Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-11

Petit Jury to Find Out-But Justice
Enough to Require Riley to Give Sc, 200
Bail, or Stay in Jail-More Direct Evil
dence Promised by the Prosecution and
the Defense Reserve All Their Case for
the Trial.
DEXTER, MINI, Dec. THE sheriff of Free
born county, with the prisoner, Riley, and
Judge Page. the prosecuting witness. Mr..
| Lovely, attorney for the prosecution,
Messrs. French and johnson, of coun-
sci for the defense, and the wit
| nesses and reporters, arrived here &C 6p. n.
| yesterday. After supper Justice Gaskill
opened court, and counsel for defense moved
| change Of venue. Mr.. Lovely, after brief
| argument Withdrew all objections, and the
ease was, by order of Justice Gaskill. trans
| ferred to Justice Kelly, of this place.
This morning at "a. N. all parties were be-
fore Justice Kelly. and Mr.. Lovely opened with
| an address indicating the line of the proseou-
| ton and promising that the evidense should be
| full and conclusive and be at once submitted
| The first witness called to the stand was
HON. SHERMAN PAGE,
who testified: 1 reside in Austin; was there
| August Oath last.
Lovely-State what occurred on that date:
that evening.
Page-I came from the village of Taopi on
| q freight train at 7:20; got into my carriage
and drove to my office, staying there but a mo-
ment, when 1 drove home; ] live about one
| mile from my office; l was about fifteen min
| utes driving home; drove into my yard ard to
| the stable; it was quite dark, and q lantern
| was brought out; 1 helped unhitch my horse
| and started for the house, SEINE four or five
| rods distant; went in and very ssoa sat down
| lunch; while at the table neigh
Dor, Mr.. Sasche, came in
| and desired to see me on business. He sat few
moments and engaged in conversation with me,
| and as he went out said, lyon can 90 out this
way" pointing to door leading out to the
| front of the house; opened the door and we
both stepped upon the porch, and / told him
| he could pass around the house and on to the
| side street. As soon as he had gone I passed
from the dining room into the sitting room,
taking seat at table near the
bay window; q student lamp by
which l was reading sat on the table;
| l sat with my left side towards the window;
l had sat there but few moments when
| shot or gun was fred through the bay window;
a charge of shot entered the window, part of it
entering my back and shoulder and part the
| wall and books; first heard crash; at first
did not know what it was; thought at first it
was the lamp; the next instant realized what
it was and sprung from my chair; my wife,
who was in the dining room, opened the
door and met me; I said to her, 81 am shot;''
she replied, ''get out of this room or you will
be shot again." went out of the sitting room
into the bed room; the shot was fired throu oh
the east half of the south side of the window;
the charge was very heavy; 1 think eight shot
entered my head, neck and shoulder; the left
side of my head was numbed, and is in fact
yet not fully recovered; some thirty or forty
shot entered the casing and walI
slug or ball struck the edge of tho table;
struck the stovepipe, passing through three
thicknesses of Russia iron and into the wall;
it was in direct line of my body; the shot are
known as double B or o shot, very large
shot; there were over fifty of them as near as 1
can estimate in the charge, beside the slug or
ball; the bay window and all other windows of
my house are protected by fine gauze wire
screens, covering the entire window ;around the
frames to which the wire is
a 'ha.s d bo1s The moulding placed
placed SO as to PASS through the screen and
through the upper edge of the lower side of
the sash, the gun was SO placed as not to zee
the rib of the sash when placed on the little
moulding mentioned; the charge cut hole
cut of the upper edge of the lower stile of the
sash one inch deep; the distance from the
ground to the lower edge of the hole blown
through the screen is five
feet three inches -. and one half;
about the distance from the window where
man must have stood the ground was some
two inches lower; back of the window>was my
garden and back of that a corn6eld; a person
coming out Of that cornfield could have seen
me through that window some ten rods off. l
think Mr. Williams, my neighbor, was the
first 10 come in; the first sensation l felt was
as If had been struck severe blow; this was
followed by profuss flow of blood; the
shooting occurred at very near P. M; my
hired man was at onca sent for the doctor; DR..
Gibson and DIR. Squlres both came in about an
hour; did not notice any one on my way home,
as l drove rapidly; there ID timber at two
points between my house and town; had no
knowledge at the time of the intent of any per-
son to shoot me. nor had any apprehension of
being shot; there Was one man from Austin on
the train with me that night to whom spoke;
there was no animosity on the part of anyone
at Taopi towards me, which state, as it has
been suggested that might have been fol-
lowed by some one from that place. The wads
of the gun came into the room and have been
preserved; one of them being grass was scat
tered. but the other will be presented in court;
did not know the defendant before the shoot
ing; may have seen him; he is brother of
Frank and Tom Riley, who are hostile to me.
Defense objected; overruled.
PAGE, CONTINUING:
These Rileys are personally very hostile to
me; in the first place they aye politically hos
tile to me; as far as know it began during the
trial of one Kerr, who was very hard crimi-
nal; he was being prosecuted for burglary from
building owned by one Finn; Thos, Riley was
witness in the case; became convinced that
both Tom and Frank knew of the commission
Of the crime at the time it was committed;
Tom stated in court that Frank was with sus-
picious characters at A. M. on the morning of
the burglary on the streets; asked Tom if he,
being an officer, took any pains to dispense or
arrest them; he said not; he said Kerr had been
assisting him as night watch; think this was
five or six years ago; Tom Riley showed some
feeling in the matter; the first matter Of per-
sonal malice he (Tom) evidenced was in MAX
ing complaint of me for
fast driving on the streets of Austin,
warrant was issued and the case was dis
missed with consent of the prosecuting officer;
the next thing was concerning some bills which
he tried to get through the county board; in
consequence of my adverse decisions he was
bitter and became one of the prime movers in
presenting articles of impeachment in one of
which he was q central figure; old Olough was
the only one who saw anything in it, however;
the next open mRnif estation of malice was at
the general term of court of Mower county In
March last; at this March term was employed
In several cases in which Frank
and Tom had some interest; one case was that
of G. B. Hayes against Tom Riley for unlawful
arrest and imprisonment; I was employed for
prosecution; the case had aroused considerable
feeling, the town being divided into two par
ties, generally known as Page and anti-Page
l became convinced that Hayes was right and
Riley wrong. In the summing up it became
my duty to criticise quite severely Tom Riley's
conduct as an officer; l won my ease. Another
case at the same time, that of the State against
Robert Macklin, charged with the larceny of
some 5000, I was employed for defense;
became satisfied that defendant was limo.
cent and that Tom Riley was exertihg himself to
convict the prisoner whether innocent or
guilty; Riley was witness, andstestifed that
he was to have $50 for the recovery of the