The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-09-25
THE UNITED STATES COURT.
The First Verdict Rendered-The Defendants
Sentenccd-Very Little Transacted Ow-
ing 10 Absence OF Witnesses.

ing TO Absence of Witnesses
The court was opened as usual yesterday
morning. The jury in the case of the
| United States vs. Huff ct al who had been
out all night. had agreed upon their YER
dict by 10 o'clock and were brought into
court. The foreman handed the verdict to
the clerk of the court. The jury found
the defendants guilty as charged in the
indictment. In the afternoon the defend
ants, Huff, Hostetter and Jones were ar
raigned at the bar Judge Riner asked
each il they had anything to say why the
sentence should not be passed upon
them. They had nothing to say
Mr.. Lindsay, their attorney made
few remarks, asking for light sentence
on the ground that they were men of fam
lies, and that no serious results have
grown out of the trouble and that the Of
fense was very common one in the state
that the Oklahoma country was in at that
time. At the conclusion of Mr.. Lindsay's
talk the Judge sentenced each of the de-
PENDANTS to one days imprisonment in the
county Jail and imposed a fine of $50.
In addressing the defendants the court
stated that he did not think they, at the
time of committing the offense, under
stood its gravity, and exacted from each
promise that upon returning to their
homes in Oklahoma that they would not
again attempt to use their shotguns and
rifles instead of the law to settle
their claims. He gave them a
good, moral lecture The sentence is a
light one as the maximum fine prescribed
for such offenseS in the statutes is S, 600
fine and term Of ten years in the peni-
tentiary.
A case which is of considerable interest
TO the people of Oklahoma was disposed of
yesterday. 1t is in the case of the United
States VS.. George Jones, who was indicted
for perjury by the grand jury, for alleged
false testimony in the contest case of B. F.
Hostetter VS.. jefferson Cohee, tried at the
Guthrie land Office in October, 1889. Jones
is a farmer living about nine miles south
west of Guthrie. and is quite well known
in his community. Mr.. Lindsay is counsel
for the defense in this case.
The defendant demurred to the indict-
ment. The indictment charged that the
defendant testified falsely in support of
the right of the contestant Hostetter to
contest the entry of Cohee. The point
raised by the demurrer was thatit was inn
material so far as appeared in the indict-
ment whether the contestant was a quail
fed homesteader or not. Under the law
be had right to contest said entry with
out regard TO his (the contestant's) qualifi- |
cations to enter the homestead. The |
charge of false swearing related, therefore,
to a matter immaterial as appears on the |
face of the indictment. The demurrer was
sustained by the court.
Deputy United States Marshal Leon De |
Bost, who is United States Marshal Walk |
er's chief deputy, has been putting the |
whole machinery of the marshal's Office in
operation to secure the attendance of wit
nesses from Oklahoma. At least a dozen
deputies have been sent out around with
subpRnas and attachments, and are now
the country in every direction to
find and bring to court the much wanted
witnesses. Quite number of witnesses
arrived during the day and more expected
on later trains.
Attorneys having matters on the civil
locket are advised to be present at
court today as it is quite prob
able that Judge Riner can take
up their cases, as IL Is lkely tnaG all the |
witnesses required will not reach court be-
ore Saturday.
Yesterday morning when the case of the
United States VS.. Nicholas Jackson, Will
lam Jackson and Mary Jackson was
,alled, deputy United States Clerk Shear
nan commenced impanelling the jury.
The defendants were called and Mrs. Jack
on and her husband came into the court
'oom bearing between them their sick
,aby on litter. United States Attorney
Ady Immediately annulled the case against
Yrs. jackson, saying that the burden she
,ore was a complete defense. Judge Riner
diourned the further hearing of the
ase until this morning. Upon learning
hat Mrs jackson was material witness
or the defendants he stated that her duty
o her stricken child was paramount even
o the claims of the court upon her
Some unimportant orders were made in
everal cases but nothing of any interest
o the general public was further trans
cted
The Wood murder case which is a very
one, was set for Monday; as the
witnesses have not yet arrived. The Byers
ase will be heard on Saturday.