The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-18
STANDARD OIL
 IS ACQUITTED Judge Mccall Orders Jury to Clear the Defendant FAR REACHING DECISION Shit Involving Ss,ry renal,,e. of sso,ooO'oo0 Dy SS Ava, to Moth
 ing and Sc slE Is Proven

G
 Jackson. osNovemeer l7.-1n ru,-
 ing which o red just 20 minutes to
 read, Jud- hn D. Mccall, in the
 United States circuit court this after
 noon, wrote fnis to the effort of the
 government to have assessed against in.
 standard oil Company of Indiana penal
 ties aggregatiug in excess of s0.oOo GOO.
 The rulings of the court. instructing that
 verdict of not guilty be returned, came
 with the conclusion of the case in chief
 of the prosecution, and In substance
 holds with the contentious of the de
 fense, that after four years the United
 States had failed to build It's structure
 or evidence other than on sand
 The suit at issue was probably the most important litigation against the
 greater corporation ever fought out in
 the south. The Ellkins law, regarding Interstate commerce, was violated, it was alleged. through scheme and de- vice" the specific offense charged being the receiving of freight rate concessions. Judge Mccall in his ruling first reviewed the indictment allegations. Next he took up the testimony presented as tending to prove that the consignments which formed the basis for the suit were shipped on orders received from the Standard oil Company of Kentucky by the defendant company from their re- flnery at Whiting, Ind, to Grand Junc- ton. Tenn, flor beyond" with freight
 charges prepaid to Grand Junction and there taken possession of by the Ken lucky corporation Also Judge Mccall pointed out that the testimony presented tends to prove that there was no un- derstanding expressed or implied. direct or indirect" between the defendant com pany and the Kentucky company with regard to rates to be paid: tlr>sit was solely a business transaction between two corporations Upon this statement of facts, Judge Mccall recalled. he ruled early in. the trial that the Indiana com pany should not be held accountable for the shipments so far as the transporta- tion beyond Grand Junction was con cerned.
 What Testimony Shows 'The uncontradicted testimony present. ed by the government.' the ruling con tinued, lis that during the period GOV cred ts the indictment there ws.x .. IS cent rj,te from Whiting to Granl June ton for points beyond and this rate was duly on file with the interstate commerc, commission and was the legal rate. Tn, testimony Is uncontradicted that tht shipments covered by the indictment were in carload lots from Whiting to Grand Junction, for beyond, and that the dc
 fendant paid this rate"
 Quoting the response of T. NJ. Cross
 land, an attache of the interstate com.
 merce commission at Washington, who
 was recalled as witness by the prose
 cution this morning. to interrogations ot
 the court, Judge Mccall pointed out tha
 the witness held that the defendant com
 pany was authorized to use the 18-cen rate; that 1t was a legal rate, and thai if inquiry had been made of him by (
 shipper for the purpose of ascertaininl the legal tariff, he would have quoted that rate Taking up the much dis cussed blind billing" 1t was held by the court that the ''blind billing wa,
 done by the carrier, that there. Is no one syllable of testimony tending to show that the defendant company knew tha the carrier was so blind billing the ship ments. But if the defendant had known this fact, how could that affect its righ to avail itself of the Recent rate. whict was filed with the interstate commerce commission?"
 Prosecution's Contention As to the contention that the blind billing was an effort to conceal the rate it is contended that if even that were true it would be an effort on the part of the railroad company which would avail but little before the fact that the tariff was regularly filed with the interstate com merce commission. It is also held that the indictment allegations show the trans portation from Evansville, Ind, while the evidence showed that it moved from Whiting
 Concluding. Judge Mccall says. citing
 the right of the great and small to ar equal footing before the courts;
 When the courts swing away from this rule and those convicted of crime are convicted by other means, the jus. tice of our boasted jurisprudence will soon become hollow mockery and the Judgments of our courts will be held in derison and contempt"
 The formal charge to the Jury sustain ing the motion of the defense and in- structing a verdict of not guilty fol lowed.
 Tonight lawyers and witnesses are re- turning to their homes. As a matter of course the decision brought much elatior to the camp of the defense.
 "We won because we were innocent is the way the oil company's counsel in-chief, R. W. Stuart, puts 1t. 'Our friends on the other side put up a grea, fight, but our side was right"
 ''Of course, we are disappointed" ex- plained w. s. Gregg. special assistant to the attorney general, but I cannot comment further" 4 4
 It Is understood that the termination oe tba emf will have an frnnortapt hea r-