Show HELD WITHOUT BAIL Committed for Murder in the First Degree i TALK OF HABEAS CORPUS The Justice Makes a clear Review of the Case and Refuses Kail Tha Arguments Made The Police Court was again crowded with spectators yesterday morning when Justice Pypsr listened to the arguments of counsel for and against Martin the murderer of John H Burton Bur-ton Martin sat near his lawyer his wife and mothorinlaw occupied seats on a bench near by Major Woods made an exhaustive and eloquent plea on behalf of Martin who he said could be shown to have committed nothing more than involuntary involun-tary macslaughter He did not go so far as to ask his clients discharge but thought his bail should be fixed He reviewed Martins story and said he was justified in being frightened at seeing a man in the lane and particularly par-ticularly in seeing that man looking into his wifes window He would nOL presume to say anything that would reflect on the character of Mr Burton his presence in the lane that night and his actions there were one of the mysteries that never would be solved I Martin had acted on all the appearances appear-ances of the occasion if not actually in selfdefense He laid particular stress upon the testimony of those witnesses who said Burton had answered when asked whafc the matter was Hr saw me looking in a window up here and fired and claimed that it corroborated Martins story Mr Ferguson on behalf of the county insisted that Martin should beheld I be-held without bail for murder in the first degree I He said in the start that John Burton never went inside that gate that night the defendant never went inside that gate but once and that just before the first gun was fired He claimed that Martin could not have supposed Burton was armed if he had been armed he would have pulled his gun immediately after that shot not thrown up his hands He claimed that had Burton fired back at any time after he was held up he would have shot in selfdefense Martin doubtless saw some man looking in at the saloon window as he says he may have stated and when ha saw Burton conceived he was being followed by a robber He reviewed the testimonv showing how Burton was willing at all times to accompany him to the station house Counsels claim that Martin was acting on the appearances of the occasion was not borne out by Martins testimony Martin on the stand claimed that the shooting was accidental But if a man threatens to shoot then does shoot if he threatens to fill another full of lead and does immediately fill him full of lead must it not bs thought he did if purposely The after action of Martin in claiming to have found a pistol on Burtons body his claim to Officer Barlow that the boys would say how he had been threatened showing that he was trying tD manufacture evidence for himself On the night of the murder there was no claim of accident acci-dent it was then in selfdefense The unreliability of Marins evidence showed that he was equally unreliable in his statements about Johnny Burton going down that lane and peeping in a window It may have been the saloon window that Burton looked into earlier in the night that Burton had referred re-ferred to when he spoke of looking in a window Certainly no one would believe that he was peering in the window of a house down that Jane Judge Pyper said I presume from the arguments presented in this case the question to be decided by the court is whether or not the defendant is to be admitted to bail There is no doubt that he should be held The question is should he be held without bail The court appreciates the magnitude magni-tude of the situation a tragedy has been enacted by which one person lost his life and another threatens to be deprived of his liberty The cburt referred to the testimony of Chris topherson who said that as he passed tho alley he saw a man going hurriedly inside the gate When the circumstances are all considerd it must be thought that the man was Martin Mar-tin Cnristophersqn then said he saw another man coming along the street 100 feet to the west and that he noticed no-ticed his footfalls were very light He saw no other persons coming that way and no one was on th < same side of the street Martin said the man ran put of the gate crossed the road and in a few minutes came bac k to the lane he then went to the windows and spent two or three minutes more looking into the two windows and had again ran away All this tonic some time but Christopherson said he had only gone a hundred feet past the second man to his room when the shot was fired There was plainly a discrepancy discrep-ancy or inconsistency here Martin Mar-tin testified that Mr Burton had said hed be dd if hed co to the City Hall All the other witnesses said Burton was willing and anxious too to-o to tho hall a few minutes later He took it that Burton would not so suddenly sud-denly have changed his mind The Court said if the shooting was accidental ac-cidental the circumstances surrounding surround-ing the case were all out of gear and inconsistent in-consistent He sketched the difference in the testimony of the witnesses some of whom said Burton stated This man says I was looking in the window and sum b on Others said Burton stated He saw me looking in a window and fired He referred to Burtons reputation and previous good character which were totally inconsistent with the storv of Martin All the witnesses saId BUN was entirely calm had he been found in the position and under tho circumstances claimed by Martin he would naturally have been somewhat excited but he showed no excitement until there was a movement move-ment to search him The afteractions of Martin in claiming to have found a p s jI on Burtons body and his claim to Barlow of threatening on the part of Burton clearly indicated that there was much doubt as to the shooting being accIdental The court did not believe it and the decision would be that Mar tin ce held for murder in the Drat degree de-gree pending action by the Grand Jury without bail There was a rustle in the crowd on I this announcement but the defendant M > > looked as unconcerned as ever His I wife had hurriedly left the room as soon as the judge began to speak Major Woods announced that he would like to have a transcript of the testimony at once in order to take habeas corpus proceedings The Grand Jury meet on Monday next and this case will probably be the first to be taken up |