Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-22
State vs.. Governor.
The Remarkable Case Of Grim.
inal Libel in Iowa.

The Remarkable Case Of Grim
inal Libel in Iowa.
A GREAT CROWD IN ATTENDANCE
To Hear the Evidence Against Gov. Lar
rabee- Young Turney's Attorney the
First Witness-Hs Relates Some Inter-
esting Interviews with the Executive.
and Charges Him with Making Haste
Very Slowly-The Jury.
Dies MONIES, Ia, Feb 22.-When Judge
Conrad called the case Of the Estate against
William Larrabee" yesterday morning at y
o'clock the courtroom was crowded. Prose
cutor Macomber moved that the state be al
lowed to bring in additional witnesses, includ-
ing the executive council, Private Secretary
Hossfeid, and others. The governors coun-
sci stated that it would not be necessary, az
all the records Of the Office on the Turney
case would be produced. So the motion was
not allowed. The work of impaneling jury
then began, and consumed the entire fore
noon. OF the twelve finally selected, two are
colored, one having been an attache of the
state house and at present the governors bar
Der. The taking of testimony began at
the afternoon session after the law
yers had finished their statements
of the case to the jury. A. Denman
was the first witness sworn. He is a young
attorney, and has been active in assisting
Mrs. Turney in obtaining a pardon for her
Bishop offered to enter an admission as to the
printing, publishing and circulation of the
circular containing the matter alleged to be
libelous. Prosecutor Macomber was willing
to receive this as far as it would go, but went
on to examine Denman, who testified that he
knew the governor; that ne was engaged as
| attorney to obtain Turner's pardon: that he
had called on the governor and asked him for
"a copy Of that libelous pamphlet" he was
circulating. The governor old not seem to
understand what he meant, and he de-
scrlbed II, and the governor gave him a COPY
lie told the governor il was libclouS. and the
governor said prove it He told the gov
eInor he was offending against both the state
and federal laws. The governor told him he
had better look out or he would get into
trouble himself
hs must expect no more courtesies from
that office He told the governor that he
asked no couTtesies; that he came to him as
an enemy He had frequently talked TO the
governor about Turney, but could not recall
that they had talked about Mrs Turney He
presented formal argument TO the governor
the first week In September, 1888, for the
pardon of Turney.
what did the governor say about the Tur>
ney case them
81 presented my argument and asked for
an oral hearing. BE said he had not the TINA
That was all that was said then I came
IN again during the state fair and he again
refused to hear me, saying that be had sent
my argument to D. A Wynkoop, the Jack.
son county attorney who defended Turney at
the trial, and that he would send for me
when he wanted 10 hear me, which would be
soon l called again and again, and always
received the same answer. About Nov o
asked him if he had heard nom Wynkoop. He
said not, but would write him This was
about the third time he gave I'll s answer. I
told him there was one thing that must
firmly protest against, and that was his saw
ing to people that Turney had threatened the
lives OF jackson county people il released. +
told him thai was very improper that the
thing for him to say was simply that be had
the case under advisement He said that
perhaps he knew more about the case than I
did / sent him a letter in which demanded
that be set time beyond which Wynkoop
could not delay answering without default,
i got in reply two or three lines from the
governor, which l will furnish He made
no answer TO my motion about Wyukoop +
called and asked him to set s. time He said
he could not do it / told him that was
giving Wynkoop an advantage by his own
default. | asked him two OF three time 70
set time, and be would not set any date At
this same time | asked to see his book. In
which he entered up documents that were
filed with him. told him that UNDERWOOD
that they were enormously entered He re-
fused to give it, saying 1t was private book
Of his own. / fled an argument in
the shape Of letter, but in pre-
vious conversation the governor told me
that one reason why he did not hear me was
that my argument had been sent to Wyn-
koop. | offered to produce duplicate but
he showed no desire to see it told him that
my letter exhibit c." simply contained an
answer to the statement made by him to
others He afterward asked me why had
not given him the duplicate, and / told him 1
did not propose to do anything Of the kind:
that he had shown no desire to see It or know
its contents When / asked him IL I could
ever see the files he always answered, mo.
to day
On cross-examination Denman said that
the governor told hin that lie believed Tur-
ney guilty; that Tuney had confessed his
guilt to him The governor bad never told
Denman to get a statement from Turney.
Turney sent the witness statement Tbs
witness continued: Il corrected it 1 don't
know where it Is now. l think last saw II
in Mrs Turney's hands 1t may have been
destroyed l wrote the statement and sent II
to Chester Turney to put in his own hand
i writing and send it to the governor. lam
sure that Turney did not exactly copy it. He
sent the copy to his mother and one to the
governor. told him to copy it if be could.
or as nearly as he could Mrs. Truney has
the copy. had nothing to do with its pub
ucation, but advised against it.
Denman was still on the stand at adjourn
msnt for the day.
They Must Hang. After All.
ST. PAUL, Feb. 22-After a trial almost