, 1890-12-05
AT JUSTICES BAR.
William Kingen, the Alleged Me-
braska Cattle Thief,
Placed on Trial in the District
Court Yesterday.
Thirteen Different Indictments
Hanging Over His Head.

The district court was the center of n
great deal of interest yesterday, The
case on trial was hat of William Kingeu
of S,ott's Bluff county, Neb. Thirteen
different indictments were found by the
grand jury against Kiugen, and all the
cases probably involved the alleged steal
ing OF 500 head of cattle. The ease is
being ably contested at all points. Prose-
cutting Attorney Stoll appears for the
state while Kingen is represented by four
counsel, 4. S. Hebard of this city, the
prosecuting attorney Of SCOTS Bluff
county and his wife, who IS also an attor-
ney, and II. st. Raynor OF Sidney, Neb.,
who is showing himself to be a clever law
yer. Mrs. Kingen and her two children
are also present at the trial and draw to
the full extent OF their power on the sym
pathy of the jury end audience.
The particular case under trial is that
in which Kingen is charged with stealing
cattle from Chamberlain & Doty whose
brand is an itallc h. According to the
theory of the prosecution Kingen and the
gang, of which he is alleged to be the
head, was 10 the habit of making excur-
sions into the Goshen hole section of
Wyoming and under cover of tine night
running off cattle belonging to the stock
men of hat section. These cattle were
then taken into SCOTS Bluff county.
Neb., and after being slaughtered their
carcasses were sold to the dealers and
people of the town Of Gering, Neb.
There was evidence adduced to show
that Kingen had killed several cattle
bearing that brand. So far there does
not ppear to be any disposition on the
part of the defense to deny this. Kingen
swore that he bought the cattle from a
third party and bis counsel ~endeavored to
introduce a bill Of sale in evidence, but it
was ruled out by the court as inadmis-
sable. The case seems likely to hinge on
the question of whether or not any Of the
cattle were stolen in Wyoming. Kingen's
counsel, in any event, wish to create the
impression that the cattle, il stolen at all,
were stolen BY a third party and alter
ward innocently purchased by Kingen.
A map was drawn on a blackboard by
one of the witnesses showing roughly the
meanderings Of Sheep creek. This
greatly interested the Jury and many ques-
tons bearing up the dividing line OF the
two states were asked and answered.
One of the most interesting witnesses
was a boy named Willie Gray.
What is your occupation" asked
Prosecuting Attorney Stoll.
Don't understand you" answered the
boy.
What do you do for a ~Iiving?''
Work" was the prompt and laconic
reply.
Among other things this boy testified
to the fact that he, KIngen and Nelson
were in Goshen Hole one day. The at.
tentlon of the witness was particularly
attracted to a very fine steer. Kingen
remarked hat be would run the steer
down into Nebraska that night. he sub
sequently noticed the steer in Nebraska,
and asked Kingen about it. "Oh, l got
him down that night, all right enough -
be said. The boy also testified that Kin
gen had offered him $40 to help him run
down some cattle from Wyoming. The
witness declined the lob.
VIM. Craig, who was employed by
Kipgen, said hat be had never seen the
defendant bringing in any cattle which
did not belong to him but Kingen was
frequently in the habit OF disappearing at
night and returning the next day. He
never seemed to have any cattle with
him, but still when the witness went out
in the herd after these night excursions
he always found cattle there which he had
never seen before.
The evidence also developed the fact
that Kingen had stated he wasn't afraid
of being taken IN In SCOTS Bluff county
for he stood in with the authorities.
The case is still on and will be con
tinued today.