Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-21
NOT GUILTY IS
VERDICT OF JURY
CASE DECIDED IN NINE
MINUTES
Identification of Man Accused of Eec-
ton Fraud Not Positive and
Evidence Is Not suf-
ficient

H. G. Vignes, a deputy sheriff, I'M
der charge of having attempted brib-
cry during the county primary cleo
tions of several weeks ago, was yes
terday acquitted of the charge by a
jury in department seven of the SUI e.
perior court after that body had had
the case under deliberation less than
nine minutes.
1t had been thought during the last
two days of the trial that Vignes
would go free, so there was neither ex-
citement nor nervousness shown by the
accused man or his friends when yes
terday afternoon soon after 8 O'Clock
the jurors filed slowly out to the Jury
room.
Nine minutes later the tap on the
door announcing the act that YER
dict had been reached was heard and
the report of not guilty to the charge
was promptly read. Vignes thanked
panied by his wife and his friends
left the court house
Accused of Bribery
The trouble for which Vignes was
arrested occurred during the primary
elections held in preparation for the
county conventions when Harry Carr,
riman, newspaper artist, were APP
preached by some electioneer who gave
them the names of certain men to vote
at voting booth near Eighth and
Figueroa.
The two young men did not vote the
names given them but an article was
printed next day in which Vignes was
said to be the man who perpetrated the
fraud. A cartoon of a medium sized
a N n1st1A Ill al
a heavy black mustache, was printed
with the story.
Two days later District Attorney
Fredericks carried the case before the
grand jury and an Indictment was is
sued for the arrest of Vignes. He
pleaded not guilty as charged and later
in fighting the indictment won his case
and was discharged from the custody
of the sheriff by Judge Trask of de-
partment four of the superior court,
the poor indictment being the ground
for the dismissal
Second Charge Filed
Vignes had hardly managed to es-
cape from that Indictment when anoth-
er based on two other sections of the
code were filed against him. He again
attempted to fight the case on techni-
cal grounds, attacking the validity of
number of objections to the charge.
But they failed to hold and Vignes.
after many delays and postponements,
finally came up for trial before a Jury
in department seven.
Harry Carr's identification of Vignes
was not as complete as it might have
been and the second witness for the
prosecution, George Herman, failed
entirely to recognize Vignes as the
ma Fnn hn1 % TOD 70. 1T.
Herriman's positive statement that he
did not think Vignes was the man
with whom he had talked went far
toward the accused mans acquittal
That was followed yesterday by evil
dence on the part of the defense Of
fered by Bark" Gibbons a Main
street saloon keeper, who was sup
posed to have introduced Carr and
Herman to Vignes, and another link
for the defense's alibi was proven when
Bark" after having been hailed into
court on bench warrant, testified
that he "never introduced nobody to
nobody"
White Testifles for Deputy
Sheriff White testified in behalf of his
deputy, further proving an alibi and
then Deputy County Clerk Jack Wright
was called to the stand as an exhibit
IN the case. Wright has black hair,
with an occasional streak of gray in
it, and has the same kind of mus
tache that Vignes wears. Wright's hat
resembles that usually worn by Wig
mes and Wright posed for the jury to
show that the cartoon might even
have been drawn as a likeness of him.
Several other men i'm the court room
were pointed out, and Vignes' release
seemed an assured thing.
The legality of the primary election
law was hardly touched upon by at
torneys in the case and the case went
10 the jury at $3.50, the jurors return
! ing their verdict In record time.