The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-25
Davenport.
The Nichols Conspiracy Case.


for trial, before His Honor, Mayor Rose, {
of Davenport, on Monday morning. Daco-
tab Nichols and D. W. Taft put in an ap
pearance, Mrs. Mary A. Nichols not hav-
ing been arrested.
The information as filed is as follows:
State vs. Mary A. Nichols, Dacotah Nichols, and
D. w. Taft.
The above named defendants are hereby accused
of the crime of conspiracy. For that the said de-
fendents the Sth dav of May 1875. in Davenport,
Scott county, Ia, did unlawfully, felonously con-
spire and confederate together with the fraudulent
and malicious intent wrongfuly to injure the per |
son of said Geo c. Nichols, especially in that the
said defendants so eonspired assault the person
of defendent, and to him then and there lmprlson
and keep him and MS oOc IN snd ntoyd
ed and against the peace and dignity OF the state OF
Iowa.
The plaintiffs counsel entered a motion
to quash the information on the following I
grounds:
lst. That said complaint does not charge
that the object of said conspiracy was a
crime; and
I'd. Said information does not state the
means by which said object of conspiracy
was to be effected
The motion was argued at some length
| by Judge Benson and Geo. G. Hubbell,
Esq, for the defense, and r. D. Congdon,
Esq, and A. E. Campbell, Esq.,, tor the
plaintiff. At IL o'clock, the court, after
hearing the arguments on both aides, ad
journed till ? o'clock P. NJ.
AT 2 o'clock the court room was we'll
filled. and his Honor, the Mayor, announc-
ed his decision to override the motion to
quash the indictment
An affidavit was then filed by plaintiffs,
asking for continuance on account of the
absence Of Mr.. Geo. S. S. Nichols, son of
the plaintiff and, as they allege, an i'm
portant witness for the State. This mo-
ton was also overruled, and the case Or
dered to proceed.
Justice Kaufman was the first witness
called He stated that, on the 5th Of MAJ !,
Dacotah Nichols appeared before him ant
filed information against Geo. G. Nichols,
asking that he be held to keep the
peace. Judge Benson was present Am
not positive whether anyone else was there
besides Judge Benson and Dacotah Mich
OILS. Had no conversation outside of bus
mess nature. None of the family had ever
been there to file information before. If
they had been there before he had no rec
objection Of it.
Charles Simms, sworn, and stated: |
dul Il cUUSIdUI6, wall duU was HduuSu ulC
} for the arrest of Geo. c. Nichols, to hold
the peace, on complaint of Dacotah Mich
= oils on or about the 9Th of May; Judge
: sworn, also Dacotah Nichols and Dan'l
e Taft; nothing was said there; had con-
f versation between Mrs. Geo. G. Nichols
e the warrant on May 10th; called to see
;. Mr.. Congdon, but did not find Mr. Nichols
b there; had no conversation with Mrs.
$ Nichols about the warrant, nor with Mr.
e Taft or Dacotah Nichols; after the service
had conversation with Mrs Geo. G. Nichols
ian argument was had as to the admissible
: ity of this conversation and it was admit
!. ted Went to Mrs. Nichols's shop and
K found Mr.. Nichols there, also his wife, and
t daughter Dacotah; informed Nichols his
t time was up to appear before Kauf-
2 man; Mrs. Nichols said she thought
u he had better go to the
!, hospital for couple of months; he replied
; that the medicine he was taking did nc
u good, and he thought he would get better
! by leaving the city for time. Witness
/ then went on to state the conversation be
0 tween him and Geo. c. Nichols: He mich.
!, ols) had acted as pilot for the last two Oh
u three years; captain had told him to qui
as he was unreliable and could not be de
) pended on; this captain said that he mich
: ols( was out of his mind at times. Had {
+ conversation with Miss Dacotah Nichols
T on May 8th went to the shop to find Mr.
l. Nichols could not find him; asked wheth
er / should hunt for him or wait till Mon
day. Miss Dacotah advised me to xai
y until Monday: Judge Benson advised hin
ii to wait until Monday so that prisoner neet
not lay in Jail over Sunday.
w. II. Gabbert testified to the statemen
made by Taft when he applied for the war
n rant to arrest Nichols and have him exam
ined for insanity, viz: that his father-in
law, Nichols, had choLed his Taft s
'e wife in Rock Island; that he had fit a
es Capt. MitchelIs, etc.
IS Plaintiffs counsel here claimed that sew
,r eral important witnesses would be presen
u tomorrow TUESDAY and asked an adjourn
y ment Court Adjourned to 9 A. NJ
pit Tuesday, May 25th-The court conyer
IN ed this morning at o'clock and proceede
10 with the trial The attendance was small
. showing that the interest in the case ha
y very materially lessened.
IL Sheriff Leonard was the first witnes
IS called. He gave an account of the confint
IT. ment in Jail of Mr.. Nichols; stated tina
:. Mrs. Nicnols had called at the Jail to Sc
ef that Mr.. Nichols took his medicine regu
as larry. The witness had no other converse
e, ton with Mrs. N. beyond this. Did not a
&C. low Mrs. n. and Mr.. n to converse t.
r gether; had no conversation with any ott
u er members of the family. either there O
en- elsewhere.
IN Miss Lucy Nichols, sworn-Witness wa
o. handed letter; recognized it as her HAND
: writing; testified to writing it; wrote it 0
III her own free will and accord; was not il
lg structed to write it. The introduction c
* the letter, as evidence, was objected to b
es defendants counsel, andits admission urge
: by A. Il. Campbell, Esq. for plaintiff
- The letter was finally introduced, but wa
IS. unimporatnt and elected no new facts hay
IS in G any bearing on the case She had n
IN conversation with Mr.. Taft relative to he
-, father: had no conversation with her siste
- as to prosecuting her father; was presen
d. upon one occasion when Mrs. Nichols wa
~ refused admittance; he was refused er
trance because he called them names-an
they were afraid of him--she and he
n younger sister. The question was aske
in as to conversation at various times whe
A. these difficulties occurred; objections rails
- ed by defendants attorneys, but questiO
admitted and witness stated that on on
occasion Mr.N had kicked at the door an
used abusive language; door was locked
knew it was my father was afraid {
IL him. My sister Dacotah was present o
&C. one occasion this spring, when father wa
=, at the house; the reason why he was pu
." out was because we were afraid of him
n he always called US hard names
It's Justice Kaufman was recalled but hi