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Show STEALING OF 10 BARS OF BULLION The preliminary hearing of William Beck and Rhelnbold Malken, the two I young men charged with the theft of ten bars of bullion, June 18, was taken up this morning, but will not be concluded until some time tomorrow. The question of the value of the bullion, which had all the appearance of being load, is involved, the gravity of tho offeuK( depending -upon the as- i say. On this point W. A. Black of ! Salt Uike testified this morning that he had made assays of five samples of bullion tnken from the bars, and found the metal to contain $135 per ton of sliver, gold and lead, the average av-erage being over 130 ounces In silver, 97 per cent lead, and 54-hundredlh3 of an ounce In gold, which would give ' the ten bars a valuation of about Sfi2, , making the theft of the bullion grand larceny. ', Nlghtwatrhman Bennett of the ; Oregon Short Line testified to finding the defendants and three other men j in the art of concealing the bars of bullion on the iiiaht In question and of arresting and bringing them to the . station. Three of the men, however, j made their escape ibv Jumping j through the window of a small cabin where they were being held for the. officers. Ho stated that only five j bars of the bullion had been retained, ' the other live having been sent to , New York. j County Attorney Jensen Is of the . opinion that it will require most of j tomorrow forenoon to complete the Introduction of testimony for the state. It Is expected, too, that the I young men will testify In their own i behalf They maintain that they know j nothing of the theft of the bullion, and when caught In the act of covering the bullion they were innocent of any ! wrongdoing. They say they observed ' Fomethlng peculiar in the sand where I the bullion was covered, and, through ; curiosity to know what was hidden 1 there, uncovered the bars and were j recovering them when the watchman ' came upon them. They also claim I that the three men who ran away i from the watchman were strangers to j them, with whom they had not asso- i ciatcd. I I |