The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-01-25
HER CHII.D'S FATHER.
The Charge Made Against
& Charles B. Wright
y MISS NEVADA. LEWIS.
Preston lewis Held to Await tho 40
tion of the Grand Jury for
ExtortioR.

Norrell yesterday, to answer q com.
plant, sworn to by Charles J. Wrigh
and charging extor.ion. The defend
ant was represented by Mr.. r. W
Young. while Assistant District Attor-
ney HiIes looked after the interests Of
the people. The prosecution begar
by placing the complaining witnes.
Wright upon the stand. He said hs
was travelling man by occupation, anG
was ia the employ of several firms. He
had BEEN acquainted with the defend
ant, Preston Lewis, for many years
in fact, they had been boys together
On the 18th day of February, al
about o'clock, Lewis called upon
him and said he desired to see
him on business; he had no time
to chat then, however, and by agree
ment they met couple of hours later
in Goddess drug store. After INDUCING
in short conversation in the store
they proceeded along First South ami
down First East Street. Everything
went along peaceably until the neigh :
borhoed of the middle of Washington
Square was reached Lewis asked him
to come over toward the fence for a
moment, and when they had proceeded
few steps from the sidewalk,
HE PULLED GUN
and leveled it at the head of the witness
with the remark that he was the
accursed offspring of a canine of
the female sex, and also the
father of his (Lswis) daughters
child: Wright requested Lewis
to hold on, and she held on him with
the gum" and demanded tAat he sign a
paper which he presented ard which
purported to be bill of sale for horse,
buggy and harness which he owned, or
rather, which he had made a present to
his wife when their child was ill last
September. Lewis struck q light and
Wright signed tbs paper. CONTINUING,
Wright said: Yes, signed the paper
by the light of the metch 1 was We v
glad to do so under the circumstances.
| told him that he wronged me. and he
said he knew all about it. He then
marched me down the sidewalk toward
my house. On our way down we met
a couple of people. Before reaching
them he told me to march to the right,
and said that if I uttered a word or
appealed for assistance in any way he
would fix me;
HE WOULD FILL ME- FULL.
We then went on, and he marched me
through my own big gates to the barn,
and made me hitch up the horse and
buggy. did so, and he took the outfit
away. Just before leaving he said he
intended to get out of me new Schstt-
Ter wagon, with bows and cover, after
which he would take great pleasure IN
Transforming me into corpse"
This was all the evidence offered by
the prosecution, and Mr.. Young opened
ais side of the case by introducing the
defendant, Preston Lewis. He admitted
ton and under the circumstances
plainant, he said. as far as the spot
alleged to have taken place. 81 turned
to Wright" he continued, "at that
point, and said: "You are the son of
b-h that ruined my daughter. :"
Wright admitted his guilt, and that he
was the father of my girls child, and 1
then told him that he must do some
thing to support his victim and her
child. He asked me what I wanted,
and | told him | wanted the horse and
buggy. He said all right, that 1 could
have it, and in response to my request,
he signed the bill of sale. I did not
use any force, threats or coersion of
any kind l had no gun, therefore |
could not have pointed one at him, as
he alleges. had good reason to be-
lieYe that he was
THE FATHER OF THE CHILD,
because he had told my daughter that
he would do anything he could for her
in case the facts ever came out. He
hitched up the horse freely and volun-
tarily, and never made the least objec-
ton. When he bad finished hitching, l
jumped into the buggy and drove home.
NEVADA LEWIS
was the next one called. She testified
that the complaining witness, @. r.
Wright, was the father Of her child,
which would be year old on the 4th of
February next Soon after the child
was born he told me he would support
it. He has given me about $50 alto
gether. I told father that Wright was
the father of the child | hold here. and
of his promises to support it.
THE ARGUMENTS
following. the closing of the testimony
were SHIT on the part of Mr.. Hiles,
but quite lengthy so far as Mr.. Young
was concerned. The former thought
a clear case had been made out against
the accused and that he should be held.
He alluded to the fact that Lewis had
failed to acquaint Wright with his busi-
ness and asked him to sign the bill of
sale when there was light enough 10
enable him to do it without the aid of q
match and: bought the fact that the de-
PENDANT had selected lonely and I'M
frequented portion of the city in which
to force him to attach his signature to
the paper, should weigh heavily against
him.
Mr.. Young argued that there was
not the slightest evidence on which to
base a charge of extortion and quoted
numerous authorities in support OF his
proposition. Even admitting that the
defendant did demand that the com :
plainaut make some reparation for the
wrong he had committed, he did no
more than was right, he was asking for
no more-not as much probably as the
law would give him. To demand some
thing that you own, or clearly have q