Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-08-03
Court Orders Special Grand Jury
Convened to Investigate Other
Party to Transaction
: STANDARD WILL APPEAL CASE
Court in Pronounoins Judgment De-
clares Violations Of Law Were De-
,ib.rate-President Of Company De-
clares ii is Not Even TeehnicaIly
Guilty-Judse Landis' Decision.

Chicago. Aug. 3.-Judge K. M. Ian
dis today imposed fine Of $29,24o,OoO
the maximum under the law, on tn
Standard Oil Company of Indiana
which corporation was recently con-
yicted on charge of accepting re-
bates. aggregating $223,OO0 from tht
Alton road. The fine is the larges
ever recorded in the history of Grim
inal Jurisprudence.
The judge also recommended ina
a call be issued for a special grane
jury, which is to consider the otnel
party to the rebating operations ol
which the Standard was found guilty
and it is therefore probable that with
in q short time proceedings will Of
commenced against the Alton railroad
for the alleged commission of similar
offen,ses.
Th,, reading of the opinion by Judge
Landts aroused much interest and the
court room was crowded to it's utmost
capacity. Many late comers were de-
-nied adnlittance. The government was
represented in the court room by
United States District Attorney Sims
and his assistant, wilkerson. The
only attorneys for the Standard Oh
present were Eddy and Martin, neither
of whom bore prominent part In the
actual trial OF the case.
In imposing the penalty, the judge
after exhaustively reviewing the
charges, history Of the trial. and quot
ing the statutes bearing on the case
said:
..It was proven on the trial of de-
fendant corporation, which operates an
oil refinery at Whiting, Ind. that the
Alton company operates line of rail-
road from Chicago to East st. Louis
Ill; that the Chicago Terminal Trans
fer Railroad operates switching road
from Whiting across the state line IN
to IltrTois. intersecting the Alton at
a station called Chappell, short dis
tance from Chicago, and that there
are three companies operating terminal
roads from East ST. Louis, ILL.,, across
the Mississippi river to st. Louis.
Prior to the occurrences upon Wnlcn
the prosecution is based, the Alton had
filed with the interstate commerce
commission q showing of rates Tor
trans,yortat ton of oil In car lots from
Whiting to East st. Louis to be IL
cents per hundred pounds, and rate
for like transportation from Chappell
to St. Louis to be 1917 cents
Guilty on Every Count.
The court said it appeared at the
hearing that defendant shipped its
goods from Whiting to East st. Louis
for 6 cents, and 7h cents to st. Lou
Is. The dealings of the Standard were
exclusively with the Alton, which rem
dered all bills for thru service. The
defense argued that the Elkins law au-
thotiz,ed prosecution for but one Of
tense and maintained there could be
conviction on only one count The
court held that the law is violated ev-
ery time any property is SO trans
ported, as a legal rate was established
by the railroad company on car lot
basis. An unlawful cent rate was
granted and accepted on that basis.
AS 70 defendants claim that repre-
sentatlons by the Alton rate had misled
1t into a sincere belief that the Alton
& cent rate had been filed with the in
terstat,e commerce commission, the
court held that as the law required a
carrier to keep a schedule at its freight
office for public inspection. 1t was de-
fendarfs duty to ascertain at the rail-
roads Office whether the rate was so
liked, and 1t being for the jury to de-
termire whether testimony exhibited
the truth Of the transaction. The jury
HAVING. found a verdict Of guilty, 1t
became the duty OF the court to fix
punishment
The court then discussed the evil
dence offered by defendant, to the ef-
feet that during the period covered by
the Indictment the Chicago & Eastern
Illinois railroad published an open rate
of 6A cents from Whiting to East st.
Louis The court held this fact should
be considered IL mitigation is true. all
tho inadmissible before the jury, as to
guilt CIR innocence, and the court, after
the verdict had been given directed the
production of all schedules by that
railroad.
The Real Defendant.
The court then reviewed its action
In determining what corporation had
the stock of defendant company. Thia
q. nonstrated that a very large propor-
ticsl OF the stock was held BY sindivid
Iais f,,r stockholders of the Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey. The