Judge Picks Jury for Gaston Means' Trial, Jan. 12, 1925

Trial of Gaston Means Underway at Present. . . Jury Is Being Chosen by Judge Lindley, Who Will Preside at the Trial

By the Associated Press

New York, Jan. 12—A judge-picked jury will hear the testimony at the trial of Gaston B. Means, former department of justice agent, and his one-time attorney, Thomas B. Felter, on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The trial began today after many days with Means in court as the result of a bench warrant served on him at his Concord, N.C., home where he pleaded he was too ill to appear in court. Federal Judge Walter E. Lindley of Danville, Ill., refused to permit the defendant’s attorneys to question the prospective jurors, undertaking the task himself. At the request of Felder’s attorneys, he asked the talesmen concerning their attitude toward the Ku Klux Klan.

It was said that the star government witness would be Means’ former secretary, Elmer W. Jarnecke, a co-defendant, who pleaded guilty a week ago. The three were charged with having accepted $65,000 from members of the Crager System, a stock selling organization, on the representation that they would bribe former Attorney General Daughterty and other government officials, to prevent their prosecution for alleged stock frauds.

From The Concord Daily Tribune, Monday, January 12, 1925

newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-01-12/ed-1/seq-4/