The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-03-11
Z
OIL TRUST
mot GUILTY
The Judge So InStructs Re-
bate Jury
A BLOW TO GOVERNMENT
Judge Lands First Tried the Case
The Company Guilty; s7o,24o,ooo
the Amount Of the
Fine.
A BLOW TO GOVERNMENT

Chicago, March 1.-THE government
prosecution Of the STANDARD Oil com
pany Of Indiana on the charge Of accept
ing rebate from the Chicago & Alton
railway collapsed yesterday with the
instruction TO the jury by Judge Ander
son Of the federal district court to find
the company not guilty. The present
case is the retrial Of the famous SEQ,
100000 penalty imposed in August, 1901
by Judge Kenesaw NJ. Lands.
The decision Of the court was an.
nounced at the close of long argument
by Assistant District Attorney wilker-
son, and the jury was Immediately sum-
moned and instructed 10 return veA
dict of not guilty. This means that all
but two of the pending indictments
against the Standard OIL company OF
Indiana are void and will be abandoned
by the government The two cases not
affected by Yesterdays decision are
cases involving the shipment of 1915
carloads OF oil from Whiting, Ind, TO
Evansville, Ind, via Dalton Junction.
over the Chicago & Eastern illinois
railroad
The question Of whether or not the
celebrated case should be continued
hinged on the introduction az evidence
Of tariff "a in its application 10 the Illi-
nois classification issued in 1899, max.
ing a rate of rs cents on oil from Whit
ing, Ind, to East St. Louis and which
attorneys for the defence contended had
been superseded by a later classification
Judge Anderson in a fifteen.minute dis
cussion Of the case TO the jury explain
ed his position and announced that If
the case was 70 90 TO the jury and a
verdict of guilty was returned he could
do nothing but set aside the verdict
There Is absolutely nothing on which
a conviction in this case could stand, be-
fore any court in this country the
court said in concluding his charge 10
the jurors. "The government has failed
10 prove its contention that the is cent
rate was the lawful rate between Whit
ing and East st. Louis and that the de-
ftndant had wilfully accepted lower
rate, and there is therefore nothing to
do but for the Jury to bring in a YER
dict of not guilty"
The retrial Of the case opened yester.
day upon crucial stage In the face
Of repeated rulings by Judge Anderson
tending to make more difficult the prov
ing of their case, the government attor-
neys had overnight decided to abandon
the idea 81 additions to the bill Of par
ticulars. covering The defects pointed out
in the hope OF inducing Judge Ander-
son to reverse his decision. The FIRST
line of argument was against the
courts indicated decision that the eigh
teen-cent freight rate, upon which the
Indictment was drawn, could not be e4-
tablished by means Of the Illinois CLASH
tication According 20 the governments
point of view, the published rate on oil
from Whiting, Ind, to East st, Louis
was eighteen cents. This the prosecu-
ton tried TO establish by means Of
tariff "a in its application 70 the Illinois
classification issued in 1899, In 1900
rev illinois classification was issued and
tie Interpretation OF the courts opinion
was that this inyalidated the old tar
IFS.