The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1866-02-15

l. ehouiui De necessary to murder her to
do 1t, and :" her 5ed'' even, in which
fulgert said =" she kept her money.p
being tound torn up: Aud that they.
have utterly failed to shew where they
were, or what they were doing, or to give
any account Of themselves, between Mon
day and Friday Of tae week of the MUIR
der. an - .rr-r
These are the circumstances, aHeg-
ed, and claimed to be proven, on the
part Vof the Commonwealth 1t is for
you, gentlemen, to determine whether The
testimony of the witnesses establishes the
facts alleged; and what conclusions, if
found to be true, they fairly support. 1t
is denied, on behalf of the prisoners, that
these allegations, or the most prominent
and important of them, are true, or estab-
lished by the testimony in the case; and
denied, also, that if proved, or assumed
to be true, they warrant the conclusion
claimed to result. from them or are suf-
ticient to- exclude every other reasonable
hypothesis, and prove the guilty agency
OF the prisoners, or of either of them, in
the murder. ga 'r-
To prove the alleged conspiracy and
plot In the prison, the Commonwealth
produced and examined William M'Crea-
ry, convict at the same time. In the
Western Penitentiary. Philip Fuleert,
tho two prisoners, and this witness, were
all at the same time in that prison and
the testimony of the witness purports to
be disclosure Of what was communicated
to him, or heard by him, within its walls
1t Is, indeed, if true, startling thought,
and one which should excite public atten-
ton, that the place provided and main
tained by the State for the punishment
and reformation of felons, may, from de-
| fective construction, or any other cause,
| become place where crime is concocted
But we have onl y to DO with the question
OF fact as it bears upon this issue.
William M'Creary testifes:
81 was an inmate of the Western Peni-
tentiafy fo- some time priort to the 18th of
last May l have seen John b. Houser
there, and never saw hun anywhere else.
L had been acquainted with Buser After
he was committed, he told me there he
came from Allegheny county. Buser was
confined or put in the second cell from
me, and after he had been there some time
lit is customary when one comes to put
him III with an old one who has been there
some time to instruct him in shoemaking
Buser was put in the adjoining cell, with
a man adjoining me. After he had been
there some time, probably week, he rec
ognIzed me as person that had stopped
on his trading BOAT In 1855. / had not
seen him or heard of him afterwards
We.talked about different things In the
meantime Philip Fulcer was further up
the range or tier. He came down and
was put in acell adjoining the one Buser
occupied. After Buser became acquain-
ted with Philip Fulger- he was a Ger
MAJ from Cambria county,. at least he
told me so-Buser stated that he had got
some points, (which the witness here cx-
planned to'obe places where there was
money,] and that they-he and his part
ner-were going to make some of those
| 'points,' and if they succeeded in making
! any of those tpoints,' they intended to put
up some of the money for Fulger to get
out of prison. We had different conver-
satCns in regard to this don't know
how many. He told me there were sew
eral places one was an aunt of Fulger's
wife, Buser told me there was another
old lady that lived by herself, weaver,
of the name Of Paul / think he called
her 'Mary PAUL. e.T5-r I'll 81 Ski
F1 remained in that cell fifteen months,
and part of the time Buser was in an ad-
joining cell. At the end of. that fifteen
months, [ moved up that :ier to the ad-
joining cell to Philip Fulger. Fulger
and Buser worked by spells in the same
cell, hob-nailing shoes, till Buser went
out Fulger remained in the cell About
four probably six weeks in the snrinD-
after winter had gone by,-before Buser
went out"-Ethe witness here referred to
the difficulty of noting there the lapse of
time and, after stating that "r;lrisoners
frequently got together, to GET their hair
cnt, or some thing of that kind" and ex-
piaining how Contamination was kept up
Dy means OF ,he steam pipes, he went on
10 celate conversation heard by him be-
tween Buser and Fulger in cell at the
time referred to-
81 did not" he says, "hear the first of
the conversation. They were talking
when l came down.. sBuser was sitting in
the middle of the cell the one about
| niue, the other about five feet from me,
including the thickness of the wall. The
| first L heard, Buser said, Philip, if I
make any of those points, you can depend
on us doing what 1 promised He said
you can be got out, and you will not have
longer to stay than August; you will be
got out by August Fulger says, sthe
old woman's, the weaver's, you can get
that there will be no one there to stop
you He remarked that he thought she
kept her money in her bed He said Il
think you will find her money In her he'd