John A. Fyshe, a former officer in the British army, testifies that he first met the defendant, Ines Hyland, while he was working as a civil engineer in East Africa. He moved to the United States with his wife, Alberta, in April 1903 and, later that year, he contacted Hyland in New York to request a loan of $10,000. Fyshe claimed that he gave Hyland a diamond necklace, the property of his wife, as a guaranty of the loan; but that Hyland, on receiving the necklace, disappeared without providing the loan. Ines Hyland, in her defense, claims that she was the victim of an elaborate hoax designed by Fyshe to conceal his appropriation of the necklace from his wife. Fyshe, according to Hyland’s testimony, had tricked her into providing a receipt for the necklace while retaining it in his possession. Hyland denies that she had intended to provide Fyshe with a loan. The jury finds the defendant not guilty on the indictment of larceny in the first degree.

The five defendants are indicted for grand larceny in the second degree. Stewart Coles and Alfred Roser, private detectives working for the Wholesale Fish Dealers Association, testify that they witnessed the defendants stealing fish from a consignment of eighteen containers delivered to the Fulton Fish Market in the early morning of 23 December 1903. The detectives, concealed in an oyster boat docked at the pier, watched the defendants break open containers to obtain a quantity of halibut. Benjamin Graham, an oysterman, William Ashcroft, night watchman, and George Moon, night clerk, testify to the presence of the defendants at the market at the time of the alleged robbery. The defendants, truckmen hired to deliver the halibut from the Erie Railroad terminal in Jersey City, deny that they had stolen the fish. The jury finds the defendants guilty of petit larceny.