Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1915-12-08
-FOUR OFFICIALS FOUND GUILTY.
Entered Conspiracy to Defraud Gov
Crnmcnt and Provision Ships.

New York, Dec. 2.-The Jury I'm
| the United States District Court to-
| night returned verdict OF guilty
against four officials Of the Hamburg
American line.
They were charged with conspir-
acy to deceive and dcfraud the Uni
ted States by obtaining Clearances
early in the war for relief ships sail
ing from American ports to supply
German cruisers in the Atlantic with
coal and other supplies.
Charge to Jury.
1T was lawful, Judge Howe had
charged the jury, for the defendants
to send supplies to the German fleet.
with this important condition at
tached: That i'll doing so they make
no intentional attempt to deceive
port collectors and truly state the
nature OF the cargo and it's destina-
ton.
"Thcre are three things you must
decide Judge Howe charged: "Did
the defendants enter into a conspr-
acH to defraud the United States, as
alleged? Did they have criminal
intention? Did at least one Of them
do any act to affect the object OF the
conspiracy"
One or more Of four frauds must
have been intended, the court charg-
ed. to find the defendants guilty.
First, 1t would constitute fraud
against the United States to procure
I clearance from collector Of Gus
toms at port Of the United States
by intentionally making false mani
fest regarding the kind or quality Of
cargo shipped, or the destination Of
fIf,r :
port or a place on the high seas
where foreign warships were to be
met for the purpose Of delivering
such cargoeS.
The second fraud outlined by Judge
Howe was the procurance Of a clear
anc@ by falsely stating the destina-
tiOn Of Il vessel about to proceed to
sea; the third to cause a collector to
make 4 false record, and the fourth
to cause collector to make q falls"
report TO his SuperiOrs by having pro-
cured clearance on INSTRUMENTATION
II would be impossible. Judge
Howe told the jury, to bring in d YER
, diet OF guilty for less than two Of
, the defendants. as one man alone
could not "Onspire.
Prior to Judge Howe's charge the
days session was devoted to sum-
! ming up.
Roger b. Wood, conducting the
| prosecution. said he had searched in
vain for the truth from defendants
on the witness stand until finally 1T
had popped ont Of Poppinghaus," the
fourth and last to testify. who admit
ted that an American clearance was a
passport then unchallenged by bellig-
orents on the seas. His parting en-
hOrtaton to the jury was to come
back from the jury room with this
| message to every nation now at war:
Lie If YOU will to your enemies, but
YOU shall not make the United States
the endOrScr Of your lies
Come back with this message to
the people of the United States: The
laws passed by Congress must be
Obeyed and must be respected Come
back with this message to your wait
ing fellow citizenS: That we, twelve
men, chosen from among you, are big
enough and brave enough and honest
enough u bring in a verdict Of guilty
when the evidence justifies the YER
diet"
Council for the four indicted Off
cials OF the Hamburger line,
went back in his summing up to the
termed a parallel and vindicati0n
OF the acts Of his clients in sending
coal and supplies to the Cerman fleet
in the South Atlant e in the early
days OF the war.
Goes Back to Manila.
WAS this wrong?" asked William
Rand, Jr., chief OF the dcfeudart is.
counsel. Was this conspiracy TO de-
ceive and dCfraud the United States? ?
Let's see. Let's so back few Years
to the time when Dewey sank the
! Spanish fleet and blOckaded the pOrt
OF Manila from May 10 August. 1898.
'Dcwcys ships needed coal and
supplies during that blockade. How
did they get them? why, it is no
secret. An American firm at the
british port Of Hong Kong-IarksOn
& Evans, think it was-loalpd the
coal and supplies and provisions on
British steamers for the Chinese port
Of Macao, and for Macao these shiDs
sailed Out OF Hong Kong. Their
manifcSts made no mention OF sup
! rlieS. The maniiCStS said these
steamers were loaded with scrap iron
'What happened? This so-called
scrap iron-thesc supplies OF food
and coal-werc transferred to Dew
| ey'S ships at sea. The carrier vessels
| then went on to Macao really loaded
with scrap iron, but it was scrap iron
loaded from the rains Of CaN.t, bat
| tered down by DcWcy'S guns.
Has ANYBODY ever been Spnt to