East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-11-22

New York, Nov. 22.-Sensational
charges of misconduct against the ju-
rors who convicted Charles w. Morse
We're made by Attorney Martin w.
Littleton when he appeared before
the circuit court of appeals today to
demand a new trial for his wealthy
client Morse is now under sentence
of fifteen years in federal prison for
Illegal banking practices. Littleton is
confident of securing a new trial, but
if he fails he will push his appeal to
the United States supreme court.
Mr.. Littleton makes several amaz-
ing charges, and declares he has
proof in the shape of affidavits of
everything he says.
He charges that at the moment the
verdict of guilty was reached, which
resulted in the financier being SEN
fenced to fifteen years Imprisonment,
one juror was suffering so much
from the effects of alcohol that he
was unable to stand, and was lying
on cot in the jury room. He has an
affidavit from the juror himself to
this effect
He charged that another juror was
throughout the trial mentally inca
pable of considering the involved evil
dence, as he had been several times
an inmate of sanitariums because of
ailments following alcoholic excesses.
He has affidavits from physicians and
relatives attesting to this.
Jurors All Drunk.
And not only these two men, but
most of the members of the jury and
most of the twelve guards drank
whiskey together daily and nightly
in the Astor House. where they were
quartered, according to the lawyers
allegations.
And on Sunday and holidays, he de-
clares, they all went about together
and drank literally, going to Coney
Island in an automobile, to Staten Is
land, to Van Cortland Park and to
various hotels, and treating each 9TH
er to beer nd whiskey wherever they
went. Both jurors and guards admit
these trips, the attorney says.
In addition to this state of affairs,
Mr.. Littleton asserts that the guards
who attended the jurors were openly
prejudiced against Morse, and didn't
hesitate to tell the jurors how they
felt. The head attendant, in fact,
Morse's attorney says, remarked: Il
hope they send that fellow to jail and
I'd like to have the job of taking him
there"
'I am basing my appeal on the fact
that the law says a defendant in any
sort of a suit must have the clear, un-
prejudiced and unclogged judgment
of twelve of his peers,' Mr.. Littleton
said Il think l can prove beyond a
doubt that Mr.. Morse didn't have. the
unclouded judgment of these jurors
at least some of them. 1 have an af-
fidavit from a juror admitting that
a few hours before he voted guilty
he was under the attendance of a
doctor noted as specialist in alco-
holic cases And the federal prose-
cutors knew this, too.
81 never heard Of such a condition
among jurors and their attendants.
And these men, drinking whiskey
constantly, were to pass upon evil
dence so complicated and involved
that the court itself admitted it was
very hard to understand"
Mr.. Littleton said that ever since
the trial of Morse, which concluded
in November, 1908, various persons
told him of unusual goings on be-
tween the jurors and their attend
ants. He put these statements down
as the imagnations of cranks, he said,
until recently when Morse's sentence
of fifteen years Imprisonment was
affirmed. Then he investigated and
he said, was amazed to find that the
described to him were al
together true.