Norwich bulletin., 1922-02-15
FAMOUS TRIALS
THE CORNELL COLLEGE CASE.


1t is lust 20 years since the country
was very much stirred up over what was
then known as the Cornell college case
depiorable example of the miscarriage O.
justice, for a life had been forfeited
through college pranks and none of the
guilty parties met even the slightest pun
lshment. The famous case was brought
to a conclusion on May II at Ithaca the
supreme court of New York state having
failed to discover the perpetrators of the
chlorin gas outragt by which a colored
woman lost her life.
On the evening of Feb. 20, 1894, the
freshmen of Cornell university were hold
ing a banquet at Ithaca. The sopho-
mores had rushed" them that evening,
previous to the banquet, but they had
finally reached the hall and settled down
to the discussion of the bill of fare. Those
outside the hall saw nothing unusual to
attract their attention until about II
| O'clock when a colored woman a cook
was led out. unconscious, supported by
two men, She was soon followed by sew
! eral students in the same condition The
| woman taken to a PHYSICIANS office
| where in a few minutes she died. The
students We're revived with some diff
Guilty at the neighboring drug store.
An investigation was immedfa tely
made by the police, and the cause of the
| trouble ascertsined Some parties pre-
| sumabiy sophomores, had obtained access
| to an unused room just beneath the ban
quet room and here they had prepared
an apparatus consisting of jug with two
rubber tubes leading up to holes in the
/ ceiling in the room above. In the jug
/ had been placed salt and sulphuric acid
which together formed c,lorin gas, and
hot I7ad
| banqueters.
The first clue found was the absence
! of Carl L. Dingens, a sophomore from
| Buffalo. from his boarding house the next
! morning. Then the Address NO. Cook
street" where Dingens boarded. was
| found in lead pencil on the jug Dingens
Whereabouts could not be asoertained af.
| ter diligent inquiry at his home in Buff.
| falo, but three weeks later, when the
! spring term of the university opened. hi
! appeared and announced that he had
| been under the care of hisFold family
| physician at Syracuse Cor treatment fol
| weak eyes. and had been forbidden By
him to read the newspapers so that tn.
/ first he knew of the tragedy was when he
arrived back in Ithaca.
In the mean time the coroner had
| promptly irnpaneled a Jury which sin
| gularly enough contained a number OF
| Cornell graduates and sU5peaned F. /.
Taylor, another sophomore, who roomed
| with Dingens, to tell what he knew
! about the affair. He acting under the
advice of counsel. claimed the privilege
| allowed by the New York code In trials
! before the court of not being compelled
! to testify to any matter which would
| tend to incriminate himself
The business men of Ithaca who were
| asked to testify as to where the ma
| terials were obtained could not remem.
Der to whom they SOLD them. Their
poor memory at This time probably
| saved them boycott. The trustees OF
Cornell university placed $500 in the
hands Of the coroner to employ private
| detectives on the csse. It was now
nearly time vixen the grand jury of tn.
county would cvhvene, in connection wit+
the supreme court, and Oyer and Ter
| miner. Judge Gerritt A Forbes, presid
Ing, so the coroner's jury having beer
unable to accomplish anything definite
turned the whole matter over to N,
grand jury.
Justice Forbes charged the era n,
Jury, giving special attention TO tn
cfrlorin case. A leading New York nan
er and some other papers throughout tn
country took exception to the charge
ciaiming that It was lenient with the Of
tenders
| Prof. Charles A Collins OF the Cornel
Law School, for eight years special coun
sci for the government, discussed tn
uestfon before his GLASS, cRaiming that tn
crime was murder, because, while no
prem editated yet it was committed Will
!, the perpetrators were engaged In an &C
imnrnently dangerous to others an
evfncing a depraved mind regardless o
human life, although without a tpremedi
tated design to effect the death OF any in
dividual. These criticisms drew from Jus
tice Forbes spirited reply, in which n
| claimed that he had not intended t
smooth over the matter and he thereup
on charged the Grand Jury over agair
explaining paragraph by paragraph w'ha
he meant in his former charge.
: student. Taylor, when brought be
$ fore the grand jury. declined to answe
any questions relating to the affair |
, question upon the grounds stated befor
, the coroner's jury, and was thereupo
pomptly committed by Judge Forbes I
the county Jail for contempt of cour
His counsel obtained his release upo
bail from Justices Smith and Parker b
! writ Of habeas corpus
Il The general term reversed the deci.
ion, but Chief Justice Andrews of ii
court of appeals granted a stay pendin
an appeal to the court of appeals. tn
being the second time in the history
the state that the chief judge had gran