ANOTHER SENSATION

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 2 November 1927, Page 9

ANOTHER SENSATION

LATE EDITION

IN FALL-SINCLAIR TRIAL. JURY TAMPERING ALLEGED. EXTENSIVE OPERATIONS. EY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received 1.45 p.m. to-day. NEW YORE, Nov. 1. The trial oi Tail and Sinclair at Washington has again assumed most sensational .aspects, when Mr. Justice Biddons ordered a recess. The court adjourned to chambers and conducted an investigation into charges o-f jurytampering preferred by the Government counsel. The judge’s inquiry was first surrounded by secrecy, only himself and counsel, for both sides and the court stenographer Doing present, while Sinclair was called in later, hut after the luncheon interval, tlie judge announced that he would withhold decision until next day, meanwhile permitting publication of four affidavits supporting the charges, which created a shock throughout the country, equalling that of the original oil scandals. It is now generally considered, that a declaration of mistrial is inevitable. The affidavits, four m number were made l>y two assistant United States attorneys, ia street car conductor and a journalist. They alleged that fifteen operatives of a detective agency, allegedly employed by Sinclair, had kept the jury under surveillance, hour by hour since the trial had opened; that the said operatives had large expense accounts and had made strenuous efforts to obtain knowledge of the jurors personal lives, business contacts and property, etc.; that the agents operated under the direction of .a so-called client even to the extent of moving into the same hotel as the so-called client, meaning Sinclair; and that operations wcre discovered and when Government men raided the agency room at the hotel and seized reports. The affidavits also declared that one juror stated m the presence of two deponents that he greatly admired Sinclair and saw no advantage to himself from bringing a verdict of conviction, hut he might get an advantage from bringing a. verdict of acquittal, and that he expected to get “an automobile as long as the block” out of the trial. The operatives’ investigation of jurors’ movements even extended info an inquiry regarding the ownership of the juror’s house, particularly whether it was mortgaged. Government lawyers stated that there was not the slightest doubt that a mis-trial must be declared, and there are hints that the Grand Jury is now sitting and extraordinary developments are likely to ensue.