The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-06
MELLEN'S LAWYERS TRY
 TO FORCE HUDSON TO
 PRODUCE HIS EVIDENCE
States Attorney Makes Spirited De- fense Of The Regularity Of His
 Procedure Against (. s. .MelIen
He Maintains That AIelen and Directors ven to Be One-NIan RaiIroad-Court Adjourned
 til Tuesday When Lawyers Complete Their Arguments.

Claiming that tn e state has not con- neeted former President Charles Mellen directly with the crime of man slaughter of which he is charged with the death of Jane Doe by burning in the Westport wreck last October, four attorneys for Mir. Mellen presented arguments on tienurrers before Judge Huttle in the superior court yester-i , day. The general demurrer was to effect that the information and mat sters of the charge are insufficient in law The special demurrer contained nineteen counts, and set up among other things that the state has failed. to connect A6r. Mellem with the killing in that the charge does not specifically state the manner and means by which the killing was done
 Attorneys Homer s. Cummings of Stamford, L. J. Nickerson o1 Corn wall, William B. Boardn1am of Bridge port and S. D. Bowers appeared for N1F. Mellen sf
 States Attorney Stiles Judson, who alone appeared for the State, insisted that the accusation was sl1dffcient and he vigorously opposed the contention that the state should be compelled to disclose by what means they meant to prove MT. MelIen guilty.
 The state never reveals what evd- .dential facts it may have 1lntM they ' clared the states attorney
 Attorney Nickerson in his argument said in part:
 There is not a single thing in this indictment to connect Mr. MeIlen with the crime Of which he is accused In fnt1ie etments of this character, in eases of killing or zrognding the word struck must be used to show the con nect1on bebween the hand tn the ac-. cused and the act which caused death
 In this case 1t ds charged that one Jane Doe came to her death. by burn a fire that was adready burning. but it does not specify how Mir Melden had anything to do with the fire.
 Great partic1llarsity is at all times required in indictments of this kind, but it is lacking here It certainly is repsgnant to the theory that he com mdtted the deed as aaS personal aet- This information is s1nad1dfest1ys uIl-H fahr, and out of all connection between Mir. Mellen and that case.
 TT have never seen a complaint un-. fiji T saw this one but what stated the crime was committed There ds a great gap here your honor, which the state falls to fll1 and which should be ffl1ed. if MT. MeHen' is to stand trial on this. charge. z
 In reply, States Attorney Judson said:
 zssY our honor the counsel for the ac-s cnsed was given the. evidentiad facts when this complaint was first drought They frsst tried to have this matter set aside by de1nuRrer and other nom descT1pit pleadfngs. Having fadled in this they change their minds and now come here with objection to the manner in which the complaint was made The state never reveals to the accused the evfdentaa1 facts of a case s1lntiI they are presented in a court room at the trial. Amy other method would be against the public interest
 .@Ehe state has every reason to be- sHeve that there was agreement between MT. Mellen and the directors that this should be a one man road
 May it please your honor I want time to communicate with a. railroad fionH the commissioners required of this company On the occasion Jane Doe was only held fbyAs her left toes. A state contractor tried to free her, but there was no axe No one of the fire extingtishers was usabie.
 t-The coroner went to that West port scene after the wreck He found the ties there rotten for 200 feet back. He took out punk from those ties and II have it in my office. He picked out "a raalroeld spike with his hands from .a tie The coroner and Interstate Eoannnerce Commission decided that the Federal wreck which occurred about a year before was due to a faulty cross-over and they united in recommending that he stop his fast trains before approaching a cross-6 over He paid no attention to this recounmerdatfon Manslaalghter may be the killing of another while negli-4 gently doing act lawful in! itself, as for instance, failing to properly lend a switch on a railroad In man
 
 felorioiis dT1teart every one connected with it would be a principal. ''
 States Attorney J1ldson then quoted a number of cases in which officials of corporations have been held for crimes committed by corporations
 s~The engineer in this Westport wreck had 50 demerdt marks in two years for running by signals He said New Haven road was imposing on old engineers He said that young en- Eineers were not able ito run trains and that the road had oonpelfed him to work IS hours indefinitely He said lie was without sleep and he intended to resign at Hhe end of his route He was killed
 Before Brother Bowers knew he was going to make a brief for the de- fense he made a. brief for the state guilt of tflds accused. He got into the case by unaa1ing briefs on both sides
 Attorney William B. Boardman in summing up, said:
 ''I challenge the state to prove the facts concerning overworked cond1- ton of this engineer which he has stated here. The facts are the en- gineer was given all necessary time as required by the federal law E '.It is astonishing if the state does not know since this case has been pending for more than a. year, that there is no order in the railroad com raissioners' office requiring this conn pany to eQudp its cars with fire ex- tinguishers When it comes down to connect Mir MeElen with this case de in entire lack of z3lleet3tjor