Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-12-14
to the EvBNING NEWS:

Special to the EVENING NEWS
NEW BRUNSWICK, Dec. IL
Because they brought in verdict of
mot guilty in the trial of the four
election officials in New Brunswick,
who. disfranchised over 500 Ameri-
can citizens in the sixth ward of New
Brunswick in the election of 1904,
Justice Jonathan Dixon censured the
the jury severely last night. He
said that they were not fit to serve as
jurymen and he told them to go
home and not to return to that court
again.
He said that the privilege of suf-
frage is one of the most precious
rights of an American citizen. To
deprive men of that privilege, he
said, was an outrage, but to acquit
the officers was fresh outrage. Not
only were the voters disfranchised,
he said, but the verdict is a reflection
upon the community and blow at
the rights of the people. He declar-
ed the members of the jury to be in
capable of their trust
A Previous Verdict.
This verdict was not the first one
brought in by the jury. They had
come in first at $50 O'Clock, after
being out for four hours, and their
verdict was that the four members
of the election board, Philip Reilly,
James F. Dunlap, Thomas Corrigan
and William Rastall were mot will
fully guilty
II. k,JI hot hoy
could not bring In such a comprom-
ise verdict as that and that the de-
PENDANTS were either guilty or not
guilty. He ordered them back to the
Jury room to reconsider
Lawyer Alan Strong, of counsel
for the two republican members of
the board, objected to his sending the
jury out again. Justice Dixon cen
sured Lawyer Strong and said that
he had been a lawyer long enough
to know better than that
The jury had taken several ballots
prior to returning their first verdict.
For long time the members stood in
the ratio of 2 to 1 for acquital.
The Jurymen.
The members of the jury who were
severely censured were: Ernst l..
Stults, of Cranbury, foreman; Frank
B. McGill, of Cranbury; William
M. Cox, of Cranbury; Spencer
Perrine, of Cranbury; Elmer Park
inson, of East Brunswick; Oscar e
Erickson, of East Brunswick; jacob
Reed, of New Brunswick; Thomas L.
Dixon, of Raritan; William Reed, Jr.,
of Madison; Walter A. Green, of
Madison; Frank Neer, of Perth Am
boy; and George Messerold, of North
Brunswick.
Justice Dixon's Charge.
Justice Dixon's charge at the close
of the case was a remarkable one be-
cause of its plainness and the courage
with which the court handled the
case. In a political case of this sort
the court seldom expresses itself so
crearly and forcibly as did Justice
Dixon, who very plainly indicated to
the jury that he believed the two
democratic officials had done their
full duty and that the republican Of
ficers were the ones who had pre-
vented the election by not fulfilling
their duties under the law
The charge was complete sur
prise to many in the court room and
almost took the breath away of the
republican officers and their counsel.
All of the many lawyers present were
very open in declaring that they had
never heard a more forceful charge
and all were of the opinion that the
jury, unless they disagreed, had
nothing else to do but find the repub-
lican officers guilty under that
charge. 1t was held by all that the
court would set aside any conviction
of the democratic officers If the jury
rendered such verdict
Republicans Did Not Like 1t.
Lawyer Strong took exception to
several parts of the charge and to
the entire charge in general on be-
half of his clients, but Justice Dixon
Thought he had better wait until a
COPY of the charge was received from
the stenographer, as the memoranda
made by the lawyer did not have the
exact wording of the charge. Law
yer Adrain took no exception to the
charge for the democratic officers.
In his charge Justice Dixon did
not designate the defendants as DEM
ocrats or republicans but called them
by name. Messrs. Reilly and Dunlap
are the two democratic officials and
Messrs. Rastall and Corrigan the re-
publicans,
rho charge was practically as fol-
lows: