The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-09-12
THOMPSON IN COURT.
The Slayer of Jack Harris Faces the TrIbu
nal of Justice.

Application for II Continuance Made by the
Defendant--Text of Judge WILL
sons Order.
A large crowd was attracted to the city build
ing on Military plaza this morning by the report
that Ben. Thompson, the marshal OF the city of
Austin, WAS to be tried for the killing of Jack
Harris, the proprietor "i the vaudeville thea
a seat on the bench, and the district court was
then formally opened. THOMPSON appeared in
charge of shcritf's deputies Alexander and Pen
alOZa. He was neatly attircd in black, and his
hair bore evidence of having been care
fully combed for the occasion. He
seemed to be i'm Il very good humor and ac-
knOwlcdgcd the presence of acquaintance by
bows and smiles. The spectators, eager to note
his appearance and his speech, crowded about
him until there was scant room to move: The
case were District Attorney Fred Cooke, Leo
TarlctOn, Ii. |. Boone Judge Dcvinc, M. 6. An
lcrsOn and II. &. Anderson for the prosecution
and George PcndextSr, n. q. Green, John
Green and Buck Walton for the defense.
Many persons in attendance had come from il
distance. Among them were Monroe Miller
Thomas E. Sncad, ID. E. Edwards, E. b. Council
and VIM. A. Pitts, of Austin; }. p. Fowler, Il
lawyer from Ihstrop, and Robert Gill, II BROTH
cr-in-aw to Thompson, also from I}aStrop.
The district attorney announced that the
state was ready to proceed: Ihc names OF thr
those Summoned in behalf of the prisoner
nearly One-third were absent.
At this point Mr.. Walton Obtai ncd pcrmis-
sion to file IL petition for continuance, ami
court adjourned till O'Clock in order that he
might have sufficient time for its preparation.
JUDGE WILSON'S ORDER.
This morning district clerk Dashicll received
from Judge Wilson an opinion in relation to
the recent application for Il writ of habcas cor
plIS. 1t is wordcd thus:
In Vacation, September II, 1882. Elk parte Ben
Thompson:
In this case, it being made to appear to mt
that since the grinting OF the writ of habea>
corpus and since my order of Sept. I'd, 49,,
m'stponing the hearing OF the case until to-day,
cd by the grand jury of BcXar county, Texas,
for the same transaction, ON account
whereof he was held in confinement here
in tO-wit, for the murder of one Harris.
an d that said indictment charges the sai,,
Thompson with murder in the first degree.
and that the same is now pending in the dis
trict court of Bexar county,, Texas; it is there
fore my opinion that ] no longer have juriS-
dictiOn to hear and determine the matters
herein involved, but that the district court
now in session for Bexar county aforesaid, o.,
ity, in the first instance to entertain JurS'lic-
ton of this cause. | base this opinion upon.
the following authorities, viz: Code Criminal
ProcecduIs, ARTICLES 49, ISL; Elk Parte, Aims
| think the law is plain, that the indictment
has the effect to take away from me all further
Jurisdiction over the case. i therefore dis,
miss the writ herein granted, and all
proceedings had hereunder before me,
without costs and without prejudice in
any way to the rights Of the applicant Ben
Ben Thompson, to tho custody of the respond
cnt, the sheriff of Bexar county, Texas, t,
await the further action of the proper authOri-
ties. The clerk of the district court of said
county will file in his Office all the papers con-
ncctcd with this proceeding, tO-wit the petit
ton for habcas corpus. the writ of habeas cor
plIs the return OF said writ, the motion to dis
miss the writ and my opinion Ovcrrulng said
motion, my order pOstponing the bearing o:
the application until this day, and this order,
which said papers | certify to be the papers in
this cause.
Given under my hand ON this the 9th day of
September, 1857.
SAMUEL A. WILSON,
JudgcsDf the Court of Appeals of Texas.
THE DEFENDANTS PETITION.
M3"clock this afternoon rno,npson's attnl-
ncyS presented to the district court Il pctitiOn
for IL continuance in which was alleged the de-
PENDANT could not safely go to trial at the
present term of the court for want of tcstimo-
ny material to his defence, expected from John
Thos G. Martin, A. A. Burbank, Frank Spar
row, James a. Smith, L. ROuvant, Jack Cum
mugs, X. Israman, j. G. Cummings, }. W. Al
exandcr, VIM. Henderson, G. ShOop, &. G. Les
toy, Tom Hughes. the two Mauri sisters, Lieut..
Hickey. Or. Maurice, W. 5. Ellis, VileS, Lashcr
and O'P"len, to secure whose presence the
atliant had used every, possible means, The
attiant says: lie applied for and obtained pro-
cess in the shape of Subp0nas on the 18th day of
September for all of the witnesses whose resi-
dcnce is stated to he in Bcxar county and in
the shape OF attachments for those who reside.
elsewhere, except for the witness Ellis, which
were duly filed.
No effective process could be issued
for the Mauri sisters, whose, where
cess was Issued for the witness Nilcs
for the reason that until yesterday evening at
an hour too late TO procure service the nIa-
trriality of his evidence was not Known. The
process issued were placed in tho hands of the
sheriff and were issued to the officers of webb,
Travis and Kinney counties. He asks THAI
statements of the wtnc 3seS be taken and con-
sidercd part of the application.
ALLEGES \ CONSPIRACY,
Continuing the ,ailinnt states that he expects
Harris was shot he asked the question, 'Is
Thompson killed." and being answered in the
negative, then asked, Are any of my friends
killed :" thus showing that he and his friends
he, alliant, yoriiy hcliuH"s," liu nsMnts TO
prove by Ellis that Harris s,night to bribe and
did offer to brbc Fills for the sum of 500 to
murder the aili;,nt, Thompson. The offer was
made in this city about two months prior to
the death of Harris, ut tlir store of WOltsOn, II
vendor of mattresses. by NilcS, an English
man, Thompson believes he will he able
70 prove THAT ut TIC moment thp shot was
fired by which Harris Wits killed HAr=
rlS Was raising his shot gun, aiming
in the direction Of the afiiant. To SECURE
the presence Of NilcS the atliant sent II special
messenger to him proposing to pay ull reas0n=
able expenses for him to come AMI testify hut
without avail. llD expects "a prnVc by Lieut.
Hickey and im. Maurice that on tbs night nat
Jack Harris WIS ui the streets armed with II
shotgun hunting him for the openly declared
purpose OF Shnoing him he was sick ut the Men
ger hotel. II is anticipated that Geo, Sho0p
will testify that Harris declared he would kin