The herald., 1894-06-09
DETECTIVE BRIGHTON TEST|F|ES
He Swears the Roscoe Suspects
Admitted Their Guilt.
He Spent a Month in Gaining Their
Confidence.
The Court Room Densely Packed with
Spectators = Tho Testimony
Begins TO BE Sem
sntionnl.

The trial OF the Roscoe suspects, Wal
ter Thorne, Pat Fitzsimmons and John
Comstock, resulted in some very sensa-
tional testimony yesterday.
]. V. Brighton, the detective who was
instrumental in the capture of Chris
Evans, was on the stand all the after
noon. and made positive statements Of
admissions by the defendants that they
were the Roscoe train robbers.
The court room was densely packed all
day, and the interest was intense during
the examination OF Brighton, whom the
defense tried their heardest to break
down.
Harry Edgar, the express messenger
on the train which was held up the
night of February 10Th, was the frat
witness yesterday morning. He detailed
the events OF the robbery. as he had
done several times before, and without
any especial variation. He was unable
to identity the defendants.
Harry Kegel, living below the mouth
oil the Tejunga, was called.
The witness heard shots the night OF
the train robbery from the direction of
Roscoe, and continued:
IL heard the sound Of wagon COM
ing up. the cafion. / raised in bed and
looked out the window. / saw a wagon
and it was going pretty fast, but went
slower when they got to the bottom of
the hill, end then they went on the
road in the direction of the Little Te.
junga. 1t was quite dark night, and
it was raining a little. 1t was pretty
close to morning, about O'Clock"
Afterwards he found what he sup
posed would be the track made by the
wagon. He heard next morning about
the train robbery. He went out hunt
ing and over the wheat field noticed the
track. The tracks looked as il the
horses had been driven fast. He fol-
lowed the track west from his house
about 1870 or 140 yards. He did not toll.
low the trail up the cafion.
The witness said that Comstock came
to the csilon to live four or five years
ago. He mas little house where he
lives and little building in which he
keeps feed. There is u patch of land up
on the hill where he has grain or bar
ley. Ftzsimmons lived in cation sur
rounded by hills. 1t is four miles from
the witness house to San Fernando. and
between six and seven miles to Roscoe.
ern Pacific road.
The road runs right in front OF Kegel's
house, about IL or IA feet distant from
the window OF his bedroom. When he
heard the wagon coming along it was
travelling fast, but it slowed up as it
reached his house and went slowly down
towards the wash beyond.
VIM. Rapp, farmer living about four
miles northeast of San Fernando, testi-
fed he had known Cometock four years
and Thorne and Fitzsimmons two and
one-half years. They live in the Little
Tejunga caflon. The witness lives about
half g mile west OF Henry Kegel's place,
between it and San Fernando and about
four and one-hali miles from Roscoe in
direct line.
II WAS on the train the night OF Feb.
ruary 18th, bound for Pacomia, on my
way home. My ticket was for San Fer
nando. Roscoe is only a flag station.
That train made no regular stop that
night. l was ON the front end of the
smoker at Roscoe. near the door. l was
looking out the window and they were
going about Is miles an hour. l thought
II they only went that fast I would get
off at Roscoe; just then the train
stopped. got out and stood on the
lower platform steps. Two men came
along from the rear, one had gun that
looked like a shotgun. They had on
overcoats and SLOUGH hats.
II think they had on overalls. l saw
them shoot. They said Get back in
there, you you The voice seemed
familiar to me. | didn't know just at
the time. thought at first it was like
an acquaintance Of mine, but looking
back saw the gun and heard the curs-
ing, and got in"
The witness stated that he knows the
voics of Comstock in particular, and