The record-union., 1892-10-29
TRIAL OF S0NTAG.
TESTIMONY FOR THE PROSECU-
TION ALL IN.
Movements of the Defendant Before
and After the Train Robbery
at Coils.
Special to the REcoRD-UN1oN.

Special to the REcoRD-UNIoN.
FRESNO (Cal.), Oct. 2S.-The Sontag
case is nearing close. Thirteen wit
nesses were examined. when the people
rested their case. Sands Baker and Jas.
Young to-day testified that they saw
Chris Evans and the defendant returning
from the mountains short time before
the robbery. J. n. Leslie Of Selma testi-
fled that Evans came into his place Of
business few days before the robbery.
NJ. j. Murray, a saloon-keeper, testified
to having seen Evans in Fresno q short
time before the robbery was committed.
4. J. Bequette, livery-stable keeper
at NisaIia, testified that John Sontag went
to the stable OF the witness on the morn
ing preceding the robbery and engaged a
team for the following Tuesday, stating
that he wanted a buggy large enough to
hold three, as he was going to bring Chris
Evans and George Sontag from the
mountains. He asked the witness for a
certain team. Sontag came back on Au-
gust lst and left an order for a team for
the next day. Sontag took the team the
next morning at ! o'clock. Witness did
! not see the team again until l o'clock on
the 18th 1t had been returned at noon.
1t was in good condition and showed no
signs of having been driven hard. He
was SO pleased that he knocked - off the
/ charge.
! John Armstrong, Fresno livery stable
keeper, testified that John Sontag put up
a bay team in his stable on the afternoon
of August 2lst. Sontag left the next
evening shortly before o'clock. Witness
saw the same team after the robbery in
| Nisalia.
! Mary A. L. Blake, Wells, Fargo q Co. $
| agent at Nisalia, testified that John Son
! tag sent $40 through her office to George
| G.. Contant in Fresno.
! Ed Alheim, night clerk in a Fresno
l0dging-house, testified that J Ohm Sontag
registered at his house on August ID, ana
went to bed with a man whom the wit
ness did not know. w hen crosS-eXam
ined the witness said he did not know
whether it was Sontag or not who hired
the room.
L. Ii. Patterson, the proprietor of the
hughes Lodglng-hOuSe, testified that he
saw George Sontag on july 18th. The
defendant stayed at his lodging-house till
the I'D.
J. w. Douglas, a lodging-house keeper,
| testified that John Sontag stopped at his
house i'll March, 1901, and was there
twelve or fourteen days. He knew his
signature and recognized it on the regis
ter.
The People here rested.
| EICOunsel for the defense made the OPEN
ing statement in the trial OF George Som
tag this afternoon, and the examination
OF witnesses followed. The wife and
daughter Of Chris Evans were the first
witnesses called. Mrs. Evans testified
that on the morning of August 4th. the
day after the Coils train robbery, George
Sontag came to her house in Nisalia and
took breakfast, and that Evans and John
Sontag arrived atterward in a buggy. on
August I'd the two SOntags had been at
her house, and left there saying they
were going to the mountains.
Samuel Clark Moore testified that he
! had seen Evans and John Sontag several
times since the robbery. first on Septem-
Der 7th, near SIMPSONS Flats, again on
September 10TH and the last time about
three weeks ago, when he accompanied
Henry Bigelow, reporter, who met
Sontag and Evans at the house Of John
Cotey and interviewed them.
l.. II. Brasier, a brakeman, testified
that he saw defendant on the train after
if had left Fresno on the night OF the rob-
! berry.
| Several witnesses testified to seeing de-
! fendant on the train between Coils and
/ Modesto, on July sd, and that he was
stupidity intoxicated.
! Fireman William Lewis, of the train
which was robbed, said lie believed the
| defendant was a larger man than either
| of those who committed the robbery