Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-29
DEMURRER SUSTAINED
Case Of Chicago Packers Under
Indictment.
ABATE M E Mt PLEA
BEEF TRUST CASES MAY COME TO
TRIAL
Probably at October Term Of Court
Technicalities Into Con-
sideration.

CHICAGO, September 20. - Federal
Judge ]. Otis Humphrey today sustained
the demurrer filed by United States Dis
trict Attorney Morrison to the plea in
abatement made by packers, seeking to
have indictments for alleged restraint Of
trade declared void. Judge Humphrey
said he made his decision on broad
grounds, without taking into considera-
tion technicalities which the government
advanced against the plea in abatement.
Attacked Alleged Secrecy.
The plea in abatement attacked the al
legged secrecy maintained about the draw
ing of the grand jury. 1t was alleged that
the names of the jurymen, after they had
been drawn, were withheld from the de-
PENDANTS. This plea was supplemented by
the declaration that it is the constitutional
right of every man to know beforehand
who is to try a case in which he is inter-
eSted.
person, Assistant District Attorney God
man, had been in the grand jury room and
took stenographic notes; later these notes
were transcribed and returned to the jury
Tor Its consideration. In this plea the de-
Tending attorneys failed to make proper
sense, the failure being due to the elimina-
tion of the word for The phrase in
question which the defendants wished to
amend follows:
After said recess the said grand jury
heard the testimony of small number of
witnesses, to wit twenty, and that during
further deliberations of the said grand Jury
said grand jury sent to said district attor-
ney the alleged transcript of the testimony
or some of the witnesses whom they had
heard, and thereupon the said district at
torney sent to said grand jury in response
to said requests what purported to be tram
scripts of the notes Of the said so-calIed
stenographers.
The part of the plea the defendants wish
ed to amend with the word for is where
1t reads: Said grand jury sent to said t.-s-
trict attorney the alleged transcript" The
defendants wish to have the word "for" in
serted after the word attorney
Trial in October.
1t is likely that the jury for the trial
will be drawn about the middle of October
After the decision had been given the de-
Tending attorneys tried to amend the fourth
plea by the insertion Of the word for
This met with resistance from the district
attorney, but the court promised that If
the law was clear on the point he would
allow 1t. The government is said to fear
a trick in the insertion of the one word
The district attorney moved that the de-
PENDANTS plead to the indictment. 1t was
announced that demurrer is to be filed
by the packers, attacking the face of tie
entire indictment as far as defects and in
defendants were ordered by the court &c
plead next Thursday morning. the pleadings
to be taken up in argument before Judge
Humphrey by the following Monday. In
the meantime a bill of exceptions is to pe
prepared by the defendants to the ruling
made by Judge Humphrey today Excep-
tlons were taken by all of the defendants
to the courts ruling on every count in las
plea. This was for the purposes of appeal
after the trial.
One of the points in the pleading which
attracted considerable attention, and which
the court declared had given him some
dlHlcdlty was in regard to the right of
Judge 5. II. Bethea to receive the return
or the indictment. 1t was argued by the
defense that he was sitting in the eastern
division OF the northern district of Illinois,
and received an indictment voted in the
northern division of the northern district
OF Illinois. The district attorney declared
that If the law of March g. 1905, which
created the position now held by the Judge.
and also rearranged the districts, was con-
strued against his contentious, there was
no court and there was no judge, and
there was no return of the Indictment The
court surprised almost every one in court
when he read from President Roosevelt's
message in the Congressional, Record of
last November, In which it is declared that
Judge Bethea was appointed as a successor
to Judge c. c. Kohlsaat, promoted from
the district court to the circuit court This
promotion gave Judge Bethea the right to
accept the return of an Indictment voted in
the old district.