Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-19
CONNELL UNDER COURTS BAN
Not Allowed by Judge sutton to Appear
in Other Joal Cases
COMMITTEE IS TO EXAMINE CASE
On Result of This investigation the
Court viii Decide whether
TO DIsbar Him
or Not.

With the announcement no more alleged
coal trust cases would be tried until jan
uary Z, Judge Sutton Of the district court
said from the bench Tuesday morning that
he would not permit w. J. Connell, who
represented s. +. Howell, to appear before
him in any more Of the cases. He also
announced he was considering the appoint
ment Of a committee to review the circum-
stances and make a recommendation as to
whether or not Mr.. Connell should be dis
barred for alleged misconduct at the Howell
Trial.
The action of the court is the result of
repeated clashes between Mr.. Connell and
he court during the Howell trial, in which
Judge Sutton declared Mr.. Cornell was
, seeking to prejudice the minds of the Jury
against the court and to introduce error
into their record in order that a reversal Of
the verdict might be secured In supreme
court In case OF a conviction. The final
setto came during the closing argument
when Mr.. Connell referred to the fact that
| the Coal exchange had been an organization
for three years and asked why the present
action was taken just before general
election.
Court and sIabauEh Resent II.
Both the court and County Attorney Sla-
baugh interrupted him, the latter asserting
/ the statement was a reflection on the court
/ which had called the grand jury that re-
turned the indictment, and upon the grand
| jury itself Judge Sutton then announced
| he would deal with Mr.. Connell after that
case closed His announcement Tuesday
morning was the first indication Of the
course he intended to pursue.
In his statement from the bench Judge
Sutton referred to Mr.. Connelrs action as
"wllful and deliberate attempt to prejudice
the jury and to get error into the record. A"
! Il am having the record written up" he
| continued, lin order to ascertain whether
/ Il is as bad as 1t seems now to the court
| to be- II after I examine the record l
! find / am right as to what took place /
shall appoint a committee to examine the
circumstances and make a recommendation
as to whether or not Mr.. Connell should be
disbarred from practice.
! I'm the meantime Mr.. Connell will not
/ be permitted to appear in these cases. The
defendants must govern themselves ac-
cordingly."
COnnelI Makes Statement.
Mr.. Council was not in court when the
/ announcement was made. H. H. Baldrige
and ]. F. Stout appeared for the coal men,
| but Mr.. Council, 1t had been announced,
would be associated with them in the other
cases. At his office Mr.. Conneil said he
| had heard of the action of the court
/ 1T has not given me much anxiety" he
said, land l do not expect to lose much
! sleep over II. A district judge is a car
while he is on the bench, but his action is
| subject to review by the supreme court.
1 expect to appear in the coal cases not
| withstanding what the court has said In
my closing argument l had no intention
| Of rejecting on the court or the grand
| jury in saying what\I did. l was direct.
| ing my remarks to the county attorney
and was looking at him at the time. If ]
had not been interrupted II would have
appeared in what l was about to say that
l had no intention Of rejecting on the
court" ..'
| Mr.. Connell has prepared an affidavit to
| support his contention in the motion for
a rev trial that the action of the court
constituted prejudicial error and is grounds
for the granting of new trial.
In announcing the next hearing for Jan.
uary Judge Sutton said the Gray MUIR
der case would not be completed in time
to permit the coal trial TO be finished be-
fore the holiday recess As the jury in
the Howell case was secured from this
panel, he did not think 1t possible to secure
another jury from the same list January
I new panel will report The court said
the cases would then be taken up in order