Omaha daily bee., 1911-02-11
LAND FRAUD GOES TO JURY
pDeuel County Case is Submitted to
Men on Panel
ONE WHOLE DAY OF ARGUMENT
lawyer Occupy Friday with Pre-en-
o. ton OF Their views, Mostly
BASED On Letters Between
the Defendants.


The deuel. county land fraud case is
now in the hands Of the jury. having been
given over to that body Of deliberators a.
5.N O'Clock Friday afternoon. The jury
men were informed by Judge Munger that
n they reached a verdict BY 10 O'Clock he
would be within call. but after that hour
they were to be escorted to hotel ny Bail
M ~. O. Raird. to lodge for the night.
Al Of FRIDAY was consumed by the
lawyers in making arguments to the jury.
W. r. Gurley. F. G. Holder and r. c.
Olmstead pleaded for the defendants Ben
iamin Fox. GeOFge f. Townsend and VIII
liam r Miles. while the prosecution was
pursued by sylvester r. Rush and Arth.r
W. Lane. The arguments almost in tn
entirety were based on the letters that
passed between Fox and Miles and Town
send. These letters indicated that there
was an understanding between the defend
ants as to course TO be pursued in keep
ing the Fox ranch intact. and the prosecu-
ton insisted that this understanding
amounted to a conspiracy. a directly or
posite construction Of the meaning OF these
letters was exploited by the counsel for
the defense.
Arguments to the jury were begun Friday
morning, Assistant District Attorney Ar
thur w. Lane opening. He explained that
the Indictment accuses the defendants with
overt acts Of conspiracy; that the act Of
one must he construed to be the acts Of all
chrec BY referring to the letters. which
show that there was an understanding
between the defendants az TO the home
stead lands in question he pointed out that
the letters Indicate what was in the minds
Of the defendants at the time they were
written. and that the acts resulting showed
the conspiracy TO exist. He said that II Is
hard to prove conspiracy because conspir-
ators work In secret and that the only way
In which II can be known whether con
spiracy existed Is by reviewing the acts Of
the defendants lie turned TO a letter
written by Fox to Townsend in which the
writer said we must make a WANING In
this important deal" This, the attorney
argued, showed that there was an agree
ment between the defendants. In another
letter Fox wrote, we have won out on all
the land we went after. and the other side
are sure sick Of IT," This, urged Mr. Lane.
shows concluslvely that there was a scheme
to keep certain undesirable homesteaders
out OF the Fox pasture.
Asserts NO Conspiracy.
Assistant Attorney Lane was followed by
f. G. Holder. counsel for Fox. and he put
u
! letters. explaining that the alleged con-
spiracy was nothing more than an effort
on the part of the defendants to protect
their interests. At that time he said a
number Of cattlemen were fighting among
themselves, and that It was the desire OF
the defendants to have settlers come In
who would act in harmony with them, and
not keep up a continual hubbub. He in
sisted that not one bit Of evidence had
been introduced to show that conspiracy
existed
Attorney Olmstead spoke briefly for his
client, Townsend, after which william f.
Gurley was given the opportunity TO make
the last remarks for his client, Miles. and
all OF the defendants in general. He de-
clared that Miles did not and does not
know now that the Spicka contract which
Z he drew up and which was bone OF con-
tention throughout the trial was Illegal
/ to the extent of violating any of the laws
Of the United States. eli also argued
that this contract could have no weight
because IT was made after the time at
which the conspiracy was alleged to have
existed Attorney Gurley took oratorical
flight throughout his entire argument.
In sharp contrast with the closing argu-
ment made by Special Attorney sylvester
r. Rush, who at no time raised his voice
above the ordinary conversational pitch
He declared that II has not been many
years since defendants were not permitted
to appear as witnesses in the United States
court, that for ages II has been held that
who will enter into conspiracy
will take extraordinary means on the stant
to throw off the charge. Such is human
nature said he. He went into all phase,
Of the controversy.
The case has been on trial in Judge Nun
gers court since last Monday.