The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-01-26
Judge Tayler Admits Them
as Evidence
PROSECUTION COMpLETeSCASE
End of Black Hand Trial is
In Sight.
Handwriting Experts do not Agree IN
Their vcrdicts as TO the Author.
ship of Some of the Letters
Character Witnesses Testify in the
Toledo Trials.

| D. .''ffSs
The following complete account of
| Tuesdays session of the trial of the
alleged Black Hand men in the Fed
Grad court in Toledo is taken from
the Toledo Blade It rs interesting in
that 1t gives in fun the rules of the
Society of the Banana. The rules are
said to have been secured in the raid
made on the store and home of the
Lima brothers in this city.
THAT there was an Organization
known as the Society of the Banana,
with rules and regulations prescribing
] horrible penalties for disobedience OF
its mandates, was shown in the fed
eral court during Tuesday mornings
session of the Black Hand trial.
"a book found in Salvatore Lima's
safe at the time of his arrest, was in
troduced in evidence, and District At
torney William l.. Day read there
from what purported to be "The Laws
and Regulations Of the Society of the
Banana" The character of the or
ganization can be learned from some
of the punishments provided for dis
obedience or failure to carry out or
ders. In such cases the unfortunate
Ohender may be undressed and brand
ed, or he may be stabbed one, two
or three times, according to the ma
ture of the offense, or he may b,
killed outright IL the ociety so ad
Judges.
Conspiracy Proof Admitted.
"The entire morning session ot the
trial was taken up with the reading
Of documentary evidence to the Jury
The defense fought hard to have this
evidence kept out, but Judge Tayler
has uniformly ruled that such parts
of 1t as tend to show conspiracy may
be admitted.
"Including in the mass of docu-
ments were Black Hand letters to
prospective victims, receipts for
money extorted. letters, kilograms
and other communications between
the men who are now on trial Many
of the letters that passed between
the defendants contain ambiguous re-
ferences to "objects," packages"
shipments" medicine and other
phrases.
Government Finishes Case.
with the examination yesterday
afternoon of William c. Pengelly,
handwriting expert from Columbus,
the prosecution partially finished the
presentation of its case against the
fourteen alleged Black Handlers
Authorship of Black Hand letters
was again fastened upon certain OF
the defendants "eDterday By Mr..
Pengelly, who testified that he had
worked on She documents at different
times since September "a He COM
pared the handwriting and letters
found in the homes of the defendants
at the time of their arrest with Black
Hand letters received i'm different
parts of the country, and gave 1t as
his opinion that they were written by
the same hands In this manner SAL
vatore Lima, Pippino Galbo, College,
70 Vicario and Giuseppe Ignoffo were
connected with the authorship of
Black Hand letters. On cross-examin-
alton Mr. Pengelly testified that
the government was paying him a fee
of $50 per day.
| Intended Victim III.
District Attorney William l.. Day
took the stand for n moment yes
terday afternoon to state that Ignazio
Camille, of Cleveland, one of the in
tended Black Hand victims, was ILL.,
Mr.. Day identified one of the letters
as having been turned in by Caml-
To-
"Other witnesses during the after
noon were Deputy u. S. Marshal
Amos F.. owen, who testified to the
arrest of Ignoffo, and John d. Guest,
an employe of the Athens postoffice,
who related several events connected
with the arrest OF the Limas in Ma
rion.
"At the close of the prosecution's
case. Judge Tayler dismissed the jury
and heard the arguments on the
formal motions to dismiss the COM
lplaint and free the prisoners. Each
of the attorneys for the defense spoke
on the motion and the arguments
consumed the remainder of the after
noon session.
"In overruling the motion to dis
miss, Judge Tayler stated that the
evidence seemed to show that an or
ganization existed between the de-
lfendants and that 1t might have
been the Society of the Banana. He
said that the examination of the
mails proved the society to be the
back bone of the system for carry
ing out the schemes of the members
1t was the judges opinion that there
had been an unlayful conspiracy, but
as to who should be held or dismissed
was a matter for the jury to decide.
"The defense claim that their evil
dence will all be In by Thursday
might, in which event the case will be
disposed of by the end of the present
week II is expected that most of the
defendants WIN be put Upon the wit
hess stand by their attorneys. In all
there will be about so witnesses for
the defense most of them character
and alibi witnesses.
society of Bananas.