mr.. Mathews
says he is ready for trial and confident that
he will be acquitted.
Something OF the charge against Mathews
has been told in the trial OF John w. Wooten,
who was convicted Of stealing a 81 900
check from David Rothschild, and out
lined in the indictments against Mathews.
Wcoten, Rothsohild and Samuel I. Fer
gison, growing out Of the looting Of the
Weisel estate.
Since Wooten and MAY F. Trimble, who
was stenographer in the Federal Bank.
have taken the District Attorney into their
confidence it is understood that additional
evidence has been secured against Mathews.
The Trimble girls testimony at the Wooten |
trial was such that Mr.. Jerome had a strong |
suspicion that she committed perjury, |
and it is underatood that that suspicion has |
now been verified by the girl herself. She
mas implicated a we'll known lawyer
not Mathews-and even before Mathews
is tried that lawyer may find himself