Show THE EXPRESS ROBBERY at tho opening of the court on wednesday may 7 the caso case of the people vs H C lir was re burned the first witness called was J M griffith formerly teller of the omaha national nai Nat lenal bank who testified to having put up on the of tep september 1876 a package for mccornick Ss co salt balt lake city and showed his hia receipt of delivery to edwards then receiving agent for the union pacific express company J M edwards next witness stated that he was waa tho the cashier 0 of the U P express company in IS 1876 76 and on september received a package from griffiths and gave a receipt as stated didenti nied tied receipt as his own he stated that he delivered the package to comstock the messenger I 1 J 0 comstock then took the stands stand and testified that in september 1876 he was messenger for the union between omaha and und cheyenne and that he received a package from edwards according to a receipt which ho he then Id entitled identified and gave the package a ge to mr kidder on arriving living ar at cheyenne M C kidder testified to having been a amee me aBenger on the U P between tw i een cheyenne and ogden on september 12 1876 and to having received according to a receipt which was waa shown bbown to and ed rd by him a package containing which he delivered to mr gentsch at ogden P F C Gents cli being sworn said lie he was U P agent at ogden september received on an that date a package of addressed to McCorm mccormick lek lCk and co salt balt t lake lakes and turned it over to mr B R M dooley who tho latter then took the stand and certified that la in september 1876 ho he was clerk for wells fargo co cd at ogden received the loom from P F C Gen gentsch tach and delivered it to mr williams W G williams GWilliams was the next witness called and notwithstanding the tho the objection of the defence to his being allowed to testify testily since he had been tried convicted and senion fenced as a fe felon benion benlon lon a plea which excluded mr Rey Key nods from testily jestly ing in the miles allies case recently he was sworn and held to be competent as a witness an argument on this took up the time till recess in the afternoon williams was placed upon the stand the following is the ine substance of his testimony he was messenger for wells fargo co on the utah central in september 1876 1676 and on the nth of that mon that pm received among other packages for salt lahea one addressed to mccornick co said to contain 1000 after receiving it he went to his car ear and staid there until the train left he was all alone in the car that night nights until they reached shurtliff ranch about 12 miles from falt lake when the defendant entered w the dan car dar from the west side where he had hail b been ean eau hiding in the sunflowers sun flowers and brought with him a sack of burg burglars larla implements which williams first took and then helped the ibe other into the car shurtliff was then given the package and rind secreted so that any one could look into the car without seeing him williams permitted shurtliff to tie tio him up to the aide side of the car with cotton strips shurtliff IT then defaced the tho door with an augur so as to convey the idea that violence had bee been aused used shurtliff got off the train about abou a block from the depot in salt lake when the train was goin gola very slowly williams then stated that shurtliff and himself and shur kliffs wife were the gnes ones nes who had entered into a plan to effect the robbery the plan was entered into in august 1876 1870 williams met mrs shurtliff near the warm spring springs ss by appointment and was waa there told of the plan which she and her husband had entered eute red into to rob wells bargos express williams saw shurtliff a night or two later in the express car when the latter asked him it if he ke had seen his wife and said there wab waa a good chance for him williams to make a raise if he would go into the tho plan suggested by his wife at the same time telling him bow how successful he shurtliff had been in the cattle business on the ero Fro promontory montory he promised to give williams half the money if he would go 90 in with him and also that he would employ the best beet coas cows la defend him if he were suspected two or three nights afterwards they agreed to the robbery on main street just below god bes drug store shurtliff Bhurl liff was to give williams half the money and stick faick right by him the plan was waa that mrs shurtliff should go to ogden and and when williams had enough money on onboard inboard board to justify the robbery he was to give her the signal by raising his hat to her she was then to take the train and am get off at the shurtliff lff ranch where the defendant was to board boan the train while it was standing the train was to stop so that the express car would be just opposite a platform which the defendant had hac erected for the purpose the sto stopping p of the train was hla hia signal to geton get gei on this Thi plan was car ear carried out oui to the letter williams was arrested about 1 the morning after the robbery and after an examination before alderman baileigh Ba leigh was admitted to ball bail his brothers and shurtliff becoming his sureties he jae afterward went to coalville Co alville at the instance of shurtliff who was afraid ho he williams would be hung up and d made to confess and kept books there but did not stay very long the above is a digest of the proceedings ce edings until the court adjourned to resume the case ease this morning this morning williams was put upon the stand still under cras eras examination letters written by him to shurtliff since the robbery were produced and found to be somewhat inconsistent with alleged facts for instance ee 1 one written since his ex examination aminat 01 before alderman raleigh is in the form of an humble petition stating that he had been informed that his bondsmen bondsman were about to withdraw their sureties and that in consequence he would be remanded to jail and asking shurtliff to rem win vin surety for him after thanking him for past kind ness another letter is couched as a dun from williams to the defendant fen danti dant asking payment of 25 for a bull he had sold him the defense are using these in rebuttal on the representation that it is not consistent to suppose if shurtliff were implicated in the robbery that it would have been necessary for williams to 10 couch his communications to him in the form of a petition or even a request under cross examination williams is apparently weakening the first part of his story was plausible and created quite an impression but when closely questioned his memory Is very poor in regard to details he ae having been drinking the night of the robery he drank nive five or six times before bedore starting from ogden and then drank from a bottle which shurtliff brought with him still he says helas not intoxicated he stated yesterday that no one came into his car but shurtliff now he says bays he dont remember his testimony regarding the interview at the warm springs with mrs shurtliff has also been somewhat shaken in other details too he gets considerably mixed up he wab was still till on the witness stand at last accounts thursday may 8 when williams was asked yesterday how be he reconciled the manner nerin in which his letters to shurtliff were written with the batters lat complicity in the robbery he answered that as shurtliff was suspected of complicity with him he wrote in a noncommittal non committal style in order to guard against a miscarried letter af after ter recess williams cross ex was resumed and another letter from him to mrs if dated july 20 1878 was read in evidence in which williams states that he had bad been sent up for ten years and urged mrs shurtliff to get her husband to come to his rescue on pain of divulging the whole affair of the rob beryThe robbery the following sentences occur the meanness of hyrum shurtliff i ff would have made me divulge long ago but for your sake cake if we had thought it would have come to this we would never have committed the crime erime 1 I burn this and do not show it to any one s witness then stated that this letter was written in ithe penitentiary but that tilford and hagans letter heads were used in order to deceive shurtliff into answering iii in someway some bome way to commit himself it was written at the instance of mr dooley while in the penitentiary witness had told george that he would tell on shurtliff in answer to a question if he had ever stilted that be he had been offer I 1 ed ad 2500 and a pais pabs pass to t san francisco if he woul would disclose evidence to convict shurtliff witness eald he had stated that mr marshall had offered hin bin 2000 and a pass to san ban francisco francisci to do so eo Q you succeed in convict ing mr shu shurtliff do you expect i a pardon 11 no biri am doing thie thit out of revenge rey rev enge 11 witness further stated that the th reason for hla hia revenge was that thai shurtliff had bad not kept his word about helping him nor his family that his testimony given at his hie trial was a lie be he did not then wish to implicate shurtliff but he was now telling the truth out of revenge Z jacobs conductor on the utah central testified that lift liff went to ogden two days before the robbery as she said to stay three four or six days and returned the night of the robbery aiso aleo that the platform at the shurtliff ranch was there six weeks or two months before the robbery robbe and that he had bad often spoken to shurtliff of the advisability of erecting one he first heard of this robbery at a party after reaching salt lake did not see any one get on at shurtliff ranch that night after hearing of the robbery went down and examined the express car the lock appeared perfectly sound though the door was somewhat defaced de faced george warren driver of the express wagon ons testified that on the arrival of the train in salt lake the night of the robbery he found the express car dark called for williams but received no answer he then went in the car and called again heard a groan and noise feit pelt around and found williams tied to tha the side bide of the car with cotton cottor i strips two inches wide some over hib kib hia mouth androse and nose nobe his hands were apart and tied above his head anum ben ber of unbroken packages were found on the floor Robertl Bobert buit Bult engi engl neeri certified that the train stopped at ranch the night of the robbery there was a platform there which had been put up perhaps tour four weeks previous the night after the platform was built mr shurtliff had talked to witness about stopping there promised him some somo beef it he ho would accommodate him by doing so Shutt shurtliff liff sent half a beef beel one time and a half another time saw mr shurtliff shortly after the robbery talked with him before going before the grand jury he told witness he thought billy was innocent witness also thought he asked him to notice if his liff llda s name was mentioned by the grand jury and let him know witness met shurtliff in the wasatch saloon afterward when the latter asked him it his hia name had been mentioned witness mold told him he was sworn to secrecy again he asked saying he had heard that dooley had bad offered the grand jury to indict him shurtliff told witness he would send him down another hait halt of a beef he did so art alt erward afterward witness had another talk with shurtliff a week afterward he wanted witness to see NV williams illiams and tell him the they thes v were going to kidnap him on the day of the robbery witness saw shurtliff at Cen centreville treville he got out of the baggage car into the express car he got off at his ranch in the af afternoon ter noon court adjourned tili till Friday morning friday may 9 bobert HOBERT BUIT BULT continued his testimony when shurtliff sent word to williams that he was waa to bo be kidnapped 1 spoke to the latter across the street from grays saloon cross examined I 1 saw williams on the road the afternoon of the robbery a and nd drank with him he came on the engine this side of ogden a few miles I 1 was not in the express car am not positive that any one else was in any other department of that car ear recollect stopping at farm faim that evening the engine was about a car and a half south of the platform saw no one standing on that platform or near it do not always look look around to see who is getting off or on did not see mrs shurtliff get off I 1 did not see the front door of the express car open my impression is that the door was not ilot open if it had been the light from the car would have attracted my attention do not remember the time when shurtliff epoco to me about stopping at the jk it J k was before the robbery we frequently atop stop ped there I 1 understood he wished e us to stop to leave parcels etc which we oaten paten carri carried fd on the platform instead of strewing them along his bis fence in no particular spot mr ifT asked me belfore I 1 went before the grand jury if I 1 had heard his name mentioned and I 1 said I 1 didiot did not think I 1 had cannot state the tho time of ibis conversation I 1 think it was the day before I 1 went to the grand jury he asked what was said aid in the grand jury jurk and I 1 told him I 1 could not tell being under obligation to keep silent he requested that I 1 should tell him after I 1 had been before the grand jury I 1 had bad conversation with him in the wasatch saloon and afterwards at the corner ot of west temple and first south street bo hie asked me if I 1 had bad seen williams and asked me to take a message to him telling him he would be kidnapped at a previous conversation he told me he thought williams was innocent when I 1 gave the message to williams bo he was mad but seemed sober noticed no appearances of intoxication it became dark the night of the robbery when we were near kaysville Kays ville which is 8 miles north from farm so at the latter place it was quite dar dark ir E r noticed n oti r e d no person near ills farm I 1 have talked some with mr dooley about this case and with some other persons mr hume spoke to me on the subject after I 1 had bad been before the grand jury mr hume said he was a detective for wells fargo co and was looking up the case he talked with me about the facts acts as I 1 have stated them here and said my evidence would be material cannot tell when my last conversation with him took placey place it was not within a few days however knew that shurtliff lived at his ranch up to the time of this robbery at the request of judge van zile the testimony as given by tha the witness under cross examination was read by the court reporter after which the witness underwent a T le direct examination do not always look around to get tb the as signal ignal in that instance the platform was not on my side of the engine the conductor has entire control of the train on the thuu theu 13 0 R Rt rains will very often stop to let passengers on or off re jre cross examination this stopping is a matter of if accommodation MR hir THOMAS DAVIS sworn at the time of the robbery I 1 was fireman on the locomotive of which mr buit quit is engineer I 1 knew know mr shurtliff at that time and remember the platform at his place it was put up I 1 believe about a month or six weeks before the robbery was before the grand jury elave have had no conversation with hir bir shurn shurtliff liff I 1 receive the signal coming from ogden this way the platform was built of inch lumber recollect a man jumping off there once after the robbery and breaking through the platform cross examination the platform I 1 suppose wab was rather weather beaten and out of repair when he fell through MB MR W S 0 next testified lire in salt lake lako city am a banker and was at the time of the robbery under the name of mccornick aco co know |