The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-14
TESTIMONY ALL IN
HESTER CASE WILL GO TO JURY
 TO-DAY.
A Number of Witnesses introduced to show ChaEacter of Railway Mail Clerk Accused
 of Robbery.

Eugene Hester. the former railway
 mail clerk, who is on trial in the Fed eral Court for the alleged embezzle- ment of registered letters containing about $3,000 from his car in January, 1905. will probably know before tonight whether the District Attorney has pro- duced proof enough of his guilt to war rant the jury finding him guilty be yond a reasonable doubt"
 Both the Government and defendant had submitted all of their evidence when the court adjourned for luncheon yesterday and one lawyer for each side presented an argument to the jury in the afternoon.
 During the morning the Government
 examined Postoffice Inspector McCrea. now of Butte. Mont, but who at the ! time of the alleged robbery was sta tioned here and who worked up the
 case in connection with Inspector H. F. Thiele of Mobile. Inspector McCrea
 was examined to refute the allegation of the defendant that the inspectors had used undue influence with the grand jury to secure an indictment against Hester. and that they had in- | timidated Railway Clerk RichardNon to prevent him testifying. The defendant had claimed that at first the grand jury failed to indict Hest. .r and that a true bill was not found until the jury had been told that McCrea would lose his position If they failed to indict. It was proved by Mir.
 Nfccrea and United States Marshal Jud-
 kiI,s that the jury did not refuse to in- dict at any time, but that there was some delay in taking the testimony on account of the absence of the wit nesses.
 | W. w. wadsworth of Fillmore County
 a prominent lumber man, was intro duced by the prosecution to show that
 Hester had previously been in trouble of about the same nature as that for
 which he Is being tried.
 The cross examination was made very spicy for Colonel Wiley for the
 defense who undertook to inlpeach the l character of Mir. Wadsworth. Other
 witnesses were also introduced to show that Hester had previously had bad l reputation.
 1 Assistant District Attorney Thigpen who opened argument for the Govern ment at the afternoon session called | the attention of the jury to the fact Il that offences such as that of which
 Hester is accused are almost invariably 1 committed by men who had previously | had good regulations, and that charac- ter witnesses, therefore, did not count for much. He said that if a mans reputation was not good he was not l employed He showed, however, that
 a good reputation did not mean a good | character. MT. Thigpen reviewed the 1 evidence and showed the jury where the Government insisted that the cir cumstantial evidence warranted convic- | ticn,
 One of the lawyers for the defense
 followed Mir. ThiRpen. He insisted that
 the defendant was being persecuted
 and that the postotfice inspectors had
 been too zealous in hunting evidence against him.
 Just after the morning session an
 other lawyer for Hester argued before Judge Jones in chambers certain ques' tons of law wherein the case of the Government was, he claimed. faulty He showed that witnesses had not beer Introduced to show that the packageI alleged to have been stolen by Hester diA not reach the Hanover National Bank and the others to whom the pack ages were addressed.
 1 colonei Wiley for the defense and
 District Attorney Parsons for the Gov