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Show HENRY KUNTZ HAS CLEVER DEFENSE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BURGLARIZED BURGLAR-IZED BIGELOW RESIDENCE. Now Claims He Purchased the Stolen Jewelry from a Stranger He Met in Salt Lake. The preliminary trial .of Henry' Kuntz, charged with burglarizing the Bigelow residence In this city last March, was commenced today before the municipal judge, the defendant having entered a pica of not guilty. Kuntz, who promises to be one of the smoothest criminals the local police po-lice have had to deal with in a long time, explains his possession of the Bigelow jewelry when arrested in Portland, by simply stating that he bought it rrom a man in Salt lako for $3. The Jewelry, as produced in court. Is valued In the neighborhood of $125- It will be remembered that, following follow-ing the arrest of Kuntz in Portland and the discovery of the jewelry upon his person, the Boise officers put in a claim for the man and he was turned over to them for trial. It was charged that he entered a physician's home there and stole'a $3.r.O diamond bracelet brace-let and pawned it at Caldwell. Idaho. Notwithstanding the fact that the pawnbrokers of Caldwell, positively identified Kuntz as the man who brought in the bracelet, the judge and tho county attorney finally decided that il was useless to try lo convict with the evidence available, and the prisoner was turned over to the Ogden Og-den police. Kuntz is a German and speaks brokenly, bro-kenly, lie Vs about 45 or 50 years of age and looks like ;i laborer. He has a wealthy brother in Texas who has furnished a -considerable amount of money for his defense, and a determined deter-mined fightwill he made to secure his release. A number of witnesses were examined exam-ined today, including Mr. and Mrs. Archie P. Bigelow and 'daughter, all three identifying the jewelry as that stolen from their home in March. Sheriff James A. Bennett of Boiso was placed on the stand and testified regarding Kuntz'6 arrest In Portland, as well as other incidents relative to the man's contemplated trial in Boiso, his alleged crime there and the articles arti-cles of jewelry which were taken from Kuntz by the Portland police. Detective Bender testified as to Kunt.'s arrest, his appearance and the statements he had made regarding his presence In Ogden. Mrs. Brown, wife of the proprietor of the Valley House hotel of Salt Lake, was placed on the stand and testified that Kuntz had come to their hotel on March 13. and stopped over that night, also the succeeding night. The witness was very positive regard-nig regard-nig the man's Identity, the dates, tho location of the ioom he occupied, his luggage, the amount paid, etc., but as to his personal appearance, she . could see no change of any description descrip-tion since his visit to the hotel. Neither could John Van der Meulen, formerly manager of the Valley House hotel, although he well remembered remem-bered all the details of the man's appearance ap-pearance at the hostelry. He could recall the amount paid for the room, could remember Jbw he did not get up to attend to the customer when ho arrived on account of his being worn out with a hard day's work. He did not propose to get up for a "measley quarter of a dollar." His wife, however, how-ever, got up and gave the man a room near the office, for which she charged a quarter. She did not have him register, reg-ister, as was the usual custom, therefore there-fore the documentary proof of his presence there could not be produced. Neither of the witnesses seemed to have been aware that Kuntz was arrested ar-rested in Portland three of four days later with an exceptionally heavy brown moustache, such as would have taken an ordinary man many months to have grown, Kuntz is now smooth shaven, yet the witnesses noticed nothing different in his appearance. Kuntz was placed on the stand. He slated how he had met a stranger near the station in Salt Lake and. after considerable parleying, he had given the latter $3 for the $125 worth of jewelry. He described the stranger readily and was profuse and willing with his testimony as a whole. The case was continued. |