Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-11-13
fine ON DONAHUE;
STEIFEL is FREED
Attorney Found Guilty of Con-
spiracy to Defame Former
Harvester Manager.
ESCAPES A PRISON TERM
Jury at Chicago Inf7iots Penalty Of
$4,000 After Twelve Ballots
Are Taken.


hoe, the attorney who brought $685.
600 alienation suit against Clarence S.
/ Funk in the name of John c. Henning,
was found guilty OF conspiracy to de-
| fame Mr.. Funk by a jury in Judge
Pans court last night. He escaped a
| prison term, being sentenced TO pay a
, $4,000 fine, the maximum the jury
could order collected.
Isaac Stiefel, private detective, who
had worked up part of the case against
Mr.. Funk, was found not guilty of the
same charge on which Donahoe was
convicted. The verdict of the jury
absolves him from all responsibility
for the part he played in the alienation
suit.
Thirteen ballots, taken in less than
six hours, decided the fate of the two
defendants. only one of these was
needed to dispose of the charges
against Steifel. The jury unanimously
declared him innocent. .
THE TWELFTH BALLOT.
On a majority of the other twelve
ballots, taken to decide the fate of
Donahoe, the jury stood 10 to for
conviction. On the ninth ballot one
OF the jurors who had been holding out
for the acquittal of Donahoe surrend-
cred TO the majority. He changed his
vote again on the tenth ballot, but on
the twelfth both he and the twelfth
juror voted for conviction and the YER
dict was reached.
Sentence of Imprisonment for Dona
hoe was never seriously contested for
by the Jurors who from the first were
convinced of his guilt. Seven of the
jurors, declared in favor of imprison-
ment at first. but when they saw that
the only hope of obtaining the support
of the two who favored acquittai was
TO agree to a sentence which only car
ried a fine, there was no more talk of
a prison term. II was in the power
of the jury 10 sentence Donahoe TO five
years in the penitentiary.
MAKE USUAL MOTION.
Donahoe's escape from imprison-
ment is taken TO mean that there will |
be no serious effort made to have last !
nights verdict set aside. His lawyers |
made the usual motion for a new trial !
and it was set for a hearing on Nov.
%. They refused publicly to discuss
whether the motion might not be |
dropped and the fine paid.
The one obstacle in the way of the
acceptance of the verdict carrying the
fine is the danger of disbarment pro-
ceedings against DOnahoe. Disbar-
ment would in the natural order if the
verdict was accepted If a new trial
is demanded or a reversal of the YER
dict obtained from the appellate court
proceedings will not be be-
gun until the case is finally disposed
of in the court of last resort.
Conviction of Donahce and acquittal
Of Steifel does not finally dispose of
the conspiracy charges which grew out
Df the Henning alienation suit Aileen
Heppner. who testified for Henning in
the suit and was later indicted, is still
TO be tried. i
MAY NOT PRESS CHARGES.
There is. however, a strong posi-
Dility that the charges against Miss
HepPner will not be pressed. During
he present trial the attorneys for Mr..
Funk, who collaborated with Assistant
States Attorneys Hayden y. Bell and
Marvin Barnhart, expressed pity for
Miss Heppner and intimated that the
,harge against her might be dropped.
They were not present in court when
he verdict was read.
Announcement of the verdict was
made at S:4S O'Clock last night. The
ury had considered the fate of the
wo defendants since 1858 o'clock in
he afternoon. At that time only a
ew persons were in Judge PANS
curt room, many of them friends of
he attorneys in the case and county
employees whose duties keep them
here.