Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-11-22
"THE MISSING LINK"
Mrs. J. E. Anderson Inter
viewed at Palisade.
She TELLS the Reno Gazette Man Of the
Tragedy Of Her Husbands Death.
Her Criticisms Upon the State OF
Politics in Eureka.

We reproduce the following article from
the Reno Gazette, not from choice, but
because it ID quoted by the Territorial
Enterprise, and used by that paper with
editorial comments to maintain the prop
osition which it started out to establish;
that is, that the preliminary examination
in the Anderson-Reek shooting affair was
but a mockery of justice, and nothing
more nor less than a conspiracy among
law officers and others to acquit Reek by
the suppression OF material evidence
against him. Were we to consult our W
inclinations with regrrd to this reported
interview, we would not publish it. Fur
Their, there are certain portions OF 1T That
we reproduce on the present occasion
solely because we wish to give the article
its full force, which it might not have
were the portions alluded to left out.
We accept the report as correct, pre-
suming, of course, that Mr.. Fulton, editor
of the Reno Gazette, would not color the
statement which it contains with the bias
that his paper, along with the Enterprise,
has shown in the discussion of this case.
THE REASON WHY
Our dis~inclination to publish the Gazette's
report is not on account of any presumed
force il may nave to impair the argument
of the SENTINEL that Reek, in 30 far az
the matter went, was duly vindicated by
the ordinary course of justice, but rather on
account of Mrs. Anderson herself, who, in
an excited state of mind, and having her
.sympathies wrought upon by a newspaper
reporter, doubtless said some things to
him Inadvertently that she would now be
panied to see in print. We allude to some
personal reflections cast by her upon
%neighbors, who were friends to herself and
husband, and watched with him in his last
hours, not sparing any effort to soothe his
pillow or to break the force of her grief in
the time Of family distress. We wish
merely to review the Gazette's reported
with Mrs. Anderson, with refer
ence to the evidence that may be attained
from it in regard to the important ques-
ton, who fired the first shot, George j..
Reek or her deceased husband?
THE AGGRESSION.
All that Mrs. Anderson says On the
subject, which we accept without question:,
is that her husband told her he did not
see Reek coming at him until he had been
shot, and that he reached around Thomas
Dale with his pistol in his hand and fired.
This statement by the deceased was
probably made in a moment of anger and
excitement, and was doubtless suggested
by the intense luminosity he bore towards
his adversary, whom. after he had received
the fatal shot, he damned with the utmost
vehemence, until chided by his wife, who
besought him not to use such language.
We have said the presumption is that Mr..
Anderson made the statement of his see
ing Reek only after being shot, in a dis
tracted and frenzied condition of mind.
A CoNTRARY PRESUMPTION.
We presume this for #easens.- First.
because the whole testimony in the case
shows that he was the aggressor. Reek
was standing still, talking with a friend
on the sidewalk. There is nothing in the
testimony of any witness for the defense
or the prosecution which gives any ground
to believe that Reek moved toward Ander-
son, while the entire mass of testimony
on that point goes, without contradiction,
to establish the fact that Anderson turned
out Of his course to advance upon Reek.
After the firing had begun, though Reek
did esize Thomas Dale first. to use him as
a shield in the fray, the fight continued
with Dale between the two oombatants.
That Anderson reached round Thomas
Dale, in order to fire has no bearing upon
the main question, az to who was the
aggressor or who fired the first shot.
Whatever Significance Mrs. Anderson's
statement in this respect may have, ia not
one Of a legal nature; Whatever force it
may have is simply of a moral sort. and a
Just tribute to the manlinoss OF her hus-
band, who would not endsnger the life of
innocent person in order to strike down
his foe.
Our second reason for presuming that
Mrs. Anderson's statement, AZ to who was
the aggressor in the fight, is simply this,
that if In his more deliberate frames of
mind, during the three days he fingered.
he could not be induced to make q formal
statement Of that fact, in such q name
as to have 1t used as testimony in the
Courts, for his post-mortem vindication,
then it il questionable whether the state
ment should be entitled to any weight at
all. His best friends insisted upon his
making such a declaration, and they were
strengthened in their efforts TO have him
do so by the official endeavors Of District
Attorney Davenport and his deputy, Mr..
Baker. Had he felt able. with death
staring him in the face, to say upon oath,
that the guilt Of the first shot was not
upon himself, there is every reason to be-
lieve that he would have made such q de-
position, aud the unavoidable inference is,
from his refusal to make such a deathbed
AL-A l.. l.l ,At foAl AHA 81 A.,
so conscientiously. This inference may be
incorrect or i'll founded, but it ia drawn
from what is the universal disposition of
mankind to believe in the exercise of
what is ordinarily called common sense.
As to the charge that the evidence of mate
rial witnesses was not sought, or was ig-
nored, we have already spoken.
With reference to Masters William Pardy
and Dick Jury, however. who, Mrs. An
derson states, saw the whole affair, we have
heard OF them in this light in the Gazette's
article for the first time. We shall en-
brace the first opportunity we have to in
terview these young gentlemen. and II the
occasion requires 1t. shall make their state
meuts public. We presume, however. that
the prosecution, which was diligent in its
quest Of evidence, would have used tho
testimony Of these young gentlemen had
they been known as witnesses OF the shoot
ing.
If the Territorial Enterprise has found
its "missip { link" in the reported inter
view with Mrs. Anderson by which ia
make out o case Of murder in the face OF
| facts which warranted the Justice of the
| Peace and District Attorney In deciding
| that tho release of Reek was their duty,
| according to the law aud evidence, VT
bn,a thai ii will ba abla to make it appear
| 80 plainly in its future legal prosecution OF
Reek, in the impending libel case, that it'
| damages. now set at S25, 900, may be miti
| gated thereby.
There are other statements in the re
| ported interview with Mrs. Anderson no
alluded to which are totally incorrect
though she. no doubt, believed them to b
true. Her knowledge OF politics is purel,
feminine.