The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-10
Former Directors of
 New Haven Railroad
 Are Acquitted by Jury
(Continued from Page One)

the jurors, haggard and untidy, filed into the courtroom to announce their verdict. Some of the nine other defendants, during the long hours of waiting, had laughed and joked with counsel and newspaper men. Others had evinced much nervous ness. With the entrance of the jurymen, with their hats and coats in hand, pre- sa ging a verdict, the mental state of the defendants was obviously one of tense strain.
 After the usual court questions, the forman of the jury read off the names of those acquitted then of the defend- ants upon whom they had failed to agree. Hardly had the court thanked the jury when defendants attorneys and others in the courtroom were on their feet and there was a general handshaklng. With out regard for their status under the yer dict, the defendants shook hands with the jurors and with government counsel.
 MELLEN IS ABSENT
 Charles S. Mellen, former president of the New Haven and the chlet witness III the case, was not in court.
 While they had discussed all the prln- cipal phases of the case, jurors said, the chief issues considered were the matter of the alleged suppression by the New Haven of the competition of the Joy Steamship line and the acquisition of the Boston and Maine railroad, by which the government charged the New Haven com pleted it's monopoly or New EhSldhd transportation traffic.
 The jurors explained that they had sought to follow the instructions or the court in his charge that they snouio decide whether the alleged conspiracy of which the defendants were accused, was in existence in 1890, when the government charged it began, and was continuous down to the date Of the indictment. They reached no agree ment on this question, they said.
 Of the five defendants whose guilt or innocence was not decided, William Rockefeller was the only one Whose term of service, as New Haven dlrec tor continued throughout the entire time of the alleged conspiracy. He ante-dated Charles F. Brooker by three wears. Messrs. Ledyard and Pratt took part in the transactions which led to the acquisition of the stock or the Boston and Maine In 1907, and as dl- rectors of the latter road, became dl- rectors of the New Haven when the Boston and Maine was taken over. Ed ward Robbins was general counsel or the road and figured in the Metropoll- tan steamship transaction by which th7 steamships Harvard and Yale were transferred to the Pacific coast. The other directors were little mentioned Tn inc evidence, and their chief defense was that they depended upon the ad- vice of Charles S. Mellen or Edward Robbins in the acts charged agalhst them which virtually consisted or cast ing their votes in favor of propositions that came before the board of directors for approval.
 UNKEMPT AND WEARY
 Tho i,1rors were unkempt and weary when they arrived at the federal build ing this morning from the uptown ho- tel, where they had been quartered at night. None of them had, for two days, been given an opportunity to shave or to obtain clean linen.
 They had not been deliberating two hours before they sent a commun1ca- tion to Judge Hunt, announcing that they had been unable to agree. They were summoned to court, where Judge Hunt informed them that they should return and continue their discussion,
 of it be at all possible for you to reach a verdict" he said, you should snare no effort to do so. l ask you once more to consider. If, after you have done so, with painstaking care, you still find that you cannot reach conscientiously the unanimous c"~clu. sion upon the main issue as to all the defendants, then you may try your con- yictions as to some of them It might he that YOU can reconcile your differ ences as to some, if not to others"
 The defendants were indicted on Feb ruary 26. 1915. The trial began Oc- tober 13. last It was estimated to- night that it entailed an expense to the government and defendants of three . quarters of million dollars.