New-York tribune., 1921-03-18

Judge Lands, chairman Of the Ma,
tional Commission, was very busy
when informed of the court move. He
had just time for characteristic COM
ment. It was: Doesn't that beat all 2"
states Attorney Grove said he
would place testimony before the pres
ent grand jury which, he hoped, would
result in the reindictment of all con-
cerned.
81 The nolle PROSE- proceedings fol-
lowed stormy court session. in
which Mr.. Grove at one time threat
Sened to ask that the mo prosecution"
statute be invoked for every one in
volved-
The Dismissed Players
The ball players against whom pro-
ceedings were dismissed are Joe Jack
eon, Eddie" Cicotte, Oscar ("Happy'')
Claude Williams, Charles Risberg and
Fred McMullen. The alleged members
Of the conspiracy still under indict-
ment are "Chick" Gandil, Hal Chase,
[ Bill Burns, oil man; Abe Attell, gam
bler and ex-pugilist; ]. j. t"Sport")
Sullivan, gambler, and Rachel Brown,
gambler. Jackson, Cicotte and Will
3iams are said to have confessed to the
Grand Jury and later to have ruined
the states case by repudiating their
statements.
At one point in his argument States
Attorney Grove touched scathfngly on
the disappearance from his predeces-
sor's Office of a portion Of the Grand
Jury evidence. He also laid emphasis
sson the fact that three lawyers who
were members Of the States Attorneys
staff at the time are now employed as
attorneys for the defendants.
= The question at issue when the court
opened was whether Judge Dever would
grant the request made by States At
torney Grove ten days ago that the
cases against all the alleged partici-
( pants in the game-throwing conspiracy
ahe stricken from the calendar for six
months Judge Dever made it plain at
once that he would not.
q ssIn my opinion" he said, "these
cases should go to trial. The prosecu
tion has taken five months to get this
far. / am willing to continue them for
from the calendar indefinitely"
llowe jumped up.
Very well," he said. "In that case
might just as we'll ask for blanket
nol7a PROSE- in all the cases. Six weeks
aSisn't any better than six days, in view
of the task have ahead of me, if I
an going to convict any of these men.
"These ball players have committed
crime against the people Of this
estate made to punish them have been
s #ha1npered and set at naught by the
corruption of three of our witnesses
who already had confessed. There
even las been q peculiar conspiracy
which resulted in the stealing Of the
grand jury's secrets and the Offering
of them for sale for public attention.
States Case Collapses
II make no charge In this connection,
hut / call attention to the fact that
three of the members of the States
Es,Attorney's office at the time the base
gball scandal came up are now acting as
attorneys for the defendants.
"cwing to all these difficulties, the
states case has gone to pieces. 1t will
3 take three or four months to gather
sufficient evidence to build it up again,
1f we can do it then. want to do
that. but must have time"
Judge Dever repeated his former
ruling. "Well," said Mr.. Grove, "in
that case might just as well ask
general nolle."
Before he could finish the sentence
George F. Barrett, special counsel for
Grove then said he was willing to
defendants who were in court These
included all Of the seven except Nc
Mullen and Cicotte. Regarding them,
Mr.. Grove moved that their bonds be
forfeited.
ssNo," said Judge Dever, "there is no
reason for that TIL nolle PROSE- the
cases Of all the defendants who have
put in an appearance. The rest Of the
& cases can be continued until May g."
This exempted all the ball players,
with the exception Of Gandil and Hal
Chase, who have never come within the
jurisdiction Of the local courts. The
cases of the alleged trainers Of the
conspiracy are covered by the same
4 circumstances.
# "All right" said Mr.. Grove. "I1l
make the best Of the situation. I'll try
to have these men reindicted by the
grand jury within the states time
limit (fifteen days) and held for trial
again. If that fails I'll have to work
{ up an entirely new case against them"