New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-06-13

State Fair, he would shut ue II the store and
! would not have to work N :h. night nObod,
| would trouble the store till Ne xt morning.
| told him that he had better wait, and perhap
he might be saved the trouble, as il Michaelis wa
| III such d tight place he might do Il himself.
| He eaii Michaelis had burned ont once Defor'
under suspicious circumstances. He said he dis
liked TO have the fire occur IN his store and Won
| rather il should break out at distance; that h'
could easily do it himself in short time there
| was place for door in the wall, which was only
| lightly walled up, and could be readily broker
| through: but If there was an invest CATION N
| would have to prove wi--e he He said i
| might also ue done by getting the wall in III.
| rear OF ladder; that Mchaeiis back door Wa!
never fastened. | never saw Mr. Whitney again
until She twenty OF May, after TIN. fire. HI
| then came TO my house and asked me what rumOre
| heard on the street abOu. the fire, and sal
| acted strangely. II know what you think-that
did it said: Yes, of course ! did think so
| He answered no, he did not. but that was a
| witch; and when asked him why he sad was a
| witch, he replied by asking me I I dhi not remem
not being in hurry, He SAL: 1T has happened as
| you predicted He pledged me his word OF honor
| thai his hands were clean, and that he knew
| nothing about 1t. replied: ies your hands are
| always clean, because you get others TO do youi
dirty work tor you He lett, saying that he would
come again soon.
Captain Youeanes came to my house at my re-
| quest on the twenty sixth OF MAY last, and dis
| closed 20 him the above facts showing him the
two !. TT rs and the key. Captain YOennes said II
| weuld be necessary that my evidence should be
| corroD0rated, and subsequently, brought to my
| house Officer Jerry Donovan. Mr.. Donovan after
| ward came with C1ficer Pecora.
The remainder of this witNess' testi onv is so
| perfectly corroborated by the annexed testimony
OF Officer Donovan to render its publication
| necessary: as to give enc is to give the other.
When the witness was turned over to Mr. Whit.
| neg for crossexamlnatiOn he simply remarked:
'it - TOO good story as u stands, MIR. New, for
me 70 meddie vita just now. portion of the
| story however. will say IS correct-a portion
OF its
| James B. Smith swOrn-is the son OF Mrs Cathe.
rne Baker; his mother showed airp the two letters
two years ago; she had told him before that wit
ness was going to write to her; she laughed at the
! inea; month or SO previous she told "ltnes ss
| Whitney had proposed TO her to burn down his
store aud would give her Iecompense; that he
would take care OF her; witness read thu letter
10 his mother; witness recognizes letter marked
! B' from its general appearance; remembers
| that his mother showed him kew, foot rule
! and some candles, given to her by Whitney.
She spoke of the extraordinary idea OF Whitney,
and told witness no. TO breathe word of it. Some
time after the fire his mother told him that Whit
ney came to his house and proposed TO her to SET
| tle to his store. Wines. never having any idea
that his mother would do such thing he did not
| bother about it. Witness confirms the conceal
| meut of Specials Donovan and Pecora at his
mothers residence, and states that he himself
fixed the teaster of the bed anu the ;Ol' OF the
mor for the purpose.
| To whi'ney-Never heard his mo:..e: say any.
thing about \ ward.
| Jerry DOnOv swOrn-He ia i detS ctivS; he and
Detective Pecora weIe detailed oy Captain Malone
| of the de e-ectives, at :i- request Of Captain
louennes, to investigate this affair. On Wednesday
May 20, 1873, went down TO Mrs Baker house No
3E3 Rampant street Third District and had simple
| interview with her next day took ?ecora down
| with him, and they arranged i plan to have Whit
ney come down there So that tieY could hear what
he had t, say: Mrs. Baker vent 20 see Whitney Gn
the chIrtieth Of Nav PecoTa on the OpposI Z.
| corner when Mrs Baker talked with Whitney.
| At another visit Mrs. Baker opened door which
| opened 0E an armolr IL lex; room, shutting Dono
van bet ween the door and the armoir: PeCOra wa.
concealed opposite near the bureau: Whitney and
Mrs Baker commenced talking together; he asked
! spoke OF Gavarre. Who said that whitney wout;
not die a natural death, but would be chOaed: wit
ness told her that he dd not want her to and
see him az TIE house because GavarTe was there:
she replied Gayarre has seen ne many times be.
| fore you made me cry whei! asked you foi d dol
lar and YOU gave me fifty CeIits the conversation
this June ). Tuesday i-ht; sle said YOU,
| told me you would come am. shut NE TIP; he ,e-
pi. My day was sunday: she said. never re
| fused to go there even in mans clothes
She spoke OF having til. key and ,he letters:
Whitnev, as he was going, gave Mrs Baker -
note THE note ben. produced Was ident.ted by
Every time Mrs. Baker wanted to speak of fire.
Whitnev would stop her she began at one time 10
speak about cutting hole il the wal; witness
| could see Whitney plainly through the crack be-
| tween the door and the framework. On the fol-
loving Sunday night June ), Whitney came 10
the house about seven O'Clock and remained nal
a. hour aud sat with HI, back to tie window and
| was opposite witness, who was concealed behind
| the door: Whitney gave her ! "A 80.
He then toid her he woutd cl!n- $50" Tuesday.
I and Pecora now thought that more ev!denc.
would be necessary regarding the .,e, We went
to her the next day ate. concluding ths. t would
be 700 long to wait until Tuesday. We got her to
| ask him to come down on Friday; wanted her
to speak of the fire. because he had Only said DO
II do II IN a previous COMPENSATION, ana II sh'
be something else. 1 and P.cOra went on Friday
70 Mrs BAKERS house whitney came about P.
~, but We did not see him. We were coucea.ed III
the little cabinet. She came IN and told witns IS
that Whitney had made her shut the door and that
he had told her he would come tomorrow evening
with the money. Whitrey came next day at so
p II. Witness had got on 2 the red teaste: az
$50 ?. NJ, aud Pecora had got on the armo.r, and
hpt In int JInr.,
ing room. b1 could see Whitney through the tran
som OF the partition door. Whitney came into the
front through the front door. The bed on top
Of which witness was, was 'n the room vhere
whitney and Mrs Baker were. Whitney SAID;
"I have come to keep my promise. You don't
know what it cost me to get this; it cost
than $780, had to make sacrifice. She got to
talking of the tire and she asked him if he did not
think it would have been better if she had fired
more stock then, and it was insured for $50 900
Onlv and then the books would have been burned
he had fallen down to $50 900, owing TO the ia
creased rates Of insurance. Wen proposed you
were very willing to help me out He said, Yes
would have done it.; ana then, If were causnt
Baton Rouge, and you would be the to have ne
hung"
~ did not want her TO know anything she is a
child might well publish IL al once | am all
the time at her about hei mouth" they then
spoke OF Mis- taking care of her when she
back from Kentucky. He then asked her sor the
KEY and letters. She said: Il Will give you the
key. bur burnt the ietterS you told me even if
| had them they could do no harm. I told YOU 20
write them plain, and you almost printed them"
back hand" She said Wei, if you had not sent
me that last letter, the very day I received it
it was better now she did not. They thea spoke OF
Mchaelis and his store. She said:
"Y.s, | suppose he made hole through the wall
like you said it could be done" He said, No.
don't think he did, but he was in tight place,
he did not pay his hands that night" They spoke
of the Jews again. Whitney said that girl was
the opposite side, on gallery, and a short,
man with W.T. cap on W.T. H. his is. hand on the
me % do ito set fire to the store. He said:
Don't talk so much about the fire. She said: Il
wosld have gone up on that Friday and made a
clean sweep but foi that AisSer i'll my kitchen, as
l wanted her away. He said II better as it
is as it a GOd-send to HIM. She said: Now, how
caA sou sag that, when Won did not wait the fire
to catch i'll your stOre that gov wanted It to catch
at distance"
He said YES but my hands are c,ean, AMI God
has smiled on me- He tten went to tell her
the fire insurance agent was here from New York
to examine his books, as the company did not APP
would be all right next week about Tuesday. and
also that Captain 1oueunes had told him that
there would be an invest cation as matter OF
form, 20 satisfy street rumOrs She said: Yes, Il
had set tire TO your store the first time YOU told
ME; hen You went to Kentucky, would have
come back and got all the money and then would
not have given ME any," He said: Yes would.
and more She said Yes, don't you remembe:
last summer when You told me you would go away
give me chance again to burn the store aid
whe;. = asked YOU to help me to ren. tuE-
nished rooms you would not Go II! He said
Yes. -ou would sell me fer piece Of furniture.
Don't you know the reasonEI would rather buy it
outside. as would not have anybody III the store
10 know; it would be suspicious" 1t was at this
time Ii. gave her the $780, saving Il give you tliis,
as / consider you entitled 10 It She said, yes,
you ought to give he 4lo00' He said, would ii
| could afford it." He said, "don't you know if
have my liabilities paid, will not have more than
tl4 600, because they have cut me down to
$1,000" He asked her il she could count morey;
she said 'iee. let me get my specs She said take
care there are no counterfeits." He then counted
out the s5l.-;welve tweDties, one ten and htEy
ives.
He spoke of the letters. He said II though.
you woul. not sell mt ~ She said, What makes
,-I,u He ali Aca iI-t