Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-16
THE HALLEN MURDER.

Opening of the Case on the Part of the
Dsfense Testimony Taken.
The examination in the case of the People
VS.. Beveridge and Dematti was resumed yes
terday morning, the examining Court occu
plying the District Courtroom. C. L. Jones,
attorney for defendants, opened the case of
the defense with extended remarks, in the
course of which he intimated that but for
some suspicion which had been thrown upon the
defendants by declarations of parties residing
in the neighborhood, he would feel disposed to
rest the case at this point and ask for its dis
missal, but under the circumstances he would
proceed with the evidence upon the part of
the defense. The first witness called was
Martin Monsch. He was kept upon the
stand the greater part of the day, and from
his intimate relationship with defendant
Beverage, was examined with great particu-
larity by counsel upon both sides. A brief
summary only of his testimony would be of
interest to the public. He said: [ live upon
the Lagoon. Have lived there since 1860.
MIR. Beveridge is uncle of my wife. he has
$780,
IN THE SHEEP BUSINESS,
And keeps about five to six thousand head.
Mr.. Beveridge keeps about two thousand.
In the summer we take them into the noun
tains, and bring them back when snow comes.
The mountains are full Of bands of sheep
every summer, and they often get mixed to-
| gether, and as the various bands are brought
back upon ranches it is impossible to always
restore the stray ones to their proper owners
After the sheep got home this last fall | saw
some stray ones in the flock which belonged
to Mr.. Fincher Have heard what has been
said about Beverage selling some sheep that
did not belong to him. Beverage sold about
five hundred head to 0dell, the butcher.
When they were picked ont Beveridee told
them to pick any they wanted out of his, but
not to take any with stray marks. Mr.. Bev-
eridge was in the pen when they were picked
out. In reference to the testimony which
has been given, to the effect that one or more
pelts with Finchers mark were found with
Beveridge's at Monschs, witness said: We
had some pelts in my barn. They came from
sheep killed by different ones upon the ranch,
and for home use. Sometimes | have
KILLED STRAY SHEEP
When they have been in the band for five or
six years and didn't know whose they were.
Never killed any of Fincher's sheep, nor of
any neighbors; still we found pels of one
of Fincher's in my barn, but | don't know
how it came there. He came over at o'clock
one morning and said he wanted to go into
the wagon shed-that he saw one of his pelts
there. We went and looked and found one.
An hour before l saw the pelts and they were
all hanging upon wires for drying and now
they were lying upon the floor. l could not
account for its being there. Mr.. Holiday
lived with me some six years, and he finally
got SO he wanted to boss too much, and at
the table he talked insulting to my wife, and
| told him to go out and never come in again.
He slept in his usual place that night, and
next day we had an amicable settlement, and
paid him up. There was no feeling be-
tween us when he left. The next day, Fri
day, [ was dipping my sheep, Mr.. Beveridge
was helping me, and got through about II
o'clock | told Beverage there was dip left
and if he wanted his sheep dipped to bring
them and we would dip them. He started off to
see about them and expected to be back very
soon, but did not return until some time
after supper-say an hour after dark. When
he came home his wife said,
"wHAT's THE TROUBLED"
He said, 81 could not find my Sheep" she
said, Z" where's Charlie ?" he said, g I don't
know where Charlie is; she said, "Did
you find the Sheep" he said, Yes, found
the sheep and put them into the corral " he
said the dogs were in the cabin and the door
locked, and he took a pick and broke open
the lock and let the dogs out said he could
find no matches, but he put his hand on the
bed and Charlie was not there said he
thought Charlie might have been taken sick
and laid down on the plains.
Question-Why did he feel of the bed
Answer-To see if the blankets were
there; he didn't think Charlie was
there l suggested to go to the cabin that
night and look for Hallen, but Beveridge said
no, he would start at daylight next morning
Beveridge started on foot for Hallens cabin
next morning about light it was raining
quite hard; soon after started on my horse,
and took a circuit on the ranch to see if
could see anything of Hallen, and then went
to his cabin; When | got there | pushed the
door open and saw man lying on the bed,
and thought he was asleep; hollered and
got no answer;
HE WAS LYING on HIS RIGHT SIDE
With his head up towards the corner and
his back towards into the room and the door,
with his feet somewhat curled up. lie was
covered with blanket, but the edge of it did
not come down to the bed along his back.
went to the bunk and gave him pretty good
push to wake him up, and as | did so | saw
my hand was full of blood. | at once turned
and went out and my hand was so full Of
blood that it dripped off on to my overalls,
and [ thought if any one should see me they
would think L had killed the man. got on
my horse and went home, hut before got
home the rain had washed the blood off. I
got home soon after Beveridge did, hut he
had got his horses hitched up into my wagon
to go to Justice to have him hold an in
quest. | told him [ would go for the JUS
md ba and nan, on iorno md or
cabin. | went to the Justice but he said he
could not hold an inquest and that l must
get Coroner, and said better go to Gait
and telegraph to Sacramento, which / did.
Beveridge stayed at the cabin during the day.
At night | took lantern and Dematti and |
went there and stayed till morning. When
| got to the cabin l looked carefully with the
lantern to find blood spots on the floor, and
there was none there. l held the lantern
close down to the head of Hallen and could
see the
HOLE IN HIS HEAD.
That was the first we had seen of it. The
blood upon the pillow looked as if it had flew
over it. The blanket being up from the
back, looked as if it had been put over him
after he was killed. When we went there
this Saturday night we found two packs of
cards there on the table. One deck was
open, and the other wrapped up in little
piece of newspaper. / do not know why the
cards were there for heard HalIen say he
never played and had no use for them around.
We started home Sunday morning, and met
Beveridge, who went there and stayed until
the Coroner came that day. | then went
back, and was present when the inquest was
held and was one of the Coroner's jury. The
jury were sworn. There was not much room
in the cabin. and some of the jury were not
inside when the testimony was taken, but it
was read over to us all by Mr.. Vermilya be.
fore we signed it. There was no blood upon
the floor until after
THE BODY WAS TAKEN OUT.
| I helped Mr. Vermilya take the body out
of the bunk we placed it on the floor on two
! old coats of Hallen's one was in the cabin
and | got the other under the shed in put
ting the body on to the floor my hands got
! bloody andsomeo of itwes on the floor: the blood
! in the clothes was thick and hard, and pieces
of it dropped on the floor as big pieces as a
quarter of dollar, and l should think as
much as two pound of it dropped upon the
! floor; there was talk at the inquest that the
clothes ought to be burned up, but don't re-
collect who said it; the idea was to get the
Smell ont OF the way, as it began to smell
pretty bad; we searched for the money but
didn't ind any; / think MIR. Holiday said
the man that aid this was not smart enough,
or else he would have set fire to the cabin and
burned Il up; after the inquest it was pro-
posed to bury The body right there. as it had
begun to smell badly, but Mr. Beveridge
! y L So a.,