Omaha daily bee., 1906-10-02
GRAND JURY READY TO PROBE
Will 60 Into RumOrs Of Illegal Business
Combinations at Once.
INSURANCE AND LUMBER MEN ON SPIT



J. G. willis. 2ss North Twenty-second
street. foreman.
w. b. Fuller. go North Nineteenth street.
Mich Golden Twenty-lfth and streets
South Omaha
Perry o. Harrier. Valley. r. r. ID.
F. A. Hazlebaker sos South Twentieth
street
J. b. Rooster 1899 South Eleventh street.
j. w. Lewis. 1919 Chicago street.
]. NJ. Mcdowell, GA North Twenty-sev-
enth avenue.
II. W. Mcvey 2zs Seward street.
j. b. PARROT, 4Ois North Twenty-hfth
avenue.
J. RothchiId 97lT . street South Omaha.
Denny Ruddy. ~ North Twenty-second
street. South Omaha.
G. w, Steiger. Benson.
John j. Toms. zoos Locust street
William NJ. Vaughn, us North Thirtieth
street.
d. o. Yates. 25lz North Eighteenth street
These sixteen men were sworn in Monday
afternoon as grand jurors to probe charges
which have been made against the Ice and
Coal trusts and other alleged combinations
In restraint OF trade. John q. Wills OF
1926 North Twenty-second street was APP
pointed foreman by Judge Sutton.
Immediately after the jurors had taken
the oath Of Office Judge Sutton read his in
structions He directed the jury to make
a thorough investigation of alleged illegal
| combinations in the following order:
Coal lime, coke and cement dealers.
Ice dealers.
/ Lumber and building material dealers.
Meat and provision dealers.
Fire insurance companies and their
agents.
In addition to those businesses specified
! he directed the jury to bring in indict-
| ments against any other persons found
| to be violating the antitrust laws of the
! state.
Judge Sutton also instructed the grand
| jury to investigate charges of jury tam
pering and return indictments IL the evil
dence warrants. Gaming and betting and
lotteries were also mentioned with in.
structions to the jury TO make investiga-
| tions.
James A. Hall and Sam Christie of the
| South Omaha Coal exchange were the
! first witnesses summoned before the
I grand jury.
October Term Begins.
| The October term OF the district court
opened Monday morning, with both a
! petit and a grand jury reporting for duty
The fact that the latter is called for the
express purpose of probing. into alleged
trusts In Omaha and South Omaha len
unusual interest to the proceedings II re-
quired the entire morning to dispose Of
those who sought to be excused from jury
duty and for the close examination OF tn,
grand jurors. At the noon adjournment
the grand jury had not been sworn in.
Instead of combining it's work TO an in
vestigation of the Coal and Ice trusts. tn,
grand jury. It is believed, will be askeC
to go into the general subject OF combina
lions in restraint of trade. and will extent
it's inquiry into other businesses which ar,
supposed to be closely organized.
In his examination of grand jurors Judg
Sutton questioned them very closely abou
their connections with Ice, COAL grain
lumber and insurance companies, and II 4
inferred from this that these businessc
will also have to submit to the ofiicia
probe. Connection with railroads ais
caused the Jurors to be closely QUESTION:,
as to whether or not they would be infiu
enced for or against the Indictment OF rail
road officials.
Twenty-Five OF the twenty-three Juror
summoned responded to the call and wer
in the box when the examination begar
A number of them were excused on statu
tory grounds. F. c. Best, who is a candi
date on the republican ticket for the legis
lsture was excused from service.
Rumors of Jury Tampering.
Judge Sutton in a talk given to the pet
Jurors referred to the rumors OF jur
tampering, which was the subject of dc
bate before the Bar association at tn
meeting last week
Il am sorry to say he said, that ther
are rumors current that somG one ha
been tsmpering with jurymen / hope III
jurors will refrain from any Appearance Z
wrong doing by refusing to talk to an
claim agent or other person. who ma
want to discuss case. am not read
to concede that II Is true. but II is rumore
that persons are hired to circulate aroun
among the jurors in order to get az