The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-14

prosecution in the celebrated Howell coun-
terfeiting case has Just come to light.
The case has been tried twice and both
! times the juries disagreed, but Howell has
| been reindicted by the Grand Jury, and
his case will be set for retrlai some time
within the next few months.
Assistant United States Attorney knight
said:
was not satisfied with the prior indictment
| against Howell and have presented a new bill
! before the Grand Jury and have prepared
new Indictment of fourteen counts which the
! Grand Jury have reported.
| This Indictment was attacked by the defend
ants counsel, Reddy, Campbell & Nelson, and
! Il. s. P1llsbury, by motions TO quash demurrer
and plea in batement, and after lengthy argu-
ments the indictment was sustained in all its
counts by the United States District Court
where the case is now on the calendar awaiting
+, trial.
| In speaking of the time when the case
would probably be tried Mr.. Knight said
| that it had been set up for trial in Janu-
! airy last, but the strike case had been pro-
longed to such an extent that it was ex-
tremely doubtful whether Howell could be
tried before next May or June.
The bribery scheme was concocted in
Stockton, where lives NJ. D. Howell, the
notorious counterfeiter, who has already
had two trials and is now ont on bail
pending third trial on a new Indictment.
The plans were very cleverly arranged,
and like the many other attempts made to
spirit witnesses from the city during the
progress OF his previous trials, they showed
that no small amount of shrewdness and
daring were brought into requisition.
| 1t seems that man named Hanscombe,
a lawyer of Stockton, who has been repre-
| sentlng Howell, communicated with Can
held, who. inquired very prominently as a
| witness for the Government during How
! ellis previous trials. The communication
| resulted In meeting between the attorney
and Garfield, and the latter was soon won
over and agreed to accept the tempting
offer OF gold, promising either to dis
| appear from the city or remain in hiding
! during the coming week. AS part of the
bargain Garfield was instructed to 90 to
Santa Cruz and offer a bride to c.. E. Oster-
| huS, another of the secret service witnesses
and also, with the same object in view, to
visit Laura Weeks, who was likewise wit
ness for the prosecution.
With OsterhuS he was successful. hit
| Laura Weeks failed to succurnb to the Iur-
| ing offer OF coin. She did not refuse point
| blank to entertain the proposition, but
withheld her answer till another time, and
as soon as Garfield departed she went to
the Appraisers building and reported the
occurrence to the authorities.
When interviewed regarding the matter
Miss Weeks stated that some time ago Can
| field visited her, and in a roundabout way
made his purpose known. Said Miss
Welks:
! He called upon me three times. The first
time he told me that he had seen NJ. D. Howell
and his attorney, Hanscombe, and that they
would put up Sl000-which was to be equally
divided among three of us, Garfield, Osterhus
and yself-provided we promised not to ap-
! pear when the case comes up for retrial
The money, he informed me, was to be sent
from Stockton by Hanscombe TO his brother,
| who lives in Modesto, and from there it was
| forwarded and fold
me he would bring my share to me personally
| SO that would not have to deal with third
When he left he said he was going to Santa
| Cruz to see Osterhus.
The second time he called was out, but he
| lett card stating that he had seen OSterhus
! and that everything was satisfactorily arranged
with him, and that he would do whatever Can
/ field advised.
When he came the third time he explained
| that everything was settled, and instructed me
| to be ready to leave the city or to go into
| hiding as soon as the date OF the trial was fixed
! by the court.
| 1 did not tell him that had informed the
secret service agents of his attempt to bride me-
| as they had instructed me not to do So conse,
| euently he went away thinking that was will
! ing to accept the money and would disappear
when the proper time came.
| Secret Service Agent Harris when inter-
viewed said:
Yes, we were cognizant of the fact that How
ell was conniving to bride our witnesses
We were first appraised of the matter by Miss
Laura Weeks, who at the time gave us the de-
| tails of the plot.
This is not the first attempt of the kind and
more than likely not the last. All through the
progress of his two previous trials all sorts of
tricks and schemes were worked to free the
counterfeiter and on one occasion forgery was
resorted to. In fact, everything that brains or
money could do has been done to free the man.
Assistant United States Attorney Knight.
when questioned relative to the attempted
bribery, said:
Some time ago information reached me
through the secret service division that bribery
of the Governments witnesses. The matter
ha been investigated, but it was ascertained
that no attempt would probably be made to
complete the plot until the case is definitely set
for retrial.
A FiftyDoIIar Dog.
On an appeal from the Justices court the
matter of the death of a Great Dane pup belong