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Show HILLSTROM IVSAKES ATTACKON STATE Opens Defense by Charging That His Witnesses Have Been Tampered With. SEVEN ARE ON STAND Accused Will Try to Show That He Was Shot With Steel Bullet. I The first tangible evidence tending to connect someone other than Joseph Hillstrom with the murder of J. U-. Morrison and hia Bon, Arlin, was presented pre-sented by the defense yesterday after- j noon. Peter Rhengren, a machinist, testified ! that while on- his way to the Denver & , Rio Grande railroad shops at 11:30 o "clock the Saturday night on which the murdor was committed, he met two men at Eighth West street between Seventh and Eighth South streets, one of whom appeared to be in great distress. dis-tress. He said the men parted at the corner and went in different directions. Then the tailor of the two turned back and laid down in the snow, resting on his elbow. Rhengren said he thought the men were highwaymen at first. He -said he walked up to the prostrate man and stood for fully a minute looking down at him. The man moaned as 1 hough in great pain, he said, and his eyes were closed and his face was turned upward. It was a bright moonlight night, he said, and he . could aee the man's features plainly. Not Hillstrom, He Says. "Was it this man here?" asked Attorney At-torney Christeusen of the defense, indicating in-dicating Hillstrom. "It was not." replied the witness, after scanning Hillstrom carefully.- ! Rhengren said he went on past the man, thinking to call the police, but no sooner had he passed than the man rose , up and followed him to Seventh South ; street, where the stranger boarded a I street car. On cross-examination the district attorney,- E. O. L-eatherwood, sought to show that the man Rhengren saw was probably drunk, but Rhengren insisted that he bore no evidence of drunkenness, drunken-ness, but acted rather like a man in pain. The spot where he encountered the two men was about six blocks west of the scene of the Morrison murder and across the Denver & Rio Grande tracks. Since it is known that one of the highwaymen who killed the Morrisons was shot, Rhengren Js testimony was the strongest brought out by the defense : as yet. i Tampering Is Charged. Hillstrom began his defense at 10 o'clock yesterday morning when a brief statement was made of what the defense de-fense intends to prove to show the innocence in-nocence of the defendant. Attorney F. B. Scott made the statement. He said: Ve expect to prove that Hillstrom Hill-strom was shot with a steel bullet and not one of lead. We will prove that the man who was shot in the Morrison store, if anyone was shot there, carried the bullet away with him and that it did not go through him as in the case of Mr. Hillstrom 's wound. We also expect to prove that the gun Hillstrom had was not a Colt, or any other kind of automatic, that would fire the kind of bullets that killed Morrisonf but a Lneger, which will not fire such bullets as found in the store. Further, we expect to show that other men of the same general description as Hillstrom were and still are under suspicion of being the murderers of Morrison. We expect to show that witnesses wit-nesses for the defense, after being be-ing subpened, have been approached ap-proached by the state and efforts have been made to have them color their testimony for the benefit of the state's case. We expect to show also that some of the state 's witnesses have changed their testimony testi-mony since the preliminary hearing hear-ing for t"he benefit of the state's case. Tells of Handkerchief. Mrs. Betty Eselins Olsen, sister of the Eselius boys at Murray and housekeeper house-keeper at the Eselius home, where ; Hillstrom. and Otto Applequist occa- ! sionally roomed, was the first witness, called for the defense. She testified that a red bandanna handkerchief found in the Eselius home and introduced by the state as one worn bv one of the highwaymen who killed "Morrison, belonged be-longed to her and that she gave it to Hillstrom on the Sunday morning following fol-lowing the murder. She said that she had a large number of the handkerchiefs, handker-chiefs, which were used by her brothers while working in the smelters at Murray. Mur-ray. She said the handkerchief in question was in her trunk Saturday and that when she discovered Hillstrom Hill-strom had been wounded she took the handkerchief to him Sunday morning. Then she told of the arrest of hrr son, Robert Ericksnn, the following Wednesday after Hillstrom had been arrested. She said thnt she was approached ap-proached bv Inspector Carl A. Carlson of the police department, and was told in Swedish that if she could induce Hillstrom to confess the murder her own son would be released immediato-lv. immediato-lv. She said sho went to the countv iail find asked Hillstrom to confess if he had committed t he crime. He replied re-plied that he had committed no crime. Later her son was released. Tinier cross-examination Mrs. Olsen admitted that she had a dozen or more of the red bandanna handkerchiefs nml she had no way of positively identifying identify-ing the handkerchief in question as the one she gave to Hillstrom Sunday mornine, though she believed it was the same one. Deemed Important. The witness testified further that Hillstrom and Applequist were at the house in Murray Saturday evening and" that they left at about 9 o'clock that night. The defense made much of this point and will endeavor to show that the defendant and Applequist could not have come into Salt Lake in time to commit the murder at 9:45 o'clock that same evening. Mrs. Olseu denied having told Marshal Mar-shal Peters of Murray that Hillstrom and Applequist left the house between 6 and 7 o'clock Saturday evening. JE. Burbidge, a jailor at tho county . jail, testified that Hillstrom weighed 139 pounds at the time of his arrest and about 143 pounds at present. Lester F. ire, a patrolman, was placed on t lie stand and asked whether or not it is the custom of police officers to carry an empty cartridge next to the firing pin of a revolver as a matter mat-ter of precaution. He said it is not, but that men used to handling firearms usua lly carry an empty chamber next to the firing pin. The defense sought to show by tins that Morrison, who was once a polieeman, had acquired the habit of carrying an emptv cartridge cart-ridge next the pin, and that the gun found hv Arlin Morrison 's body had not been fired that night. Riley M. Becks tead, a deputy sheriff, formerly of the police department, testified testi-fied that Morrison had been a member of the police department for several years. Answer Not Permitted. 1 Hardy K. Downing was questioned in an effort to show thn t Morrison had a reputation as a gunman anil that he "had said at the time of a previous attempt to hold him up that someone was trying to kill him nd he knew who it was. Down ins had investigated the matter at the time . of the first holdup, being a newspaper man at that time. The court refused to allow the questions to he answered, an-swered, holding that the testimony was Irreleva nt and improper. The defense then placed E. J. Miller on the stand. Miller is an employee of the Western Arms company and is accredited ac-credited with being an expert on firearms and powder. Ho testified that it wa.s f-ustoniary for police officers and all who handle guns to carry the firing pin on an ; empty chamber. Shown the exploded shell found with the five loaded shells in the .3S-caIlber revolver with which Arlin Morrison is supposed to have shot one of the high-li waymen, Mr. Miller said It was a Peters shell and that Peters shells are never loaded with anything but smokeless or semismokeless powder, which, when fired leaves a dry ash. ' Mr. Miller declared that from numerous numer-ous experiments conducted bv him he was convinced that no person could tell hy t he smell of a gun how recently it had been discharged. He sufd the smell miht remain In a gun for days or weeks iust as strong as at the time the gun was tired. "In my opinion," he said, "no one could tell how recently this gun was fired. The smell of the powder is still in It." Miller was on the stand when court adjourned ad-journed for the noon recess. Dr. Beer on Stand. During the afternoon session Dr W F Beer was placed on the stand by the "defense "de-fense In an effort to show that the wound Hillstrom received in the breast and which is the most damaging bit of evidence evi-dence against him. was received while his bunds were in the air. The doctor said he had examined Hiilstrom's wound at the county jail and had discovered that the point of entrance was about four inches above the bullet hole through Hiilstrom's Hiil-strom's coat when worn in normal position. posi-tion. But with Hiilstrom's hands in the nir the garment lifted so as to bring the bullet hole in a direct line with the wound. Just what the defense sought to establish by this was not made clear The only other witness during the afternoon, after-noon, besides Dr. Beer and 'Mr Rhengren. Rhen-gren. was Robert Erickson. son of Mrs Olsen. who was arrested the dav following follow-ing the arrest of Hillstrom. His testimony testi-mony was brief and of little importance He told of being taken to the comity jail and of being released a short time later after he had shown the authorities conclusively that he had accompanied his brother and two uncles to a theater the night of the murder. Ho testified that he arrived at the Eselius home tn Murrav. where he lived a few minutes before Hillstrom came In Dr. Bird's automobile. |
