| OCR Text |
Show " IE 11! HIED." An Attempt to Free ilia Gold Brick Swindler. Judge Dlackburn Reduces the Sail, However, From $3,000 to S 1 ,500. Attorney Hamilton Is Sat Down on for His Brow-Beatins Brow-Beatins Methods. The hearing of the habeas corpus, case of William Leonard vs. The People Peo-ple etc.. came on for hearing before be-fore Judge Blackburn yesterday morning. morn-ing. Prosecuting Attorney. Zaue and Mr. Hamilton appeared for the applicant, appli-cant, and David Evans, George Sutherland and William II. King for the defendant. The Court stated that his views of haueas corpus was to permit the opening open-ing and hearing of all the testimony in the case, and decide whether the facts would warrant the holdingof the defendant. Mr. Evans differed from the Court, and read authorities to sustain his position, po-sition, but the Court interrupted him by stating that he did not want toj hear arguments but he would like to hear the case. Attorney Hamilton, who had been watching the force of Mr. Evans' authorities, stated: "I want it to go ou record that I am surprised that Mr. Whitmore's in-lluence in-lluence should bricg down attorneys from Ogden to assist in this case.'' The Court: 'Well I don't want anything like this, and I won't allow such remarks any more." Mr. Hamilton: Well, I will withdraw with-draw my remarks." The case then proceeded, and after a brief statement of the facts in the case by Mr. George Sutherland Mr. Herman Knudsen was called and sworn for the defence. He said: 1 have seen the defendant; I can hardly tell the date when, but it was probably prob-ably a couple of weeks ago, at five or six o'clock one evening; hen I fiisl saw him it was at Fisher's farm, in the Fort Field;- he was traveling towards to-wards town in a buggy; 1 was coming from my farm, and ne was traveling into town just ahead of us; he turned off the main road, and wnt north; after watching him for the distance ol j probably 150 yards, he disappeared aiuonz the willows near Provo river; alter he had been gone half an hour. he returned and went on the main road, into town; I saw him the next morning; he went to the same place; Whitmore followed into the same place i he night after. To Mr. Hamilton: He had the same clothes on that he wears now; I think he would have had time to chaue any disguise he might have been attired at-tired in during ti e time he. went in and came out ol the willows. Hamilton. ''Are you positive this is the man you saw?'' (refering to the defendant.) Witness Yes, sir; I am." "Quite sure?"' "Yes, sir; quite sure."' Court -'Did he have any disguisa on when you saw himV" "No, sir." Hamilton (sharply) "That's all." Andrew Knudsen was then ca'ied: I saw defendant on Monday evening; April 20, he w as in a buggy; ho appeared ap-peared to be waiting for some one; he turned off the main road and drove north by our farmhouse ad disappeared disap-peared into the willows by the river; the road he went on is not a generally traveled road, merely a road used by farmers to get to their land; there are no houses in that neighborhood; I did not see him since. To Mr. Hamilton; I nave never communicated com-municated these facts to anyone that I know of. Hamilton "Did I not see you in conversation with Mr. Whitmore?" Witness (sharply) "Xo, sir; you did not." D. S. Taggart, agent of the R. G. W., was next called: Was at the R. G. W. depot on Monday afternoon, April "0; I saw the defendant there that afternoon at 10 minutes after 8; I saw him there when the U. P. train came in from the south; I saw Mr. Whitmore get off the train; a dark complexioned gentleman was with Mr. Whitmore; the defendant stood about a rod from the , R. G. W. depot when they passed; the gentleman with Whitmore stood a"t the front end of the front coach; as he passed the defendant de-fendant he made a sign of recognition, a slight bow with his head; drud-ant drud-ant rt turned the recognition, with a nod of his head and a slight wave of his hand; defendant then went to his buggy, which was being held by a man at the Z. C. M. 1. warehouse, and drove off; Whitmore and-the man that accompanied him went up town; Isaw defendant next day; he got on the afternoon westbound expnss; he got on the sout h side of the train; passengers passen-gers "' rally board the train ou the den -t ..- .-M th side; he did not gc-t on the irai.i tli hist moment, just a ;!:eir i. o ii.; leaving; he appeared t'icii!e h,:;;i .i saloon on the soutli ; tie c. the n.. ,. . Tu LI,, iiowi; -: u: Mr. Whitmore g -t on the same tr ! , just as it was pulling pul-ling OUt Of the :-e.ittt. George Madten: I recollect seeing de fendant on father's hay meadow about ten o'clock Tuesday morning. April 21; the willows into which defendant went are right on lather's land; he was standing on the bank of the river; he asked us where the best fishing was; I told him there was belter fishing further "down the river; he did not have any rod or line with him; 1 returned re-turned to the same place about three quarters of an hour afterwards, but he was not there, the horse was standing tied. Geo. C. Whitmore was then sworn. He testified: On the 20th of April, about S o'clock in the morning, a man came into Hyde & Whitmore's store at Xephi and asked for me; I went up to l.im and he handed me a letter which purported to be a letter from a man by the name of Taylor, a man whom I know; the letter was here introduced in evidence; I opened it; it introduced the bearer; he asked me if I had any relatives by the name of Andrew Whitmore; I told him I did not think I had; tie showed me some gold rock; they were fine specimens; lie said they came from a gold mine discovered in Mexico and in which this man, Am drew Whitmore, was interested: and it was for the purpose of giving this man Whitmore his share in the mine that he had come to him; he. then showed me a newspaper clipping which gave a glowing account of the discovery discov-ery of a gold mine in Mexico by a Mexican; - finally he said, "I believe you belong to this man W'hitmore. and you had better come up ana see this Mexican;" I agreed to do so; lie made me agree to ship down teams and wagons wag-ons to send to Mexico and develop to mine and patent it; we came to l'rovo; we went to the East Co-op. and got a hi ace and bit, and lie got a horse and buggy from the livery stable; Ave g it into the buggy and" went west down Centre street, turning north by Knud-sen's Knud-sen's farm: we went into the willows. nd I heard the Mexican, this defend ant here, yell out something that I tuought to be Spanish; this man John-sou John-sou replied to him in the same language; lan-guage; Johnson then came out with one of these bricks the bricks were tiere produced. 1 laid down the paper pa-per in which the bit and brace weie wrapped, placed the brick on it, and started boring; I pressed too L rd and oroke the bit; Johnson then took hold of it and bored; I wrapped the shavings shav-ings up in the paper 1 was kneeling on and placed it in my pocket hook; 1 never liok my eyes olf the bricks or shayings; the Mexican stood a little distance off, talking in Spanish; we got into the buggy and I proposed driving to the bank to have the shavings- tested; Johnson objected to this, saying any jeweler would do; we then went into Beck's jewelry store; Beck said he woud have to get some alco-uol alco-uol and would not I e long: while Beck was gone Johnson said. "Let's go and gel some cigars;" we did so; Beck returned, re-turned, and pronounced the shavings gold, worth from lo 22 per ounce; on the wny to the ieieyr.iph ofnVe to tell my folks at Kephi I would not. be home that night, I n.et ex Sheriff Turner, Tur-ner, to whom l l elated my experience; I saw J( hnson next morning at o o'clock; he was going to see the Mexican; Mexi-can; he came back slu.itiy after and said the Mexican was mad, and thai-he thai-he wanted some money: I told him 1 did not say I was goin to put aii money up on the racket, but merely t'-try t'-try and sell his gold and help him get a patent; I finally told him that 1 wouid give him a SI ,000 check; subsequently subse-quently lie w anted StS.OOO. and said 1 ooiild get it ao tiie Ihur-: iina'ly 1 went to Cashier Duseiiberry and got the money, taking it in John Yr. Turner's cart; we drove out to the same place at the river and turned over the money, receiving the two bricks; Johnson John-son did the business, the Mexican merely bidding us good-bye; we returned re-turned to the Bank, and there d-s-coered that the bricks were not gold; I next saw the defendant on that afternoon after-noon 11. G. W. train, I recognized lum directly I saw him, and I ordered 'J;li cer Hills to arrest him, which lie did. To Mr. Hamilton I was to get one-fourth one-fourth interest in the reputed gold mine; when the bricks were sold I was to be refunded the S(),000 and balance was to be expended in littinj up teams to go to Mexico; were tlu bricks gold they would be worth probably prob-ably $20,000; 1 didn't nave any :dea as to the bricks being stolen property. Attorney Hamilton at this juncture got into a passion and tried some bulldozing bull-dozing methods on the witness. Court "Be kind enough to take your seat and ask the defendant the questions." Mr. Hamilton did so, and then asked the witness for a description of the Mexican as he first saw him; I never stated that I never described him to a living soul; I looked at him very closely the few moments Isaw him ; i the river, and directly I caught tdgl.t of him on the U. G. W. train 1 reco..-niz-'d him as the Mexican; he was a rested by Officer Hill and taken ki Salt Lake county jail; 1 next saw hi;;: Wednesday morning at .2 o'clock; I. was in the jail; we tried to gel him to say something; I never said, "You are the Mexican;corifess you are the Mexican, Mexi-can, you s of a b ." we put ;i piece of buckskin around his thumbs, and twisted it a little with a small iron bolt; I did not hurt him a particle. par-ticle. Court -"Did you not know that that was a most brutal way of punishlii f him?" , Witness "I did not intend to hm- him." Cont. nuiug the (ro-s-cxamhiution witness said that he did not rtcolh-it i telling any one at tie1 Bank in Provo that he made th "G d Mexi can confess;'' O.Tmi-t Hilt wanted to arrest a difierent person entirely on the train than the defendant, but he protested; I was never closer to the Mexican at anv time' than oO or 40 feet. Xewel Knight testified the defendant defend-ant got a horse and buggy from him at noon-. Mondav, April 20. slating that he would pieb.-Vv v a:;i it ij!l dav. Oiiiccr Mil! a -fs then ca'h d tor the prosecution: First saw defendant Monday afternoon. April 2-; Agent Taggert, of the K. G. W. called m attention to him, and t d l im- to watch him, i he had la-en f id !v the conductor that he w's a crook; Wnit-in. Wnit-in. ue never oi dued me to arrest him. Attorney Hamilton here started to ask the witness aiee-r the torturing ot the defendant in the Salt Lake count', jail, but the Courl objected, stating that he did not want, to go into the details de-tails of the matter a;,min, that it was b:irh irons treat men', and he would send the man to jaii that did it. Mr. Evans "Your Honor! don't think that that has anything to do with the case." Court ''No, possibly not; but I sa that it was barbarous treatment, and if the case was tried before me I wouh" send the man to jail for six months lor doing such a t hing." Both Mr. Evans and Mr. Sutherland stated that they hardly thought it fail for the Court to so express itself. Court "Well, it was a:i outburst of indignation." Alex. Laviter, clerk of the Roberts Hons", testified that the defemhup stayed at the hobd the night, of Apnl 20. eating breakfast there next morning. morn-ing. The defendant was then called to t he stand, and testilied that he left Tuesday, Tues-day, on the afternoon of April 21, b the R G W.;he wild a jewelry peddlr: went fishiiigoiiMonifiy afteriioon;I did hire a rig as stated, for the purp .se o' taking a ride around town; went to bed about 0 o'clock Monday evenim; and got up at 7 possddy the next morning; was in the saloon on tie-smith tie-smith side of the 11. G. W. main truck i when the passenger got in; I boarded the train from that side; pever had any direct, dealings with this man Whitmore; never was disguised; vas on the river bank, and asked she two M:'.d;-.en '"".. s where the bf-st fishing was; Otiii'er Hill arrested me. and another an-other man that was with him put the handcuffs on me; I asked why I was j arrested, ami the reply I got va;: 1 On suspicion." - To Mr. EvnnsI. will be sixty vars old In August: I never went to school: I can read: I lived in Ogden; was con-j con-j i.ected wish two other men there in the ijewelr store; i he chief of p-Hce and ; i four cilieeis use I io pass, iii ami out o: 'the store: d ui't know but v. hat thf' im.mr earned there was h-m:.d k j ! e-i'tied: was eug:i:'id in a risk i'.e-i iv. s.s: don't kie-w ,vh;it took me ii'.t, i I i h:- willows on Tu -sd.-.y. I There were no arguments, and the' ! Conrt said he'd hi not; think that t '.'' 1 i i an m.glit to be diseliaru.-d; there ? a j sii'iieient evidence to hold the deiVu '-i '-i : i:t to await the :i'dion of the !:-;u.d j jury, and he wouid h hold him. ! Attorney Hani .Hon then i:l:od t! e i(' url to reduce the bail; if w as exees-js.h.-e, and the def-.-mi.uit could vjt ; f ictire it. I Utoni'y Evans opposed the propo-I propo-I sition. He we;ld no? hesitate to say that if the bail was reduce 1 the tie:';. :;d-1 :;d-1 ; 1 j f would not be pn sent, j The Couit I'm i'!y decuied to r.uhi-'e I the bail to l,ouO". and it was so! j ordered. j |
