Show RAILROADS CLAIM A JUDGE MARSHALL HANDS DOWN IMPORTANT DECISION railroads claim court in n sustaining second CLe demurrer practically I 1 wipe wipes s out the first the ruling of judge Al marshall arshall in the federal court in salt lake city Is claimed by the union pacific and oregon short line railroads as a vf victory etory the indictment which as isas returned against the railroad con com ponies during the november term of c 1906 charges them with an allege 1 violation of the interstate commerce law chere were two counts in the indictment and both were demurred to the court sustained the demurrer to the second count an d overruled the to the thia first the rall roada caim clixia a victory on the grounds tile court in jn sustaining the second demurrer practically wiped out fist the defendants contended in their demurrer that the jaw ie Js indefinite and uncertain and it was on alib demurrer that the court sustained the contention of the defendants the rall railroad road argue that it if the court hol holds lis that the law la 18 uncertain am ant indefinite the charge df 0 t conspiracy as outlined in the first count of tb abi indictment falls through and the railroads are thus cleared in his ruling judge Af marshall arshall hed hold that section three of the commerce law Is indefinite and UL certain in that it falls to specifically the nature of the crime demurrer of defendants to the first count was overruled because 0 the 0 cort court opined opened that the charge of conspiracy filed against the rall railroads railroad road i held good district attorney H E booth for the government daes do es not grant a victory to the railroads and will fight cabe case before the federal court 11 the ilie charge of conspiracy detill holds good said he today whether the law is considered Inae indefinite finite and uncertain or not if the be case which ia Is one of the mos important to come before the federal court in this district grows out of cli charges arges in connection with the calil land cases made last fall by david J scarp a local coal dealer the matter maver was presented the grand jury who returned a true bill the defendant 4 in ja the case aro are the union pacific railroad company the union pacific coal compan company athi the oregon ort gon short lint li everett buckingham general superintendent supa in of the last named concen and J al moore manager of the union pacific coal company in the indictment the railroads arc are cli eli arged with violating interstate commerce laws as enacted by congress congre ag february 4 1887 and which were amended june 29 1906 making it unlawful to conspire against any pron paron I 1 fon or corporation in restraint of trade the railroad companies through thur representatives the Indict indictment meat reads arc are miners of and dealers in coal oal in tle state of 0 utah and wyo u ing acting as such defendants required 1000 bond from retail dealers which included freight charges lor a period beginning june 13 aw the railroads and their subsidiary sub ecal companies made a reduction of 0 so 50 cents aton aion a ion in the price of coal sharp according to the indictment then made a further reduction of 50 cents a ton on coal and adver the cut price in the newspapers then the railroads says the indict jaent went to and nd demanded that he bring the price of coal up lip to the then prevailing price and to re flem from cutting the price tills 8 charp jarp refused to do then it Is alleged the rail railroads roada peremptorily refused either to ship or sell coal to sharp and otherwise did unlawfully wrongfully and wic kelty conspire ron spire combine confederate and agree to subject sharp to unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage this alleged stand stani of the rail rall reads mads was found the indictment the second count IB Is practically a resume of f the jerst and brings out in detail the alleged violation of interstate commerce law as defined in the first count attorney booth appeared thiis this morning for the government par lev williams Illi tams general counsel for the oregon short line john J willis as socrate counsel and judge C S varlan acted for defendants in so tar far as the court ruled thai section three of the interstate commerce law is indefinite and acin the railroads claim a victory the opinion of judge marshall arshall Al in the minds of counsel for defendant defendants practically amounts to declaring that the law as embraced in section three is illegal and that it therefore cannot bo be enforced future rulings in united states with regard to violations of the interstate commerce law will in a great measure be based upon tho th ruling of judge marshall marscall Mars ball the question as all to the constitutionality tiona lity of 0 the law faw has been argue argufy 1 for years As yet lot there has been 0 10 o satisfactory settlement |