Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-17
NEAR THE ROPES END
Are the Cooley Cases When the Pres
ent Trials Are Finished.
A VERDICT ON TIE GIRLS TODAY.
The Queen of the Gang and Her Father Are
Now Before the Bar.
PUBLIC SYMPATHY PARTLY WITH HER
ESPECIAL rrL1aRAM no THE p1spATcH.l

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH-l
UNIoNTowN,, Dec 16. - Immediately
after court opened this morning the Cooley
cases were resumed. Mrs Cooley again
took the stand and was closely cross-e1am-
ined She was shown all the goods again
and still maintained that she did not know
where they came from or anything about
the secret shed in the chicken coop. She
were being persecuted, and after numbering
her boys thought she ought to be left alone.
Mrs Cooley was dressed in black and dur
ing the trial, except while on the witness
stand, her face was hidden behind heavy
black veil.
The Cooley girls and Russell each testi-
fed that they had nothing to do with re-
ceiving the goods found by the officers at
the Cooley homestead after Frank Cooley
was killed. They admitted that the out
laws had brought some goods home, which
they said they had bought. The defense
also called about 16 character witnesses to
prove that the defendants bore good repu-
tatIon for honesty, and had never been
known to be associated with the outlaw
band. The names of half q dozen others
were called for the same purpose, but did
not answer
Trying to Prove Good Characters.
At the conclusion of the testimony for
the defense the Commonwealth called ten
witnesses IN rebuttaI, who testified in sub
stance that the family did not bear a good
reputation for honesty and that it was fre-
quently said that the girls went with the
outlaws on their raids, and that the bandits
received substantial aid from the parents
and the whole family.
At the adjournment of court the jury had
been out an hour and half, and had made
no sign of having reached an agreement.
Judge Ewing directed that when they had
found verdict they should seal it and be
dismissed.
John II. Pastorius and his daughter Ida,
''the Cooley Queen" were placed on trial.
The man was blankly stolid and the daugh-
ter was rather jauntily defiant. They were
arraigned for alleged "fence-keeping" in
the way of receiving and concealing stolen
goods. The defendants live up on the side
of the mountain In the very heart of the
territory known as the Cooley region, and
their place was often a rendezvous for the
gang during their raids in the neighboring
country.
The Stolen Goods Are Identified.
The Commonwealth had no trouble in
proving that the prisoners were found in
possession of stolen goods. Mrs. w. D.
Collier positively identified a beaded silk
mantle found at the Pastorius house at the
time the defendants were arrested. jay
Collier identified rife, and Mrs. John A.
Walters, the old lady who was so cruelty
tortured by the gang, identified handker-
chief found on the head of the child of Ida
when she was arrested.
With this the Commonwealth rested and
the defense began. There was no attempt
to disprove the fact that they received the
goods which the witnesses for the prosecu-
tion had identified as their own property.
Their line of defense was an attempt to
show that they had bought the goods in
question as common business transaction.
The "Queen" took the stand and made a