Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-21
Last Attempt to Quash PROCEEDINGS Fails
and Hearing is Inevitable.
PROCESS OF DRAWING Jury NOW ON
Que Of Most Notable Cases of Kind Ever
Before Federal Court,
CONSPIRACY TO OtFRAUD FIRST CHARGE
illegally Fencing vast Areas of Cow
ernment Land and Failure TO
Remove Enclosures Climax
of the Case.

and cattlcmen of Nebra ska, must A, Al
on tho merits OF their cases an ~
the satisfaction Of a jury In tn, @, 4.
court. II thoy would escape a hea ~
and penitentiary sentence. that the.
not conspire to defraud the government
land transsctio. 8. nor Illegally fence te
ritory for their stock. And with Richards
and Comstock several other big cattlemen /
of the state are forced into court.
Such Is the result Of the ultimate failure |
OF counsel for defense TO beat down the |
effect Of the grand jury indictments by /
warfare OF legal technicaIities. In turn, the /
motion to annul the proceedings on the /
grounds OF the illegality of the jury COM |
misslouers incumbency. TO quash the in Z!
dictment ana the general demurrer to the !
finding Of tho court were overruled and !
the last obstruction to one OF the biggest /
land trials in tho country were swept away
The motion to quash che indictments
against Bartlett Richards, w. G.. Comstock
and Seven other defendants in the land
conspiracy cases was ovcrruled Tuesday
morning by Judge Munger. The defendants
at once fled a, general demurrer to the
finding of the court, which was promptly
uverrued by Judge Munger The plea
in abatement sci up by the defense
in the case, wherein it was sought to
annul the indictment because OF the al
legged ineligibility of the jury commissioner,
DIR. George Tiden who assisted the dis
trict clerk in drawing the jury which found
the Indictment in the case, was denied by
Judge Munger Monday morning.
Every Point Denied.
The motion to quash the indictment was
Overruled on practically every point set up
by the defense, including the insufficiency
of the allegations charged the language Of
I the afhdavits. duplieity. completed offense.
overt act and mis1oinder. The first thirty
eight counts OF the indictment apply to
conspiracy to defraud the government out
Of USE possession and title to the lands
and conspiracy 10 suborn perjury. The last
two counts of the indictment refer 10 the
fencing OF the lands in question illegally
and d virtually duplicate oftense. but
according to the opinion of the court they
could be tried together, although the pen
atty in the two groups Of counts would be
individually different, In the conspiracy
counts the maximum sentence would be
two years Imprisonment and $4,000 fine.
while IN the fencing counts the penalty
would be not to exceed one years impris-
onment and $1,000 fine
The attorneys for the defense insisted that
the attorneys for the government should
elect upon which counts they proposed 10
proceed to trial The court left this matter
20 the agreement of the attorneys.
At yesterday afternoons session the ques-
tion OF eliminating the two last counts of
the indictment again came up and District
Attorney Goss stated that the government
would not dismiss the last two counts as
"after consulting established authorities in
such cases it was not necessary to do so.''
The Court-If you find this to be an error
you are responsible for It.
Mr.. Goss-We so understand.
Mr.. Bronze. OF Counsel for the Defense
We object to going to trial on the first
thrty-eight counts.
The court over1uled the objection, where.
upon the government elected to proceed
with the trial on the hrst thirty-eigh
counts.
The defense objected TO plead to the mrs
thirty-eight counts unless count thirty-nin.
and forty were disposed OF. This objection
was also overruled, whereupon the de
fendants entered a plea OF not guilty to thu
first thirty-sight counts the reading of tn
indictment in court being waved.
Court OverruIes Defense.
The defense also objected 70 the trial o
the defendants as a whole and asked
separate trial for each OF the defendants
This the court also overruled. Mr.. Bronze
as attorney for Triplett and Walcott aske
for a separate trial for his clients. Mi
Hall, as attorney for Richards. Comstoc
. and Jameson. asked for a separate trial 20
his clients. and Messrs Gurley and Wood
rough, as attorneys for Huntington, Hoy
Reid and Todd. asked a separate trial 10
their clients. The court overruled the seN
eral pleas for separate trials and said;
The court is disposed To try these case
ia two groups and leaves it 70 the attol
nsys 10 agree upon the two groups but wi
not allow the trial OF three groups"
Mr. Guriey again asked that his client
might constitute one group, which was ais
overruled by the court, After some col
sultation between the attorneys il was d,
cided that Comstock Richards, Jameson
Triplett and Walcott should constitute n
first group and Huntington, Hoyt Re
and Todd the second group. The trial
tho FIRST group is 20 take precedence.
The entire afternoon was exhausted
enpanelling jury ana the hour for clio
ing came before the jury was select,
and an adjournment was taken uni
Wednesday morning az $3.50 O'Clock
Substance OF Indictment
The indictment in substance, is:
The United States against Bartlett Ricl
ards, VIII G., Comstock Charles C. jam
son ,,5i,Is,a Ann ~, Iodq; & A9qils % T4pett Thom'
and T. ~ Wolcptt. For conspiracy 10 a
fraud, snborn conspiracy and mai
section $40, Revised Statutes OF the Unit,
states. Defendants are Jointly charged
counts ] 10 81. inclusive, with cOnspirat
10 defraud the government or the title
public lands by procuring siNty-three e.
trymen for speculative purposes ana wi
had no Intention or residing ON the Ian
They are charged in count IS with co
10 public lands by means OF false al
forged soldiers declaratory statements
counts Sc % 81 inclusive. they are charg
with conspiracy % suhorn entrymcn
= make fraudulent entries OF public lane
and Ia counts 50 and ~ with conspiracy
maintain two enclosures OF the pub
. lands iu Sheridan and Cherry counties a
nroNimating $4,000 acres.
Personnel OF Defendants.
Bartlett Richards. VIII G. Comstock al
Charles c, Jameson are the officers a