The herald., 1897-08-25
A HARD CASE
Earlston, the Balloonist,
Held to Answer
IN A $250O BAIL BOND
THE STORY OF PRETTY LITTLE
BEULAH MINOw
Her Experience An Object Lesson to
Some Girls, and Also to Parents.
The Young Divorce


sionist," as he has been described on
the posters, has had his bubble reputa-
tion pricked and is now in the Jail for
lack of s2500 bail bond to appear in the
superior court and answer to the charge
of rape upon pretty little Beulah Minot.
The story Of this escapade of the gay
aeronaut will be yet fresh in the public
memory. How a warrant was some
time ago sworn out against him by the
father of the girl, and marriage cere-
mony only sufiiced to settle the difficult
ty. Then another wife--an earlier love
of Earlston's-was reported as having
materialized and the balloonist's offense
against Beulah Minot appeared in an
aggravated light and he was arrested at
San Diego on the charge of rape.
The exploitation of such charge in
court does not afford a particularly edi-
flying spectacle, and yet there is an in
terest attached to this case altogether
beyond the mere curiosity of the NOR
bidly inclined. The experiences Of Beu-
lah Minot are rather sad commentary
upon the disobedient habits of numbers
of boys and girls-habits which too often
drift them into the ranks of the incor-
rigibles On the other hand, if the action
of the girls parents, in handing their
15-year-old daughter in marriage to
man of whom they knew absolutely
nothing, is to be taken as criterion,
then surely the discipline to which Beu-
lah was subjected must have been of
curiously contradictory character
When the case came up in the town
ship court yesterday, Assistant District
Attorney Williams prosecuted the case,
with Mr.. Allen as special counsel and
Mr.. Murphy represented the defendant,
Richard Earlston, who was accompa-
MED into court by J. Baldwin, his man
ager. Witnesses on both sides were ex-
cluded during the hearing of the case,
and as consequence some very pro-
nounced discrepancies were to be noted
in the testimony.
The first witness was Beulah Minot
herself. She does not look day older
than she is, and is quite pretty and de-
cided brunette. She answered to the
name of Beulah Minot, but counsel for
the defense was most punctilious in al
ways addressing her, during her cross
examination, as Mrs. Earlston." No
sooner had the girl taken her seat upon
the witness stand than EarlSton's coun-
sci raised the point that inasmuch as the
witness was the wife of the defendant
she could not testify against him. Mr..
Williams conceded the marriage on July
18th, but claimed that the crime alleged
was perpetrated before that date, and
the court held that in a case where a
crime was committed against the per-
son of the wife then the law held that she
could speak, and her testimony would be
competent.
That cleared the ground for action,
albeit the allegations of bigamy faded
into the far beyond.
The girl began by giving her address
on San Pedro street, and then proceeded
to give the details of the eventful 29th of
May, when she first met and was cor
rupted by Earlston. "In the afternoon
I went to the Fiesta park with three
friends said she, land there was intro
duced to Earlston. I accidentally met
him again on the same evening at Sixth
and Main streets, about o'clock. He
stopped me and asked me where I was
going, and 1 told him, and then he said
he would walk with me. When we
reached the park he asked me to 81.
down for little, and then proposed
should accompany him to his room as il
was so cold in the park. l refused to go
but he told me about some pictures he
would like to show me, and coaxed me
until 1 went with him On the way we
went into the saloon at Sixth and Spring
street and then went up to the room
at 59O1a South Spring street"
An interruption took place at this Tins
80
with the prosecution, charged Baldwin
the defendants manager with making
faces at the witness and trying to catcf
her eye. The court was about to ordel
Baldwin out of court. but in respons,
to the question the witness stated tha
she had not noticed Baldwin at all. II
render assurance doubly sure, Mr.. Wi!
liams had the alleged offender sub
poenaed, and then, SIS witness, he ha(
to leave the court room.
Resuming the thread of her narrat tive
the witness said:
HE (Earlston) locked the door of th'
room and put the key in his pocket. II,
explained a lot of pictures to me ant
then took advantage of me-"
That was as far as the girl could ge
for she broke down in storm of tears
ing such a story as hers with the eyes o
all in court riveted upon her. What
ever her sins of omission or commission
her modesty asserted itself, and sh,
sobbed as if her heart would break
Twice she essayed to speak, but failed
until she had recovered her calmness
Then she went on to tell how Earlstor
had tried to persuade her to remain il
his room all night, but the memory o.
the past again overcame her, and shs
stammered through her tears that she
didn't want to tell; that she couldn't tel
anything more.
"Who's been talking with you?" que.
ried Mr.. Williams, for it didn't suit the
prosecution to have the main witness
fall down. IF he didn't wrong you ]
want you to say so."
The words were not spoken very gent
ly, and Beulah confessed that the de-
fendant had grievously wronged her
That he kept her in his room until :
o'clock in the morning.
On cross-examination Beulah stated
that the three friends with whom she
went to Fiesta park on the day she met
Earlston were Minnie Yansey, Mat
Meeker and Fred Bogans, the prize