Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-03
o CRUSHED BADLY
AND TRAMPLED INTO TEE DIRT
AND FILTH OF THE 20
LICE COURT FLOOR.

EkfAy Unis morning mAss M1ssa0
vickers Achieves . Great success.
Other Items Of News Of All Sorts and
Of More or Less Interest.
The examination Of Harris, Lyle and
Cline, the three men arrested last week
for breaking into DR.. Christie's room on
East Mercury street and carrying of
about everything the room contained,
took place before Judge Newkirk yesterday
afternoon.
0fcourse the court room was crowded and
a lager crowd Of crooks and toughs OF all
kinds probably has not been seen together
in the city for some time. There were
some respectable, law-abiding citisens In
the room, to be sure, but the other ele-
ruent preponderated, and all that was
necessary to enable the court officers and
policemen present to make the greatest
haul OF crooks, thieves and their fix ever
made in the city, was evidence; for they
were there, and that ih full force,
unless countenances have ceased to
be correct induces Of character.
Men with mugs on them that would give
their owners six months in the workhouse
before any police magistrate in the land
were there in plenty, listening to. every
word and drinking in every sentence
uttered by the court. lawyers and wit
nesses. Their ranks had been invaded ny
the law, and they were interested In the
proceedings, for they knew well that it was
but . question Of time when some Of them
selves would be before the same court or
one similar in some other place.
Mrs. Jones, the lady from whom the
doctor rents his room, was the first and
principal witness. She infinitely described
how the burglary was committed. particu-
lars of which have already been published
in The MINER and their reproduction is UNI
necessary. and identified, positively. Harris
and Lyle as two OF the men whom she saw
making way with the plumber. She saw
the men clearly as they were walking away
with the trunk and other articles, it being
broad daylight, and so stated. Judge
Kiethly, who defended Lyle and Harris,
tried to confuse the little lady on cross ex-
animation, as also did Harris, but in this
he failed utterly, for her testimony was
plain, straightforward and to the point.
Officers Cody and Leyden, who arrested
the trio, were next sworn and testified to
the particulars OF the arrest, which also
have been published, and how they found
Lyle and Harris standing over the trunk
in the cabin to which they had taken it
after stealing It from the room. They
swore that Cline was partially undressed
when they. entered the cabin. and that he
they found him. They then detailed the
fact of the Identification by Mrs. Jones Of
Lyle and Harris as the parties who com.
mitted the burglary, and the return of the
st,len property.
Lyle, who, under the name OF Lyons, has
already served q term in jail for larceny,
vas the next witness. He told a rambling,
incoherent story about seeing three men
walking away with a trunk while he was on
his way to the cabin in company with
Harris, and wound up by declaring that
those men had placed the trunk where it
was found and then ran away. He said
that Cline had opened the door for him
and Harris when they knocked at the
cabin. II.
Harris next held up his hand and called
on his maker to witness that he was telling
the truth, and then began to lie at q rate
which would have made q Chicago Doodle
alderman feel ashamed. He testified that
he went to- the cabin alone and found Lyle
there ahead OF him trying to get in. and
that he had seen two men named Conroy
and Adams push a trunk into the cabin
door and run away, and also that a third
whose name he did not know was run
ming over a hill, near the house. He, like
Lyle, stated that Cline had opened the door
himself and Lyle.
The evidence failing to show Cline's
completely in the robbery, and the fact
that the principal witness. Mrs. Jones, did
not identity him az one Of the thieves, Pros
ecutor De Witt, whom Mr.. Kiethly insisted
IN ra1iinn ttaounao1 For Tho o,o-n1
moved that he be discharged. The mo-
ton was granted and the accused was re-
leased. vl 1885,. .-.-.
Mr.. Kiethly now called Cline on the
stand, and the gentleman had hardly be-
gun his story before everybody in the
room came to the conclusion that as a
catch-as-catch.can wrestler with truth he
could hold his own against all corners.
On direct examination he wove q
most gaudy tissue, but OF SO
irail a fabric that when sub
mitted to cross examination by counsel
for the crown" it threatened to 60 to pieces
and be waited away on the tobacco i'm.
pregnated~ atmosphere which swept through
the court room. He said that at about 5
of the morning when he was ar
rested he had been awakened by hearing
one knocking at the door, and that
he got up to see who it was, and heard two
men say, Push it in" and that as
the trunk inside. One of the
men, he said, entered the cabin and
pulled in the trunk, while another one, /
who was outside, said, go and
look out" and then left. He said that he
had seen the men before but did not know
who they were. The one in the cabin, he
said, he had seen several times but did not
know his NAME. He stated that the men
were not Harris and Lyle, who, he swore,
came in shortly after the trunk had been
left in the cabin by the others. He said
be got alarmed after seeing the trunk
and demanded to know OF the men who
left it there what they meant by bringing it
and then became alarmed and lear.
ing trouble began to dress to get away and
Was partially dressed When the officers
made their appearance.
On examination his glibness oftongue |
seemed to desert him and he frequently |
paused as il to recall what he had testified |
directly and finally, when Mr.. Dewitt |
too pressing, said that he had been |
30 BADLY frustrated" that he could not |
quite recall what had really transpired. |
All he knew was that neither Lyle nor
Harris bad brought the trunk to the cabin,
and appeared relieved when told "that's
all." Somehow he seemed to have for
all about the wash basin, pitcher, |
towel and shaving mug with Harris and
Lyle also carried of when they stole the
trunk. Those articles probably fell into
the cabin through q crack in the roof.
This ended the trial, and the court held
the two prisoners in the sum of $500 each,
while the witnesses were released on their |
OWN recognizance, to appear when wanted.
Messrs Mcbride & Haldorn appeared for
line, and Mr.. Haldorn says that their late