OCR Text |
Show tentlfled that he had seen none of the defendants there, but that ho wan certain that there was gambling going on at the time of the visit. The cross-examination had Just started when the court wan adjourned until tomorrow Rt 1 0 a. m. IlILyfllliiLEM 1 -s Begins in Court Large Crowd Present Indications Point to a Hard Contest A.G. Horn and T. D. Johnson Represent Defendants ' - Witness Elderkin Still the Star Attraction. The first of the gambling cases, which will likely occupy tho time of the, municipal and other courts for a consMerable length of time, was started start-ed beforo Judge Murphy this morning. After, the. hearing of testimony from a number of witnesses, the most Important Im-portant for the city being that of Rev. N. S-Klderkin. the court at noon adjourned until tomorrow morning, when the case will be continued. The defendants In tho case now being tried are J. C. Watt, John Doe John-pon John-pon and Richard Roe Tyrv. alleged to be -connected with the Turf gambling gam-bling house on Twenty-fifth street. It was evident from the very start that every inch of the case Is to be stubbornly contested by both the, counsel for tho defense and for thy city. The case has excited a great deal of Interest among both the gaming gam-ing fraternity and among the more ' staid and conservative of Ogden's clt-f ?.ens, and as a couseanence tho court mom was hardly adequate to hold the throne of spectators who gathered to hear the opening of the legal conflict. Tho first witness to take the stand for the prosecution was Detective J. F. Pender, one of the officers who assisted In the recent raid of the gambling houses. City Attorney Dc-vlne Dc-vlne asked the detective If he. knew the men who were In the room as defendants de-fendants and Pender answered that he did, adding that Watt was one of the proprietors of the Turf gambling house. "Have you ever had occasion tovar- rest any of theymcn .before?" asked the prosecuting attorney. v "I have arrested Mr. Watt two or three times before," answered tho officer. of-ficer. "When did you first learn of Mr. Watt's connection with the gambling house?" "I learned of It last spring." Officer Pender attempted to tell of liow ho had learned of the man's occupation, oc-cupation, but on the objection of At-tcrneys At-tcrneys A. G Horn and T. D. John-Fon, John-Fon, counsel for the defense, the de-Active de-Active was permitted only to tell of his actual experiences with the defendant de-fendant In question. In tho oss-examlnation which was rery short Mr. Pender stated that he was" not positive concerning the time of the arrests of Watt. He said that lie thought that the last one was between be-tween the twentieth and thlrt'-flrst nf July. Mayor Glasmann was next called to the stand and asked if he knew the defendants. He answered that he vas not acquainted with any of them. The witness was next asked concerning concern-ing tho trip which he made to tho Turf place with the leaders of tho Hetterment league. In brief the nyor told of the first trip made to the different places where It was suspected that gambling gamb-ling was being carried on. In a gen-oral gen-oral way he described the Interior of the Turf roons and stated that there were few people In the place at the Unie of the visit The mayor did not display a very definite knowledge of the different paraphernalia used for gambling purposes but was certain that ho knew a faro table when he Haw one from a little experience he had had thirty or forty years ago In Montana and he was sure he saw u faro game that evening. He stated that the trip of inspection was made about August 1. He could not Identify Iden-tify the men who played that night. The defense declined the Invitation to cross-examine the witness and the mayor left the stand to make. way for Rev. Elderkin, the really important v.itness of the mornlncr. ' The minister s memory was good imd ho displayed no hesitancy about answering the questions put to him, although at times he dropped Into irony and sarcasm. i i After being questioned as to his Identity- he was asked by Attorney Denne if he knew the defendants. "I know their faces. he answered. Mimim; his gaze upon the defendants defend-ants who were stated only a few feet from him. r "I saw them ot the night of Aug-1st Aug-1st 3. when, with other members of Ihe Betterment 1 caguc and the mayor, may-or, I visited the Turf gambling house." Mr. Elderkin was asked to describe the room and did so with considerable consider-able more minuteness than did the mayor, although his description In general tallied with that of Mr. Glas-maun, Glas-maun, except that the mayor said he entered by the left door, while Elderkin Eld-erkin entered the rlfsht door "Inrespect to gambling devices. Mr. Elderkin, tell the court what you saw in the room?" Attorney Devine asked "I saw a roulette wheel and a faro bank." "Did you see anyone playing at these games?" "I did. 1 saw a number of persons placing checks ami money on certain nuhibers and cards. "You say you saw money what Kind of money was it that you saw. Mr. Elderkin?" "At the Turf it was mostly silver. Jn dollars; at the White Elephant there was more gold displayed on the tables I eaw one man in tho Turf iooms place seventy-five cents on a ihrd. His money was In a fifty-cent Mece and a twenty-five cent piece. Thics was at the faro table and I saw -. the brother in "charge take In the .-coney after the dealer had taken out onie cards from tho cast-. I remem- I her the incident of the seventy-five cents very distinctively. There wero not more than 'twenty person's In tho room and the playing was very tame." The counsel for the defense began Its cro88-examlnallon by Attorney Horn asking the witness to state his business. "I happen to be. a clergyman,", was tho ready answer. "How old are you?" "Thirty-two years." "Have you been a minister how-long?" how-long?" " "For fivi years." "Prior to that time. Mr. Elderkin, what were you doing?" "I was attending school most of the time. In 1901 and 1J02 I was In Colorado Colo-rado and New Mexico fighting for health." "Did you follow gambling for a living liv-ing at that time?" "No, sir " ,:$?n't it a fact that at that time while you wero In the west that, you resorted to places whero there was gambling?" "I visited such places; yes, sir." "You gambled ' "I did not. I merely ilslted the places because they were open, nnd generally went In company with other loungers.' Tho witness told of his return east and his entrance to Yale college, whero he graduated. "What started you out In the fight against gambllug In this city?" was asked by Attorney Horn. "I am naturally opposed to tho przr-tlce przr-tlce of gambling and I wanted to show the city officials that gambling reallv existed In Ogden. Wo wanted the of-fleers of-fleers to see It with their own eyes.". Have you made an Investigation of conditions existing in the Congregational Congrega-tional church basemen?" shot in tho attorney defending tho alleged gamblers. gam-blers. Tho question was unexpected and Atorney DeYJne strenuously objected ob-jected to the Interrogation. The -witness looked to Judge Murphy Mur-phy and the Judge overruled tho objection, ob-jection, telling the witness to mako answer. "I have made such an Investigation." Investiga-tion." "Have ycy attempted to bring about any prosecution In that case?" "Such an action was not necessary, as the irregularltes were adjusted without any trouble." "Have you made any fight against Sunday theaters in which your friend. Mr. Scowcroft, is interested?" The objection to this question made immediately by the counsel for the city was sustained by the court. The attorney accused the witness of making a play for notoriety because of the allegation that tho minister expects to eoon leave the city and engage In "up-llft" writing for eastern east-ern magazines. "You would like to leave this part of the country and then claim that while you wero In Ogden you forced the leaders of the Mormon church to take action against the crime of gambling?" gam-bling?" Although an objection to this question ques-tion was sustained the witness vehemently vehem-ently shouted, "No!"' "What causes your reat enthusiasm enthus-iasm in this fight against these men?" "I would not call it enthusiasm," answered the minister. "It is only an Interest that I take In scoing the lawn of the city enforced. I will do everything tJiat is fair to enforce tho laws against gambling and have been fighting ajalnst the evil In Ogden for the past five years." In the cross-examination concerning the playing of the different games Mr. Elderklo showed a surprising knowledge knowl-edge of the parlance of amblers and rsed such terms as "man with tho box." "keeping cases." and "flipping the beads." When he was asked how he knew that the man who placed tho seventy-n'vo seventy-n'vo cents on a certain card was gambling, he answered Ironically: "Probably he was giving the money to the dealer." This answer caused a smile to sweep over the court 100 mand Attorney At-torney Horn, appealed to tho court, incidentally asking the witness if he suppose J he was in a Bide show or a c urt of Justice. The minister was allowed to leave the stand without iurther questioning. Mayor Glasmann was recalled and a?kod If he saw the seventy-five cents on tho table Elderkin 8oke about and I13 said "yes," only ho thought it was at the other place and that he had previously discussed this mat- , tor with two others who were with l.im and they could not agree as to where the seenty-flve cents was played. : All other playing was with chip. ! and this 75 cents is the only gambling for money testified to so far, nd no one knew who the man was that played it. Mr. H. U Griffin, another member of the Betterment league, was called to the stand, but brought out very little lit-tle evidence not alrciidy given. He did not have to undergo the ordeal of a cross-examination, Mr. H. Scowcroft next told of th Wsil to the Turf rooms with the Bet- j terment league leaders. He told a story similar to that of the minister, although he did not go Into as many details. He, to-., testified that ho had seen 75 cents placed on the card and j presumably lost by the player. He MnaaanonnaacmaBaaHna |