Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-12
LUCAS CASE.
On Trial for Receiving
Stolen Goods.
EMIL HARRIS TESTIMONY
Only Two Witnesses Examined
Yesterday.-The Trial Con-
tinues this Morning.

festefuay.-The Trial Con-
tinues this Morning.
The case Of the People VS.. A. j.
Lucas, proprietor Of the Pacific Coast
Detective agency came up before JUS
tice Taney for trial yesterday, at 3.
p. M. The charge was for knowingly
receiving stolen goods, and the indict-
ment specified particularly certain
pistol owned by Charles E. Mosher,
now of Pasadena, though at the time
of the robbery, of this city. There
we're three charges-one the fore
going and two others for burglary,
against the defendant, to be tried
yesterday, but as the attorneys for the
defense~were: engaged in other cases
during the forenoon, they all were
postponed until 3 P. NJ, when this case
came up for examination.
The frst witness called was Charles
e. Mosher, but, as he was absent. his
brother, Edward S. Mosher, answered.
| and said: l am a brother of Charles
E. Mosher. Some time last April
| about the 10th-we missed nickel
plated 3S-calibre pistol from the
drawer IN the bureau in our room at
45l south Main street. / placed the
pistol in the drawer in the morning.
and my brother and L went to our
work at Tenth and Main streets.
When we came back in the evening,
about 7 O'Clock of the same day. |
looked in the drawer and found that
the pistol was gone. The pistol be-
longed to my brother, and was one
that he changed from rim fire to a
center fire action. l made inquiries
and found that only the chambermaid
had been in the room TO clean it up
as usual. l could not ascertain if any
one else had been in there. NY room
is to the left of the staircase as we 90
up: The pistol is probably worth s..
The cross-examination elected
nothing beyond the foregoing.
Emil Harris, the detective, said:
have known MIR. A. j. Lucas since he
came to Los Angeles. | saw him the
first time on the 10Th OF April last.
had search-warrant to search Lucas
place for the pistol and found it on his
desk in paper box standing on his
desk. MIR. Lucas handed it to me.
think it was the first thing we found
enumerated i'll the search warrant. |
also found gold watch chain with a
blue enameled locket, gold ring with
a water opal setting, one white cameo
earring, another gold ring with a
cameo setting, silver plated button
hook and a gold shawl pin, the shape
OF a fan. That was all we found
there, then we went to MIR. Lucas
residence. There we found silver
beaded purse, gold pencil with pen
and silver plated corkscrew. These
articles were found on or in the
possession of Mrs. Lucas. | took
a letter to her from Mr..
Lucas. When we went into
Lucas Office, he stated that the boy
Elton had handed him the articles to
keep for him, saying that they were
too heavy for him to carry. Mr.. Luz
cas- said he thought the articles were
stolen, and had so marked them.
He had not notified the police or the
newspaper reporters that he had
stolen property in his possession be-
cause he wanted to get the reward.
He claimed authority to retain the
articles because he was in the private
detective business.
Here the articles previously men
toned were admitted in evidence and
placed in a row upon the table in front
of the court.
Here Colonel wells obtained the
affidavits for the search warrants and
read them aloud to the witness, for
him to state whether or not he knew
the articles offered in evidence to be
included in the warrant. In answer
to a question as to why be had taken
articles not included in the search
warrant, witness stated that Lucas
had handed them to him stating that
they belonged to Elton.
Witness continued: Before | went
to Mr.. Lucas house I had three Off
GERS around the house. | went there
with two other men. One went around
the house, the other went in with me.
l went in and read the search war
rant to Mrs. Lucas. She objected to
my searching the place. A lady friend
who was present, told her that Sue
would have to submit, whereupon she
handed me purse and pencil ,s.say-
ing "that is ALL" then handed her
the note from her husband, when she
went to her drawer and gave me the
corkscrew. She gave me the purse
and pencil before | gave her the
letter-and then asked her if there
was not more, and handed her the
note, whereupon she said: Oh, yes,
there is corkscrew," and she then
handed it to me. Alter getting the
purse, the corkscrew and the pencil,
[ went to the cellar and looked
around. MY men searched the yard
and outhouses and / and Mr.. Russell
the house.
Colonel Wells then asked where the
paper was that contained the articles
taken from Lucas safe.
Witness could not state, he had
given the articles wrapped in the pa
per to Sheriff Kays and had not seen
it since.
The reason Colonel Wells was SO |
particular to find what had become of |
that paper was because Lucas had |
claimed that the articles were
wrapped in piece of white paper
bearing the words,
'sToLEN PROPERTY.
Witness went on: When I went to
Lucas Office he seemed to think we
were joking, and Metzler said: ''We
are not joking Mr.. Lucas. We are in
and he began to read the
warrant.
AS he mentioned each article Lucas
brought them out. He did not offer
to give us anything. After We finished