The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-02

Alleged Fraud in Neve d ChiId,s
AGairs-Seven indictments BY the
Grand Jury.
! The plaintiff in. the libel suit of Amos
Fenster1naker VS.. The Tribune opened
in rebuttaI yesterday morning before
Judge Bartch and jury. The first
witness was Mrs Caroline Fenster-
maker In answer to Attorney John
AL. Zane she stated that she received
the child, Caroline Hansen, from the
Radon family, al Salt Lake, five years
ago. The girls father-one Bogatel
Hansen-was now living in this city, on
market avenue. Her mother was in
Denmark. and witness understood that
little Caroline was an iilegitimate child
She considered her a little queer" she
was rather stupid at school and had a
very poor memory. 1t was Carolines
habit to run away from the house. and
she had done SO frequently. Witness
spoke of number of occasions when
she had done this without any cause at
All, and she had remained out all night.
On this particular occasion she went
away without cause. Witness had
warned her against sheepherders. be-
cause she regarded them as .'lawless
lmen- The child, Mrs. Fenstermaker
insisted, was well clad and well cared
for while in her household Her own
children had claimed that she was
partial to Caroline
! CROSS ORGANIZATION.
! In cross-examination by Judge Pow
ers the witness stated that she had
been married four times. She had had
three children, Gt was afterwards
out at the Box Elder ranch and adj
mitted having been tried before Justice
of the Peace Williams at Grantsville
on charge of abusing one of them
There were a lot OF drunken men
around the court at that time, and
Mrs. Fenstermaker asserted that the
justice himself was also drunk. She
denied having whipped little Caroline
with stove handle and other things
because she did not wash the milk cans
and dishes properly. She had not
struck her as often as two and three
! times a day. She also denied having
ever driven little Mary Grice from the
house or used profane language to the
children. She took Caroline because
| Cwitness) was lonely at the ranch,
Ethel Crockett as a companion for Car
oline, and a little boy named Alonzo
Hill as a companion for the two girls
| Ethel was taken from her by force, to
Grantsville, on the complaint that she
had abused her. She had punished
Caroline at times, but only in the same
way that she would chastise one of her
own children. she had never told the
child to go away and not come back
again. Neither the Grice nor the
Crockett girl ever ran away from her
house. She did not take either of the
children to raise" The little boy,
Alonzo Hill, she got from the Orphans
Home
of Carolines father?" asked Judge
Powers.
when I first obtained her from
him.
Where was he living?"
He lives just adjoining lots with the
Raddons"
who told you that she was an il
legitimate child?"
Her father did,
did he tell you that she was an ine-
Ultimate child?" asked Judge Powers,
with emphasis.
Witness (after pause)-No; he told
my husband and my husband told me. |
About how many times before this
April escapade did this child run away
from your
Il could not tell the times, but she
ran away a good many. l never noted
the months, mister
How do you remember this particu-
lar occasion so well?''
Because 1 had TO hunt for her and
Ihad a great deal of trouble The wit
ness declared her belief that Sheep
herder Murdoch 'sneaked her off,
The witness was closely questioned
as to other times on which Caroline
ran away, but she was unable to re-
member them.
IN THE AFTERNOON.
Mrs. Charles Fenstermaker, examined
by Attorney ]. A Williams said she
was the wife of the son of the plaintiff,
Amos Fenstermaker, and lived near the
old gentleman.
In the spring of 1890 the girl Caroline |
Hansen, ran away and a searching
party took all day to find her. Witness |
didn't know why Caroline had run
away; it was not, however, because of |
any illtreatment by any Of the family. |
Three other times she had run away |
without any apparent cause.
Witness had seen Mrs. Amos FenSter- |
maker correct the child with willow !
twig several times but not on any of |
the occasions on which she ran away. |
The child was well taken care of; had |
good clothes and good shoes.
On the occasion to which the article |
in the Tribune referred she ran away, |
for what reason witness did not know, |
and the family searched for her nearly |
all that night.
Charles Fenstermaker, son of the |
plaintiff was next examined. His testi-
mony was substantially the same as
that of his wife, the previous witness.
Miss Mary Staugh testified that she
lived with the Fenstermakers when
Caroline Hansen came to live with
them. Mrs. Fenstermaker always
treated the child WELL Witness said
she was there when the child ran away
twice. Once she was out all night and
most of the next day before she was
found They all hunted for her. Mrs.
Fenstermaker had not corrected or
beaten her prior to running away.
George Staugh had known the Fens-
for seventeen years. Amos.
the plaintiff, had a good reputation in
the community prior TO April, 1891, the
date of the publication of the article
Of The regulations of the
family witness also thought was good;
had never heard that their ranch was a
for thieves.
Frank Burmester was well acquainted