The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1910-02-15
penho1lOw Granted ) New Trial.

public school in that city, came up befor
Judge Horner on Thursday.
In preparation for this application con
siderable testimony had been taken be
fore Supreme Court Commissioner Frank
lin B. Lewis, and it was on this evidence
that V. Claude Palmer presented the mat
ter under four separate heads as follows
Efforts to reach some of the jurymer
who actually served at the trial; effort.
to reach other members of the panel; the
presenting of new evidence and Other
matters not accessible before the trial tc
impeach the credibilitY of the complain
ant.
Mr.. Palmer referred to the efforts Of
William Warrack, Sr., to reach Charles E
Woodward, member Of the jury that
convicted the. defendant. Mr.. Warrack,
president of the Board of Education, a
body that had authority over the defend
ant, admitted In his examination that he
had taken peculiar interest against the
defendant and believed him guilty. He
was in possession of anonymous letters
sent to him and to other persons, but
their contents had not been made known
to Woodward.
Mr.. Palmer was also able to show that
Warrack had interviewed Oscar Donnelly,
member of the jury panel. Donnelly
wanted Warrack oget him excused from
the panel as he wanted to go away on the
first day of the trial. To Warrack, Don.
nelly said: IF you can assure me that ]
will be excused will go away early. !
am willing to serve, of course l know
your opinion" Warrack replied: ''We
want you to serve, you are the man we
want" In his examination before the
Commissioner Warrack did not deny that
conversation.
Counsel contended that an effort of this
character to reach the jury was prejudi-
cial to the interest of the defendant. Spe-
cial stress was laid on the action of War
rack going about the county expressing
his belief that Penhollow was guilty.
Surely this must have had some effect if
1t reached the jury" said Mr.. Palmer.
How did Donnelly and Woodward know
the opinion of Warrack If they were not
If Warrack's statement of
gnilt reached the ears of the jury, the re-
suit is inevitable, as we do not know what
effect it may have had in determining the
verdict Of the jury. Warrack knew he
had no business to do anything of that
kind, and this conversation was with his
fellow members of the Board of Free
holders.
Mayor Gable was another man who
believed PenholIow guilty, and he made
it his business to interview people and
even two members of the jury panel
Reeder and Carslake-to express his opin-
ion and to influence them, and he showed
them one or more of the anonymous let
tiers for the purpose of creating prejudice
against the defendant. The testimony
before the Commissioner shows that eff
forts were made to reach the jury.
"Warrack had a conversation with
Woodward while on their way to court on
the cars, when Warrack said: II am sorry
we did not get in all the testimony we
had against him from Penn Yam" This
was corroborated by James
West, Harold B. Wells and William Nc
Cormick. 1t stands uncontradicted that
Warrack made an effort to reach the Jury
to the injury of the defendant, and no
one knows what effect that effort had.
That the jury was prejudiced against the
defendant comes as natural conclusion
when these things are considered The
jury was also prejudiced when the Pros
ecutor asked question about some Penn
Yan trouble"
Mr.. Palmer directed attention to the
fact that as soon as the trial was over, a
time when there was no necessity to con-
ceal their relations, Hattie Aaronson and
William McKeag, married man, came
at once.
In order to impeach the credibility of
Miss Aaronson. who testified that she had
not been with McKeag since June, Mr.
Palmer offered the following newly dis
covered evidence as one of his chief
points.
1t is the story of John L. Southland, who
was out exercising his dog In the middle
or latter part of October While walk
ing along path in Murphy's woods be-
tween and O'Clock In the afternoon, he
saw McKeag and Hattie In compromis-
ing position in some thicket, lying on
the ground. He was within 25 feet of
them. After speaking to McKeag he left
and went back to Bordentown. Early
that evening McKeag saw Southland and
remarked: Il don't want you to say any
thing about what you saw in the woods. I"
At the conclusion of the trial McKeag
again remarked to Southland: II am glad
that you said nothing about what you
saw" Neither McKeag nor Hattie were
called before the Commissioner to dis
prove this statement.
From the time record kept at Roeblings,
where McKeag is employed, 1t was shown
that McKeag did not work from October
10 to IA, inclusive
IF this evidence could haye been pre-
sented to the jury" said counsel, "it
would have had some effect upon the
credibility of Hattie Aaronson, who was
pictured as virtuous girl. We ask that
a jury have the right to pass upon this
testimony"
In reply Prosecutor Samuel A. Atkin-
son said the only object of taking testi-
mony before the Commissioner was to see
if the jury had been tempered with.
He presented numerous citations against
the granting of new trial and said that
newly discovered evidence must be mate
rial and not punitive. No new trial should
be granted unless it was shown that cor
ruption was used in efforts to influence
the jury. The Prosecutor could find no
grounds upon which new trial should
be granted. He also stated that the de-
fence had taken round about way to
impeach Woodward. Before the Commits
sioner, Woodward denied that Warrack
had ever told him about any similar trou-
BILE at Penn yam.
81 wish you could have seen South ard
when he was on the stand" remarked the
Prosecutor with considerable earnestness.
II then thought he was liar, and now
know he is. The trial was impartial. The
defendant was aided by one of the best