Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-05
ALIBIS FOR THE TWO KNIVES
The Defense Has Large Stock OF
Ready-Made AlibiS.
Warranted to Fit Any Situation With
ont Alteration.
Judge Wing Resumes His Harrangut
for Coughlin ct al.

CHICAGO. Dec. AT the opening of
the Cronin trial this morning. Forrest, for
the defense, announced that he was pre-
pared to introduce some evidence In re-
buttal as 1t had heen stipulated he might
do before the arguments Logan.
August Lowensteln, dealer In clothing
was then put upon the stand and testified
that he had sold to Dan Coughlin on April
q last, the week before the murder.
a pair of pants which Coughlin then and
there put on. In doing so he took off the
old pair and emptied the pockets, placing
the contents on a chair Among these
were two knives
The knives taken from Coughlm by De-
tectlve Flynn at the time of his arrest. and
on Friday last identified by Mr.. Conklin as
having been carried by Dr. Cronin, were
then shown to the witness. He testified
that he could not say positively that they
were the same knives as those which he
saw Coughlin take out of his pocket on
April 9th, but they looked something like
them.
On cross-examination the witness said
he just glanced at the knives and started
to take one of them, saving Coughlin
didn't need two, but Coughlin stopped
him. saying he wanted both of them.
The examination brought out the fact that
the witness is brother of ex-Detective
Jake Lowenstein, Dan Coughlin's partner
The next witness was Jake Lowenstein.
He testified that he had seen one of
Coughlin's knives quite often and the
other he had himself carried When
shown the knives already In evidence he
said: THAT one-the large one is Cough
Inns; | know from the way it is ground,
from the color of the handle, and from its
general appearance. 1t had been ground
to point on the sandstone at the station.
As to the other. know that he had one
just like it. y
Judge Longenecker asked: might not
that knife have been ground against the
sandstone after May 4?''
Yes, sir, it mi ght.
ross-examination failed to shake the
testimony of Loewenstein, and after a
trifing delay Judge Wing resumed his ar
gument.
He warned the jury that they might be-
heve with considerable confidence that the
prisoners were not innocent, but this could
not Justify conviction; they must be con-
WINGED beyond reasonable doubt of the
prisoners guilt, A mere prepondreence of
the evidence In favor of guilt would not
Justify conviction. He then continued his
review of the evidence. and coming down
to the two knives supposed to be Cronin's
he said this question is easily disposed of
by two propositions. First, Cough
lin is either guilty or innocent.
If innocent he could not have
had those knives if they were Cronin' s.
it guilty, he would not have had them if
they were Cronin's. Those two plain
propositions in the mind of any reasonable
man would be the end of that knife episode
the last and grand climax that the state
gave to the case of suspicion against these
men. Judge Wing then took up the ques-
ton of the alleged conspiracy in Camp 20.
The state, he said. had to make out con-
spiracy, because this ease could not be
maintained in any court of justice against
the defendants unless the fast of a conspir-
acy was established beyond all
reasonable doubt. Speaking of the
ways in which to establish
conspiracy, he said, you can consider all
proven facts and from that infer the con-
spiracy, if the conspiracy is proven by all
reasonable doubt. 1t is fair and it is
right under the law that when you are
weighing any circumstance against Cough
lin you should look at that circumstance in
the light of the law, but not In the light
of the facts proven against the other man.
| object to this jury OF the court taking a
partly proven conspiracy and from it CIV
ing color and character to individual cir
cumstances and acts proven against my
client Wing then went on to
say that he mad never heard pre-
sented so absurd a theory of
conspiracy as the state presents In this
case. The state pretends, he said, that
there are a multitude of circumstances,
which, if considered, lead to the conclu-
sion of a conspiracy Independent of camp
20. That is not material The
question is whether the acts
proven against the men on trial indi-
cate that they were criminal participants
in some conspiracy which resulted in Gro
nin's death. 1t may be that his death did
what you are here to try. If it is uncer
that there is uncertainty about it from in
ception to end, is most conclusively demon
strated.
Another circumstance which ought to
be dismissed is the testimony of a thief,
that some two or three years ago. Dan
Coughlin had an enemity against DIR.
only to take the testimony of honest men
men we're sure of. Would you like to
have your liberty restricted on the word of
a thief the breath of a vagrant? Would
you like me to go to your wife and say:
AS juror | sent your husband to prison
on the word of thief or to say to your
children: / brand you with an eternal
infamy on the word Of thief?' But the
state corroborates the testimony of one
thief by that of another
But does not the testimony of
the other thief require corroboration
and so on till all the thieves run out, which
would take long time? | don't
say that thieves may not tell the truth.
They may, but Lord! you can't be sure of
it. Veracity and business honor go hand
in hand. How much would you risk on
the word of man who followed public
men, seeking sporting privileges and
trying to fleece the grangers at the shell
game? Would you risk the life of fell
low man upon the breath of a thief? The
brazen fellow Sampson. confessed his guilt
on all crimes save murder only, but WASH t
he willing to commit that when he tells
this story with the intent to send an in
nocent man to the gallows?''
The speaker gave Sampson great char
acter, and said that if it had been charged
of any other of the prisoners than Cough
lin that he knew Sampson, it would be a
circumstance more dangerous than any yet
brought forward, but it was Dan. Cough
Inns duty as faithful public servant
'And yet. ;" cried Judge Wing, ''you are
asked to cut off from the face of the earth
a trusted official of the city on the word of
a man who hasn earned an honest dollar
in ten years, if his own word may be