Evening star., 1926-12-12

|" Continued from FIRST %PaEe.p
York and Mr.. Hogan on behalf of
Doheny. The last word to the jury
from counsel is reserved for the Gov
ernment, and under present arrange
ments the rebuttal will be given by
Mr.. Pomerene.
Justice Hoehling then will give his
instructions to the jury, after which
the 12 men will be locked up until they
reach a verdict.
May Exchange Prayers.
Under the general practice in the
District Criminal Courts, 1t is Gus.
tomary for the presiding justice to
read the prayers Of counsel for both
sides at the conclusion of his charge
to the jury, in which the court states
the law. with special reference to the
various prayers or petitions which ne
has granted.
1t is understood that the Govern
ment has arranged about 80 prayers
and the number to be cited by the
defense will greatly exceed that. 1t
was considered possible that each side
may exchange copies Of its prayers
and also provide the court with copies
so that in the interval before Mondays
session, Justice Hoehling can look
them over and more readily under
stand the various points involved.
This method, 1t was said, would serve
to expedite the closing procedure.
It has been one of the contentious
of the defense throughout the trial
that Fall and Doheny. personally.
had little. If anything. to do with the
negotiations for the Pearl Harbor and
Elk Hills leases and contracts. that
nothing has been brought out in the
Governments testimony to establish
the charge of collusion between the
two defendants. 1t is understood
that Government counsel, in their
prayers, will contend that conspiracy
can be proved without the alleged
conspirators ever having actually
met.
Surprised at Speed.
The rapidity with which the trial
has approached An end has come as
a general surprise. The two defend.
ants appeared in court November 10
and pleaded mot guilty" to the charge
of conspiracy. Twelve days later the
trial was opened, November %, and
the jury selected before adjournment
that afternoon. Eighty.five witnesses
had been subpoenaed by the Govern
ment, but only small proportion of
these were called upon to testify.
Attorney Roberts virtually closed the
Governments case when Mr.. Hogan
put the first defense witness on the
stand.
The defense formally closed it's
case yesterday morning, after which
the Government made only a very
brief rebuttal.
The defense reached it's climax
| when the elder Doheny took the
stand after his wife and son had tes-
tified about the $1,000 loan to Fall
| and the mutilation Of the note given
| the oil man in return.
It is on the elder Doheny's testi-
mony that the defense hopes to prove
that he was scared" into undertak-
| ing the Pearl Harbor construction
work because OF a threatened Japa-
nese invasion Of the Pacific Coast in
| 1921. To support this contention the
| defense has the testimony of Doheny
| and Capt. J. X. Robson, former chief
| Of naval engineers, who told the jury
| of the Navy's secret war plans In the
| Pacific. It was to produce these
| plans that the defense called Secre
tary Of the Navy Wilbur. who refused
| to divulge them.
| Attorney Roberts believes he has
"punctured" the war scare bubble, re-
| garded as of vital importance to the
| defense because Of it's possible psyche
logical effect on the Jury. by bringing
out that threatened war with Japan
| in 1921 was q hallucination In view
| of the singing of the four-power Pa
cific treaty at that time and the dis
armament conference, then in ses
| sion here.