The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-01-29
BRNES ACQUITTED;
DREWES' MURDER
TRIAL COLLAPSES
Judge Directs Verdict for
Lack of Evidence Against
Student.
ANALYZES TESTIMONY
Automobile Not Identified
Nor Accused Connected
With 1t.
SUICIDE NOT IMPOSSIBLE
Declares State Fails to Point
With Moral Certainty to
Defendant.
NOT IMPOSSIBLE

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 28.-William p.
Brines walked from the bar of justice
this afternoon a free man. BY order
of Judge William C. Ferguson the
jury in the trial had declared the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania student not
guilty of the murder Of Elmer c.
Drewes.
The acquitted man showed not the
slightest trace of emotion. AS Judge
Ferguson pronounced the words that
gave liberty to him Brines sat still,
apparently unmindfu of the purport
of the decision.
A murmur of surprise arose from
the crowded benches in the room as
Judge Ferguson took the case from
the jury and ordered an acquittal.
Brines and his mother at once left the
court room.
Mr. and Mrs. Christian Drewes,
parents of the slain student, also lett
court anu went to their home. There
the mother and father denied themselves
to interviewers, making this simple an
nouncement:
1.-THE Drewes family has no statement
to make. 1t would do no good We do
want to thank the newspapers for their
fairness and accuracy of the write-ups
of the trial"
Yesterday. Immediately upon the
Commonwealth's announcement that 1t
rested its case. William A. Gray, counsel
for Brines, had moved that Judge Fer
guson take the case from the hands of
the jury and order an acquittal Argu-
ment on the motion had been postponed
until this morning.
When court convened to-day Mr..
Gray began his argument. which con-
tinued for an hour and half. He dis
sected the circumstantial web the Com
monwealth had woven about Brines. He
analysed the testimony OF every witness
and declared that none of the evidence
Brines was the murderer of Drewes.
Charge to the Jury.
Judge Ferguson's charge to the jury
ordering the acquittal Of Brines en-
phasized the absence of proof on the
part of the Commonwealth that Brines
in part:
II will only call your attention TO one
or two matters in this case which in
fluenced me. and then am going to dis
miss you with the thanks OF the Court
THE body was found on Mascher
street. near city line. early In the morn
ing of October II, 1920. There was no
evidence of any struggle about that
place; there was no evidence of any
footmarks showing a struggle or alter
cation there was no evidence Of any
automobile having stopped at or near
that place.
There Is only one witness who told
us anything about the automobile. and
that was Mrs. Reeves. She said she knew
1t was an Overland car and that 1t had
q dark maroon body.
Then her attention was called to the
fact that before the Coroner. some time
after October H. she had said that she
did not know the make of the car and
! sho did not know the color. She was
taken during the week following the
finding of the body to a station house
in Germantown and shown a car. and
she said that was the car that she had
seen. That is the only evidence which
connects the defendants car with the
murder, II 1t was a murder.
you can easily see that there Is the
evidence on which the Commonwealth
! must depend. the evidence OF a woman
VINO has told two contradictory stories
with reference TO that car. do not
propose TO discuss the effect upon the
human mind Of suggestion, but II the
car Is out Of the case a very important
link In the Commemorative chain OF
evidence disappears
No Evidence OF Meeting.
There is no evidence that these two
men. Brines and Drewes. met each other
at any time on that day. There is no
evidence that Brines was In that car.
even assuming that Il was his car. on
the night of the murder.
ut is possible that Brincs's car was
not there at all and that Mrs. Reeves is
mistaken about the car that was there,
and that Drewes came TO his death In an
alteration with some one else of whom
we know nothing. IL is possible that
Drewes might have committed suicide
somewhere and that some one took his
body and left II at the place where the
body was found. These possibilities are
in the case. and IL these possibilities are
in the case with no evidence that ex-
cludes them from the case necessarily
am obliged TO say to the jury that the
Commonwealth has failed to make out a
case.
"Jn cases OF this sort the evidence
sometimes is sufficient to convict man
when there IL nothing but circumstance
and no direct proof of the commission
Of the crime. but. as said at the outset
in such cases the evidence must. TO a
moral certainty, point to the defendant
as the one committing the crime and "a
exclude everybody else. II the evidence
does not do that. all the suspicious and
all the surmises that come from other
evidence In the case fall to the ground.
Therefore, I direct you TO render a
verdict OF not guilty upon the bill charg-
ing murder as we'll as upon the man
slaughter bill. and I want to thank you
very much for your patience and atten-
tion and dismiss you till next Monday
morning.