Samuel Insull Trial: 1934

The gist of the Insull defense was that the government had to find someone to blame for the ills the Depression had caused. Samuel Insull, as the magic name in the era of million-dollar risks and losses, was the logical culprit. Thompson summarized:

Gentlemen, you have had a description here of an age in American history which we hope never will be repeated. We are trying that age. There is no proof here that anyone had any wrongful motive. There is proof that these men believed implicitly in the business venture in which they were engaged, and they poured their own fortunes and their own good names into it.

The jury agreed. It found all of the defendants not guilty.

Insull faced two more trials. In March 1935, a Cook County jury found him not guilty on the charge of embezzlement. In June in federal district court, he and his son and Harold Stuart were found not guilty of illegally transferring property with intent to prefer selected creditors and defeat the purpose of the Bankruptcy Act.

Insull returned to Paris, where he dropped dead on the street at 78. It was reported that his assets then were $1,000; his debts, $14 million.