Show I THE KING OF THE CROOKS Notorious Griffin Creates Several Scenes in Court t YEKY TEMPESTUOUS TIAL > He Tells How Ho Borrowed Money from the Govcrmucnt The lierrUaercd Court Tliiuks Him Crazy I 1 and So Does His Attorney But llo Goes Up for Two Y > xrs Drigs Arrested Tho case ol William Brennan or rather the notoiious Thomas Griffin was caUed for hearing in the Third district court yesterday Griffin daring the time that lie has been the guest of the city has earned as Ills reward the reputation of being the toughest allround crook whoever who-ever infested the precincts of Zion It has been just about a year since Griffin snade his debut in this city and at the time he had just been released from jail nt Ogden It is also said that Griffin has done lime at Elko Xev Folsoni Cai l and at other places in the west When Griffin arrived in Zion he came quietly and unostentatiously but he had been here less than a week when the strong arm of the law reached out and grasped him by the collar He was arrested at the Lincoln house and had tools enough in his possession to crack the strongest bank vault in the city It also transpired j that the tools had been stolen from Fol f landR inrhinr hnn I = r Griffin was tried in the police court and sentenced to six months in the county jail and to pay a fine of 299 He made some bloodcurdling threats when sentence sen-tence was passed but was then lost sight of by the public until January 13 of the present year when he was examined in the probate court as to his sanity He was adjudged insane and sent to Provo where he remained until March 25 at which time ho was discharged as cured If and returned to his old quarters in the 11 county jail r1 Two days later Griffin secured his release re-lease from jail by a writ of habeas corpus but was immediately rearrested on the charge of burglarizing the Salt Lake Foundry and Machine shop in May 1892 The following day he was arraigned in the police court and given the Choice of going to jail or leaving town He chose the latter alternative and bade the city a fond farewell KECREATIOX AT BOUNTIFUL This was on April 7 and Griffin started for Ogden He arrived at Bountiful that evening and remained there all night and a portion of the next day when he resumed re-sumed his journey to Ogden On April 9 he was arrested at O den on the charge that he had robbed the Bountiful post t office the preceding day and was subsequently < subse-quently indicted by the grand jury for liousebreaking Since his arrest Griffin has bitterly complained of what he termed his persecution perse-cution and has stoutly proclaimed that he had nothing whatever to do with the robberv He had also claimed that he remained in his room at the Bountiful hotel nearly every minute of the tune he was there in order that he might not be recognized and to prevent any suspicion I from attaching to him in the event that any unlawful act was committed while he was there When the case was called yesterday Judge Howat and Joseph JF Richards appeared ap-peared for the prosecution while E V Higgins looked after the interests of the defense THE POSTMASTERS STORY The postmaster at Bountiful was the first witness called for the prosecution She stated that he was in the postoffice early on the morning ol April Sth and opened the safe She also counted the money and found over 538 in the cash drawer She then locked tho safe and left the building When she returned ehe discovered that her son had opened the safe again Later in the day she learnedthat the safe had been robbed She also testified that Griffin was in the pOBtofflco that morning He purchased come wring material from her and wrote a letter He also asked for mail It further appeared from the evidence that there was no one tn the office for a short time on the day of the robber The robbery rob-bery was discovered by a son of the postmaster post-master about 3 oclock in tho afternoon He was the last one in the building before 4 the robbery was supposed to have been t committed When he left lie turned on the day lock as usual and noticed nothing noth-ing wrong with the safe after his return until he opened it when he discovered that 3S was missing Evidence was also introduced to show that Griffin had only a few dollars when he left the city nnd that he purchased clothes to the amount of fI9 in Ogden after af-ter the robbery AX OUTBREAK IN COURT Griffin gave his attorney and tbe court no end of trouble during the hearing Atone At-one time he angrily exclaimed They are getting this thing pretty badly mixed ut and J am getting the worst of it alf the way through Keep quiet n said Judgo Zane your attorney will attend to the case lor your you-r When Captain Donovan was called Griffins f Grif-fins anger seemed to carry him away t and jumping to his feet he said Your honor I want to say a Jew words They are trying to kangaroo Donovan was called a second time when Griffin exclaimed How many times are they going to call Donovan Bailiff Springer endeayored to quiet him but Griffin declared that he might ss well be doing time for contempt as anything else Judge i me Keep quiet or you will be punished GriffinBt I am not getting a fair trialHe He also interrupted his attorney a num ber of times and would declare savagely that it was all a g d farce and that everybody wanted to cinch him Tne big surprise came though when Griffin took the stand in his own behalf iiis attorney attempted to dissuade him k dram testifying but tho attempt was a failure and Griffin took the stand in spite ol all entreaties i AN EXASPERATED COURT When Griffin took tlie witness stand he p said saidYour honor I want all the witnesses in this case excluded from the robin especially g es-pecially Donovan i I can BOO no use in that replied Judgs Zane and you are hurting your case by all this talk Mr Higgins You had better come and sit down Mr 6 Griffin Griffin Well this aint a case of housebreaking no how p Judge Zane Well that isnt a matter for you to argue as the indictment charges it Griffin Well it snt housebreaking its petit larceny if its anything Judce ZaneWhats the matter with f this man anyway is he crazy t Griffin No I am not crazy butl dont like to be jobbed Judge Zane Well if you have anything t j to lay go ahead and say it TOOK IT lS A LOAN Griffin Well went into this postoffice to write a letter and I had no criminal intent in-tent I didnt intend to rob tho office I saw the boy opon tho safe door and I also saw the money in the drawer Tho door leading from tho main office to the other room was not locked and finally they all went out and left me there I concluded that I would borrow some money as InS I-nS getting ehort I intended to take about 25 and pay it back again as soon as I could I was going to quit the business then I have been in the penitentiary before be-fore for stealing and dont deny it I I could have stolen over 109 worth of stamps too if I had wanted fOt but I thought it would take me too longto pay h t 9 11 < it back This is the clearest case of petit larceny ever tried before this or any other court I didnt enter the building in tending steal the money but when I I saw it 1 concluded to take it That is all I I there is to it JItJST BE CRAZY STILL Mr ginsYour hon the defendant defend-ant has always claimed to me that he was innocent He has been in tho insane asylum once and I think he must be crazy still Griflin Not much I am responsible aK right f Judge Howat Well if ho took the money as he said he did he is not guilty of housebreaking Griffin I want to say another word I Judge ZaneYou havo said enough I Take your seat back there GriffinBut I amt getting a fair trial and I want to say something more Judge Zane Well you have said enough and you must lakeyour seat Griffin en reluctantly obeyed and the case wis argued and suomitted to the jury Ten minutes later they returned into court with a verdict of guilty of housebreaking house-breaking the indictment charging both housebreaking and grand larceny TAKES OUT OF COURT This aroused Griffin who had been apparently half asleep in his chair and he angrily blurted out They would lose their jobs if they didnt bring in a verdict of guilty They get 2 a day and this court keeps the same jury all the year round t Take him out said Judge Zane and Griffin was led away by two deputies At 2 oclock Griffin WES again brought into court and asked for immediate sentence sen-tence His attorney called attention to the evidence evi-dence submitted and asked for leniency DIDNT EXPECT MEHCY How many times have you been in the penitentiary asked the court I Twice I believe answered Griffin C What for 1 Well the first time was over a watch What were you in for the second time It was about a watch too Continuing Contin-uing Griffin said I dont expect any lieniency am not looking for anybut Intended intended to pay the money back if I found that it belonged to private parties I didnt intend to pay it back though if it belonged to the government I wasnt guilty of housebreaking either I saw the money there and walked in and took it Well its just as much of a crime to steal from the government as from a private individual said Judge Zane I am not clear that your mind is prop erly balanced and if it appears later that it is not yott1 ill be examined Still you had mind enough to steal tho money and for the protection of society I will sentence sen-tence you to two years in the penitentiary peniten-tiary |