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HOW THEY WERE ACQUITTED.

Alleged Plan Whereby Nrs, Sheedy and the Negro Were Freed.

SET A TRAP FOR ATTORNEY LAMBERTSON.

Ring and Hair Episodes in Strode's Speech Prearranged- Decoration day at Lincoln - Odds and Ends.

Lincoln, Neb., May 30. -[Special to The Bee.]- The one absorbing topic of conversation is the verdict of the jury in the Sheedy murder case. The legal fraternity takes a special interest in the case, and pronounce it a remarkable victory considering the evidence that was unearthed even previous to the preliminary hearing. Many people who formerly believed Mrs. Sheedy guilty now declare empathetically since the trial that they think she is innocent. This change of heart is of course due to the manner in which the defense handled their side of the case against what appeared great odds. In the presence of a group of lawyers this forenoon one of the attorneys on the part of the defense, after considerable quizzing, [-nally] unfolded the plan of battle whereby the apparently sure prosecution was routed:

"The trouble on the part of the state's prosecution," said he, "was that it's attorneys and officers tried the case from the beginning to end with a brass band and through the newspapers, while we worked quietly for the defendants to win only. Mayor Graham sought, with the aid of Melick and Malone, to close his term of office in a blaze of glory. He, of course, had the laudable wish to succeed himself. So he turned sleuth hound, and, as Monday McFarland will tell you today, Graham wrung this confession from him. He got the confession but he was not posted well enough to know that he had made a loophole through which we could crawl out even had the defendant been guilty.

"Then, again, every speck of evidence which was obtained was heralded in the newspapers. This brought Graham and the officers working with him prominently before the people, but gave their case dead away. These mistakes were chicken pie for Strode, Billingsley and the rest of us. We knew just what to meet and how to parry it.

"I'll admit we had apparently a desperate case, but Strode and Detective Penneo were indefatigable in looking up evidence, and to Stearns was assigned the job of looking up all points of law that could possibly arise. But Colonel Philpot and Captain Billingsley had the hardest task of all, and that was to hold Monday McFarland down and keep his mouth shut. The attorneys for the state by various means sought to have McFarland repeat his confession on the trial and thereby secure immunity. The alleged treachery of his attorneys to his interest to help out Mrs. Sheedy was fully announced in the papers and among the colored people, all done, I believe, at the instance of the prosecution. But the darkey clung to his legal advisers, Philpot and Billingsley, although he was falsely informed that they were to get a contingentfee of $20,000 to help out Mrs. Sheedy at his expense. To Captain Billingsley, for the defendants, was assigned the duty of selecting a jury, which we think was well done. Philpot was irrepressible and did considerable of the fighting. Detective Crawe was a silent factor in the case.

"I believe that another mistake made by the prosecution was the style of addressing the jury. There was a vast contrast between the speeches made on each side. Hall and Lambertson were ornate, polished and poetic, but far above the heads of the jurors and beyond their grasp. The speeches for the defense were plain, but they got there.

"A trap was prepared for Lambertson over the ring and hair in the latter part of Strode's powerful plea, and Lambertson fell into it most beautifully. He lost his temper and called Strode 'an infamous liar.' Then Judge Field reprimanded him sternly and the crowd for once applauded, showing an apparent sympathy for the defendant. This had a powerful influence on the jury. Snell himself admits that their side of the case was not well managed."

AFTER THE BATTLE.

Now that the first surprise from verdict is over there is noticeable lack of incrimination and hints of bribery. The newspaper men know of their own experience that it was impossible to get within gun [?] of the jury room. Sheriff McClay took the greatest precaution that nobody could get to the jury, and the bailiffs, Taylor and Bates, have been as silent and grim as sphinxes. The trial entailed an immense amount of work on the sheriff and his deputies, Hongland, Hoxie and McFarland, and Bailiff Franklin, but every effort was made to accomodate the great crowds which gathered daily. The people in attendance seemed to appreciate this fact and were as quiet and orderly throughout as though they were in church. Only once did they give way to their feelings and that was in the Lambertson episode.

"The Bee is the only paper," says Woodward, "That has treated the defense fairly. The Bee has given both sides without any coloring. There is only one thing in its reports to which we can take exception, and that is the interview with an attorney, in which we were charged with selling out our client. That was not true, but, of course, The Bee intended us no malice in publishing what was given to it as gospel truth" Captain Billingsley and Mr. Strode says the same thing concerning the reports of the trial in The Bee.

Juror Robertson said in conversation with Judge Field last evening that when the jury retired to their room after the argument close that eight of the jurors were morally satisfied of Mrs. Sheedy's guilt, but could not find her guilty according to the restrictions laid upon them in considering the evidence.

It is reported by another juror that nine of his colleagues were in favor of pronouncing McFarland guilty until they received the judges instructions.

The five attorneys on the part of the defense admit that it required their united efforts to break the chain of evidence forged by Detective Jim Malone.