Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-04-04
THE W0OLSTEEN CASE.
A Jury Secured and the
Trial Commenced.
THE STORY OF THE FIRE
And of the Finding of the Re-
mains With Bullet Hole
in the Head,


fore the courtroom Of Department No.
/ was crowded to its utmost capacity
by the public: drawn there by reason
Of the famous Hattie Woolsteen case,
one Of the most interesting and i'm
portant ever on trial in Southern
California. The following is
: list OF the jurors selected !:
d. O. Maxwell, laborer of San
Gabriel; John McIlmoil, a capitalist
Of this city; John Maskell, dealer in
fruits at AZ North Main street; ]. d.
Hannah, laborer, residing at 1873 Ban
ming street; F G. Reavis, anexpress-
man, residing at 1873 Shaw street; j.
d. Mcdonald, carpenter, residing at
No. 5 Los Angeles street; Geo.
Boehme, merchant of Santa Monica !;
A. J. Mead, carpenter, residing on
York avenue; j. L. Mansfield, of
Mansfield & Co., furniture dealers of
this city; ]. A. Sherman, real estate
dealer, residing at "A Hewitt street !;
T. III. Elliott, a merchant of Santa
Monica and r. ]. Floyd, a farmer OF
Savannah.
After somewhat lengthy presenta.
fon of the case to the jury
by District Attorney Dupuy,
the first witness, Judge w. S.
Leonard was called and to titled:
/ reside in Compton, Cal. am Jus
tice of the Peace for that township. /
was called upon to hold an inquest on
the body of a man October 7th, 1887,
ON the premises of Mrs. Barber about
. mile and half from Compton. The
barn which was burned the night be-
fore held the inquest was situated
about two hundred yards back of the
Rarbey house which was near
the Lemon rood. The body was that
Of human being. 1t lay
in the corner Of the barn,
and was in the ashes and debris.
The body was lying in what was
originally the inside and corner Of the
barn. The feet were next to the door,
the left arm was extended, The !. oouy
was lying on its breast. The skull
before it was disturbed was almost
entire. The left side soon fell int, &,
ashes, but the right remained entire.
The lower extremities were almost
entirely burned off. We discovered
over the left ear hole in the skull.
1t was about the size of a medium
sized bullet hole. he hair was all
burned off except part of the nous
tache, which was sandy in color. The
Jaws and teeth were preserved.
The jury, in examining the body,
turned it over to see if anything could
be found by which it might be identi-
fed. The right side of the skull tell
in and crumb!ed away. Under him
were found pieces of the vest, scarf,
shirt, pants and coat. In the vest
pocket was found part Of letter
The flesh on the breast was entire.
The jurymen handed me portion Of
q letter and other things. delivered
these articles to Chief Darcy. A pain
of cuff buttons were also handed to
me by the jury. "a box containing
the articles referred to was handed to
the witness. They were identified as
the articles handed to the witness by
the jurymen at the inquest) The
remains of the body we're turned
over to me about 4 o'clock.
I put them in box and took them to
Compton, where, next day, a post
mortem examination was held by Drs.
Whalen and Downs. There was no
bullet that I know of found in the re-
mains at the post mortem examina-
ton. Several small articles, consist
ing of sleeve button blackened by
fire. three nails, collar button and
other articles we're shown to
the witness and identified. Remains
of the letter introduced and
identified. Witness attention was
called to a diagram of the Barley
board.) After the post mortem
was held 1 took the remains
into my charge and buried them.
The remains were afterwards ex-
humed, think on the 11th, myself,
police officer by the name OF Brady
and DR.. Bird, a dentist and another
dentist who l do not know were pres
ent. The jaw was taken from the
head.
Cross examination by Col. Wells !:
The articles referred to were found be-
fore the jury rendered verdict. l
believe the jurymen examined the
face and in every way made a close
investigation. I think Mr.. Malcolm
turned the body over. The hole in the
side of the head was about as large as
my little finger and was upon the left
side OF the head "a portion Of the low
er jaw containing several teeth intact
was given to the witness and identi-
fed. called attention to theljury to
the hole in the head. They then ex-
amined it very carefully. The body
was exhumed on the 11th just before
sundown.
MR.. C. w. COLTRIN
Testified: reside at Compton. My
farm adjoins the Barley farm on the
west. On the 9Th of October there
was no one living ON the Barbey
place. My house was about twenty
five rods from the barn which was
burned. Witness attention was
called to the blackboard dia-
gram, and he was asked to
explain the relative positions of
houses, farms, etc. On the night
of the 9Th of October discovered the
Barley barn to be on FIRE. l went to
where the building was burning
about A. M, October 7th. l was at
the spot on the 7th when
the remains of a body were
found. The feet were near where
the sill had been, and near the
door. noticed the legs and left arm
we're burned away. Noticed hole
in the head. / was present when the
inquest was held. l saw some articles