The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-15

neys for the prosecution objected, and
after long and exciting argument, during
which the jury was excused, Judge Nor
row sustained the objection and further
testimony on the epistle was barred.
One of the strongest points made against
the defendants was the alleged connection
OF \. R. [. men with the train wreck in
Yolo County on July II, in which En-
gineer Sam Clark and number of soldiers
were killed, and for which crime S. D.
Worden is now under sentence OF death.
The communication ruled out of the
trial reads:
City July 18th 1894.
President of the A. R. Z. Sacramento
When you get this am far away friend of
mine mailed this. am the men wien made
the trestel wreck. l got hundert dollars for
the work One men wich hired me was heavy
dark men, one was man witch had soldiers
coat on under his oyercOat. They said that
they could hired plenty OF men for Is Dollars a
month 10 play soldiers, 50 q few TO be killed
would make no difference, they were cheap. l
write you this that you are any of the boys are
not guilty. The men send me away and told
me 10 say nothing, but If am a----
viii not see others suffer for what have done.
was sick and no work, hungery and did not
no what was doing, and the men told me it
was alright.
forgive me
your friend not fiend
Charles O'Brien.
When Hughes was questioned after the
court had adjourned for the day, he said :
There were four or five a. r. Z. men
present when | received, opened and read
the letter. l consulted the attorney en-
pIoyed in the Worden case and he advised
me to lock it up in a safe and have it ready
whenever he called for it. He never asked
for it and | sent it to Mr.. Knox for use in
the present trial at Mr.. Knox's request"
w. W. Craig, who was Secretary of the
Sacramento A. r. .. lodge during the
strike, had this to say regarding the sup
posed author of the letter:
"July 18th at :15 P. NJ, man calling
himself Charles O'Brien took me outside
of the a. r. Z. headquarters and told me
that he was an a. r. .. man and that he
had loosened the rail that caused the wreck
over the Yolo. He asked me for money to
enable him to get away. l told him to
meet me in half an hour, when l would
probably be able to assist him. l sought
Knox and we soon ascertained that he was
not a member of our organization. When
we went to keep my appointment he was
not there
Il again saw O'Brien on the 18th of Janu-
airy last. He was in the United States
District Attorneys office. I got Melvin
Hatch, who was with me, to shadow
O'Brien while [ reported the matter TO At
torney Monteith. Hatch failed to keep
track OF . Brien and neither l nor any of
is man about feet 5 inches high. He
had musrache of light color when first
saw him, but when | saw him in the Fed
eral building his mustache was black His
eyebrows were lighter than his mustache
and his hair was light. l believe his eyes
were blue, but am not sure. He had a
thin face, with peaked nose. In form he
was heavy set, and judged him to be be-
tween IS and 40 years old. He carried his
head down in his shoulders and had a
broad, Irish brogue; when talking he
avoided looking you in the face. But the
most marked popularity about him by
which he could be Enthusiastically identified
was that two fingers were missing from
one of his hands-the fore and middle fin
gers. When l first spoke to him there was
a man, evidently his companion standing
a snort distance away. They walked away
together"
According to the statements of some of
the Oakland strikers O'Brien and his COM
panion appeared in their town about the
18th of July. The companion gave his
name as Barrett and played the leading
role. Charles Fink, who saw the men,
says; n.. wa 49,.
near Cough, in Oakland, about two days
after the wreck. He accosted me and
asked me if my name was Fink and said
he would like to speak TO me in private.
Ee showed me an A. X. u. card, which L
believe was from the sacramento union.
We went to the back room in Hampton's
saloon. He told me he was from Sacra-
mento and added that he was implicated
in the wrecking of Sam Clark's train.
stopped him and said l did not want to
know ANYTHING about it, that we were not
wrecking trains and didn't want anything
to do with any one who did wreck them:
He then told me that he was broke and
wanted % cents to get his hair cut and to
get a shave, and gave him go or 70 cents.
When first saw him he had mustache,