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Show - ' ... . ; attorney S. fl. King: Repeats Accusation Against Cfiristensen; Donaldson Held to Ansver to Charges of Robbery and Larceny Under $5,000 Bail. "You offered to turn me loose if I would implicate Sheets in this matter," declared James DonaldsonN with considerable heat in Justice Bishop's court at 1 o'clock " this afternoon. . The remark was directed against County Attorney Parley P. Christensen. "Not only .you, but other officers have made the same offer," declared S. A. King with no less heat. . The outburst came at the end of the preliminary hearing, hear-ing, which had lasted all morning, while S. R. Thurman irguing a motion for a reduction of the bail. ' dinner with the O'Brien brothers at the home of Mrs. King on September 19. On cross-examination witness stated that the interviews took plaee at the county jail. Defendant told witness that he won $2000 and that he returned $1000 of the amount. He told witness that he had never seen the alleged officers offi-cers until they cams into the room at the Antler rooming-house. The defendant defend-ant stated to the witness that he understood un-derstood the names of the two men to be Povert and Sinclair. These are the two who have been known as Bell and Davis. ' - "The State rests," announced County Coun-ty Attorney Christenson at the conclusion conclu-sion of the testimony of Fitzgerald. After a short -private conference with the defendant. 8.' R. Thurman announced an-nounced that the defense would pat in n--evidence at this time, bnt would move to dismiss, the Case. ...... .Mr. Tbuftnan argued flat the second count, robbery,- should, be dismissed as matter of . law, in that the -complain did not -state who committed the alleged offense. ' - :"Wer admit that the defendant engaged en-gaged in gambling, as did the others with him; that he then and there came I'timf the course of his remarks Judje Thurman stated that the defendant defend-ant was not able to furnish the bail of $10,000. "He is able to furnish a bail of $20,000 if such an amount were re-.' re-.' quired," said Mr. Christensen. . "I repeat," said Mr. Thurman, "that the bail is excessive and that the defendant is not able to furnish It." Striking the table with his fist, the County Attorney said: - "I repeat that he is able to furnish the amount-asked; he told me so himself." him-self." . It was" at thisjjoint that the remark was - made ! by Donaldson and S..A. Kingl;k . ..u - ; . . - ' Mr. Thurman turned to ..Donaldson jSnd-tokl him ii-tf uiet. "He made the offer and he knows it' said Donaldson to Thurman. , Judge Tbarmati denounced the County Attorney for his. attitude in the case.. iYou have noteen prosecuting this man vou have been persecuting him," said Mr. Thurman. At the close of the trial, S. A. King, one of the attorneys for the defendant. into possession of monev placed there as stated. That we will admit, but that is another case. . - ' ' We ask the court to weigh caref ullv whether or not the defendant committed the offense of grand larceny, sot that of gambling." Mr. Thurman here. defined the crime of larcenv as given by the statutes. "If Alexander McWhirter had won the money, would hehot have been ready to take itf Alexander McWhirter McWhir-ter knew that he was gambling. He entered en-tered into this, game to win money, but he lost it. Even if the game was not square, it does not constitute grand larcenv. lar-cenv. "There is no evidence that Donaldson ever saw Bell or Davis before they entered en-tered the room on the afternoon of September Sep-tember 19. There is no proof that Donaldson Don-aldson ever received a cent of the $8000 which is alleged to have been taken by the alleged officers. Bell and Davis. "If Jim Donaldson got any money from McWhirter, he won it at gambling, gam-bling, and it was not grand larceny." County Atttorney Christensen argued at length against the motion to dismiss, citing a number of authorities in support sup-port of his objection. 8. A. King argued in support of the motion to dismiss, laying special stress on the second count, that of robbery. "If vou are to believe the testimony stated to a representative of THE TELEGRAM that the statement of Donaldson was true. Mr. King said: "The County Attorney went to Jim Donaldson in the county jail the, night 4efdre the preliminary examination started. He had a written statement with him which he asked Donaldson to sign and which would, have implicated impli-cated Chief Sheets in this alleged robbery. rob-bery. Donaldson refused to sign the statement, though he was informed that if he did so the case against him wonld not be prosecuted.- "Donaldson was told of the bounty fraud case in whieh one man was not prosecuted to any great extent because he turned State 's evidence. He still refused to sign the statement. "This was not the first time that Donaldson tad been" approached with i an offer of immunity from prosecution if he would implicate Sheets in the matter." "It was also assorted that the . County Attorney went to Mrs. Young, prajaiietor of . the Antler . rooming nose, v where the alleged robbery is mLsA 'o have taken place, on Monday i. -Ming and threatened Mrs. ,Young uftess sne gave certain testimony in relation, io tbe'ease. . - Justice Bishop reduced the bond of Donaldson to $5000. Counsel for the defendant stated to THE TELEGRAM TELE-GRAM that the bond would be furnished fur-nished some time this afternoon and that Donaldson would be released from jail. The preliminary : examination' vof James Donaldson .was conffhued before Justice Bishop this morning. , W. J. Casey, of the. Turf exchange, testified that he changed a $1000 bill for the defendant on or about September Septem-ber 19. The time was near midnight. His was the first bill of that amount which he had ever changed for the de- fendant. On cross-examination witness ' stated that the defendant bad told him that $600 or $700 would do at that time and that he would get the remainder later. He, the defendant, however, got all his change. " Mrs. Mary King testified that she knew the defendant and that he visited her home on September 19, and that defendant and two other men took din- ;ner at her house. Witness did not know, who -the other men were. ? I Counsel for the defendant moved to strike out that part of the testimony in 'relation to the two men eoming to the 1 house in a buggy. The motion wai sus- !tained on the ground that it was hearsay hear-say evidence. " - " . Alexander ' McWhirter was recalled and testified that $1000 of the amount had been paid back to him. The amount was paid in gold,. between 11 and 11:30 p. m. September 19. The money was paid by BelL Witness received $750 first and later the balance of $250. j . ' At this time a delay of forty minutes ; w occasioned by the non-arrival of I . t j , j. Fitzgerald, reporter of the Herald,! Her-ald,! testified that he knew the defend- ' ant.Vfe had had two conversations with Donaldson in relation to the alleged game. Defendant had told witness that he had furnished the $1000 that had been returned to McWhirter' brothers and had told witness that he had taken ' - I given, Donaldson was robbed just as much as McWhirter, for the testimony shffws that money was taken from -him bv the alleged officers." "Mr. King quoted the Bftute defining robbery, which he contended had not bpen committed in this case. . Mr. King asserted that a man who would commit the crime of robbery, ae was charged, must be an imbecile. To this remark the County Attorney stated that he thought he was. Mr. King challenged counsel to dismiss the case and let the defendant be examined for his sanity. - The court promptly denied the motion in relation to both count. . . Mr. Thurman submitted the case -for the defendant. . 1 The court held that there were reasonable rea-sonable grounds to believe .that a crime had been .committed, and that the defendant de-fendant was guilty, and would therefore hold him over to the Pistrict court. Mr. King again moved that the bond be reduced from $10,000 to $2500. Mr. King argued that the bail was excessive, and should be reduced. The motion was objected to by the County Attorney at length. ' Mr. Thurman again urged that the bail be reduced, arguing that this was the most excessive bail ever asked in a similar case in the State. A sharp tilt occurred between Mr. Thurman and the County, Attorney at this point. Mr. Thurman denounced the County Attorney Attor-ney for his attitude in the case. "You offered to turn me loose if -I would implicate im-plicate Sheets in this matter," said Donaldson to Christensen with considerable consider-able heat.' "Nof only you, but other officers have made the same offer," declared de-clared Mr. King. - Justice Bishop rapped for order, after which he stated that it was not the desire de-sire of the court to demand an excessive bond. He would therefore reduce the bond to $5000. . - Neither Mr.' Christensen nor the McWhirter Mc-Whirter brothers came up town on the car which brought the defendant and his attorneys to tow ' |