The record-union., 1893-12-05
JEFFERIS STILL ON THE RACK
Another Day on the Witness Stand,
ard Yet Not Through.
he Says Miss Ayres Made All the Ad-
vances-His Version OF Va
rious Incidents.


he denied all the statements made by his
first wife NOW Mrs. Fonte relative to his
having tried to induce her. in 1892, to go
to Brighton TO secure certain papers and
photographs in Miss Ayres' possession.
He said Mrs. Fonte would be the last
person on earth whom he would ask, and
he never did ask her to rob or kill Miss
Ayres.
He said Mrs. Fonte tried to get him to
sign a contract TO care for their two chill
dren for two years. but he told her he
was not able to do so. She said she would
appear and testify against him, and he
was given to understand that this state
ment was made for the purpose OF intim-
idatng hiin into accepting her PROPOSE
ton. lie told her, however that she was
welcome TO tell all she knew.
The witness complained of the manner
in which he was treated ut the time OF his
arrest, saying that Detectives DoWney
and Hickey did not even give him an OPP
portunity to hand to his sick wife the
key to the door OF the house.
He read to the jury the letter from Miss
Ayres to himself which he had on the
night OF the arrest and explained III e
cipher characters used therein. This was
the letter suggesting bogus marriage
contract and separation from his wife.
Jeteris said he never gave Miss Ayres
any encouragement to write him such
letters, but that ne could not shake her
off-she insisted on having him.
The letters which he says he wrote
from Texas 10 his wife at Lathrop, and
which she did not receive. he afterward
learned from Miss Ayres were inter-
cepted by herself, through a railway
agent, her object being TO impress Mrs.
JeiferiS with the idea that he was dead.
Referring TO the alleged efforts of the
officers. after his arrest, to have him ad-
NIT criminal intimacy with Miss
Ayres, he said he admitted but one in
stance, and that was prior to his mar
riage with his present wife.
The statement made by him to District
Attorney Ryan, {. L. Jones and the de-
tectiyes, on the night OF his arrest. he
said contained much more than had been
read III court, those portions relating to
Detective True being omitted. True, ne
said, told him that if he made true
statement they would let him 90, but
they did not, and they would not let him
get a lawyer until his sisters called To see
him.
While he was absent in Texas his wife
received several letters from Miss Ayres.
In one of them the writer told her she
her legal husband, and that he was to
join his real wife at ogden.
In another letter Miss AyreS informed
his wife that he had been killed III a rail-
road collision and that she had read an
account OF the accident in a paper. These
letters, he said, were unsigned, but he
recognized them as being in Miss Ayres'
handwriting.
After relating the incident of the recep-
ton of a box from Miss Ayres while he
was in Texas, containing some of her
wearing apparel and a note saying she
would soon be with him, the witness
stated that as long ago as 1850 Miss Ayres,
while at Lathrop, wanted him to fly with
her. saying that she had s., ,0J0 on her per-
SON Her mother was then with her, but
she said she could drop her at Los An
geles.
AS to the enlarged photograph of him-
self which Miss Ayres had in ner room at
Brighton, the witness said he was walk
ing along K street, near Third, when be
saw Miss Ayres and a friend driving
along in a buggy. She came near the
sidewalk and asked bin TO show her what
he had. He turned it around and held
the picture up. She grabbed it, whipped
up her horse and sped away, and he did
not see the picture aiterward until it was
brought into the courtroom, He once
drove out in 1891 to get il. The picture
was one which he had enlarged for his
wife.
once, he said, as he was passing Brigh
ton station on his engine, he saw Miss
Ayres, Miss Susie Cox that was and Ben
True sitting in Miss Ayres room. -He
saw her and True together one night at
the depot, and heard True ask her:
well, did you see Jefferis-w would he do
it?'' She replied, "No." This, he said,
was in the latter part of November or the
fore part of December, 1892.
After his indictment, he said, he was
told about the mask and hat found in
Starkey's room. lie met Starkey one
night aud asked him where the mask
and hat came from, and Starkey replied
that he did not know-they must have
been in his room when he rented il.
He concluded his direct examination
by eX planning about his marriage to his
present wife on the Goth OF October, 1856.
The officiating clergyman, he said, was
a large man named Frost, and the we'd
ding took place at iii Eighth street.
There was but one witness. 1t was
through his own neglect that the mar
riage was not recorded. The certificate
was burned one day by their child get
ting hold of it and throwing it upon
rubbish fire.
Shortly before 12 O'Clock C. T. Jones
began the crosS-eXaminatiOn of JetleriS,
which was not concluded ut 4:30 o'clock,
when the court adjourned, but Mr.. Jones
said it would be finished by noon to-day,
At the opening OF the afternoon session
General Hart recalled Jet1eris' brother
in-law. Ben Sweeney, who testified that
he was present and heard Dan O'Hern
tell Mrs. Sweeney that he would see the
Jetferis girls more humiliated than they
were that night-that he would put
moose about their brothers. neck.
The cross-eXamination was then re-
sumed and was very thorough, Mr..
Jones demanding an explanation Of
nearly all the statements made by the
witness in his direct testimony.
Jefferis said his first acquaintance with
Miss Ayres was in 1882 at Banta, san
Joaquin County. It was there she first
spoke to him about marriage, and she
threw her arms about him and kissed
him. She wanted him to abandon his
first wife then and 60 with her.
once, he said, she got upon his engine
and tried to embrace him. lie asked her
il she was crazy, and she said she was,
over him; that she wanted him from the
time she first saw him. At all times it
was she who made the advances. lie had
no affection for her, but rather pity, and
wanted her TO keep away from him.
Asked why he did not take his picture
when he went out TO Brighton to get it,
he said he did not want to make any fuss
over it. Miss Ayres told him if she could
not have him she wanted tie picture.
Mr.. Jones asked him if Miss Ayres did
not leave his room III the Manhattan
House at or o'clock one morning-if
the landlady, Mrs. Hui. did not let her
out the back way. He replied that Miss
Ayres was never in the Manhattan
House, to his knowledge, while he was
there.
Mr. Jones then rigidly examined the
witness concerning the visits of Miss
Ayres to his room in the Arcade lodging
house, and he retold the incidents re-
lated on his direct examination. One