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Show UlUy Martin Found Guilty K 1 by the Jury on the I Second Ballot Taken 8:8 Jurors Were of One Mind That the Accused Was the Blackmailer Black-mailer Who Shot David Edwards, But They Decided That Martin Did Not Intend to Kill the Detective Mrs. Martin Mar-tin Reasserts That Her Husband Was With Her the Night of West Seventeenth Street Shooting L. R. Eccles and Others Pleased With the Verdict Three of Jurors Were for Acquittal Ac-quittal on the First Ballot. After deliberating about nine hours, the jury in the J. H. Martin case last evening at S:30 rendered a verdict of guilty of assault with deadly weapon with Intent to do bodily harm. The charge against the accused was assault as-sault with Intent to commit murder, the information specifically alleging that on "the morning of November 0, the defendant fired upon the Pinker-ton Pinker-ton detective, David Edwards, with intent in-tent to kill him. During yesterday afternoon the Jury asked for the reading of the testimony of Ray Shurtliff and Bert Ham, witnesses for the defendant, and It was taken as an indication that there was a possibility of a verdict ver-dict of not cuiltv. This occurred at 5 o'clock and in a little more than three hours after that time the jury filed into the court room and presented present-ed to the court the verdict of guilty as above indicated. The Jury organized by appointing E. J. Marshall foreman and the deliberations de-liberations were conducted under his direction. When the jury came into court, Mr. Marshall announced that lte1-'.5- hand. .JXwas Turned'over to tho clerk of the court who read it aloud, Martin sitting within with-in a few feet of him. As soon as the verdict had been read. Judge Howell extended thanks to the jurymen for the service rendered and discharged them. When the verdict fell upon the cars of 'Marti ri, he maintainerd the same composure that has marked his demeanor de-meanor during the long drawn-out trial, and the same rather vacant smile played on his face. Ho had said during the afternoon that he was prepared for the verdict, whatever it might be, and that he avouM not flinch should It be against him. The sentence for the offense as given in tbo verdict will bo an Indeterminate term in the state penitentiary, the maximum time for which is five years. A pardon may be granted at any time within that period, In the discretion of tho state- board of pardons. par-dons. The board of pardons is guided guid-ed largely by tho recommendations of the trial judge and his reconi-mcuilatlons reconi-mcuilatlons are based on the gravity of tho offense and the character of the person convicted. There are four other Indictmonts against Martin by the county grand jury and four by the federal grand jury. The former indictments charge robbery on Canyon road in April of 1913, attempt to destroy the home of L. R. Eccles in November, 1913, the robbery of Mrs. Isabello Wallin In 1911 and the robbery of Mrs. George Culver In 1911. The federal indictments indict-ments charge Martin with uslnc: the mails to defraud, the basis of the Indictments In-dictments being tho using of the mails to send blackhand letters to the parties involved in the charges made by the county grand jury. So that Martin .still has facing him both the state and government on criminal charges of a gravo nature.! Just when the prosecution of these casea will begin, depends, largely, as to whether Martin takes further steps in the present case. If he should accept ac-cept the verdict of the jury and abide bv tho Judgment that shall bo passed pass-ed upon him, it is quite certain that further prosecution will not bo taken up against him until his term under the present conviction shall have expired. ex-pired. The Martin Family. Martin Is cheerful today and he has no regrets to offer over the trial or the verdict rendered. In fact, the Martin family as a whole are of the opinion that it is as well that the vgrdlct is as given as to have had the jury disugrefl. The case will be appealed to the supreme court, the expectation being that it was reversible error to permit testimony to. go before the jury respecting re-specting all tho blackhand events of the past three years, and it is on that question, largely, that the defense de-fense expects the supreme court to direct that the defendant be given an-othor an-othor trial. On the other hand, the attorneys for the prosecution contend that the admission ad-mission of the testimony was uot error er-ror especially in Iho face of the Instructions In-structions of the court that the jury should consider that testimony only Insofar as It went to the identification identifica-tion of handwriting, and that it had no material bearing on the shooting which occurred on Seventeenth street, November 9. The uncle. J. F. Martin, states the matter Is entirely in the hands of Attorney Soren X. .Chrlstensen. Speaking o( the case today, J. F. Martin said he considered that Henry had a fair trial and that Judge Howell How-ell was absolutely unbiased, according accord-ing him at all times all the rights due the defendant. He thinks the consideration con-sideration of all the alleged blackhand cases through the medium of the letters let-ters was prejudicial lo the defendant and that it was largely on the consideration consid-eration of that evidence that the statements state-ments of the family respecting an alibi were discredited. He is positive posi-tive in his statement that Henry is innocent and that he knew whereof he spoke when he said that Henry was at his home until late Sunday night, the time when he was stated to have been at Morgan. Mrs. Martin's Statement. Mrs. Martin, wife of the defendant, came to the county jail early this morning and had quite an extended conversation with her husband. She appeared to be In a cheerful mood, but it was plainly seen that she had been under a heavy strain the past month. She said she considered the verdict wrong. "It i3 not the truth that disturbs me," she saidr "but-it c,uts mo -to the heart when I feel that my statements before the Jury were discredited and disregarded. I never told an untruth In my life and I know that Henry did not shoot Edwards. My , husband was by my side that night and there is no question of doubt regarding it. This matter comes home to me with striking force. I am the mother of his children and no one knows the pangs of my heart to see him convicted convict-ed of an offense I know he Is not guilty. There is no other person on earth who knows positively of his Innocence and I cannot understand why I should not bo believed. "I would not shield a guilty man a single moment, even though he were the father of my children, and if 1 thought for a single moment that Henry Hen-ry is guilty of shooting Edwards, 1 would not live with him. The man guilty of that offense Bhould be brought to justice and I would not lift my little finger to save him from punishment. pun-ishment. Some one is greatly mistaken mis-taken about his Identity, but I am not. I told the truth and 1 cannot seo why they discredit me. I know it is said that a wlfo will do anything to shield her. husband, but that conclusion con-clusion is wrong in this case." How Jury Viewed Evidence. Upon going into the jury room yesterday yes-terday afternoon, the oight men called upon to pass on the case, first organized organ-ized and thon began consideration of the evidence. They had no lawyer's detailed argument of the facts to dl-root dl-root them, so they simply took up the evidence in their own way, each striving striv-ing to got at the exact truth and pass Judgment accordingly. The first ballot bal-lot avhs on the question of the guilt or Innocence of the defendant as charged in tho information, "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to murder," the voto being five for conviction con-viction and three for acquittal. Then followed a further discussion until the point was reached where the five for conviction of the higher offense were willing to eliminate that phase of the question and take up a detailed consideration con-sideration of a lessor offense. All for Conviction. The testimony respecting handwriting, handwrit-ing, the wounds in the bodies of Edwards Ed-wards and Martin, the Morgan trip, the X-ray examination, the attitude of the witnesses and the Interests each witness had in tho case, and, in fact, all the circumstances surrounding the alleged offense, were considered carefully care-fully before another vote was taken. When the question resolved Itself as to whether the defendant had committed commit-ted the offense of "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to do bodily bodi-ly harm," the voto was unanimous for conviction. This indicates that at no time did any of the jurymen think Martin was innocent of an offense, tho only question being as to the gravity. gravi-ty. In the minds of the jurymen, the long chain of circumstances connecting connect-ing Martin with the Edwards shooting was convincing to the extent that they all concluded that lie was guilty. The question of Intention was one that cauHed the Jury to ponder, the conclusion finally being that Martin had no thought of killing anyone, but that he aimed to cripple or malm Edwards. Ed-wards. Circumstances pointing to this conclusion were that the shots in Edwards' body were evidently aimed at his legs, rather than the vital organs or-gans or the head, and that the bandit did not advance toward Edwards when the shooting began, which would make tho aim more accurate aud the ouglfl chances to kill more certain. 'H Sentence on Thursday. "H Sentence will be passed Thursday JH morning unless something intervenes to prevent it. L. R. Eccles' Views. mMM Speaking of the verdict this morn- ing, L, R. Eccles stated that he did not care for any notoriety, in the mat- H ter, and that he would rather say nothing about the verdict. However, he said that he was satisfied that the right party has been convicted, and lfl that, in his mind, it will put an end to the blackmailing business. Mr. Eccles cannot understand fully why 'H the jury did not find Martin guilty '.H of the crime charged in the infor- -H matlon. as it is his opinion that the 3fl party who did the shooting intended H to kill. He says he considers that Martin has had a fair and impartial tl Others concerned in the affair are H of practically the same opinion. The :- Bristols and Culvers, Mrs. Wallin and jH Mr. Porter feel certain that no mis- af take has been made in the conviction H of Martin and they are considerably H relieved that the trial is over. The city and county officers, to-gether to-gether with government officers, say they are certain that Martin is the right man and they are pleased with the verdict, except that they are .of 'jf the opinion that Martin should have H been convicted of the higher crim? iH as set forth in the information. Hl |
