The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1911-10-09
IAYORDUMAS FATE IN HANDSOF JURY:
BURNING WORDS MARK CLOSE OF CASE

After day consumed in burning
oratory by both prosecution and de-
Tense, Judge w. S. McClenahan late
this afternoon delivered his charge
and gave over to the hands of the
jury the fate of DR.. De1bert F. Du-
mas, and it now rests with the twelve
good men and true to say whether
| the Cass Lake mayor is guilty of
plotting with Mike Davis and Martin
Behan in the presence of Robert E.
Smyth, in the John Larson saloon,
here last June, to burn the postoffice
| building at Puposky. Z
Probably never before in Bemidji
has there been such bitter invective
Or dramatic excoriation as marked
| the closing arguments of both Assist
ant Attorney-General Alexander L.
James for the state. and Freeman P
Lane of Minneapolis for the defense
This is the first criminal case of
unusual prominence in which Mr..
James has made an argument to the
jury since he became a member of
| the attorney generals staff, and both
attorneys and the crowd which
packed the court room were impressed
with the manner in which he re-
viewed the evidence, and the elo-
quence which punctuVted his re-
marks. -
Mr.. James began speaking about
10 a. m. and did not finish until 3
o'clock this afternoon.
What Freeman P. Lane had to say
in behalf of the defendant also will
live as a marker in the legal history
of Beltrami county, if not the state.
Speaking in words Of one syllable,
he sought to riddle the states case,
administering terrific arraignment
| of those prominent in the prosecu-
tian of DR.. Dumas.
Mr.. Lane charged that the Dumas
case had cost Be1trami county $780,
! 000-"a dollar for every person, man
and woman, even to the nursing baby
at it's mothers breast within the con-
fines of the county,
Mr.: Lane characterized the case
against DR.. Dumas as "a dirty put
up, job" and was unsparing in his
denunciation of Assistant Fire Mar
shall Sam Fullerton, and character
lied the prosecution as ''this is not
the state versus Dumas, but it is
a survival of the gang against Du-
mas" and he termed this gang ''Bai-
ley, Smyth & Co..
Attorney Lane branded Sheriff Ha-
zen as an untruthful man, and one
who is can assassin of a mans char
acter, and one who would strike you
in the dark with a dirk He said
"We pinned that sucker-we have
him nailed, and you men knew when
he was telling falsehood."
But of all those who came in for
Mr.. Lanes compliments none shared
so generously in the expression of
Mr.. Lanes opinion, as did Robert
Smyth, whom Mr.. Lane referred to
repeatedly as ''dirty little liar Mr..
Lane refused to use the name Smyth,
referring to the young man continu-
ally as "Bertie.''
The remarks of Mr.. Lane will be
printed in Tuesdays Pioneer as &C
curately as they could be obtained
by a competent shorthand reporter.
In his remarks for the state AS
sistant Attorney James defended not
only Robert Smyth, as "a man every
inch of him." but had some nice
things, to say of his father, D. G.
Smyth. He also upheld the states
course in the case and all the men
identified with the prosecution and
said "Beltrami county can we'll be
proud of the man who had the nerve
and honesty to go through with it;
despite the temptation which was
temptations, even as was shown in
the testimony Of Sheriff Hazen.'
} "Never before in northern Mime
sofa and probably the state, has a
case unfolded more criminal possibili-
ties or probabilities, said Mr.. James
From time to time during the pro-
gress Of the trial the mist has lifted
and we have caught glimpses of 9TH
| er things in the vista of crimes. What
crimes may have been plotted in
) those midnight conferences at Cass
, Lake, Duluth, Superior, and other
: cities!'' - -. 49,. 3 ed -
The Assistant Attorney General
was fearlesslyt eloquent in his de-
nunciation Of DR.. Dumas, whom he
said was man favored by fortune
and the son OF honored and respected
PARENTS; man who has won the
l love of noble woman, and who has
| been honored by his own people; an
able physician, trained by the schools
of the state, and one who has gained
, the friendship of good men, that with
) all these favors he choose to be the
worst type of a criminal
So far as is possible, the Pioneer
lfreproduces verbatim the remarks OF
8 Mr.. James, but owing to the inability