Arkansas weekly mansion., 1883-09-08
THE. DEIGSS Sc

GAII.ATIN, Mo-, Aug. 80
A few minutes after eight o'clock this morn
ing Mr. Rush commenced the opening state
ment for the defense. The chief point he
claimed, would be that Frank james was not
at Winston 1t would be coTtcndcd that the
testimony of an accomplice was insufficient
TO convict unless corrOborated as to the man
facts. The character of Mrs Bolton and Lid
dell as well as other principal witnesses 1or
the State would be shown to be such as to
render them unworthy of belief
There. would be testimony to contradict that
of such men as Jonas Potts and Ezra SOule
and witness would be produced VINO ,,as was
Wouid swear that Frank James was not in the
car 1t should bc shown, too, that there W.iS
Iiddeli as the chief plotter, ana the FordH
and BoltOuS as co-consllr;ttorS re-.
The officers of the law from Kansas City
were in this trial actuated by rcxcISe, , as IIitH
failed fO get the reward of S-:0Un vi !ch would
have gone to them if the accused mad surrch-
desei iatho a. man the states witnesses saw at
different places. it would be urged thtt inns
was a man who was like Frank James but
10 i'm fact was somebody else. 1he cas-"
was one of mistaken identity. and 1t would pc
PPtoud,mt'S PdGand counsel bad been unable to fol
low the maze of Liddells testimony, because
tbeir client could not assist them. ne being
lust as ignorant of the details of the winston
robbery they were. g. nv D,.;..-
who was on the train at the time or the VIM
stOn robbery. He testified TO seeing tne cor
ductor shot and to the appearance of the rob
Hue.U. te rbn entered the car where he was whom
be dcscrihed as having full boards He was
nortain the defendant was not one of them:
ceriar Tiatnbnr W. Horn, a Nashville detective,
knew B5J. Woodson in Nashville hrst IN is..; ;
saw him as often as on1 nnd kept good eompany
saw him last in March. ISL; he Wore sandy
whiskers short nc 1n ihf fe Slh but
never saw him and defendant toSelner. S & k,icm
Jesse James and n HoIard were the James broth
ers: thought he knew Jim Cummings out old
not know the Hitcs. - 80 >,
vile knew defendant as b. j. Woodson IN
Nashville first d in F faG smith " house last saw
him March 26. 1881: he had light sandy WINS
kers all over his face; was engaged as deleho-
Mrs Elizabeth Montgomery, who +,sd Tesides ts,a
mile and half east of Mihstoh testihsn me- eoa tnat
ing of the Winston robbery: the clock struck
seven before they finished; the younger man ma,
burnside whskers and Inustachc; one or thelr
horses was bay. the other shade lghter; Ter;
thought defendant was not one of them, but
h%d M}ss NJ. Montgomery daughter of the pre-
cedinc witness, corroborated her mothers s
statement; did not think defendant was one
of the men. but wouldn't say postiveiy: mel
horse. .,.,
Jonas Potts the blacksmith. in which the lat
ter told him he had been to see Frank James.
and that he had never seen him before; on
another occasion two men had drove up 10 MS
shop whom he said he recognized as the men
he had shod horses for before the robbery
Marion
with potts in the winter of 1SS2-S3 when he
said he had seen Jesse James picture al
Winston and he had shod a horse for nm;
potts was pretty boozy at the time.
Gus: A Chapman testified that h pot1s aid to1a nni
know ii he had ever seen defendant before,
he could not tell. .
The defense offered in evidence tne record pro
Of the trial and conviction of Dick LiGdell for
horse-stealing in Vernon County in 1874, wnlch
was read 10 the jury.
Joseph A. Shelby testified to his acquaint-
ance with the James brothers, Dick Lfddell,
alins Black Bill Ryan and Jim Cummings.
Jesse and the three latter visited his place IN
1850 in company with Jesse James, and N
conversation which ensued regarding tne
Concordia Bank robbery Jesse indicated
Liddell as the man who struck the eashler
had net seen Frank since !sI2. Mrs. FRANK aaS
lanes came to Page City in the Spring OF 1851
and sent fer witness, who went and saw her
she said Lidden and others were committing
denredations and her husband as Getti NJ Iae
credit for them; she wanted witness to inter
cede with the Governor, but witness told ner
Il would b folly - DE- %; did not kRoH Van