Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-16
J. F. BALL DENIES
Continued from page I

j
ment made by the Grand Jury on Monday
last that because | have been counsel for
some prisoners confined in the workhoise
and at the same time have served as
trustee of the same, that this initiates
against the best interest and management
of the institution. The we'll known facts
of the case absolutely belle such con-
cIusion. Furthermore, | resent with all
the strength there is In me any and every
intimation, implication or charge from
any source whatsoever, that In the per
formance of my duties as trustee OF the
syorkho,lse, ! have been guilty OF any I'M
proprietv of conduct Every such mtima-
iion. impiication or charge is wlliully ana
roahcio,isIv false and | challenge the pos
sibility of the production OF any proof
whatsoever of any such improper con
duct | have a conscience void oil offence
and know that my services as trustee Oh
this institution are more necessary lor lie
welfare of the institution at the present
time on account of the critical condition
of affairs there than at any other time
since its establishment
NO CLASH WITH THE WARDEN.
The first case cited against me by the
Grand Jury was that !, havlnE repr sent
ed a man convicted OF mirdt OF the sec
ond degree. demanded of the warden that
open, rather than In the jail proper, and
when the warden refused the request or
demand. | had a serio'is clash with him
This is absolutely false statement oi
what took place ! did not represent thus
man alone, but was associated with Mr
philip l.. Garrett After the mans con-
viction / told Warden Cross, that the
mother of the prisoner had called upon
me and stated that her son was suffering
from throat trouble, and that she was
afraid close confinement might seriously
inj,lre his health She requested me, II
possible, TO have him employed IN some
outdoor work placed this matter before
Warden Cross as it had been presented 70
me. and asked him If he thought thus
could hs arranged He stated that ne
would have the man examined by the
workhouse physician, hut hIs opinion was
that il might he too risky to allow the
man on the outside and there the matter
siropped. There was no clash, serious or
otherwise, with the warden, and ! never
even inquired as to the result Cf the
PHYSICIANS examination, rs the warden
had gwen me his opinion IN regard TO the
Eane.
The second case cited wss that also
represented man charged with ser1oNis
offence. and that / requested that this
isil proper, and that when tins WIS re
fused had another serious clash with the
warden. This is absolutely mis-state-
rlent of what happened ] did represent
this man alone After his convection, had
handed me a certificate from his physician
stating that he had attended the prisoner
for sometime, that he was, az the time OF
his conviction suffering with a disease and
in his opinion close confinement would nc
detrimental to his health ] handed this
certificate to Warden Cross and asked him
% see what could te done about a.
He said he would have the workhOalse
nhvsiclan look this man over, but that
he did not think under any circumstances
pol Ii be allow this man 70 be worked on
the outside This absolutely ended the
matter as far as ! vas concerned and there
was positively no clash with the warden
about the matter There was no attempt
on nv part al any time 10 influence the
warden IN hrs decision in these two cases
because was a member of the board OF
trustees. ] simply laid the facts before
him as they had been presented to me.
III e board OF trustees, ] acting as one Of
hem. had told the warden that nc and nc
alone should decide at what work and the
Dl!ue where any and every one OF the
prisoners should be employed.
The third case cited was that demand
I'd TO have friends of certain prisoners,
who were pickpockets, see them and that
when this was refused BY the warden, ]
demanded of him that, as ! was member
of the board Of trustees, he must grant my
request, that the matter was taken before
the court and the warden was sustained
This Is an entire mis- statement OF the
facts of the case and could only have been
presented TO the Grand jury by someone
who. while knowing better, being In pos
session OF the facts, intended TO injure me
before the Grand Jury. The facts Of the
sase sre as follows:
Mr.. Philip l. Garrett was again asso
ciated with ne IN the defence Of the par
ties charged. Mr.. Garrett and myself
having learned OF the evidence in the
nossession of the State, talked with At
tornev-G General Reinhardt We and the
attornev-general agreed that, IN case our
clients 81 ould plead guilty to two Of the
indictments, all the other indictments
would he dropped These two tndlct-
rnents did not carry the punishment OF the
lash and thert fore were advantageous TO
our eli nts We Mr. Garrett and nyself
then went and requested the warden that
we be permitted to take these friends Of
the prisoners downstairs IN the county
Court Hol sc in the city Of Wilmington In
order Il at they might, Il possible, show
10 our eli, nts the wisdom OF accepting our
advice We, MIR Garrett, myself and 3 !
guard, went down IL the prison part OF the
said County Building In the city Of vii
mington, and In the presence OF Mr.. Gar
rett. two guards and myself mad friends
of the prison, Is tGlk 10 them. This con-
veIsation resulted in convincing the prison
..rr that our advice was proper and right
and Il was for their best interest TO accept
the same ! pon coming upstairs INTO the
county court room Attorney General
Reinhardt having been informed BY War
den Cross that we were downstairs, IN his
llvsterical manner, called attention Of the
eourt 10 what mad been done His Honor.
Judge Bovce. called our attention 20
what Mir Relnhardt had said Mr. Gar
reft stated 10 the court eve have done
onlv what We were perm tied and en-
TITLED TO do under the constitution of the
state of Delaware, namely, that &li per-
sons charged with IN offence had the i
right 20 Sc their attorneys and friends in
order 70 prepare themselves for trial
MIR Garrett, myself and the two guards
svere present during the whole time that
four men were talking TO the prisoners and 4
by no possibility could any weapon Or saw
or saws have been passed to them This
occurred not in the New Castle county
vorkhouse, bur il the Court House In the
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