Show halifi al i hi sr S tiie verdict to BYTHE STATUTE OF limitation the defendant s satorv of alie killing our last issue contained the full evidence submitted by the prosecution in the case of ezra hale charged with the murder of james handry iu 1871 wo hare give the defendants story of the killing as told by hi on saturday last my name is ezra J hale my fathers name was james halo I 1 lived in early boyhood on the weber I 1 lived in acquainted with james hendry knew him in I 1 had five bisters at the time martha jane lucy louisa and caroline had ono brother named alvin during september 1871 james hendry had some conversation with roe we had a conversation at thomas store mr evans at what time mr kogoro in september 1871 witness the same day I 1 think or the day before mr evans wo object as it is not shown that an altercation occurred at the timy of the homicide mr rogers wo offer it to prove justification to reduce the offense offence to manslaughter and as part of the res gastae gestae mr evans I 1 am somewhat embarrassed in making this objection as 11 do not know what the offense offence will be but it has not been shown whatever that any heated blooded or passion existed at the time of the homicide court I 1 am inclined to hear the witness continuing I 1 went from homo to get something at the store as I 1 came out ho met me at the gate and pushed me back at tho same lime pulling a revolver around in front of him he said t understand that your G d d d dad is going to kill me I 1 told him that 1 l did not think BO but if he dad said it it is best for you to get out of his way for he will surely do it he said 1 I wont go I 1 seduced your sister and ill do it again the literal language used by hendry as given by witness is too vile to bo repeated in print a few days beffre I 1 saw hondry at old man bails house he told me that ho had seduced my sister and defied the whole halo family to prevent him me and mike are healed for you and if you bother us we will blow the top of your heads off he said mike was his brother up to this time I 1 had never gone to school before the settlement started 1 was engaged in grubbing sagebrush and boiling salt afterwards I 1 took a farm hendry had used words of similar import at various timea theoa times to which I 1 can abear and other times which I 1 cannot define whenever I 1 passed he would taunt me with the same words the first time occurred a week before i the shooting the second soon afterwards and the third on the same day of the shooting or the day before he had in a similar way to others about the same time in the afternoon of september was cutting corn on the farm saw my father ho came to me in the field he rode up got off his horse aad stood for a moment ho then said your horae said where are you going father none of your business he answered saddle your horse and follow me and ask no questions did so and followed him to the house there ho gave me a double it was already loaded at least he did not load it before me he had a similar gun bo jumped on his horse and told me to follow him witness than described the route they took ao hendria Hend rya house he continued we got off our horses and hitched them in the field I 1 did not know at that time what was our errand father got off tied his horse and told me to do the same we took up the lane until opposite the house wo then head the tattle of a wagon father said hendry itt I 1 said yes for I 1 recognized by his voice that it was jame hendry he then instructed mo what to do aavo mo instructions to go to tho southwest corner of the hauae aej watch that mike get the drop on him but I 1 was not to shoot unless he ordered me by this time hendry had drove in and his mother jumped off and went m the house 1 never saw father after that until after the shot was firo father fired the first shot hondry was then his team when the ahot was cirod hendry started to run s ther ran out and shot again ho then shoot be called no name only said shoot I 1 shot henary foil father was following him up at the last shot ho was pretty close to him he wai running but fell as I 1 threw the gun to my face I 1 took no aim but if I 1 had hit him it would have been as near as I 1 can judge in the left side I 1 cm satisfied that he tell before I 1 shot and that I 1 did not hit him I 1 was running past him and would have kept running but father ordered me to stop and give him the other load i was hovend rods past him when ordered to stop I 1 turned and cirod dont I 1 bit him he wag lying face downwards I 1 was very excited it was something I 1 had never seen before I 1 became excited as soon as father began to balk about it father a treatment to me wag very arsh whenever I 1 did not do as ho said mr evans we object to that testimony as irrelevant and having no bearing on the case mr rogers we expect to prove that old man hale was very tyrannical and that ezra hale was a quiet peaceful boy compelled by a dread of his father to do as he ordered mr evans quoted the statue to show that defendant did come under the statute making exempt offen ces when committed by irresponsible persons the young man was 18 years of age he was only asked to go by his fleather fl father there was no evidence given to show that defendant was in danger of his life by disobeying his fathers request consequently he could not put in the testimony offered on that point any other crime than murder might be excused under such circumstances none is justified in taking the life of a human being because told by another to do so the court ruled that if the fathers conduct was so severe that the defendant was in continual fear of bodily harm his state of mind may have been such that he was really acting under compulsion impelled by that fear the objection was overruled witness continued father was a passionate man he was very severe on one occasion when I 1 made a trade with a neighbor he took me in the stable knocked me down kicked me when I 1 got UD he knocked me down as I 1 stepped out of the door when I 1 got home he took a black whip cut me with it then doubled it up knocked me down with it and beat me when I 1 was down at one time he struck me with a six foot poker in the back I 1 did not get over the lameness for months he beat my sisters with a blacksnake as well as my mother he would strike with anything he knocked my mother down at times I 1 got so I 1 dreaded to see him come around he drank whenever he could get whisky and was then bory vicious when he appeared in the field I 1 did not know whether he had come to beat me or not ho looked as if he had drank after the killing we went to monroe bovier county stayed there till 1884 then went to oregon I 1 went south because my father ordered me to go with him he stopped at monroe for seven years then he went further south his treatment of me down south was rough as usual I 1 did not go with him of my own free will when father went further south ho wanted me to go with him I 1 objected I 1 had a family then had a wife and children at the time of my arrest I 1 said to mr steele that a man would have done the same thing under the same circumstances by that I 1 meant the seduction of my sister and the relations between myself and my father cross examined I 1 was bom in february 1853 I 1 came back to hooper eleven or twelve years ago I 1 left and returned again in 1888 a month boford my arrest after the shooting of james hendry wo went back homo did not stay there father ordered me to put up the horses and come along with me we wont down in the bend at the hot springy a mile from the house stayed there all night sleeping on the bulrushes bul rushes father had his gun but had taken mine away from me next morning we were arrested by mr belnap and turned over to sheriff brown we i were kept in custody at ogden during that day till evening we were turned over to a man named moyes at hooper to stand trial there on the way down father grabbed moves and ordered me to tie him and I 1 did so we then set him upright fixed the team ao it would go to town we jumped out and left him we went home got provisions while father left me at the straw stack that night wo stayed in the Kay sward field we traveled in the night through the outskirts of the when wo left salt lake wa followed up the west side of the jordan until city point was reached one evening we met an officer we then turned back under the city point stayed there the next day next night wo crossed the bridge and followed our tracks back crossed a cottonwood bridge from there we crossed to shuich island and stayed thero three weeks got our provisions from an english man living there we then returned to coooer saw our folks returned by skiff to the island father then took a shotgun with him I 1 had no arms from there wo worked our way into the southern country traveling during the night when we got out where we thought we would not be known we traveled during the day till monroe was reached in monroe wo were known as the hales but when father wrote home he went by the name of james walker father lived at monroe about seven or eight years saw him last at monroe just before he left stopped at monroe after I 1 got under fathers control because I 1 was located there and had a family when I 1 visited hooper last I 1 did not go to stay I 1 was there on a visit father whipped me on the road down ho was strong enough to take three such men as I 1 and jam our heads together the best days I 1 have ever seen he whipped me because I 1 did not keep out of ight ho ent mo to get supplies I 1 tried to get away twice and got the worst of it so I 1 was afraid to try again J took no stops to place him in the hands of the officers ne whipped mo a short time before the shooting till I 1 could scarcely walk I 1 was farming on fathers farm on shares he gave me two colts for the share everything was under his control he would give me property and then sell or dispose of it as he pleased when he came to the field he ordered me to saddle my horse I 1 asked him where he was going he told me none of my business we then went to his second comans womans house he was a polygamist at her house he got two guns he aavo one to me I 1 but did nol saw a cap on the nipple know it was loaded nothing had been said tc me whatever about hendry 1 did not know the gun was loaded with goose shot when I 1 met hendry a week before tho shooting ho did all the talking and hollered to me what be bad done it was in a neighborhood well populated it made mo terribly mad but J was afraid of the man and said nothing about it the second conversation was at old man hulls place the third conversation was at thomas wadsworth the first was at thomas jonea at hulls place he oaid the same thing I 1 kept it to myself I 1 thought he was saying enough about it without my spreading it abroad I 1 am satisfied I 1 saw hendry on the day of the shoot inguid not know he was in ogden that day I 1 saw him to the best of my knowledge at hooper either on the day or the day before the shooting never talked with my father about it until we reached the fence on the night of the killing father told me that hendry had seduced my bister and he would kill him for it he did not say that henday had refused to marry her and he would kill him for that my sister had been married to wm lowe at springville Spring ville but had parted from him at one time hendry paid attentions to my sister and though father objected to it my sister objected to it after he began scandalizing lizine her never talked to father about marrying my sister did not think he would marry her court took recess until 1 p m reassembling at some routine business was transacted and a few minutes after 2 the case was taken up the cross examination of ezra hale defendant not having been concluded he again took tho stand and in answer to mr evans gave the following testimony when at the house of my fathers second wife 1 had no conversation with father this house is where mother now lives it is about three and a half or four miles from the hendry house when I 1 left the field the sun was nearly setting I 1 got no supper that asked father a question until the hendry house was reached had often taken such trips sometimes after dark to go hunting if I 1 had any idea whatever it was on a hunt he told meto get down and tie my horse when we reached the house I 1 think he in advance of him we stopped opposite tho south of the house because we heard the wagon at that time T dont think I 1 had any idea of what we were going to do when hendry had driven up father told me to go to the southwest comer and watch for mike by that he meant to give warning not to shoot I 1 dont think mike was there father went around to the north side I 1 could not see him the first thing I 1 heard was a shot thea I 1 heard another I 1 saw father when he shot the second time saw hendry saw his mother coming from the house towards hendry hendry took only two or three steps after the second shot you could hardly have time to think about it between the two shots they were not right together it was long enough between to allow father to come in sight witness gave his idea of half a minute while mr evans held the watch it proved to be about tn seconds that was witnesses best judgment of the interval between the two shots after the first shot hendry started to run when father shot the second time hendry leaped high into the air am satisfied that he was down to the ground when I 1 shot I 1 shot because father ordered me I 1 shot the way hendry was running I 1 shot to hit him I 1 then ran past him because my father was going that way in order to get to my horses I 1 got past about tareo rods father was behind me when I 1 got that far past father ordered me to shoot 1 turned round and shot back I 1 did not the muzzle of the gun at his head and fire I 1 can load a shotgun BO as to take a chickens head off at a distance from hero to that railing 30 aset and scarcely got a shot below the neck I 1 did only what father told me to do father made no threats only ordered me to shoot I 1 did not retreat I 1 had opportunity to do so but had no time for reflection father evidently went there to hunt him down to the death ate direct aday or two before the killing a communication was given me of sn altercation between hendry and my father heard of what hendry had boasted of and that father ran at him with a pitchfork to mr evans it was not over two weeks that I 1 bad heard of the seduction of my sister to give the truth of it I 1 thick that was one of the reasons why I 1 obeyed fathers orders as much as bein afraid of him I 1 did not shoot him because of revenue my principal reason was chato being afraid of my father had he told me in the field of where he was going I 1 should have talked with him when lie got enraged I 1 was in fear of bodily harm he had beaten me before till I 1 could not get around for weeks arguments were then made to the jury and the court gave its instructions in regard to the degrees of crime in killing and also explained the various verdicts it was a few minutes before midnight saturday when the jury left the courtroom to consider tho case at 1 sunday morning they came into court for instructions they desired to know further what was the difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter also what was meant by acting under duress also what constituted aiding and abetting and encouraging a crime the court gave the necessary instructions and the jury retired it was learned afterwards that for a while a number of tho jurors hung out for a verdict of murder in the second degree but they were gradually convinced differently as ballot after ballot was taken until between 10 and 11 a m sunday may they broughlin brough tin a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter As prosecution for such an offense offence is barred by the statute of limitation sentence for anis killing having occurred 18 years ago could not be pronounced mr |