Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-12-06
CAPT. GARRETTs SCHEMES.
MALTA EdEcOmb and Josie Corbctt
Tell of Them.

CAPT. GAkREFTS SCHEMEo.
n AHA EdEcOmb and Josie Corbctt
Tell Of Them.
At quite an early hour Wednesday
Afternoon Mrs. Edgcomb finished her
direct testimony in the case OF incest
pending against Captain F. N. Garrett.
She was then handed over to the tender
Of a rigid cross-examination, in
which w. 7. Williams acted as inter-
rogotor. This was kept up all the rest Of
that afternoon and continued all yester-
day morning, intermitted at noon and
taken up again in the afternoon, not clos
ing until after o'clock in the afternoon.
The ordeal was q terrible one, as any
person will comprehend vino has heard
Mr.. Williams cross-queation witness,
and who also recalls the condition OF Mrs.
Edgcomb, who is within few weeks of
The Court came to the
rescue of the witness many times, and q
very large percentage of the attorneys
questions were ruled out as improper. But
the big lawyer did not have the battle all
his own way. The little woman often fred
up and "got back at Williams in great
shape" At last the legal batteries were
exhausted and Mrs. Edgcomb was al
lowed to retire, but Williams said to the
Court as she stepped from the stand that
he might have to recall the witness at a
later stage Of the game. Judge Cheney
said he would not instruct the witness to
that effect, that she had been on the
stand two days, that she was in no con-
dition to be there, and that her exam
ination must be closed now. She was
then told to resume her seat, and WAS
examined as to what she testified in the
lower court. 1t was as to her saying to
Mrs. Arnold that Garrett was not her
father. She denied ever saving so. Her
own attorney then took her in hand for q
moment and che said Garrett had told
her the intercourse he was having with
her was all right, and that he did so in
order to save her from the necessity of
having intercourse With other men.
w. A. Stratton WAS then called. He
stated that he is tue manager of the
Union Lumber and Supply Company.
He knew Garrett in the Street Superin-
tendent's Office. He had known Malta
about Eve months. He first met her
with her father on the street. This was
in July last. During the time Edgcomb
was under indictment Garrett talked to
the witness at several places and times.
Garrett talked to him about getting
Malta away from Mrs. Watson. He
said Edgcomb would not live with Malta
when he learned all. He would leave her
when he found that she was
born out of wedlock. He wanted to get
Malta and send her east to some institu-
ton where he knew the priest in charge.
He said Malta would not then be seen
here agaiR. Garrett promised if this was
done that the cases pending against
Edgcom5 B should be dismissed. He said he
could arrange that with the District At
torney's Office. The matter about little
Ella, he said, could be dismissed, too,
and he would have this done If Malta
could be got away. Garrett said the
best thing to do would be to take Edg-
comb out of Jail; that he thought Edg-
comb had done all the harm he could
do. The witness stated that Mrs. Edg-
comb had told him of her intercourse
with her father.
Officer G. G. Connolly occupied the
room next to that OF the CARROTS at Mrs.
Farrell's place, on Clay street. There
" 90 OnlJ o LaAA OOAia PhL ttp,OA UOOWCCh
the two rooms. Garrett and Malta oc-
eupied the room. There was but one
bed in the room. Mr.. Connolly testified
to other matters of too broad a nature to
put in print.
The next witness was Josie Corbett,
whose name has figured 60 prominently
in this case heretofore. She
said she was 16 years old. She was at a
fruit stand on Fort street, and Captain
Garrett used to come there and talk to
her. One day she and her mother we're
standing on the street. Her mother was
talking about renting cottage. Garrett
came up and spoke to Josie and then
told her mother he knew OF a couple of
nice cottages. Later Josie went to live
at Garrett's house. Part of the time she
was there continually, and part of the
time she only slept there. Garrett told
this witness that he had had intercourse
with his daughter, Malta, ever since
she was 12 years old. He told her this
while they were riding in street car.
Here this witness was handed big
pile of manuscript. She identified the
papers as being in Garrett's haDd-writ-
ing. He gave these to witness before his
other trial and told her to read all this
over carefully and to study it out.
She was to testify in the court as indi-
Gated in these papers. Josie said after
Garrett was out of trouble she was to be
sent to st. Louis under an assumed
name in order to make it impossible to
find her if there should be prosecution
for perjury. One bit of paper, also in
Garrett's hand, contained q sketch of
the plan Of St. Louis, with streets, parks,
stc., and the name Josie was to assume.
This closed the day, and recess was
taken until this morning, when the mill
will grind again. During the cross-ex-
animation Of Malta her mother sat in the
courtroom, and frequently while the girl
was undergoing the terrible ordeal, the
mother shed copious floods of tears. Be-
side Capt. Garrett sits short, corpulent
man, with foreign air about him, with
long black hair combed back in "kinky'
waves from his forehead. No one ex-
cepting Garrett's lawyers ever speak to
him or seem to know him.
Captain Garrett's theory of his case is
that Edgcomb and others concocted a
conspiracy to get Edgcomb out OF jail and
out of trouble by getting him in. The
object of the Corbett girls testimony is
to show that the whole case is a con.
spirscy on the part Of Garrett to shift
the blame of his intimacy with his
daughter onto the shoulders of Edgcomb.