The Billings gazette. [volume], February 26, 1907, Page 8, Image 8

About The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
SUGEO RGE IALPIN
FORFEITS BAIL
LEAVES SUDDENLY WHILE AS
SAULT CASE IS PENDING.
IS CAL LED FOR TRIAL
Fails to Respond and Bench Warrant
Issued' for His Arrest-Efforts to
Apprehend Him - Charged With
Attempt to Shoot Walter Clifton.
Keen surprise was felt in official
circles when it became known yes
terday that George Halpin had left
the city, and, presumably, the state,
rather than stand trial on the charge
of assault in the first degree, arising
from the shooting affair that occur
red in front of the Owl saloon
three months ago.
That Halpin feared the result of a
trial and therefore decided to take
no chances, is evident from all the
sudden developments in the case.
Aside from a plea of temporary insan
ity, it is generally conceded that he
had a weak defense to the charge of
attempting to shoot Walter Clifton,
though there was every disposition
to give him the benefit of any reason
able doubt in the case.
The first intimation the authorities
had that Halpin preferred to hazard
the life of a fugitive from justice
was when his case was called for trial
in the district court yesterday morn
ing. Everything was in readiness
to proceed with the case. Judge Fox
was on the bench, the new jurors
were present, numerous witnesses
were prepared to testify and the at
torneys for both sides were ready for
the legal fray.
Counsel Looks for Him.
As the time approached for the
'beginning of the trial set. Attorney
T. S. Hogan, representing the defend
ant, watched the door to the entrance
of the court room, evidently expect
ing that Halpin would be the next
person to enter. But he failed to
appear and Mr. Hogan so informed
the court. Judge Fox expressed sur
prise, and the remark was freauent
ly heard, "Has Halpin left the coun
try?"
Judge Fox accordingly declared the
defendant's bonds of $5,000 forfeited,
and issued a bench warrant for Hal
pin's arrest. P. B. Moss and M. A.
Arnold are sureties on the' bond.
They are fully indemnified, it is said,
the defendant having furnished the
money with which to secure his re
lease from jail pending the trial. The
loss therefore falls on Halpin him
self.
Halpin is said to have left the city
last Thursday, though the exact date
of his departure is still a matter of
doubt. Attorney Hogan stated that
he received a telegram from Halpin,
who was in Omaha Thursday night,
and this being the case be must have
left Billings earlier in the week. Sher
iff Webb wired to a number of cities
in the hope of apprehending Halpin,
but up to a late hour last night had
received no favorable responses.
The defendant was absent from the
city for several weeks, during which
time he was reported to be in Oma
ha, where he has relatives living.
He returned here just prior to the
opening of the present court, Feb
ruary 15, and was seen about the
streets for several days. Always cor
dial in his manner toward friends
and reticent in the presence of
strangers. Halpin's disposition seem
ed to have changed little, if any, and
it was supposed, he intended to re
main and face the legal music, what
ever that might have in store for
him. It is now very plain that he had
entirely different plans working.
In Business With Clifton.
Halpin was formerly employed as
bartender in various saloons of the
city. He was well liked by those
with whom he came in contact. He
was finally taken into partnership
with Walter Clifton in the Owl sa
loon. They conducted the business
together for some time. Later Hal.
pin severed his connection with the
firm and left the city. spending a
year or so in Minneapolis, Butte and
other places.
Halpin came back to Billings the
night of November 13. last, arriving
from Butte on a late train. He com
menced to drink and became abusive.
From statements he made to several
persons it was evident that he bore
a grudge toward Clifton. Halpin had
plenty of money-some say about
$8,000-and spent it freely, buying
wine for himself and friends.
Fires at Clifton.
Early in the evening of November
14 he walked up North Twenty-sev
enth alone until he reached a point
directly in front of the Owl saloon
and in close proximity to where
Clifton and . Sam Kardonski were
standing. Without saying a word, so
far as anyone knows, Halpin pulled
a gun and opened fire on Clifton.
He fired five shots, only one of the
bullets, however, taking effect. Kar
donskl was shot through the' groin.
Clifton, escaped unharmed, He pull
ed a reyolver and started after Halpin
who retreated into the Blue Grass sa,
loon, adjolning the Owl saloon. Clif
ton did not shoot, Policeman Schnei
der jumping in between the men.
After the shooting Halpin declared
he would kill Clifton at the first op
portunity, as the latter had, he said,
mistreated him.
Kardonski in Hospital.
Kardonski was removed to the hos
pital where he remained for sev
eral. weeks, finally recovering from
the effects of the bullet wound he
had received. He subsequently
brought suit in the district court to
recover judgment against Halpin tor
$20,000 alleged damages by reason of
the physical injuries sustained. The
action is still pending.
In the event Halpin is apprehended
he will be obliged to stan'd trial as
though nothing had happened with
the first setting of his case. Besides,
his bail is forfeited and he would
have to stay in jail until the close
of his trial.
MUST END THE- WAR
Honduras and Nicaragua Given to
Understand that Hcstilities Will
Not Be Further Tolerated.
Washington, Feb. 25.-Advices re
ceived by the state department today
through Minister Corea of Nicaragua
are to the effect that the small steam
er Empire, which in the past has fig
ured conspicuoulsly in filibustering ex
peditions, is being utilized for the
transportation of munitions of war
from Salvador to Honduras.
Minister Corea will request this
government to have the steamer New
I port, which sailed from San Francis
co Saturday for Panama with 600
cases of munitionls of war for Salva
dor, intercepted by the cruiser Chica
go, now a Acajutla, believing that the
3 supplies are intended for Honduras
It is asserted here that by prearrange
ment the empire will meet the New
port at sea and have the 600 cases of
war material transferred to her.
Unless Nicaragua and Honduras
aspeedily agree to arbitrate their dif
ferences in response to the sugges
tion of the United States and Mexico,
e it is not improbable that intervention
will be resorted to, in order to bring
: them to end the present state of hos
L tilities. It became known today that
I within the last day or two a second
' note wals sent to the 'presidents of
Nicaragua and Honduras in effect con
veying this threat. No replies b.ve
been received, and while in official
e circles the hope is expressed that fur
ther bloodshed may be averted, there
. is an underlying belief that it will be
necessary for either the United States
of Mexico to step in and force arbitra
tion.
CHARGED WITH MURDER.
Spokane, Wash., Feb. 25.-Ex-Depu
ty Sheriff Walker of Franklin county,
has been arrested at Leroy, Wash.,
charged with the murder of Charles'
Anderson, who died a few days ago
in a Spokane hospital.
Coroner Witter found that death
was caused by a blow on the head,
received during a free-for-all fight at
a railway camp near Leroy. It is
said Walker was recently deprived of
his star as deputy sheriff for ex
ceeding his authority and had become
very sensitive when reminded of it.
This, it is believed, may have started
the fight.
AGAINST THE RAILROADS.
Washington, Feb. 25.-The cases of
the Union Pacific and Burlington
railroads, against the various county
treasurers of Nebraska, involving the
tax rate upon the property of rali
roads and calling Into question the
administration of the Nebraska state
tax law, were decided today adverse
ly to the railroads, by the supreme
court of the United States. The de
cision was announced by Justice
Holmes.
OGLESBY LOSES FIGHT.
(Special to The Gazette.)
HIelera, Feb. 2:.-'Kid" Scaler
of Butte, beat "Kil'" Oglesby of Hel
ena tonight in h11o 32d round of one of
the h 'rdcst-fought contests ever
pulled off in this city. Tt was Scalers ;
P:cht all the way ,hr'onch. but. O;ts lPvy
lhowe'l some marvellous aPility in
foot work and avoiding punishm-ient
In the 2ld round. however, Ogleoshb
was lnable to scane Scalar's tie're('
Itiiicney blows and when iP wis evident
lhe was iseatell his seondst- threw iU)
the Sponge.
BANDITS MAKE BIG HAUL.
El Paso, Texas, Feb. 25.--,andits
raided the hacienda of J.esus Ulran
gan, Salenz, in Mexico. Sunday night.
After making prisoners of Salenz and
his servants, the bifndits robbed, his
safe of $7,000 in gold and gathered up
many thousands of dollars worth of
jewelry and plate, destroying all they
could not carry off. Officers are
searching the mountains for the rob
bers.
GRIEF LEADS TO SUICIDE.
Spokane, Wash., Feb. 25.-Thinking
that the accidental discharge of a lit
tle revolver while in his hands had
I- killed his younger brother, Charles
a Mancke, aged 16, fired a bullet into his
> own head. The boy was only 1stunned
! and will recover. Charles may die.
IN COURT ON A
BRIBERY CHARGE
E. J. MITTS ONCE MORE ACCUS
ED OF CRIME.
OFFERS NO DEFENSE
Given Preliminary Hearing in Justice
Mann's Court-Sheriff Webb Testi
fies-Defendant Confessed to Hav
ing Received Money not to Appear
as a Witness.
After listening to the testimony of
Sheriff Webb in Justice Mann's
court yesterday, E. J. Mitts conclud
ed to say nothing in his own defense
to the charge of having accepted a
bribe of $15, and he was held for trial
in the district court.
Mitts has had a varied experience
in and out of court during the past
month. First he got into a game of
pitch with one William Parks in a
south side saloon. Then, on the same
day, he was robbed and Parks and
a companion named Stellar were ac
cused of stealing $5 from Mitts. The
suspected robbers were duly arrested
and Mitts was to have appeared
against them. But he disappeared
suddenly, it being alleged that he
received $15 as a bribe and left for
Sheridan, Wyo.
Serving Jail Sentence.
Parks and 'Stellar were sent to the
county jail for six months on the
general charge of vagrancy, despite
Mitts' failure to be pre ent and tes
tify for the prosecution, as he had
agreed to do.
The next heard of Mitts was at
Alliance, Neb. Armed with a war
rant for his arrest Sheriff Webb went
to the Nebraska city. The charges
against Mitts was that of conducting
a gambling game in the Montana sa
loon, January 21, last. On the train
enroute to this city Mitts admitted to
Sheriff Webb that he had accepted
the bribe, and the officer so testified
at the preliminary hearing yesterday.
The gambling charge against Mitts
has been dismissed, and he will be
prosecuted on the bribery charge.
STORY TOLD OF
MANY MERGERS
(Contmuea from First Page)
"All right, sir, thank you very
much," said Mr. Kellogg. "I want
to prove that after you bought those
bonds for 65 you sold them for some
other price."
But the witness could not remem
ber for what they were sold and who
were the syndicate managers.
Mr. Kellogg showed that $973,000
of interest on the prior lien bonds
was being carried as an asset on the
books of the company, but the wit
ness could not explain.
He said the books might have
shown a surplus of only $200,000, but
the books were wrong and had been
corrected. Twelve million dollars
had been taken from the profits of the
road and expended in inmprovements.
Mr. Kellogg pointed out that the old
management had never increased its
capital stock and then questioned the
witness at length as to the action
of the new company, endeavoring to
show, among other things, that the
stock standing in the names of the
new directors really belonged to the
syndicate.
The witness then told of the trans
fer of the Alton Railroad company to
the Alton Railway company. When
the stock was placed in the treas
ury of the latter company a mort
gage of $22,000,000 was placed on it
and preferred stock to the value of
$19,439.000 and common stock to the
value of $19,542.000 at par issued
against it.
"In other words, you capitalized
}the $29,000.000 of the Alton stock for
$02.000,000?" ased Mr. Kellogg.
"That is as you put it" answered
SMr. Harriman.
The witness said the new com
pny nias~uned the mortgage of $40.
000.000 issued by the old one and
Mr. (ellogg declared that the stock
and liabilities of the company had
thus been swelled to $122.000,000.
Connsel for defense insisted that
these figures were eight millions In
!excess of correct ones and Mr. Kel
Slogg, saying that he would admit the
difference asked what the roads had
to show for the increase of more
than $70,000,000 in liabilities, except
the $22,000,000 spent in bettering
the road. He declared that the dif
ference was wate'f.
There was a long discussion of the
manner in which certain errors had
been charged in the statement of the
Alton and while the witness could not
explain the matter he denied that it
represented any attempt at conceal
ment.
Mr. Harriman's general explanation
I of the Alton deal was as follows:
"The syndicate found itself in the
i position of having paid $42,000,000 for
the stock and property mentioned,
less $6,000,000 which it had received
in dividends on the stock of the rail
road company, or $36,000,000. Now,
the return of about $1,600,000 a year
is less than 43 per cent on that
amount invested. It would seem that
it was not a very liberal distribution
on the amount of money invested, but
we took the chances of what condition
the markets might be in and the
common stock that was issued by the
railway company was isomewhat in re
lation to what you might say was dis
counting the future and to enable us
to put out a security which might be
a prior lien-that is our 33/2 per cent
bond to some advantage, and still re
tain either the preferred or common
stock for purposes of control, or we
could sell the whole of the preferred
stock or part of it and Istill retain
common stock for the purposes of con
trol.
"In 1898 we were just beginning to
emerge from a series of years of de
pression resulting from the panic of
1893, and I might say the shock of
1896, that is, the political campaign
and the reisult of the Venezuela mes
sage, which I think you probably re
member, had a very serious effect
because of the possible difficulty
which it might get us into with Eng
land. In 1898 we were just beginning
to emerge from these conditions,
which were conditions of economy and
restriction and timidity on the part of
capitalists, and it was doubtful wheth
er we, with all the stock of the Chi
cago & Alton Railroad company,
would have been able at the time to
have sold our 3 per cent bonds as high
as 65 in the market, but it was the
change in conditions: between the end
of 1898 and the fall of 1899, which
brought about a condition which en
abled the marketing of the three and
one-half per cent bonds, the three per
cent bonds and the preferred stock
which the syndicate subscribers held
to advantage to themselves without
any disadvantage to the shippers, or
anybody that was using the Chicago &
Alton railroad company, is is shown
by the figures I have given you."
Examination as to purchases of Al.
ton stock by the Union Pacific com
menced just before adjournment. The
witness said the first purchase of Al.
ton by the syndicate was made with
out any reference to the Union Pacific,
and when Mr. Kellogg produced a cir
cular issued in 1899, stating the ad
vantages of a Union Pacific connection
to the ,tockholders of the Alton, the
witness denied knowledge of its is
suance.
Mr. Harriman will continue him
testimony tomorrow.
TREATY IS RATIFIED.
Washington, Feb. 25.-By a vote of
43 to 19 the senate tonight ratified
the Santo Domingo treaty. This was
one more vote in the affirmative than
was required.
CONFERENCE REPORT ACCEPTED
Washington, Feb. 25.-Both the
senate and house today agreed to the
conference report on the Indian ap
propriation bill. "The conference re
port on the bill providing for the al
lotment and distribution of Indian tri
bal funds was also agreed to.
WELL KNOWN MAN DEAD.
Chicago, Feb. 25. - Col. John E.
Wing, president of the Financier, a
New York publication, died at Mercy
hospital here today of pneumonia.
Mr. Wing was well known among fi
nancial men throughout the country.
THROWS THREE MEN.
Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 25.-Charles
Olsen, of St. Louis, defeated Young
Sandow of Chicago and Herman
Schilling and Eddie Barr of this city,
here tonight in a wrestling match. 0l
sen agreed to throw the three men in
and hour and a half and succeeded.
POET'S DEATH EXPECTED.
Boston, Feb. 25. - Thomas Bailey
Aldrich, the poet, who underwent an
operation several days ago, is in
a serious condition. He at first ral
lied from the shock, but has since suf
fered a severe rlaps.
RAISE TELEPHONE RATES.
(Special to The Gazette.)
Helena, Feb. 25.--A a result of the
victory of the telephone girls in their
strike for more wages, the telephone
company makes alnouncement today
iof a raise in telephone rates . Busi
ness telephones will he 50 cents per
month and fmnily telephones 25 cents,
.he mrise Iaking effect at the expirl
tion of all contracts.
LAW-MAKER HAS SMALL POX.
Jefferson City, Mo., Feb. 25.-Rep
resentative Kirkpatrick of Cedar
county was stricken with a mild case
of smallpox this morning. He is the
fifth man connected with the house
to contract the disease.
DECISIONS ARE AFFIRMED.
(Special to The Gazette.)
Helena, Mont., Feb. 25. - In the
I case of Harry L. Kelley vs. the Nor
thern Pacific Railway company and in
the case of L. L. Brandis vs. A. L.
Babcock Hardware company, the
state supreme court today affirmed
the decision of the district court of
Yellowstone county in favor of the
defendants.
BOND ISSUES IN
PARK COUNTY
MANY DIFFERENT PROPOSITIONS
ARE NOW OFFERED.
NEW TELEPHONE LINE
Will Be Constructed Shortly by
Shields River Co.-High School
Wins in Debating Contest-Other
Interesting Items From Windy City.
(Special to The Gazette.)
Livingston, Feb. 25.-Bonds ap
proved, bonds to sell, and bonds to
vote for or against, are the stages
of three bond propositions pending in
Park county at present. The $25,000
sewer bonds issued by the city have
been approved, and the council will
call for bids for the construction of
the sewer at a meeting held Monday
night. The county commis-sioners
will meet in special session next Sat
urday to open bids for the sale of the
$25,000 bonds authorized at the last
election for the building of a county
jail. Next Saturday a special election
will be held at the east side school
house to vote on the propds'ition of
bonding the district for $18,000 to
build a new school house on the north
Aide of town.
The debating team of the Park
county high school has won the cham
pionship for this division of the
eastern district of the State Debating
league. A debating contest between
the Lewiston high school and the
Pak county high school to decide the
championship which rested with the
two schools, was billed to come off
here some time past, but owing to the
heavy snow storms that visited the
Lewiston country and tied up the
Montana railroad, it wals impbssible
for the Lewiston school to keep the
engagement. Consequently, it was
agreed that the championship be de
cided by drawing lots. Prof. Kay of
Townsend was selected to draw with
the result that the Park county team
won. A contest will come off now be
tweenLivingston and Billings 'teams to
decide the championship of 'the en
tire eastern district. The winning
team in the final interscholastic meet
to be held at the state university in
the. coming month of May.
Christie's Toggery, the clothing
store on Park street, will change hand's
the first of March. Walter Schwanke,
manager of the New York store, will
take possession. The present pro
prietors, William Christie, and Au
brey Parks, will tour Scotland before
engaging in business again.
The senior class of the Park coun
ty high school will give an entertain
mnent in the alssembly room of the
high school building Friday evening,
March 1. Two comedies will be pre
sented, "Cool Collegians" and a "Box
of Monkeys."
District court will convene again to
day. Judge Henry will then
pass upon the motion for a new trial
for Earl Cunningham, of Chico, the
young man who was sentenced at the
last term of court to 10 years in the
penitentiary for horse stealing. The
motion for a new trial was argued
recently by Fred L. Gibson, attorney
for Cunningham, and was taken un
er advisement by the judge.
According to an agreement entered
into between Mr. and Mrs. David No
ble of Cooke City and C. R. Tuttle of
Helena, the latter becomes the owner
of conasiderable mining property at
Cooke City, the consideration being
$20,000. The claims are located on
Scotch Bonnet mountain, in the New
WVorldl mining district, and are de
scribed as the Treadwell, Gold King,
Dalhousie, Little Granite, and exten
sions of the Treadwell and King of
the Ocean. Mr. Tuttle will take
possession at once and operate the
mines with the opening of the sea
son.
Blair & Van Doren, owners of the
Shields River telephone line, are lay
ing plans at present to extend branch
lines to Cottonwood and Horse Creek
from Clyde Park and otherwise im
prove their system in many ways the
coming season. They will also have
charge of the Lat line owned by resi
dent's which connects with the main
line of the Shields river a Myers
burg. The Lat line will be improved
and kept in repair by t1he company.
The report, circulated last week to the
effect that the Home Telephone coin
p!any of Livingston had bought the
Shchlis river line is flatly contradicted
by t.h plans now contemplated by
the Shields River company. The Home
company has been soliciting patron
age in the Shields River valley with
the intention of running a line or buy
ing out the present one if possible.
Harry Blair, manager of the Shields
River company, held ac meeting at
Rock Creek yesterday and one at
Horse Creek today to talk over the
extension of the line to those points
and to dispel the idea'prevailing that
the line has changed hands. There
is about 140 miles of telephone line
at present, and the new extensions
will make about 40 more. A toll line
from Myersburg to Livingston will
be put in operation at once.
The weather furnished a perfect
day Thursday for visiting patrons of
the city schools. From 2 o'clock to
4 throngs passed in and out the rooms
of both buildings, pausing frequently
to lIsten to recitations or admire ex
hibited work. Appropriate exercises
were held in a few of the rooms.
School was dismissed at 3 o'clock and
the remaining hour taken up by a
general assembly of teachers and par
ents. Prof. W. A. Jennings exprestsed
his appreciation of the large attend
ance and extended further welcome to
the visitors. The Rev. L. B. Hardy
delivered a short address at the east
side school, and the Rev. R. Brown
addressed the west side, both ad
dresses being very apt and to the
point and dealing mainly with the
question of co-operation of parents
and teacheas. The question is the
very one Prof. Jennings sought to
solve in instituting " visitors' day,"
and the success pf the first day prom
ises much for the solution of the
question.
ORDEAL NEARLY OVER
District Attorney Jerome Practically
Concludes Cross-Examination of
Mrs. Thaw.
New York, Feb. 25. - Except for
one brief moment Mrs. Harry K.
Thaw had a decidedly easy day to
day during the continuance of her
cross-examination by District Attor
ney Jerome. When adjournment was
taken the prosecutor announced that
he had practically concluded with the
witness.
Mrs. Thaw will be temporarily ex
cused tomorrow morning to enable
Mr. Jerome to introduce Abraham
Hummel to identify a photographic
copy of the affidavit Evelyn Nesbit
is alleged to have signed and which
charges Thaw with many cruelties
during their 1903 trip to Europe. The
district attorney got the contents of
the affidavits before the jury this
afternoon by reading certain of its
statements before the jury in the
form of questions and asking Mrs.
,Thaw if she told such things to Hum
mel. In each instance she declared
that she had not. She also denied
ever having signed any sue haffidavit,
admitting that she had, however,
signed some papers for White in the
Madison Square Garden, the nature
of which she was not aware.
During the morning session Mr.
Jerome played his strongest card of
the day. Mrs. Thaw had denied most
positively that she had ever been to
see Dr. Calton Flint with Jack Barry
more.
"Call Dr. Flint," commanded Je
rome.
The doctor entered from the wit
ness room and was escorted within
a few feet of the witness chair.
"Did you ever see that man be
fore?" Mr. Jerome asked Mrs. Thaw.
The witness seemed a bit startled,
looked quickly and intently at the
physician, then turned to Mr. Jerome
and shook her head. "Never," she
declared.
The witness today made a state
ment regarded by many as helpful to
the defendant. When court adjourn
ed last Thursday it appeared from
her own statement that she had used
.a letter of credit from Stanford
e White while touring in Europe and
e had turned the letter over to Thaw.
e She explained today that Thaw took
e the letter of credit from her, saying
d the money was "poisonous" and ne!
y ther she nor her mother should tuoch
- it and that he would provide the
funds. Whatever had been spent of
d the money, she declared, was for her
)- mother.
if _______________
CASE NEARING AN END
Senator Bailey Will Probably Win Out
Out in Lower House of Texas Legis-'
lature Today-Endorsed by Senate.
Austin, Texas, Feb. 25.-By a vote
of 15 to 11 the Texas senate today dis
charged the investigating committee
which had been in session several
- weeks looking into charges against
Senator Bailey.
At 11 o'clock the anti-Bailey follow
ers offered a resolution instructing
Sthe committee not to b)ring in a report
at that time, butal. to send a sub-com
- ittee to Si. Louis to secure the tes
i timony of H. Gray Pierce, and to em
. ody such evidence in its final report.
1 Adherents of Senator Bailey promptly
offered a substitute that the commit
a toe be discharged at once, and that.
Senator Bailey be fully endorsed. Af
e i a heated debate the substitute
1l re.olultion was passed.
r The most sensational feature of 'the
a detate wias when Senator Setnel said
- he would introduce a; resolution de
b manding the disbarment of J. D. John
son, of St. Louis, attorney for the
Waters-Pierce and Standard Oil com
a panics from practicing in the courts of
t the state. Judge Johnson, he declared,
t had admitted that he was in a con
e spiracy to make a false affidavit.
s His resolution, Mr. Sentel declared,
it would include a provision for ousting
e the Waters-Pierce Oil company fromn
e the state.
s The Bailey matter will come up in
e the house tomorrow.
11
MONTANA WEATHER.
>f Snow. Colder Tuesday. Wednesday
B fair.
y Latest styles in Job Printing at the
Gazette Off.ce.
WILL SOON KNOW HIS FATE
(Continued from First Page)
"They do not think you are implI
cated in the Steunenberg matter. They
want you for a witness. If you will
go down there and help them corrob
orate their stories at Boise you will
come out all right and you will never
be prosecuted."
Adams was taken straight to Boise
and there Was incarcerated.
He was never committed and never
taken before a magistrate, but was
thrust into a cell with Harry Orchard.
Moore turned Op here and told Adams
that if he failed to comply with re
quests made he would hang higher
than Hamon, but if he did corrobo
rate he would get off without prose
cution, and Moore stated that he had
been given $100 by the governor of
Idaho to go to the governor of Colo
rado and get his assurances. Darrow
dealt at length on the steps taken
by McPartland *to get a confession.
He stated that the confession was not
that of Steve Adams, and that it was
not in his language, but that he had
simply signed it when it was present
ed. The burden of Darrow's speech
was that the confession was not vol
untary, but was obtained by threats
and promises.
"There will be other things shown
3 here," said Darrow, "taken from the
grave in which it is claimed Tyler's
bones lay and other statements made
which the state has been careful not
to bring to light."
It is thought that the defense has
1 still a trump card to play.
c The first witness called by the de
t fense was Alvin Mason. He was ex
1 amined by the defense at great de
s tail in regard to conditions of affairs
s regarding jumpers at Marble Creek
f and regarding his own movements
8 about the time the murders are al
s leged to have been committed.
The most important testimony was
the statement by Mason to the effect
that Adams and Simpkins were stay
s ing at his house at the time the Boule
murder was committed, August 20.
This statement is a direct contradic
tion of Adams' confession. Court ad
journed at 4 o'clock on account of
the foul condition of the atmsphere.
e The boilers had gone out of order,
and adjournment was forced on ac
count of some of the jurymen not be
ing able to 'stand the air.
JUDGE WOFFERD DEAD.
Quaint Member of Missouri Judiciary
Answers Last Call.
Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 25.-John
W. Wofferd, judge of the criminal
court here since 1892, noted for the
quaint philosophy that he injected in
to his decisions, died today after a
long illness, aged 69. In a decision
that won him fame he held that a
wife had a right to go "through her
husband's pockets." He said that
when a man married he took this
risk and conferred this prerogative
upon his wife.
CITY IS CAPTURED.
(Bulletin.)
Managua, Nicaragua, Feb. 25.-San
Marcos de Colon, a well fortified Hon
duras town, which was defended by
Solomon Ordonez, the Honduran min
ister of war, at the head of a strong
army, was captured by Nicaraguan
forces at 4 o'clock this afternoon.
BALL ENTHUSIASTS MEET.
Outlook for Amrican League Was
Never Brighter.
New York, Feb. 25.-Members of
the big baseball leagues who are
getting ready for their spring meet
ing and the ratification of their
schedules for the coming season be
gan to arrive in New York today
and by nightfall most of the delegates
were in town. At 11 p. m. the dele
gates went into executive session.
President Johnson said:
"The outlook in the American lea
gue was never brighter and I think
baseball will enjoy a gfeater boom
this year than ever." Johnson said
his league would wind up its meet
ing tomorrow evening, and the Na
tional committee would have a brief
session on Wednesday.
When asked is his league had any
suggestions for changes In the rules
Johnson said be knew of none.
The National league has no im
portant business on hand beyond the
adoption of its schedule, which will
be published Wednesday morning.
ENTIRE FAMILY POISONED.
Wife and Child Dead, Father Uncon
scious in Dying Condition.
Denver. Colo., Feb. 25.-Mrs. Ben
jamin C. Wright and her five-year-old
daughter, Genevieve, were found dead
and the husband and father uncon
scious and in a dying condition this
morning in their home at 174 South
Pearl street, in thisi city. Traces of
cyanide of potassium were found on
all the bodies, indicating double mur
der and suicide or a triple murder.
1 The family, came to Denver from
Chicago about a year ago. The cause
1 of the tragedy is a mystery.
The police secured a confession
from Wright tonight saying he had
poisoned his wife and child in order
to marry another woman. The police
y believe Wright did not poison himself,
and was only shamming in order to
draw suspicion away from himself.
e Wright was able to walk around in
his cell tonfght.