Los Angeles herald., 1890-05-30
THE CASTAC CASE.
A Jury Secured After a Long
Examination.
Testimony of the Prosecuting
Witness.
What Joseph 0lme Says Occurred in
the Canon.
How the Affair Took Place and the Lively
Scene That Took Place in Febru-
ary Last.

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try the case against w. G. Chormicle
and w. A. Gardiner, who are charged
with the murder of Dolores Cook and G.
w. Walton, both of whom were shot
and killed in the ~Castac caf1on on Feb
ruary 2Sth last, occupied the attention
of Judge Cheney all morning, but was
brought to conclusion at 2:30 o'clock
in the afternoon. The twelve jurors who
were sworn to try the cause were J. W..
White, Abel Sutton. G. Griswold, w.
Smith, w. Fillmore, j. A. Cline, j. A.
Burns, B. B. Nesbit, F. N. McKracken,
G. H. Buckingham, j. w. Robinson and
J. Baldwin. The complaining witness,
Joseph Dime, having been called to the
stand, a lengthy discussion ensued
as to the exclusion of witnesses from
the courtroom, and owing to the
disturbance necessitated by the with
drawal of the witnesses from the room,
it was after 3 o'clock before order was
again restored and the taking of testi-
mony commenced. Owing to Olme's
limited knowledge of the English Ian
guage, F. A. Thompson was sworn as
Spanish interpreter, and the complain
ants testimony was taken through this
medium. He testified that he had
known Dolores Cook, who died on Feb
ruary 2Sth last, since he was little boy
He had lived in the Castac cafion for the
past eight years, and knew it well. 1t
was situated about twelve miles north
of Newhall. He knew both the defend
ants, having met Chormicle about five
years ago at Santa Paula. He frequently
used to see Gardiner in the Yslai canon,
but did not know him very WELL Also
knew G. w. Walton, who died February
2Sth last.
About O'Clock OF the morning of the
28th George Walton called at Cooks
house and requested the assistance of
Cook and the witness in erecting
shanty he was going to put up some dis
tance away. Both men accompanied
him to gate leading to pasture, where
a pile of lumber was stacked close to the
fence. A big wagon was obtained from
w. w. Jenkins's ranch near by and this
was loaded with part of the lumber, and
Walton and Olme drove off in the wagon
towards the site selected for the build
ing, Cook following behind in buggy.
The road led past a shanty belonging
to Juan Lavas, and as the wagon ap-
preached this building w. G. Chormicle
came out and, walking up to the wagon.
told Walton that he had warned him
several times not to haul lumber on that
land, indicating the spot they were
making for. Walton replied that che
would haul it every time" whereupon
Chormicle walked round to the tail end
of the wagon and commenced pulling
the lumber out of it. Walton, using an
opprobrious epithet, jumped down and
struck Chormicle in the face with his
fist, and as he did so pistol which the
latter had concealed in his coat sleeve
fell to the ground. At this juncture
Gardiner came out of the shanty also,
carrying a rifle in his hands, which he
pointed at Walton. Chormicle then
picked up his revolver and pointed it at
Walton also. The latter, however,
coolly got upon his seat and drove on,
when Chormicle rushed up, and grab
ing the lines, stopped the team. Wal
ton again jumped down, whereupon
Chormicle let go his hold, and the
former walked alongside the wagon
while Olme drove on for $50 yards, when
they dumped the lumber.
While they were unloading the lum-
Der the witness saw Gardiner and Choir
micle approach until within a short dis
tance of the gate, when they stopped
and commenced to talk together. Gar
diner was riding buckskin mare, but
Chormicle was on foot. When the lum-
ber was thrown off the wagon, the de-
PENDANTS turned back and went inside
the shanty and disappeared from view.
Walton, Cook and the witness drove
back in the wagon for another load of
lumber, and were on their second trip
to the disputed land, when they We're
shot at from the windows of the shanty.
Dime and Walton were sitting on the
top of the lumber loaded on the
wagon, Walton being on the
side near the shanty and Dime on the
opposite side. The smaller pieces of
lumber being in the bed of the wagon
and the larger piled loosely on top,
Dime looked through the cracks formed
between the planks, and saw that the
windows of the shanty were raised about
three inches, and that Gardiner stood
at the south one and Chormicle at the
north aperture. AS the wagon drove up
to the house both defendants fired
simultaneously. After the first shots
were fired Dime and Walton jumped
from the wagon, but the latter fell with
groan, and never rose again. Dime
stated positively that he saw Gardiner
shoot Cook.
The wounded man dropped his lines,
when the mare attached to his buggy
jumped forward and started to run. As
the buggy passed by the wagon, which
was now standing still, the team having
swerved round and cramped it's wheels,
Olme ran out and grabbed the mare on
the far side and stopped it from running
away. Gardiner seeing that Dime had
taken the precaution of placing the mare
between himself and the house, and that
he was rapidly moving out of range, ran
out of the house and fired six times at
his retreating form. The first shot took
effect just behind the mares shoulder,
but Olme kept moving on, and as the
animal soon became too lame to keep up.
he made dash for it and ran to w. w,
Jenkins's house about mile away, and
informed him of the shooting.
Before leaving the scene of the
tragedy, however, Dime saw Gardiner
go round to the rear OF the house and
unite his horse, which was hitched to a
wagon, and he and Chormicle rode UP
the canon at gallop.
At the time of the shooting an old
man named Juan Burola, boy named
Juanito Martinez and Thomas Riley
were at the shanty. The old man was