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Show I THEOHYTHAT OWENS Circumstantial Evidence Exempts Ex-empts Garcia From Dastardly .Slaying oi' Officer. ALBANY BARTENDER DESCRIBES HOLD-UP Confession Believed to . Have Been Framed to Save Prisoner Pris-oner From Gallows. Thai. .'John Owens, serving a 'term of twenty yenrs in the Utah State prison for complicity in the robbery by .loo Sullivan and another desperado, popu-laYly popu-laYly believed up to this time to have been Joe Garcia, half-breed Chinese-Mexican, Chinese-Mexican, of the Albany bur the night of the murder of Policeman Charles S. Ford, is one of the players of the brave patrolman, and that Garcia was not. concerned' in the hold-up, is a ucwly-dcvoloped ucwly-dcvoloped theory, backed by a string of eircumstnnti.il evidence that is convincing con-vincing to mauy. Among those who believe that Owens, and not Garcia, assisted Sullivan to hold up I ho Albany bar and subsequentl y 'fVJUi' nlioot down Policeman Jb'ord is A. .1. (W.y 7 Buckley, bartender at. tho saloon at the iW time o? the hold-up. illl.C 1 Bucklev savs Sullivan's companion ' p'M .if was much shorter than Sullivau. Sulli- , ihva ,! van is fivo foot, nino and one-fourth j tMn i inches high only one-half inch taller j 'mffl ? than Garcia while Owens is two inches , ijXjU; shorter than Sullivan. Tho difference (ra ji in Sullivan's and Garcia 's statures ii would be hardly noticeable, while the Vftfj ; difference between Sullivan's nud EM jj Owens's could be seen easily. iff; Conceals Hand. 'MS Another strong bit of circumstantial Klj '. evidence against Owens is that the lM ' ' shorter of the two men who held up flw h, the saloon went behind the bar while : if' Sullivan stood ilard over tbo patrons ' at the front swinging screen laid his revolver, which he carried in his right hand as ho entered, flown on a shelf beneath be-neath the cash regisher and kept it be- !Jow tho bar, as if tor concealment, while be rifled the money till and searched the side drawers with" his left hand. The bartender says the robber was careful to keep his right hand concealed from I1 the sight of the patrons all the lime he was behind the bar. He believes tho robber 's right hand was maimed in some way and that he took tfio precaution of keeping it from sight as much as possible possi-ble for fear of subsequent identification as ono of tho thieves. Owcns's right hand is maimed, three last fingers being missing, a disfigurement disfigure-ment wTiich would bo easily noticeable. Owens said when he was arrested that the fingers and part of the hand were cut off while he was employed with the Western Pacific railway, Owens Knew Saloon. Tho man behiud the bar also attempted at-tempted to get into a side drawer that was locked, in which was kept from the JOth to the 12th and 34th of each month from $o000 to $30,000, with which to cash Western Pacific railway cmploj-eos' pay checks. The robber" occurred the night of the 14th, and there is reason to .believe from tho robber's actions in impatiently trying to open jjl j, the drawer tuat no was aware ot the ' I J! custom of tho saloon to keep money in li) g n the drawer to cash employoes' checks. Wfc H r There is no reason to believe that Gar-fir! Gar-fir! M U cia was in possession of any such knowl-lit knowl-lit 1 l cAne. ithhlK "ho man behind the bar -plainly B&JjM showed nervousness, Buckley says, and fta nil ouce or twice Sullivan had" to caution f him. This demeanor is in direct con- (Htfijftt trast to that of Garcia, a clover crook, iH!. cool, calculating and shrewd, who has ' aR r never been known to lose Sis head. iSf Buckley saj-s that when the drawer in 1 qk which the money was supposed to be jivf, j contained would not open to his touch, I Mil' t the man behind the bar hoarsely and jH j nervously commanded: ' -Mm. "Give tne the key to this drawer or I'll kill you." -MR ? Sullivan interfered or his pal might jSJ ' Lave fulfilled the threat. Tho robbers, at the time of the hold- ijl.. up, were reported to havo procured $45 )!'!' from tho ensh till, but Buckley save it they secured ouly US, overlooking the M'S'r other $27 in the till. The cool Garcia 'jf.'ff would hardly havo overlooked "the ft? f bet," the authorities believe, jrcij Sullivan Oaso. l R'-J 'f hc smaller robber showed ncrvous- . 35 U ; ness after the robbery in making his jj 9f escape from the saloon by running out, ff fijh while Sullivan. coolly walked out, after fl tf ' issuing this command: W 1 . '-'.Don't follow us or I'll kill vou." ft,' Another circumstance pointing'againsc h- Owens is an indication from Sullivan's ( actionn that there was no lookout at Kt the door, the role Owens confessed to K having essayed in the hold-up. Buckley S ! 6ays that whilo the robbery was iii !C ! progress Sullivan accidentally bumped W I against the screen by which he was lit standing guard over tho saloon. Tho $ ' noi6c frightened the man behind the v j bar and startled Sullivan into taking a MM ' tep toward the front door of the sa- KH .' loon and anxiously peering out, indi- fls ; eating that, thero was no lookout. 31 ? U The shooting down of the poHcemau, f f f ami thereby adding to the enonuitv of ' ji their offense auI minimizing hoir i ji chances of escape, was not tho act of a ' if cool and calculating man. is argued i; against Owens by those who befieve ! the latter and not Garcia is one of the Si flayers of Ford. Sullivan's cooincss ij during tho holdup is a forcefnl argu- ' ment that he did not fire tho fatal shot . and thoBo'bcst acquainted with Garcin 's , criminal career and lenow tho man wdl ifjl.' 'j do "not beliovo he so far lost his head B. t? reduce his chances of escape to a S3' i minimum by committing murder. ' " Was With Sullivan. I' j'1 , ' Another argument against Owens and Mm; in favor of Garcia is tha.t the lattor m- was not seeu with Sullivan at. any time :f! ' tne n'?ht of the murder, while Owens K. : is positively known to have been with .1' . him. "Doc" Gibson, who acted as a "B ' stool pigeon for the aheriff's office, re- j ported, that he had heard SnlHvan and . p Owens planning the holdup on Cora- . j mercial Btreut. Gibson, Owens and Sul- i j livan also were in the Court saloon to- f anther early in the night. After drink- ybcer or two, Sullivan and Owens t.he place together. The Sheriff's trailed them, until about midnight, ost trace of them on West. Second i street, going west toward tho AI-bar, AI-bar, about that hour. There ifl j jhcdule of Garcia 'b itinerary that otih's confession that he stood I' during the holdup is looked upon. as a bit of cleverness by those who believe ho is ono of Ford's murderers. It is argued that he realized he must eventually be connected with the holdup nnd murder, and thought to escape prosecution for murdor by confessing to a lighter part- in the tragedy than he really enacted and implicating Sullivan Sulli-van and Garcia, knowing they had fled from the city and would not dare return to defend themselves against his incriminating incrim-inating story. There would be no fear of their exploding his story ouly in case of their arrest and rclurn here, and this possibility looked so remote to Owens that he considered his confession confes-sion secure from attack, it is believed. Owens Stole Cigarettes. Another strong rircumstanco against Owens was the finding of a Jbox of Turkish cigarettes upon him the morning morn-ing of his arrost. The robber who rifled the cash till at the Albanj' bar stole a box of Turkish Trophies, whilo he was searching the place, and pocketed them. Sullivan is now a prisoner in the county .jail. Following his arraignment, in Judge Dichl's court Saturday morn ing, at which ho declined to enter a plea nn the ground that he wished to secure an attorney, he was committed to the Sheriff's care. Ho will plead Monday Mon-day morning at 10 o'clock. Ilis offense is unbailable. The dingy old courtroom wan crowded to its capacity by a curious public, which did not remove its gaxo from the prisoner from r.ho timo he entered until he was escorted by Deputy Sheriffs Sher-iffs Sharp, Steele, Sporry and Smith to a closed carriage, which whirled him to the county jail. Sullivan occupied a sent between Richard A. Baker and Art Boweu. charged with assault with intent to kill and robbery. Nono but offii:nrn and other prisoners wns allowed near him. Sullivan slunk down in his sent and did not gnzc about him. JTo roused himself him-self trom lethargy only when the clerk read tho complain) lo nlra, his case being be-ing the laat on the docket. Pcoplo Provo CuriouR, When the deputy sheriffs left the courtroom with him, there was a stampede stam-pede on the part of the spectators for tho door to see tho last of the desperado des-perado as he climbed into the carriage The police quickly restored order hy keeping everyono in the courtroom until the prisoner was safely away from tho station. At tho county jail Sullivan was incarcerated in-carcerated in the rotary with Pete Rob-innon, Rob-innon, serving a six months' soutence for petit larceny. Snturday afternoon ho sent for Henry Bailey of" tho firm of Bailev, TJoblnson & Vic'kery, attorneys. Mr. vickorv responded to the call, and was in conference with the prisoner an hour or so. The firm. it. Ts understood, will not defond Sullivan, unless appointed ap-pointed by tho court. What Sullivan's defense will be is a matter of uncertainty at this time. With Sullivan is confined in' the county jail a sweet-scented lot of crooks either serving terms for minor offenses or awaiting trial on charge ranging from light to grave. Thoro nro George Bclchor, charged with receiving stolen property; Robert Doming, highwaj- robbery; rob-bery; "Doc" Gibson, robbery; .loo Donovan, Don-ovan, robbery; Kddio Olson'. petit lar cojiy, and Miko Lynch, arcoar.i: i ; i' |
