Show ENEILSONS NEILSONS DEFENSE An Attempt to Prove an AIM for J Young Peter r f He Vas at the Bank Seven Minutes Before Be-fore His Father Was ShotThe Defendants De-fendants Mother Testifies PROVO April 7In the Neilson murder case this morning D D Houtz made an opening statement for the defense in which he told the jurors that a few weeks j prior to the alleged fight which took place between Soren Neilsen and his son Peter testified to by Miss Zabriskie Peter I Teilson left Mount Pleasant for college I and had been fitted out for the trip by his father On the evening of the shooting the son is said to have left his home at 630 oclock and went in the direction of the bank by way of the west streot He stopped at Omans saloon and got a cigar fter which he retired to the office of the hotel a few minutes Upon leaving the l hot ho went to the bank and read the paper a short time going out once behind be-hind the house for but a few moments When he came in he remained in the bank antl informed of his father having been shot Mr Gunderson told Peter of the occurrence occur-rence which was a great shock to his nerves and caused him to faint outside the bank door It was 705 p m when the sheoting took place within one or two minutes of the time when Peter was at work in the bank A test has been made and it is found that it requires ten minutes for one to go from Neilsons to the bank While assisting his father I after the shooting defendant was taken violently ill on account of heart trouble with which he is afflicted The attorney concluded by stating that Soren Neilson died in the arms of the defendant PETER AT THE BASK Jacob Rolfs gave testimony to the effect ef-fect that he was near the bank on the night of the shooting At ten minutes to 7 ho was at disks saloon He walked to the bank which took a minute or two There he saw Peter at a desk writing t Witness then went home reaching thereat there-at 7 oclock Five minutes after this time he heard the shot Peter Matson aw defendant in the bank at two minutes before 7 had set his watch that day and at that time had looked to see if it was time for choir practice prac-tice he being the leader Two other witnesses gave testimony to the effect that Peter was at the bank immediately J before 7 and that the shot was fired about five minutes after 7 Christian Jensen saw Peter in the bank at about twentyseven minutes after 1 as near as he could judge J Hansen was put upon the stand to Impeach the testimony of Mr Francin and said that Francin had told him that lie did not manipulate the rifle at the bank at all EXPERT TESTIMONY Witnesbes were brought forward by the defense to show that the gun which was at the bank was taken there in a dirty condition John R Twelves was sworn and gave some expert testimony about the condition con-dition ol a gun after having been discharged dis-charged as to its smell Witness thought that one hour afterwards a gun might smell of burnt powder but after that it would gradually die away The same length of time would be required for the drying of the moisture consequent u pon the firing of a gun L Holbrook had a similar opinion Victor N ilson took the gun to the bank on July 4 with four shells but did not know whether or not there were some already al-ready there He also tested the time it would take to walk from the place where Neilson was shot to the bank said ittook eleven and a half minutes N S Neilson was recalled to testify as to the general reputation of the defendant but turned out to know nothing much about it Since this affair developed the witness had heard several things detrimental detri-mental to his reputation A Mr Jensen made a bad break during the course of his examination in which he said that he had heard many bad things about Peter since he killed his father Several witnesses testified as to defendants de-fendants good character THE DEFENDATfTS MOTHER Mrs Neilson mother of the defendant testified that her husband came home on the night oi the trouble at 6 oclock Peter came afterwards and later went to the bank after supper at the request of his father About an hour after the husband had gone over to the mothers which was ten minutes min-utes after the boy had gone to the bank she heard of the shooting Mrs Nielsen denied that any difficulty had ever taken place between father and eon to her knowledge She said that her son was not usually well Cross examination developed that there had been trouble between Mrs Nielsen and her husband although she tried to conceal the matter The question was asked as to whether or not the son was desirousof going away to get married to which the witness hesitatingly replied in the affirmative A serious look came over the countenance coun-tenance of the young lady when this subject sub-ject was touched upon and she seemed to be very much oppressed The woman confessed to her agitation when Sheriff Burns came to the house and she was fearful her sons arrest It was difficult to obtain much information from Mrs Neilson Adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10 oclock The Harding embezzlement case has been postponed until next Wednesday by mutual consent of the attorneys |