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VICTORY IS
GIVEN TO
DEFENSE
Court Gives State 10 Days to Consider Next Step
NO bribery involved, is the mean- ing of the decision rendered by Superior Judge Govnor Teats of Pierce county this morning, when he sustained the demurrer of ex-Gov- ernor Hart to the charge of soliciting a bribe from Forbes P. Haskell, Jr., and Guy E. Kelly. Haskell and Kelly were receiver and attorney, re- spectively, for the defunct Scandi- navian-American bank of Tacoma.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Frank D. Nash, in the absence of Prosecuting Attorney J. W. Sel- den, who was out of the city, asked for an exception to the rul- ing, which was allowed. The state was given 10 days in which to further consider its next step. In that time it will be determined if the information will be amend- ed, or an appeal taken to the su- preme court on the sufficiency of the present information.
CASE BASED ON HASKELL AFFIDAVIT
The case brought against the for- mer governor by the state was based upon affidavits by Haskell and Kelly in which the ex-governor was alleged to have asked for a division of the fees to be paid Haskell, deputy state bank supervisor, and attorneys in charge of the liquidation of the Scan- dinavian American abnk.
The demurrer had been taken un- der advisement by Judge Teats after the hearing Thursday, when Maurico A. Langhorne, attorney for Hart, and Prosecutor Selden and his depu- ty, Nash, backed their opposing con- tentions with numerous citations from authorities on the matter of bribery.