The San Francisco call., 1896-04-26
Slow Progress Made in the
Trial Of Van Horn and
Crow.
v1NToN's FRIENDS TESTIFY.
Breaking the Chain of Suspicion That
Binds the Alleged Slayers
of Littlefeld.

WEAVERVILLE, CAL, April 25.-The
friends and partisans of king" George
h. w Whlte-the enemies of "Ves" Palmer,
who is the foe of White-are having their
innings in Weaveryille's court. Men and
women have gone upon the stand to i'm
peach the evidence of the prosecution,
which is endeavoring TO convict Con-
stables Crow and Van Horn of having as
sisted in the lynching of poor "Jack" Lit
tleheld, after they had arrested him for
the alleged shooting of John Yinton.
Whites right-hand man.
Some startling facts have been retold
during the progress of the trial. Wit
nesses have recounted the finding of the
body of Palmer's head vaquero suspended
from tree and riddled by bullets; have
told of the lowly grave in which the
iynchers' victim was cast after "snap"
Coroner's inquest had been held-a grave
two feet deep and three feet square, in
which the doubled corpse of the fearless
cowboy was cast, booted feet touching un-
covered head within a foot of the surface;
have described again the feud of Round
Valley, the dark and bloody ground of
fair California, where George White is the
law and bullets its ultimatum.
But the truth has been brought out
slowly and hestatingly. Fear of Round
Valley vengeance has closed the mouths
OF those who know the truth. Confronted
by armed men-desperate, glowering
creatures of the border, ready to shoot or
cut or hang at the word OF him who en-
ploys them-their utterances have been
guarded, and the men who lynched Little
fia1l o. -
brought to justice.
1t is a daring jury that would convict
Crow and Van Horn; but if it does convict
lively times are drawing down upon
Round Valley.
The first witness this morning was
Thomas Hayden, to whose house john
Vinton returned after having been shot on
September 25 by Jack" Littlefeld, as he
claimed, and at whose house he was cared
for until he had recovered Hayden tes-
titled to having examined the tracks lead
ing from the spot where Vinton was sup
posed to have been shot. He said the de-
PENDANTS, Crow and Van Horn, were at his
house prior to their departure to arrest
Littletield.
Hayden testified as to the natural char
acteristics in that neighborhood, and
swore that he was present on March 80
when Dryden Lock fred five shots from a
44-callber Winchester rifle at the place
where Littlefeld met his death. The pur-
pose of this latter evidence was to prove
that the report of rife fired at the scene
of Littlefeld's lynching could not be
heard and was not heard at the Red
Mountain House.
This fact if established, will impeach
the testimony of Walter Clark, who testi-
lied to having heard three shots and three
only, and who declared that he was able
to tell the difference between the reports
that one was lond and two of lesser detona-
tion at the time Littlefield was lynched.
The witness was cross-examined by
Deputy Attorney General Post, and while
he was somewhat confused at times in his
memory of unimpor:ant details his evi-
dence was not much shaken. From the
general trend of the prosecutions 8 cross
examination it was evident that it will at
tempt to prove by the defendants witness
the existence of conspiracy which re-
suited in Littlefeld's death.
Mrs. John Vinton was called to the wit
ness-stand, and testified TO having gone to
Hayden's place on September 27 of last
year from her home in Covelo, in company
with her brother, and that when quarter
of mile from Hayden's house she saw a
party of seven or eight men on horseback,
two of the horses being white or gray.
This was the party that left Hayden's
house to arrest Littlefield. Mrs. Vinton
said she rode on to the Hayden place, en-
tered the house and removed her outer
garments. She noticed the clock, and the
hands indicated that the hour was 3:2O.
The reason she noticed the time was that
she wanted to see how long she had been
on the road.
AT that time she was not married to
Vinton, being Miss Clara Shores of Covelo.
She became Vinton's wife in March of this
year. Her evidence was not shaken by
the cross-examinaton.
Mrs. Thomas Hayden testified that
Constables Crow and Van Horn and their
party came to her house on Septem Der 81,
after the family and guests had partaken
OF the noon meal, and that she got dinner
for them. They arrived between the
hours of 1 and o'clock in the afternoon
They rested awhile and left few minutes
after o'clock. In the party were Con-
stables Van Horn, John Grow, Thomas
Hayden, Dryden Lacock, Gordon Van
Horn, Joseph Gregory and Radcliffe.
Shortly afterward Miss Shores, her
brother and Waiter Kemp arrived at the
house. The men in the party were then
three-quarters of a mile away.
The object of the testimony OF Mrs.
Vinton and Mrs. Hayden was to prove the
time at which the constabIes left the Hay-
den place to arrest Littlefield
The remainder of the evidence was un-
important. The case went over until next
week.