, 1891-01-23
FOUND GUILTY.
Expected Termination of the Trial
of Kinch Mckinney.
Convicted by the. Jury After an
Hours DeIiberatiOn.
Speeches Made For and Against
the Prisoner.

the Mckinney case yesterday, the In
terest OF neither the Jury nor the large
audience tagged for a moment A large
number Of ladies were present, and sat
through all of the arguments. Mckinney
himself seemed less interested in the
speeches than he was in the evidence,
and spent the greater part of the day in
CHANGING through some of the law books
piled up on one of the tables in front of
him. The young lady who has been SO
faithful in her attendance upon the
prisoner during the trial listened to all
that was said with marked attention and
was frequently affected to tears. Judge
Davidson opened the case for the prose-
cution. and summed up the evidence in a
mastery manner. He dweIt at length on
the presumption that recent possession of
stolen prop rty is a strong eliminating
circumstance. The ~improbability OF Wyo-
ming cattle getting into Nebraska unless
driven there was also shown by Mr..
Davidson. He spoke for about two hours
and a way to Gen. Thompson.
Gen. Thompson's speech was a most
eloquent one. He asked the Jury to for.
get, in their consideration of the case, any
animos:ties existing between the states Of
Nebraska and Wyoming, and to treat the
defendant in the same manner as they
would treat a citizen of their own state.
He claimed that the prosecution had
dragged into the case much evidence Law
ing no connection with Mckinney, in
order to prejudice the minds of the jury
against him. All of it had been dragged
in under promises of connecting it with
the defendant, but no such connection had
been made. He closed with an impas-
stoned appeal to the Jury for justice, and
Tor nothing more. He spoke for about
two hours.
Mr.. Raynor of Sidney. Neb followed,
and closed the case for the defense. He
stated that both in this case and the Kingen
case the Stock Association bad done all in
their power to secure q conviction, and
had spared neither time nor money to ac-
complish their end. At the same time
prominent citizens of Cheyenne had made
assertions to him TO the effect that they
did not care much whether Mckinney
was convicted or not. He appealed to
the jury not to take part in the conspiracy
against Mckinney, Of which tire members
of the Stock Association were the leaders.
These members had been in constant at
tendance upon the trial, and had done
everything in their power to prejudice the
jury. All of the evidence introduced by
the prosecution consisted of suspicious
circumstances, unattended by any facts in
any manner connected with the crime
charged in the indictment.
He devoted not a little of his address
to considering the testimony of Mr.. Billy
Gray. He had known Gray for years and
knew him to be one Of the best cowboys
in this or any other section of the cnun-
try. That a pressure had been brought to
bear Upon Gray was quite evident from
his evidence and from the name in
which it was given. A reward of 81, 900
had been offered by the stock association
for the conviction of cattle thieves, and
this fact no doubt aided Mr.. Gray's mem
DRY very materially. On the witness
stand he was afraid to look into the eyes
OF the jurymen. but had spent his spare
time in watching a cuspidore at his feet.
If Gra7's testimony was true he was a
self confessed criminal and ought to be
behind the bars, and, in the nature of
things, no man would testify 20 his own
wrong doiugs unless some pressure had
been brought to bear on him.
He attacked the counsel for the prose-
cution on the manner IN which they had
conducted the case. Evidence irregular
and extreme had been dragged in under
promises that its relevancy would be sub
sequently shown-promises which had
not been fulfilled, and which the prosecu-
ton had never intended to fulfil. This
was part of the scheme to convict Nc
Kinney on suspicion and to defeat all
rules Of evidence and law. A very visi-
BILE ATTEMPT had been made to prejudice
the defendants case by continually re-
sorting to the fact that he came from Ne
braska and that some of his attorneys
came from the same place.
Mr.. Rayuor is a very eloquent speaker,
and his hours talk was listened to very
attentivcly and created a most favorable
impression. When he had finished a re-
cess was bad for a quarter OF an hour to
give the Jury a breathing spell.
MIR. Stoll closed the case. He spoke
for over two hours altogether, and held
the large audience throughout the entire
time.
Mr.. Raynor' attack on the stock as O.
citation was the first matter to receive at
tention at his hands. He stated that
while he had been in office as prosecuting
attorney, no distinction had ever been
made as to any class of individuals. As
prosecuting attorney, he had never known
the stock association or any other body of
men, except as a body who had been in
jured by the commission Of any crime.
If the association had had cattle stolen,
they had a perfect right to desire the pun
ishment Of the thief, and to do everything
IN their power to secure that punishment;
and if they choose to offer a reward Tor
the protection of their property, there was
no law saying that they had not the right