People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1895-09-26
Tie Stlie VS.. Rain.

seen toe uefal lsnt John R. Rain in
ROM Pond NJ N'y5, 1894 But this
time rTe, 'at he did not see
him there until May It'll. He ex-
plain uiLl violence on the pre-
liminar, 81. upon the date he
then believed a certain business action
had takea = g, .Gt that after exam
ing III pl4.~: D.. now knew that he
had been mistaken as to the date.
He OF Itl - sEduce the papers re-
ferred to ~, ueither side called for
them. HewaS not crOss-examined.
R. M. Sharp was the next witness.
He live On lie same section with
Rain and his contestant Jacob W.
johnson. He testified that about
May l, 1895, he had a conversation
with the defendant Rain in which be
told Rain that he was liable to be
arrested for perjury in the Anderson
Gray case and advised him to fix it
up. He admitted On crOSs-examina-
tion, however, that when he made
this statement, he expected that it
would have the effect of driving Rain
off the claim and Kidding Johnson of
contest.
The next witness was Geo. W. s.
Gray, a brother to Anderson Gray,
who used to be a lawyer at Conway
Springs. He testified that in March,
1895, at his house 10 Grant county. 0.
T., Rain told him that he had COM
mitted perjury in the Anderson Gray
case; That he had sworn that he had
been shooting snipe on Anderson
Gray's farm on Nay 5, 1894, when as a
matter of fact he was on his claim in
the strip on that day. He further
testified that Kain had repeated these
statements to him a few days ago.
lie was rather thoroughly cross
examined and did not stand up well
under it.
Jacob W. Johnson was the next
witness. On direct examination he
testified that he saw John Rain on
his claim 10 the Strip about noon on
May 5, 1894. On crOSs-examination
he admitted that he had taken a Spe-
cial interest in this prosecution and
had done considerable to work up the
evidence and to secure the attendance
of witnesses. Taken all in all, he
helped the states case very little.
The next witness to take the Stsno
was John H, Jordan, a young man
, who used to work for Anderson Gray
on his Eden township farm but who
has been living in the Strip since that
Y country was opened to settlement.
On his direct examination he testified
very positively to having seen and
been with the defendant in and near
Pond Creek on the Bird, 4th, 9Th, 9Th
and It'll days of May, 1894. He told a
very plausible story and his evidence
evidently was having considerable
!. weight with the jury. Mr., Schwinn
took him up on croSs.examination and
soon had him milling, by producing
a letter which Jordan admitted that
he had written and mailed to Ed
Gray from KingtiSher. The letter
contained language Of such a charac
ter as to render its sending through
the U. S. mails punishable under the
United States laws. This language
was used in reference to one -. R.
Jordan was questioned very closely a,
to whom this 81 R." referred, but he
perSistently denied that he knew
These denialS became so rank that
even the jurors could not keep from
smiling at them. But Jordan wa!
not to be confused. With an aban
don that was remarkable he Launched
forth and made statements so prepUS
ferrous as to set the whole court room
in roar Of laughter. He was cross
examined very closely as to his hav
ing offered to pay Miss bessie Ions
twenty dollars to testify that she saw
John Rain in the Strip on May )
1894. But he denied having had AM
conversation whatever with her or
the subject.
While Jordan was still on tn,
stand, court adjourned until tht
morning. When court convened
J0rdan'S cr0SS-eXamlnatlon was com
pleted and on redirect examination
after the county attorney had tolC
= him that he certainly knew to whom
the 81. R." in his letter referred to
he said that it meant John Rain, bur
that he didn't want to tell it bacauS,
he had been told several times in tn,
past few months that, if he testified
in this case, that letter would be.uSeC
to send him to the United States pen
itentiary. On recroSs-examinatiOn
he admitted fatty that he lied yes
terday when he swore that he die
not know what that ~. R" meant.
Mrs. Geo. W. s. Gray was the mex
witness She testified I'm tho eon,,