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Show ADMIT HEW EVIDENCE IT MERRILL HEARING II Transcript of Parry's Testi-jj Testi-jj mony Before BoariJ of Cor- I rections Is Read. I KING MAKES PROTEST Judge Tanner Orders Statement State-ment Read Which Involves Merrill in Escape. Despite the protests of Attorney William Wil-liam H. IClng, the transcript of the testimony testi-mony tnken before the stale bonrd of corrections In the Investigation of the escape from the penitentiary of George "W. Parry. was yesterday afternoon admitted ad-mitted as evidence In the preliminary lica ring- of Guard F. F. Merrill, who is jfljijjliJB charged with aiding- and abetting the ilrla escape of the convict. Attorney King- (illlir: contended that Merrill's statement to the (IllJplf board of inquiry was not pertinent, wns lllill IrrclevHnt and Incompetent. Judge Nr. M. (huH It Tanner, before whom the preliminary Until if hearing was held., way of a contrary Mm ai mind, however, and the transcript was illflE' turned over to the court la be consld- IjJfjWj ?. crcd with the other evidence In the case. jljj!Ji Judge Tanner said last night that he H 1S probably would not be able to render his HrltnF decision today, but that 11 propably llHfjSj ; would be given tomorrow morning, jljcfj ( "There Is considerable testimony to be jjjljl i considered in addition to the reading of jjtil ' the Merrill transcript," said the Judge, tjjjw j "bill at the same time I want the mat- iiijjl tcr disposed of as soon as possible." W j Involved Merrill. JjlfBjy The Merrill transcript which Judge mm Tanner admitted In the cane was printed ijfjlj exclusively in The Tribune on August 15, Jjijoj ! in slihstancc. In his testimony before fjjfgl the board of Inquiry, Merrill admitted ,nal ne narI aided Parry to escape by tniSK! holding the ladder for the convict while lugjit lie got down on the outside of the Emit prison. WM-k Merrill told in response to questions i ft' I ,nal i,e wel o'1 duly at I o'clock in the im.i afternoon and that the relief arrived at I about 1I:-15 o'clock-. He said that on the night of the escape the lights on the wall and the lights at the bottom were all right. The examination as to the lights was given in detail and a great deal of cross-examination was devoted to 11. Merrill said that he had no ill feeling feel-ing toward the warden for putting him on duty on the wall as punishment for a violation of the rules while on duty in the Inside of the prison. Merrill then related that, at times he seemed to have hallucinations and these dated back to a period In his life -when lie was between TJ and IS years of age. lie related that at the time he would do things without knowing what he did and have no knowledge knowl-edge of having done them until later, when some one would mention them, and that then a faint recollection wofld come to him. At first Merrill maintained absolute abso-lute Innocence in the escape, but gradually gradu-ally he admitted that lie had held the ladder. Finally, in response to a direct question as to whether he recollected helping Parry, Merrill said "yes." Guard Not Called. Attorney King did not place Merrill on the stand in his own behalf, the defense consisting wholly of cross-examination of the witnesses for the state. The. hearing, which was resumed yesterday yes-terday mbrning after several continuances, continu-ances, was for the purpose of allowing S. W. Stewart, a member of the board of corrections, to testify. Mr. Stewart briefly outlined the evidence which had been adduced by the Investigation at the prison and gave In substance the Merrill testimony in which the guard admitted his part in the escape. Attorney King endeavored to secure from Mr. Stewart a statement that the examination of Merrill by the board "had favored a great deal of the "third degree" de-gree" and that the guard. In desporatlon, finally said: "Oh. I went down and carried car-ried him over the wall on my shoul- 'tiilEfift That Merrill had ever made such a Siftf! statement was emphatically denied bv I lit!' -Mr' St-ewart. x "What was his conduct?" asked Mr. Tffti King. ifSti; "He was under a heavy tension from 3$ 3' the time he came in. His answers were IS 3' evasive. lie was not frank and open." Has Shorthand Notes. 'I Si John K. Hardy, secretary to Governor fllS.i Spry :i,Kl wno toolr the shorthand notes f t A at the hearing before the board of cor- ilflA rectione. testilled to practically the same t pU'l effect as Mr. Stewart. The matter of the Merrill transcript III Q AVas lnen brought up and Attornev King it if ft- asked as to whether the transcript con- 't&tt talned everything said during the invr-s- fflK, titration. Mr. Hardy renlied that it did ml not; that there were explanations of some !$ r the questions that the board had thought non-eesentlal and hence no 1 j shorthand notes had been taken. How- 11 ver. said Mr. Hardy, the transcript did If contain the questions asked during the nhb, investigation and the answers Riven bv ynr th several pereons who had testified. Elk At the sennion yesterday afternoon Mr. Hardy produced his shorthand notes and 'im&fi tne' were checked against the transcript IMNlf. for a time, when Judge Tanner ordered that the entire transcript be given him as a. part of the evidence. Witness Gets Angry. Considerable mirth' was caused during the testimony of Guard J. S. Towle. who had frequent clashes with Attorney King. The latter finally termed Towle a "Smart Alec." and was admonished by the court to be more respectful to the witnesses. "Aren't you more determined to be f-mart than to be accurate?" Attorney King asked. "No. I am not. T am determined to tell the truth." ' "How far from the bottom of th wall is the dead line?" "I have never measured 1L" "ttliat is your Judgment on It?" "I haven't any judgment on it. I have very little judgment as to distance." "I agree with you that you have very Illtie Judgment." Said Attornev King. Towle said that he had adjusted the alarm wire by changing the tension or taking up the alack, three or four times during the shift before Parrv escaped. "Do the Inmates of the prison sometimes some-times clean the Jackets and suits of the guards?" "PollVsh their buttonn?" "Never raw it done." "You've had your suit deaned by the prisoners?" "Never had a whole suit cleaned," Towle replied. "Of course. 1 knew you wouldn't." Attorney At-torney King said. "You probably had one leg of your trousers, or oryj sleeve of your coat cleaned." "Do the prisoners ever sew buttons on IBK' lne guards' clothing?" $ (? "Never for me. I don't know about & 9& tlio other guards. If a man attends to his ifJi own business he is doing pretty well those ffl ,Hi"!," f Si al Evidence. TiSff In The Tribune story of August In lfif Mori-HP admission that he had held the ft jtfc ladder for Parry was quoted briefly. hB8 following ia a more detailed copy of the transcript of the evidence given by Merrill Mer-rill before the board of corrections': Q. You have a recollection that you actually did help him over? A. Yes. Q. And have it now? A. Yes. Q. And that Is the best that you can recollect? A. But no recollection of his coming com-ing in and talking with me. Q. You have a recollection of feeling feel-ing tile ladder? A. The way It came to me Is this: That I put my left hand on the hook aa he was going down the wail. Q. When he fell, did he fail verv hard ? A. 1 don't think he fell. Q. "Was there any noise made? A. No. I can't remember that there was any noise. It seemed Hke it was dark where I waj;, and I put my left hand on the hook. Q. Before Parry escaped, did you have any conversation with him in which his opportunity of getting away was discussed? A. I must have talked with him about gettlnc away, or else I wouldn't have known It. Q. So, putting It In that light, this Is your recollection: that you did have a conversation about his getting get-ting away? A. I must have told him, begsed him to go or something. Q. How long before you went off shift did you have your hand on the hook? A. About a half an hour or so. The floor felt like it was going down. ' Q. That would malfe It about 11 or 11:30 p. m.? A- Yes, Q. These statements you are making mak-ing without any threat or coercion by anyone here? A- Yes, sir. Q. You are making them without any threat or promise of anyone here that we are going to do anything against or for you? A. I understand and can't help that. You know T have little children chil-dren and a grandchild. Q. If there are any more facta that you have, or recollections outside out-side of the facts of going out and holding the ladder A, I don't remember whether he was on his knees or how he was. I remember holding the hook with my left hand. I held my hand on top of the hook on top of this iron. |