OCR Text |
Show MIDDLETOM IDENTIFIES ClOiE . AND OilARA AS THE HOLDUPS Opening of the Legal Battle, in Which the Men Accused of the Robbery Rob-bery of the Overland Limited Train at Reese on the Night of January 2, Must Prove Their Innocence or Pace the Scaffold Scaf-fold Conductor of Train Positively Identifies the Prisoners in Court He is Severely Cross-Ex-amined, But Maintains That He Is Not Mistaken Great Crowd in Court. . - Tho legal battle which will cdn either In the liberty or death of Victor Uorc and Bryan O'Hara, tho Overland Over-land Limited train robbery suspects, was opened in police court this morning. morn-ing. Tho throng of curious spectators and the many witnesses which crowded crowd-ed into the little court room at the police station mado It necessary to hold the preliminary hearing in tho council chamber of tho city building, nnd ovon this room was entirely too small to accommodate the crowd which surged Into It, Clore and O'Hara were taken from the Jail to the court room by Sheriff E E. Harrison and several deputies but were not handcuffed, this Indignity Indig-nity being deemed unnecessary In tho guarding of the supposed bandits. The men were seated on a bench, which backed against the north railing of the court room, thoir faces toward the Judge and their backs to the scrutinz-!n scrutinz-!n gaze of the packed chamber. Both men were nttlred In blue serge suits, well croased and brushed. In general meln they appeared more like ribbon counter clerks of a city department store than like criminals and darlns enough to have perpetrated the crime of which they aro charged. As tho trial started the men sat, apparently ap-parently cool and collected, with arms folded and legs crossed. If pictures of tho gallows floated before their mental gaze, If fear of death at the rope's end influenced their souls, there was no visible evidence of It. The Interest which they took in the proceedings of the court appeared no greater than that of the spectators, massing thomselves against the rail-lug rail-lug at the door. Nervr the two prisoners sat Michael O'Hara, brother of Bryan, and several relatives of Clore. All the members of the Overland train crew who figured in the holdup and a number of Plnkcr-ton Plnkcr-ton detectives and railroad officials occupied seats near the witness stand. Just before the opening of the case I N. Wlllsle, superintendent of tho Utah division of the Pinkerton Detectlvo company, was in earnest conversation with County Attorney David Jenson and District Attorney R. T Hulanlski, who are in charge of tho prosecution. Willsie Is believed to hold tho evidence collected by tho detective agency and which has not leen made public. Upon this evidence will perhaps hinge the entire 'prosecution. Judge 0. W. Powers and Attorney Thomas Marloneaux of Salt Lake City, who are defending Clore and O'Hara, appeared early in the court room but, aside from a greeting of assurance, paid little attention to thoir client. It is evident that Attorney Attor-ney Marloneaux Intends to handle tho greater part of the work of cross-examination cross-examination as during this morning's session he was In entire charge of IL With the two attorneys came D. H. Roberts, official stenographer of the district court of dalt Lake Citj-, and he was sworn into service for the present hearing. Almost as soon as Judge J. T. Murphy Mur-phy seated himself in the Judicial chair, W. A. -Middloton, conductor of the looted train, was caHed as a witness and tho direct examination was In progress. MIddleton stated that he was in charge of the Overland Limited train on the night of January 2 when the train was held up at Reese, nine miles west of this city. He dramatically related re-lated tho entire story of Uie robbery: how he had heard that the train was being robbed by a fleeing porter and had walked back through the coaches to meet the bandits. I came faco to face with Hancock, Pluukett, O'Hara and Clore," he said looking at the two prisoners, who returned re-turned his gaze unflinchingly. "The two robbers demanded my money and I gave it to them Then they asked for my watch and I told them that I had not brought it along on this trip. I had placed the time piece in my Tilp pocket before meeting them. O'Hara seized hold of my mustache and gave it a vicious Jerk. I took the watch out of my pocket and dropped drop-ped it Into the sack which Hancock was carrying. Then, under cover of the guns of the two men, I was marched through the coach and out of tho train " "After this rohbery when did you noxt sec tho two bandits?" was asked by County Attorney Jensen, who was handling tho direct examination. "I saw O'Hara at Palms station In Michigan " "Under what circumstances did you see O'Hara in Michigan?" "Wo, Rowse and I, wero in the office of-fice of a hotel when O'Hara came Into In-to the room. O'Hara gave us one look and then pushod as rapidly as posslblo Into the dining room. His face turned deathly pale almost the instant that his eyes fell upon us and when we followed him to tho second room we found him leaning against a counter. He was shivering with fright and could hardly stand alone." "Did you know William Davis?" "1 did." "Where did you last see him?" "Lying on the floor of tho drawing room of tho robbed train, dead." "Mr. MIddleton will you point out the men who robbed your train'' ' I "Ten sir! Thore arc tho men," and j he pointed an accusing finger straight at Cloro and O'Hara. I The accused raon faced the witness . without a tremor, the only evldenco of effect being the batting of O'Hara's coal black eyes. No further questions wero asked by the county attorney and tho witness dropped his arm and waited for tho defending counsel to begin the cross-examination. Attorney Marloneaux asked how long the witness had been In company com-pany with the bandits on tho night of the holdup and MIddleton replied that he had been with them about six minutes. min-utes. Witness and counsel argued for several minutes regarding this time. MIddleton finally conceding that the greater part of thlB time was spent outside the coaches. "Were you ccol and collected during the time "you were undor the guns of the robbers1" MIddleton was asked. "Yes, sir." "You wore as cool as you aro right now?" "I was " "How many holdups have you been In?" the attorney asked with a tinge of sarcasm In his voice. "That was the first one." "But you wero cool?" "Just as cool as I am 'now. I did not become nervous until after the affair af-fair was all over.''. MIddleton was asked to describe the mask worn by either one of the robbers and attempted to do so. "Take your handkerchief out and show us how the man was masked," the defending counsel requested in demanding de-manding tonGs. MIddleton drew a large handkerchief from his hippocket and, after folding It from opposite corners, tied it about his face So narrow had he folded It that only part of the nose was hidden from view. The witness contended that the robbers had not more of their I faces covered than he had concealed as he masked himself in the witness chair. This statement was ridiculed by the Interrogator. "The witness was asked to describe the clothing of the bandits and admits ted that he could not give a definite description of the apparel of the two men. "When you left, the coaches It was rather dark, wasn't It?" ."It wasn't as light as In the cars." "You really had little chance for observing ob-serving the man outside the train?" "We had a lantern and then there was some light coming from the cab of the engine." "But It wasn't very good light to distinguish the features of men who were masked?" "No." I "After you left the men on the night of the robbery, when did you next see them?" "In Michigan." 'You went there to Identify them,, didn't you?" "I went there to see if they were the men who robbed the train." "That was not the first time that vou were asked to identify suspects, was it?" ' - "No. I was called upon several times to Identify men arrested on suspicion." sus-picion." "Whon were you first called upon to identify suspects?" "Shortly after the holdup." "How long after the holdup?" MIddleton coiild not tell bow long l it was after tho robbery and the de-, de-, fending counsel used this point to 1m-. 1m-. press the court that the memory of the witness was not good. I The witness squirmed until tho 1 cross-fire of questions regarding the time and the manner In which this first attempt al identification was made. The conductor told of going ; to the police station to look at Mur-j Mur-j phy, O'Dell and Lewis, the three men 1 arrested by the local officers about ( a week after the train robbery, but . denied that he had positively identified identi-fied these men as the bandits. The witness could not remember tho names of these men but attempted to describe their appearance. Ho I I stated that these men had In many ways answered tho description of the robbers and that he did not Immediately Imme-diately know that they were not the men. Tedious grilling In regard to this attempt at identification was resort-, ed to by the defending counsel, from which the witness was released by the adjournment of court for the noon hour. The hearing was resumed lato this afternoon and Is still on. |