Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-30
THE BUNCO CASE.
The Testimony of Hon. John
B. Haskins.
A LONG CROSS EXAMINATION.
A Large Crowd Listens to the Pro-
ceedings with Great Deal
of Interest.


Rose, the three "sure thing" men who
are charged with having swindled Hon.
John B. Haskins, of New York, out of
$3.50 in cash, and checks to the amount
of 5000, began yesterday morning at
9:30 O'Clock, before Justice Lockwood.
The case has been the subject of SO
much comment that large crowd of
people made their way to the courtroom
and endeavored ito hear the testimony,
but as accommodation flor only a few
was provided, most of them were turned
away.
The entire day was taken up with the
examination, direct and cross, of Mr..
Haskins. Although he is a man ad-
vanced in years and good deal of an in
valid, he stood the ordeal well, even to
the end of the day. Owing to the fact
that the defendants are provided with
three different attorneys, each of whom
was desirous of sitting the testimony down
to the minutest particular, MIR. Haskirs
was compelled to tell the story over
good many different times, and to answer
an infinite number of wearisome quues-
tions. He bore the attacks made upon
him very good naturedly, and afforded
those who were present considerable
amount of amusement by the cool and
easy humor with which many of his re-
plies we're made.
After the exclusion of other witnesses,
Mr.. Haskins took the witness chair and
gave his account of the swindling per-
formance, which, in brief, was about as
follows:
arrived in Los Angeles late last Sun
day evening. 1 first saw Rose the next
day on Main street. had been calling
on friend, and was on my way back to
the hotel, and was much fatigued. Rose
assisted me on the car, saying that he
used to live in New York, and knew
come of my friends in Chicago. That
afternoon l met the man Hood. He in
troduced himself as the son of my old
friend, ex-Postmaster James. He was a
gentlemanly fellow, and believed what
he said. He wanted me to 60 with him
drawn in sort of lottery on the way out.
He said he would make me present of
one of them. We went to the Crystal
Palace op Main street, and up to the
room occupied by Rose. This man
w ulJ6 WAS EcdlCQ at d ldUl6 bubTe, Ou
which lay the cloth with numbers painted
on it. Hood took the cards and asked
me to draw for him to give him luck. l
drew four cards and was informed that
We had drawn 81 900 piece. l hardly
understood what was going on. Then
they told me that it was necessary to put
our checks for $500 piece, which would
be returned to US. There were eight
4 -
banking arrangements before they ac-
cepted my check. Hood also explained
that he was drawing on the Lincoln Ma
tional Bank, of which his father was
President. On the last drawing we we're
my mind that l had been swindled and
went away. On the street was over
taken by Hood, who begged me not to
him with his father. I went to the tele-
graph office and ordered the payment of
the checks stopped.
The checks were offered in evidence
and were entered in spite of an objection
on the part OF the defense that the COM
plant alleged that Mr.. Haskins had been
swindled out of money and not checks.
The witness continued: The sum lost
Wdb dDOub P1OO al SdbD1 WulOD Wdb COl-
lected of me as assessment on the prizes
which had drawn. We received what
appeared to be good money in payment
of the prizes we won. After sending the
telegram l went to the hotel and told
Mr.. Schneider and Mr.. Bennett of what
had happened. They telephoned to the
Police Station and Glass came over al
most Immediately. We started out and
found Hood Just outside tie hotel. He
ran but Glass overlook him."
The cross.examination was begun by
Mr.. Peyton, on behalf of his clients,
Hood and White. He referred rather
sarcastically to the claim put in by Mr..
Haskins that he was in feeble physical
and mental condition, and was called to
order by the Court. The line which
Mr.. Peyton's questions took was an effort
to show that the witness could not be
sure that White was the man who dealt
the cards. The Court finally ruled that
there was no necessity that the witness
should be compelled to swear positively
that White was the man.
In the afternoon session the cross-ex-
animation continued. Mr.. Peyton
brought out the fact that Whites hair
was colored differently, and that he was
now dressed very differently from the
man who did the dealing.
Q-Haven't the detectives assured
you that White was one OF this gang?
Ayes; they said so.
Q.-Dldn't this make you think so
more than anything else? A.-No; it
was his manner OF speaking and the
sound of his voice that convinced me-
Major Mitchell then took up the case
for Mr.. White alone, and asked Mr..
Haskins whether he understood the ma
ture of an oath. Having established
this fact, the attorney proceeded to go
over every inch of the ground already
twice covered, once in the direct and
the other time in the cross-examination
Mr.. Haskins had told Mr.. Bennett and
Mr.. Shreifer the story of the swindling,
and he was required now to tell
over again all he had told them. He
must also tell again how he told the story
to Glass and to others. Constant objec-
tions were made by the witness and the
prosecution to the incessant repitition of
exactly the same questions and the de-
liberate rsvamping of old ground. 1t was
asserted by the prosecution that it was
done with the intention of wasting time
and firing out the witness. At last
the Court interposed and refused to al
low any more questions after certain
number had been put on each point
brought out in the direct examination.
In this way an end was finally put to the
cross-examination but not until the af-