Show I THE EZETA PUZZLE Prisoners May Be Freed on the Merits Mer-its of the Evidence Presented Against Them By the Government of San Salvador San Francisco Sept 5The government ment of San Salvador has exhausted its stock of depositions and seems to have oral testimony to offer in the extradition ex-tradition proceedings now pending in the United States district court here against General Antonio Ezeta and his fellow refugees The depositions resented re-sented so far have not been entirely satisfactory to the prosecution inasmuch inas-much as a great deal of the testimony ha been stricken out under the ruling of the court that the American law relative rel-ative to the admissibility of evidence must obtain during the proceedings The first deposition relates to the killing of Thomas Canas a teamster whom General Ezeta and Juan Cien fuegos encountered during their flight to the sea The second accuses General Cienfuegos and Manuel Cassia with shooting at Andros Amaya with whom Cassin was at war The third deposition deposi-tion is in connection with the forcible taking of 2584 from the International bank of Salvador and Nicaragua by General Ezeta Then came a long accusation charging charg-ing the refugees with shooting Cesar Alfaro and the hanging of Cassimo 11 Henriquez revolutionists who had opposed I op-posed Ezetas cause Other charges of burning houses and shooting other persons per-sons were brought out But very soon after the convening of the court this morning counsel for the defense announced that they had no further depositions at hand I Dr Calderon the local consul from San Salvador was now sworn He testified that Important documents intended In-tended a evidence against the accused had I been dispatched to him and would arrive on the next steamer from Central Cen-tral America Upon this showing the prosecution moved for a continuance of the case Judge Morrow refused to grant a continuance The defense then moved for a dismissal of the charges asserting that sufficient evidence to I hold the prisoners had not been adduced ad-duced This motion too was overruled I over-ruled The defense after some delay decided to put in evidence to substantiate substan-tiate their plea lack of jurisdiction of the United States courts Commander Thomas of the gunboat Bennington was called to the witness stand standwas I was announced that the intention of the defense was to prove that the prisoners had really been kidnapped kid-napped into the country their demands to be permitted to leave the gunboat at La Libertad and Acapulco having been refused and that they could not be considered within the jurisdiction of the court Inasmuch as they had been forcibly and illegally landed upon American soil Commander Thomas testified brief ly as to the incidents of the rebellion in San Salvador but was prevented from stating why he had de tained the refugees on board the Ben ington Judge Morrow finally ruled that the province of the court was to consider the prisoners within its juris diction and not to consider the means by which they had got there In other words the court decided not to go be hind the returns of the United States marshal This means that unless resort is had to habeas corpus proceedings in another anoth-er court the prisoners will be tried on the merits of the evidence presented against them by the government of San Salvador |