FIFTY-YEAR TRIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 16 March 1907, Page 4

FIFTY-YEAR TRIAL.

U3U LNDiI'XIIEN'TS AIiAIXST TItUST MAGNATES. Now York, Ala rcli !•" Hostilities upon the part of the Sti?to against tho St:iliilnivt Oil Jvibi have noxv begun in earnest. Ail attempt 10 I'rush the hydraheaded company by means of generalised charges based oa the .Villi-1 1'ust laws having hillierto been balked by the ingenuity of .Mr Rockefeller'.-. attorneys. thi' grand jury of I'in-llav, Ohio,"agreed to return Kb indictments, providing tor every possible coming->tn-y in tue way of legal 411 ibiil''s against Mr' Rockefeller and liis as-wiutes in the Standard Oil ami live subs-Vary companies with their presidents. acli person in the company is accused of having aeted in violation of the Valentino Anti-Trust T.a \v, ami separate indictments are entered dra in;.: with each day since the offence is alleged to iiave begun three years ago. The indictments, which fill many volumes of foolscap, make possible the infliction of lines aggregating £12,0tM,oUU and imprisonment for terms totalling from Iff- years to t'.iU veals. Mi .(oekefeiler, if found guilty, may be sentenced to 1(»4 years in gao . It is expected that the eases \vi;l one up for'hearing at the end of Felluary. Unless tile defendants' counsel -'ree to a joint tr ai. it is estimated that proceedings cannot last less than fifty years.