The morning call., 1892-08-21
THE GUARDS STORY.
An Inquest Held Upon the Body by
Coroner Eyre.

An Inquest Held Upon the Body by
Coroner Eyre.
SANTA ANA, Aug. 20-At 10 o'clock this
morning an inquest was held upon the
body of Torres by Coroner Eyre. the prin-
cipal witness being Deputy Sheriff Cog
burn, who had charge of the jail on the
night of the lynching and from whom the
prisoner was taken by the masked mob. He
told the following story on the stand:
My name is Robert Cogburn. / reside
at Santa Ana and was employed as a night
Waterman at the County Jail. | was ful-
filling my duty in that capacity last night.
l sat on the steps until $50 o'clock Friday
evening. Everything was quiet at that
time. The Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff were
with me and sai0 they would go home.
Then L walked up to Fourth street with
them and then went back TO Jail and in to
the building, locking the door securely be-
hind me. at IL o'clock / ate my lunch and
was sitting in the front room, when heard
knock at the door. I knew the voices and
knew that they were those of Morgan and
Nigg, the night watchmen. They talked a
few minutes, and locked the door and sat
down on the side of the bed for about 10
minutes. At 1880 O'clock heard crowd
coming to the door and some one called ont
~ II.
he says, "Will you open the door?',
adding that il / did not they would break
it in. / said. you had better not" and
then some one struck the door with a ham
mer, and the panel was broken In at the
first blow. The first blow was followed by
several more, and the door was finally
broken in. The men came in as fast as
they could. The door was broken. Two of
the men caught me and showed me back on
the bed and demanded the key. / gave il
TO them and they shut the door upon me
but they did not lock it. / heard some
IrightIul yeiis In The room after they went
IN, Dnt the men only remained in the iai
TWO or three moments. / have no idea no w
many men were In the room. They nassed
out and through the hall, all Of them going
out. L stood in the room for a minute or
Two. ana then put my hand against the
door, and showing 1t back came into the
Jail. There were three prisoners In the
jail besides Torres, and the inner door
was open. When ] came out there was
spring lock lying on the floor. I
went to the door and called to the night
Waterman. heard some talking and noise
on the corner Of Sycamore and Fourth
streets. and / started to go out in the street.
j mad not gone more than three or four
steps when L met some six or eight men,
who cried, Halt" They all had pistols.
which they pointed at me. stopped and
went back into the JAIL where stayed for
few minutes and then came out again.
There were some men on the platform In
front of the mill. j could not see how
many there were because / could not see
distinctly, but could hear their voices. /
decided not TO 90 u 10 the corner OF Fourth
and Sycamore streets until j heard some of
them. / was just starting TO go 10 Joe
NcboIs's Qhe MarshaI's) house when Mr.
Morgan, The night watchman, came down
and said there was a man hanging TO the
telephone pole at the corner, and he went
up to notify the Marshal. The men wore
masks. l went to the jail at 10 A. NJ. and