Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-04-28
THE WEBB CASE.
The DEFENDANTS story OF the
Burglary.

burglary was resumed yesterday IN
Department No. 8 of the Superior
Court. The defendant was placed on
the stand and testified that he had
entered into the arrangement to pre-
tend to burglarize Lambourne & Tur-
ner's store for the purpose of catching
the burglar Of his own store. He had
suspected Gaines of being the burglar
and had made an arrangement with
Marsh whereby they were to let
Gaines go SO far into the burglary of
Lambourne & Turner's store and then
they were to arrest him and get him
to confess to the burglary of Webb's
store. When all of them were ar
rested he had expected that Marsh
would tell all about it and get him
clear. He understood that Marsh
was an officer and was managing the
matter and thought it would be all
right
At l o'clock Webb resumed the wit
ness stand: "Lambourne & Turner's
store was burglarized about a month
after mine. 1t was at the time 1 told
Marsh that suspected Gaines of the
burglary of my store that Marsh sug-
gested the other He said he wanted
Gaines for robbing man of gold
watch and chain. He also said that
WINNER, though pretending to be a
friend of Gaines, was better friend
of him (Marsh). The last meeting
with Marsh and Gaines, previous to
the Also street burglary, was five days
before it, in the Fountain saloon, and
referred to it. Altogether we had four
interviews. There was one meeting
in Lucas office; we were all three to-
| gether. Nothing was said at that time
about the Also street burglary refer
ence was had to the Harris place. The
bit and brace with which we forced
an entrance into the store were mine,
the cold chisel was mine, some of the
other tools belonged to Marsh or were
procured from Lucas office. bought
the powder. / carried the drill in my
hand, wrapped up in paper. The
powder was to show Gaines how to do
the genuine job. We laid our tools out
side. If they were carried in they were
so by Marsh. 1t made him late to get in.
went to the saloon and Marsh
handed Gaines a package - which
contained some instrumental bit, l
think. l could not say it was my
own or the one Marsh bought.
don't know whether Gaines had told
me before this or not that he had
offered WINNER, the watchman,'$l0O
to stay away while we entered the
store. There was some talk about
800, but don't know whether it was
for that purpose or not. understood
| WINNER was going to be present at
the entrance. never spoke to him
| but once in my life, l believe, and
that was one night on Alame la street
when he was introduced to me. l
| did not tell of my connection with
| Marsh when l was arrested, because
thought Marsh would explain every
thing and l would be set free. 1 had
[ every confidence in him. When 1
was taken to the County Jail l told
Jailer Russell the whole story just as
you hear it now on this stand. COM
menced to tell Detective Harris Of
my trouble, but he went away or else
he would have cleared the matter up
for me. No, Harris did not advise
me to make clean breast of it. He
said nothing about that. Several times
Gaines brought the messages from
Marsh. 1 cannot say how many
shoes were stolen from my store.
The shoes taken were the most ex-
pensive ones owned. 1 paid SO for
them and sold them for So. l did not
sell man named Boyle a pair OF
shoes for $3.50. l sold them for
$3.50 and collected 81 down; the
other $3.50 I ran after long time
without getting it.
After few more questions, which
were objected to-the objections being
sustained-the prosecution excused
the witness and called E. F, Bovle.
All the questions asked Mr.. Boyle
were objected to, and the objections
sustained, so the District Attorney
excused him and called A. w. Marsh.
Mr.. Marsh said he knew defendant,
and went on to say: first met Webb
last February. He was introduced to
me in his own store. There was then
no conversation. except about a pair
of shoes | wanted made. Saw him
next at Lucas's office; a night or two
afterwards I met him again at his
office Webb and Gaines and myself
met some four or five days before the
burglary in saloon, and Gaines said
that Lambourn & Turner carried lots
OF money in their safe, and only made
one deposit a week, and that on We'd
nesdays, so that it would be best to
''crack it" on Tuesday night, as the, e
would be more money in it then than
at other times. Webb agreed
with him. 80 did l. After we fixed
our plans Gaines asked me to buy a
bit as he needed that instrument.
consented, and day or two after
wards, Sunday afternoon, the 26th Of
February, We met at 1913 West First
street. Webb pinned a paper over
the window and we commenced to
make some masks, at the same time
talking over our plans. While doing
so some one came to the door. Gaines
got up and went to it and Mr.. Bliss
let in dog. There was woman on
the ouside. She went away without
saying anything. Webb examined
some fuse had with me. l had not
bought the bit then. Webb took out
his watch and tested the fuse. He
cut three or four pieces five or six
feet long, saying he would take plenty
of it as the safe might not open the
first time, as he wanted to use as
little powder as possible so as not to
make much noise. The tools were
concealed under desk in Lucas office
at 8 O'Clock at night. We took them
out again at II 80 o'clock and divided
them among ourselves. We went
down through Chinatown and climbed
a fence in the rear of Lamborne &
Turner's. When we got to the door
asked if they were at the right one.