The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-05-12
BOSS BARNES HAS HIS
BEST DAY IN TRIAL
Rulings OF Court Leaves Rooseveit's
Defense But One Leg TO
Stand On.
JUSTICE DECIDES PRINTING
GRAFT NOT In QUESTION
Defense Could Not Prove Roosevelt
Knew of Alleged Corruption Until
After Label Had Been Disseminated.

| Syracuse. N. T., May 1f.--One
! of Theodore Roosevclts main de-
! fenses against Mr.. Baxncs' $50, 900
libel suits WAS swept out Of exist
ence today by the ruling Of Justice
Andrews that no connection had
been proved between Mr.. Barnes
| political pull and the Albany
| printing graft
| Not one word Of the testimony
which tended to show that Mr.. Barnes
control of the Republican organization
enabled him to benefit from fraudu-
lent public printing contracts can be
considered by the Jury. II has voon
| well dinned In their earn. Of course.
but the Justice win instruct them to
! disregard It
It was a hard blow to the colonel
| and his friends, this decision Of
Justice Andrews. and was particularly
severe since 1t followed the important
ruling made yesterday In the coloners
| favor, the ruling that while Mr..
| Barnes may not have violated q
! statute or the criminal law. 1t had be-
come q question OF fact as to whether
or not he had been q corrupt leader.
Only One Leg 10 Stand On.
The colonel planned to cinch his
case by linking corrupt politics with
crooked business Now Justice An
drews has ruled out the crooked evil
dence and the coIonefs case in justi-
| fication has only one leg to stand on.
II Is still fairly vigorous les, how
ever. since 1t gives him the oppor-
tunity of getting the jury a few facts
in Justification OF the alleged libel.
as well as numerous statements in
mitigation.
Take It all around, the day was
extremely advantageous to Barnes.
No. only was he freed from the no
cessity OF explaining why he received
$4,000 from J. B. Lyon about the
time he was writing to Senator
| Plat TO interfere with state officials
in MIR. Lyons interest and his own
but from the necessity of clearing
up a lot OF other differences. insinu-
alton and direct statements that
might have been highly dangerous ia
his case II the jury had been left TO
deal with them as questions of fact
Moreover he had today the benefit
OF testimony given by Francis Lynde
| Stetson, william F. Sheehan and An:
gust Belmont.
Stetson ON Stand
Mr. gtetSoE. who was the vlgor0u.
| hacker OF Edward NJ. shepard durius
/ fp,ti,- Eliminated Mr. gheehan and
sent Justice O'Gorman to the United
States Senate. testified that he wen,
10 Mr.. Barnes. at the request OF SEN
ator Edgar r. Bracket. to submit s
t list of senatorial possibilities to Mr.
t Barnes. and that there had been nc
I conv ersation between them as te
what the attitude of the Republican
| ORGANIZATION would be in the case
Mr.. Barnes approved Of any one OF
, the candidates suggested.
! The names submitted to Barnes by
| Ste.son. three days before sneehah
was eliminated and Justice OGornan
elected. were those OF Thomas MOI
/ Osborne. John D. herman, Marun w
lAttletcn. Martin Il. flynn ahn asl'
dor straas. Mr. barnes pss.sSu ~ :,
approved OF air. osuo -
Mr. herman. puI 1890 any 49, ~
eraton o. vie ga ~ I!,,ia+or
pst so ~. S.rs.s hscansa thev might
a sa,.ts,, ,nsn,se,yss with Tammany
s .ucl'AAs
iaa,s. css $40 followed Mr.
/ co., -, the stand testified tho,
~ .,s~ar bat considered Charles r
Murn,v as me dominant leader oil
! the i1emocratfc marty OF the state, al
! though he admitted that Mr.. Muir.
nhy,s influence was very great, es-
pecia,lv after the Mccoy organiza tor
Of brooklyn made an alliance Will
i Tammany He asserted that he hec
never asked Mr.. Murphy to supior'
his candidacy with Mr.. Barnes.
| No Secret ARRANGEMENT
| The testimony OF Mr.. Stetson anu
| Of Mr.. Sheehan was offered py barncs
to show that there had been no sec.et
arrangement between MIN and MuIpny
by which the Republican Tganizatioh
was to keep hands on IN the seha,
torial fight, as charged oy Goiohei
Roosevelt. and that neither Mr.: Barnes
nor Mr.. Murphy controlled the eiec-
ton of United States senator.
Mr.. Belmont's testimony, which was
almost literally in accordance Win
testimony that had been given by
| Colonel Roosevelt. was along dinerent
lines and did not seem to be OF par
ticular value TO the Barnes side. Mr..
belmont had gone. to President Roose-
welt in 1905 to talk about the wisdom
or unwisdom OF the Hart-Agnew rae
I ing bill. He had been referred by the
| president to Mr.. Barnes. He had been
careful to say that he would have
nothing to do with any improper ef-
| forts to beat the bill Questionable to
racing and breeding interests. Mr..