The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-28
TO BIZ JgR0NE'S BUSY MONTH.
TRIALS AND INQUIRIES SET DOWN
FOR SEPTEMBER.

Aspeciai Grand Jury viii he Locking Int
Equitable Affairs, and tho Humme
and Mathews Trials Are Fixed FOL
Sept. ls-Both Promise Surprises
In a week or so all the machinery Of the
criminal law conferred In the Criminal Courts
Building will have been thoroughly oiled
and set In motion for q noteworthy series
OF trials. Never before, the clerks say. have
90 many important cases been scheduled
for single month as in. September.
In addition TO the trials OF Lawyers Hum
mel. Mathews and LOWS Jarvis Wiokes,
the affairs Of che 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.
1t is the opinion Of Mr., Jerome and his
advisers that the Equitable case Is too in
volved and intricate for a regular Grand
Jury to handle and at the same time attend
10 the routine affairs Of the county Either
one or the other would have to be shunted
aside. Mr.. jerome realizes fully the i'm
portance and magnitude OF the Equitable
case but he does not believe that the Tombs
should become overorowded and the crimi-
nal business OF the county allowed to pile up
It 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 a knowledge Of the schemes OF the
old Equitable management and their legal
representatives. 1t is not improbable that
while the Legislative committee is con-
Quoting its investigation a 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
u 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 I'M
likely that the public will be treated to a
surprise when Armitage Mathews. secre-
tary OF the Republican county committee,
Ia put on trial. The case of Thomas Par
malice Wickes will be Of more than 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 tangle which
resulted in the indictment of Hummel,
ex-Justice Edgar l.. Fursman, BENJAMIN F.
Steinhardt, Charles F. Dodge and Edward
Bracken, a private detective, the COM
plexion Of the prosecutions cases against
Hummel has materially changed.
Capt Morse says he is responsible. in
directly and innocently, for the complica-
the Dodge divorce. He says that he hired
Hummel to investigate that divorce and
that the litigation that followed cost him
$4,000. 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 witness
against Hummel. He will not he the only
Interesting witness: Charles F. Dodge.
supplied with new false teeth 80 that the
bis testimony: will tell the story Of his flight
to Texas; of his efforts to keep out Of this
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. podge-Morse will be wit
neeses against Hummel.. Mr.. Morse has
been in France most Of the summer. Mrs.
Dodge-Morse has been in the same country.
Samuel Untermyer, Mr.. Morses counsel,
ks1 - =
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
has been assured that they will do every
At the present time there is nothing to
prevent the Hummel trial taking place on
the date fixed, Sept: IS. Mr.. Jerome is
ready and anxious to have 1t over. Several
times he has stated in court that it was his
Hummel, with twenty five years Of prao-
tse at the criminal bar. should have the
himself.
There have been so many delays in this
that II M. Jerome A brings L to trial before
the year is over he will have. accomplished
something unusual. Up to date no move
has been made by the Hummel forces
Enst wculG :nteEfere With the trial. lie
Iancey Nicoll will appear for Mr.. Hummel.
The trial Of Armitage Mathews, Abe
Gruber's handy man in the Twenty first
Assembly district, has also been set for
sept: 49, 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 |
BE- 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 81 600 |
check from David Rothschild, and out
line in the indictments against Mathews,
Wooten, Rothschild and Samuel l. Fer
Eson, growing out Of the looting Of the
Wesel estate.
Since Wooten and May F. Trimble, who
vas 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 strong
suspicion that she committed perjury,
and i is understood 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
Ia hot G~I of |