The Washington herald., 1907-01-15
INDICT OIL MAGNATES
Ohio Courts Return 939 Bills
Carrying Huge Fines.
TAKE FIFTY YEARS TO TRY ALL
Unless Agreement Is Reached, De-
PENDANTS VIII NOt Live Long
Enough to Come to TriaI-State
Adopts Methods TO Avoid Dupiicity
by Which Oil Trust Escaped.

Findlay. Ohio Jan. 14-Nine hundred
and thirty-nine indictments carrying pos
sible fines aggregating $50 coo. O00, and i'm
prisonment terms from lg to 959 years
were returned by the grand jury to-day
against John d. Rockefeller. II. II
Rogers, John D. Archbold. the Standard
oil Company OF New Jersey, five sibsid-
iry companies. and their presidents.
Each is charged with being a member
of a trust
1t is the largest batch of indictments
ever returned against the Standard and
It's constituent companies. and probably
the most formidable in other ways. Ever
since the hearing Of the case in the Pro
bate Court and the Arguments upon the
motion 10 Cuash the indictments returned
recently against NJ q. Villas. II. p. Nc
Intosh, and J. NJ. Robertson. OF CIeve-
land, the counsel for the State have been
working upon an Indictment form that
would hold
The sarcasm of the situation lies in the
fact thar the insistent warning Of the
Standards attorneys upon the technical
points led % the plan adopted in this
lnstance-the finding of indictments
against each person and company accused
FOR each day of the period for which they
are charged with having acted in viola
ton of the Valentine antitrust law.
Eliminate DupIicity of Charges.
BY this course the State has eliminated
the mooted duplicity Of charges. against
which the Standards attorney laid sue
CessfUl siege in the case of the fndict-
ments against the Cleveland officials Of
the Standard in Ohio. which indictments
have been quashed at the request of
Prosecutor David.
That no time may be lost i'm remedvinp
any defect which the attorney Of the
Standard may find in to-day's indjct-
ments. the grand jury has been adjourned
until February p. PIeadings are expected
TO have been made 10 these indictments
before that date, and motions TO uuash
doubtless viii have been argued. If the
indictments fail TO stand the legal test
others viii be returned.
Just how soon prosecutions will begin
under the indictments returned to-day
viii depend largely upon the course
adopted by the Standard attorneys II
motions 10 quash are fled immediately
and the indictments stand their fire il is
l-t't ii4iifL fAfeaAiiE Ll4clL
gin at tie latest with the opening of t5e
next term Of Common Pleas Court. Moth
ing is expected sooner.
Astounding I'm Its Figures.
The possibilities in fines and imprison-
ment sentences are altogether astoUnd-
ing The penalty under the Valentine
law for the offense charged is a fine
of from so to $500 and imprisonment
from six months 10 = year. or both. Tn
der this penalty William Rockefeller
Rogers, Archbold, Tilford. and Barstow
might be fined $4,ee5,000 and sentenced "a
g9 years in jail The Standard OIL Com
pany OF New Jersey, the Solar. and the
Ohio companies may be fined the same
sum.
John D. Rockefeller and f. T. Cuthbert
may be fined SS2Q001 under the indictment
and might be sentenced each to 164 wears
in jail The Standard Oil Company of
Ohio. the Manhattan, and the Buckeye
companies may be fined $4,000 each.
Unless an agreement is reached bv
which al the indictments upon each return
may be tried jointly, a separate trial viii
be necessary upon each Indictment. II
IS estimated that each trial would re-
quire two days. The outlook is beyvildar-
ins- At that rate il would take fifty years
70 Try the cases. Tried Jointly, two davs
TO an indictment, il would require six
years.