The herald., 1897-09-29
McCamish Sentenced and
an Appeal Taken
10 THE SUPREME COURT
4 BIG SAN DIMAs WATER SUIT
IN COURT
Property Owners at San Fernando
Disturbed by Heavy Land Suit.
Claims $25 800 Damages


The curtain has been rung down upon
the first act in the trial Of Ed Mechanism,
convicted Of having murdered Mccoy
Pyle at Castaic switch, and he is now
under sentence to the state penitentiary
for life.
Yesterday morning Attorney Rush OF
defending counsel argued on the motion
for a new trial. In the course OF his ar
sument counsel advertedI to some of the
points in the case wherein, he contended,
error had been committed. After the
case was closed an adjournment was
taken by the court to permit the arrival
Of witness from Ventura, the admission
Of whose testimony was error. The
handcuffs he introduced were confessed
ly taken from a prisoner at a place re-
mote from that alleged by the defend
ant and to contradict whom this evil
dience was introduced. The cuffs did not
answer the description, and the wit
ness, to put 1t mildly, was very badly mis-
taken. And yet, counsel urged, the de-
fendant was forced into the position,
after the case had closed, of challenging
the attention of the jury to this testi-
mony and impressing it upon their
minds beyond all other testimony. And
this when no doubt could exist as to the
witness statement being untrue and
detrimental to the defendant.
Then the admission of the testimony
Of the jeweler from Bartlett Bros store
at Ventura with regard to the ring was
also claimed to be error. This witness
did not claim to know when or how the
ring had been purchased, but stated that
In his opinion it had been worn for at
least year and a half. The evidence
showed that the defendant had had it
for about eight months. This evidence
while proving nothing, directly con-
veyed the idea to the jury that the ring
in evidence was the one purchased by
the defendant.
THE PERJURED TESTIMONY
"I do not believe" said Mr. Rush. "that
in a case Of murder any mans life should
be sacrificed on such testimony. The
ring was identified by just one wit
ness, man who was mistaken In the
identity Of two boxes, altogether dis
similar and to which his attention has
been specifically directed. This witness
too, stated that he had never examined
the ring, and by their own witness the
prosecution showed that such a ring
could not be identified unless it had upon
It some private mark.
II try not to be biased" said counsel
"'and yet it appears clear that the evil
dence shows that whoever killed Mccoy
Pyle, either himself or his friends, put
certain things in the defendants room
The manifest perjury committed by
some witnesses, and all for the purpose
Of fastenig guilt upon the defendant
discredited their testimony, and in the
case of the prosecution being marked by
perjury defendant ought not to be de-
prived of his life.
'Then the defendant suffered from the
biased opinion aroused in the part Of the
county where the murder was commit
ted. The over-reaching Of witnesses to
say something against the defendant
was apparent. In the face Of the testi-
mony of witnesses such as Daily Line
berger, who identified that which it was
impossible that he could identify-the
matter OF the hat sworn as the head
gear of the defendant-the article
showed by the sweat-band that it had
never been worn at all. Some of this tes-
timony must have been perjured Then
as to how the body lay; each witness
eagerly concluded his testimony by say
ing that the deceased "lay as if asleep
and in repose," when as matter Of fact
each one differed from the other as to the
IN r;1I1 ta h Iuv ~, 1lvv<
lie. And the same holds good with re-
gard to the tracks, for the witnesses
contradicted one another with the most
precise particularly. An expert, too
was put forward, who from the f1attened
out bullet pretended to tell the rif1ine
and caliber Of the pistol from which II
was fired. No living man can tell such a
thing unless the rifling marks remain on
the bullet. He may guess at it and that's
all.
las for the cuff buttons, Daily Line
berger swore positively that they were
the defendants and when asked why he
knew that they were defendants he
replied because they answered the de-
scription given to the sheriff. This, in
spite OF the fact that the list Of articles
marked down by the sheriff at the de-
PENDANTS dictation gave the lie to the
assertion, and Sheriff Charlebois' and
every other description ever given by
the defendant to anybody contradicted
Lineberger's positive statement,
Wherever witne sses for the people
perjure themselves in order to convict a
defendant it is reprehensible to a de-
gree, and ought to be discouraged in ev-
cry way"
THE COURTS OPINION
The case of Ed McCamish has been IN
many particulars very curious one.
and in overruling the motion for a new
trial Judge Smith made allusions to
points of the evidence with all the care
Of tiny kitten walking over hot bricks
"The case" said he, twas purely one
Of circumstantial evidence. All these
circumstances were matters for the tury
and it was for them to sift out the char
p NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. - o. %