Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-07-28
THE LUCAS CASE.
Testimony of Elton and of Two
other ~ illnesses.

IHE UUCAO CAOE.
Testimony of Elton and of TIVE
other ~ illnesses.
The trial of the alleged detective A. J
Lucas, was commenced before Judg'
Cheney yesterday. The morning wal
consumed in selecting a jury. Fifteer
men were challenged for cause. The
jury as finally impaneled was made VI
of the following citizens: Byron w
Bates, w. B. Scarborough, George e
Allen, F. p. Bowland. Franklin K. May
lor, 1. A. Willis. Ephriam Rider, d
Edison Smith, G. A. McElfresh, N. M
Johnson, Chauncey Smith and George
E. TORY. Deputy District Attorney Dun
lap conducts the case for the people and
Colonel G. Wiley Wells and G. G.
Stephens for the defense.
The first witness was John r. Farrell
of S33 South Olive street. He testified
to his wife's ownership of the purse
WI ich forms the subject of the investiga-
tion and which, it is charged, Detective
Lucas received from Elton knowing that
it was stolen. This purse Mr.. Farrell
said was stolen from the room which he
and his wife occupied on Temple street.
The purse was a handsome silk affair
and contained between 500 and $50.
The Sheriff was then dispatched to the
jail to bring the principal witness for the
prosecution, the famous William Elton.
His present place of residence, as ne aG-
mitted to the jury, is the penitentiary at
San Quentin, where he is serving a term
of five years for burglary. He looked less
cool and composed than he did when he
first offered his story to the public six
weeks ago. At that time he was not at
all backward about expressing himself,
and answered up roundly to all that was
said to him. The course of training at the
States Prison seems to have taken much
of the spirit out of him. His natural tone
of voice is loud and strident. No sooner
did he begin his testimony, than it was
evident to all who knew him that he was
playing some sort of a new game. His
and could not be heard either by the re-
porter Or the nearest juror, not to men
tion the rest of those interested.
"Come speak up! What do you mean
by this performance ?" roared the attor-
neys for the defense.
Elton eyed them coolly and proceeded
in the same emaciated tone of voice. He
had not gone ten words before the court
reporter flung down his pen in disgust,
and half the jury were waving their fans
and shouting louder" For a time it
looked as though the effort to elicit testi-
mony from the thief would have
to be abandoned, every effort to
induce him to speak in tone
of voice that could be understood being
of no avail. At last, after some twenty
minutes of fruitless repetition of ques-
tions and answers, the Court turned on
the young man very savagely and gave
him to understand that this trifling had
gone far enough anG that if he had any
object in offering his testimony he had
better speak as he was ordered, or he
would be promptly sent back to Jail and
thence dispatched north again. At this
he seemed to think better of his deter
mination not to speak, and from that
time his answers were perfectly audible
He told, in answer to the District At
torney's questions, substantially the
same story that he had related in the
lower court. He was Londoner by
never stolen nor done anything wrong
until he began to work for Lucas. He
had done detective work for Lucas in
San Francisco, and upon coming to Los
Angeles from Stockton last spring he
applied to him again for employment.
"Lucas gave me work." said he,
"of two kinds; one was to
spot street cars and the
other was to rustic. The latter
meant that was to slip into houses and
pick up whatever I could find OF value,
half the proceeds to 60 to me and the
other half to Lucas. On streetc cars l was
to watch the conductors and see that
they didn't knock down any fares. If
was caught inside of any house 1 was to
show some letters which had and to say
1 was looking for the person to whom
they we're addressed. Afterward he gave
me detective badge which l was to
wear to help me out of scrapes If l was
caught When l stole the purse in ques-
ton took it to Lucas, who received it
slyly without attracting notice. There
was $25 in it, Of which I extracted my
half"
"Why didn't you take it all ?" asked
the Court. "Lucas would never have
known"
sI am sure, 1 don't know why l
didn't" the thief answered innocently.
@Whenever 1 wanted to speak to Lucas
used to get in front of the st. Elmo oppo-
site to the detectives Office and wipe my
face with my handkerchief. Then he
would always come over. The rea-
son I did this was that he did not
want the other employees in the Office
to know that worked for him. When
was arrested Lucas tried to get me to
plead guilty to petit larceny so as to get
off with light sentence. Before the
police came down on me he warned me
to look out and took my badge away.
The cross-examination bids fair to be
long one. Judge Cheney ruled that as
the character of the witness for truth and
veracity is in question, it is admissible
to review his past life and actions. His
present name he declared was William
Elton, but to the question of whether he
was ever called Ode Silverstone he re-
fused to give any answer for the reason
that he did not wish to disgrace his
parents. He had been Imprisoned for
three months at Stockton under the name
of George Moore, but he would not ad-
init that he was professional thief. Be-
ing asked how his portrait had strayed
into Lucas rogues' gallery, he told an
entertaining story OF how he had written
to his mother that he was working for
Lucas, and she had Immediately sent
that individual his photograph.
sCT ooh here % cried one Of the attor-