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Show CURN SMITH UP FOR HEARING ON MURDER OF HIS WIFE AT SQUAW SPRINGS RANCH Cum Smith will be haled into court Friday morning for a preliminary hearing before Justice Fred T. Gunn who will endeavor endeav-or to determine if there is sufficient evidence to charge him with the murder of his wife in a drunken brawl at Squaw Springs last October. t Smith is at present being held in the county jail to await hearing. He was taken into custody last Saturday and a complaint of first degree murder murd-er has been filed against him. If justice jus-tice Gunn finds reason, he will bind Smith over to district court which goes into session Monday and his trial will possibly be placed on the March docket. The brutality of the murder and the marked change of attitude on the part of Smith since the case was brought before the authorities gives it a prominent place in public interest. On October 5 the body of Mary Smith was found at the Squaw Springs ranch of the couple and Smith gave himself over to the authorities admitting "AVe had a battle and Mary died." It was agreed that he would plead guilty to manslaughter but when he was arraigned before Judge LeRoy Cox on December 1, he surprised surpris-ed both his counsel and the prosecutor prosecu-tor by pleading not guilty. As a result re-sult of his action, both defense and prosecution asked for an extension of time and the case has hung fire until the filing of a complaint charging first degree murder last week. Abe Murdock who took the case before be-fore his election and Sam Cline will act for the defense while the prosecution prosecu-tion will be in the hands of District Attorney A. L. Larsen and Harold Cline as special prosecutor for Beaver County. o |