New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-06-18
JURY FINDS HIM GUILTY
Collins, Who Killed Tug Captain,
Tried in Two Days.
UNWRITTEN LAW PLEA FAILS
Now It Is Called Jungle Law, but
Jury Was Not Impressed
by New Name.

Alvin o. Collins, who killed captain
John Plant of the tug Robert Hooin-
son in the East River on April was con.
v1cted yesterday in General sessions oi
murder in the second degree.
Collins said he shot Plant during quar-
rel after Mrs. Collins had accused the
boat captain of forcing an entrance INTO her
room on the canalboat Joel. Although FORMER
Assistant District Attorney James W. U.s.
borne, counsel for Collins. said that sen
defence was his answer to the charge Oh
murder the so-called '-unwritten law ng-
ured largely In counsers summing up
81 want you to bring in verdict that
will teach all men that they have no rlsh-
to trespass in another mans home salo
Osborne at one point, and later:
ct don't ask you to do anything but de-
eide this case by the law Of the land as
modified by the law Of the Jungle
Judge Rosalsky instructed the jury TO
disregard the suggestion of any other law
governing the case than the laws OF the
State Of New York. Emory r. Buckner, the
Assistant District Attorney who conducted
the prosecution, said that "self-defence as
presented by Osborne was "a suoterfuge'
and that the latter really wanted the JURY
to decide the case on the "unwritten law.
Collins and his wife, the only witnesses
for the defence. contradicted each otner
frequently, and their testimony was over
Swallowed by that of half dozen witnesses
for the prosecution, including the other
persons on the boats in the tow and the
harbor police These latter stated that
Collins had called Captain Plant into his
cabin on the Joel, ostensibly to treat him
to some beer. and had then shot him down
In cold blood.
Assistant District Attorney Buckner d.
rected the attention of the jury to the fact
that Collins had served nine years in state
prison for killing two men in 1900.
IF under this plea of the +unwr1tten law
you desire to turn this murderous mad
dog loose on the community he said. sit
IS your privilege; but if you do you will
violate your oaths as jurors.
There was not a word said by this man
or his wife about self-defence when the
police took them into custody. Why did you
do it,? asked the officer who went aboard
the tugboat from the police patrol, and
Collins only replied, Why did he go into
my wife's cabin?
'tMr. Osborne knew this court would not
permit him to base his defence on the 'un-
written law and he used self-defence as a
subterfuge. The facts showing this mans
guilt have been practically pushed aside.
and you have listened to a defence built
upon a novel called The Sea Wolf and
other fiction
The jury left the courtroom at 10 o'clock.
At 7:1o o'clock the jurynen were asked
If they cared to go to supper They
refused. At TBS o'clock they filed into
court and announced their verdict Collins
lost the bravado he had displayed through
out the two days of his trial. which was a
record for a brief trial of a capital case.
In a shaky voice he said he was fifty
years old and that he was born in East
Boston He asked that he be given an OPP
portunity to see his wife before he was
sent to prison for not less than twenty
years or for life, the penalty for murder In
the second degree. He will be sentenced
on June "a.