San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-11-17
THE FIRE BUG.
JOE MCDONALD NOW ON TRIAL
BEFORE JUDGE NOONAN.
A Cr' wd of Iistners-The Hartman
Cas-, the tir.t - McDonaIu's
Cunditton-Eyidence

roo n of the Forty fifth district wa.
filed with citizens and much excite
ment prevailed. The cause OF the at
tendance and excitement, was the
case of the State VS.. Joseph Melon
aid, the widely known fire bug, who
was arrested on July %, by Mounted
Officer Schumacher, at q store q,
West End. Many ladies were inside
the railing, being witnesses for the
state and goodly number of attor-
neys were eagerly awaiting the con-
veping Of the trial,
A lew moments later the officers
escorted the defendant into the court
room and gave him seat In front OF
the jury b He was we'll dressed,
very fat. and was quite refined in his
-sasnBers AS he entered and noticed
before him the faces of Judge Noonan
and District Attorney Paschsl, he
began to trent le He seated himself
and covered his face with his hands
and then aud there showed signs OF
rdepenrance Not glance was seen
~comiug from his eyes. He seemed to
be looking of in the distance and
paid no attention to what was trans
sc ed In the court room. His eyes
were badly swollen andred aud it WAS
evident he had been crying fol
several hours previous. He was not
seen to smile for an hour after enter
ING court. and when some portion OF
Mr.. Schumacher's evidence was
heard, ne laughed heartily and again
resumed his soDerDess.
After much red tape business. the
following jury was chosen: G: e.
Robinson, F. w stephenson, Hugo
Sbuetze, M. OppenheImer, Chas
Ochse, August Robin. Jr., J T keise,
John Rein bold, + r ROwley, F. w
Carrico and Philip Heitgen L. NJ
Cox was CHOSEN rs court stenOgra
pher, and Mr.. Wershback, interper-
Ter. A,fter above named parties were
> se.6rn in, Mr.. Paschal stated the
ase to the jury. August Hartman
WAS then called for and placed on the
stand He said:
"I live on Burleson street; my
house was burned on same street OF.
the 2Sth day of April, at about 5
o'clock in the afternoon. l lett home
at las o'clock that afternoon and
,Eart 20 work I lett my wife an0
children at home. When [ wen
home found the house burned to the
ground. Ii contained furniture, jew
eIry and other stuff, amounting 10
800. The house WAS valued at $3.50.
[ was insured for $500 on all. l didu'
know who set 1t on fire. Don't know
Mcdonald. The property belonged
10 my wife and myself"
Mrs. Bertha Hartman was then
sworn aud said:
II lett home with my children IL
the afternoon after my husband left
We went down town. When L re
turned NY home was burned to the
ground | locked every door AID
window. I went to the detective
"tfice as soon as l learned that Nc
Donald was arrested and identified
some jewelry belonging to my daugh
ter, that had been stolen. Those are
the articles pointing 10 the goods.
| don't know the defendant; never
have seen him before"
Captain T. J. Hughes, chief detec-
tive, WAS the next wItOess called. He
said:
Mrs. Cunningham, who keeps a
boarding house near the Southern Pa
cific depot, sent to my Office on the
morning OF July %, and requested me
to send an officer to her house. This
was the day after MeDOnsld's arrest.
! went up and she gave me valise
belonging to him, telling me that as
he would have no use for 1t aud she
did not want it around the
house, In that grip 1 found a
large amount of articles of
foh M
ieTelry, and almost everything has
been identified by parties whose
houses were burned during the time
when we had 30 many fires"
He was sent to his office to produce
all the articles and Officer Schu-
macher was placed on the stand. He
testified as follows:
ION July %. an alarm fire was
turned in from the Springs. ] went.
On my arrival L asked several parties
what was the cause of the fire A
colored woman told me that she saw
q nice looking man climbing out of a
side window of the house on fire aud
received information from her IS to
which direction he went. I went
after him. I asked several parties on
the road If they had seen man run
ming along aud they all gave me in
formation regarding him. followed
him to West End. When I got abou,
200 yards from the store out there,
Gam Mcdonald sitting down. When
he saw me he went into the store
Twas at once on him and caught hold
of him just as he was putting some.
thing under pile of bacon. L took
him to the front part of the room and
told Officer Perez to hold him until
found out what he had deposited be-
hind that bacon. I found two fine
revolvers. I asked the keeper OF the
progeny il they belonged to him