The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-16
ACQUITTED BY A TEXAN


1T was known as the murder of the
Feast of the Turkey" said Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Hal Bell, who handles all
the Italian homicide cases in the criminal
courts. to a New York Sun reporter.
The murdered man was Nunzio Iallaz,
and he was stabbed to death on the af-
ternoon OF Nov. &c. 1885, The man who
Killed him was Giuseppe Ladierre. l put
Led.erre on trial in the criminal branch
of the supreme court The Indictment
charged him with murder in the first de-
gree. His counsel, Lawyer Paimieri, Of
Tered to enter plea of guilty to man
slaughter IN the first degree, but the plea
was not accepted. as il seemed an easy
matter to convict the defendant There
Was no denial OF the fact that Ladierre
stabbed Iallaz 10 death with knife 10
inches long.
After the jurymen had been sworn, 1
learned that one OF them, big, hand
some fellow. was a Texan. When
found this out / became satisfied that l
would have hard job getting a convic
ton. for when you get a full-fiedged raw
Texan on jury in a murder trial he'll
simply decide the case according TO his
own ideas about such matters, and.
knowing this, l was sorry to think had
a full-fledged raw Texan on the jury
trying Ladierre.
The story that the jury gor from the
witnesses was that Ladierre met ldlaz
on One Hundred and Fifty-secoud stl eet;
that the men had a wordy quarrel; that
Ladierre slapped the face of Iallaz; that
Iallaz drew a knife from his belt and
then ensued a scuffie, the knife falling
to the sidewalk; that both men fought to
get it, and that Ladierre, being the quick
e. of the two, got hold of the knife and
plunged it into Iallaz. who died from the
effects of the stabbing. These were the
und-sDuted facts that were given to the
jury. and we all believed that Ladierre
slaughter. But the jury promptly ac-
Quilted the man after LadierTe showed
them on the witness stand the way in
which he did the killing.
Defendants counsel. Lawyer Pal
mieri, was greatly surprised at the YER
dict. Justice Giegerich was unable to
understand such action on the jurys
part. But 1 believed | knew the secret
of it all, and to satisfy myself | began a
quiet investigation which has resulted in
my learning that / was right in my first
belief. The handsome man from IeXas
just gave the other jurymen to under
stand that he was there. He was not 10
be bullied- He was not to be outvoted,
either. If the jurymen wouldn't listen TO
the way they settled trifiing cutting
scraDes he would see about it: see to it
that they would. Piunging a knife into
a mans HEARTBEAT was nothing. The
question to be decided was. did the de-
the Texan. he did. or the live man
wouldn't be alive. If Ladierre had not
killed Iallaz. probably Iallaz might have
killed Ladierre. This was case. the
Texan argued. where ouickness won the
battle. and quickness should be rewarded.
not censured. Ladierre simply got in
first stab. argued the man from Texas,
and he ought to be comDlimented on his
tabbing speed.
There were two little men on that
jury. and they believed the verdict
should be murder n the first degree.
The Texan just roared at them. and
they skunk away to a corner of the room.
The other jurors backed away toward
the wall. The big Texan then made a
speech. telling the jurors hoy they ran
things down in my state and the other
II jurors stood open-mouthed. gazing in
wonderment. He recalled shooting bees,
and stabbing parties and hanging pic
MICS. and gave graphic illustrations Of
now Sim Gardner cut the ID gizzard
outn Budd Allen. when Budd jest said
he'd make Sim eat tn dust Then he
asked if there war any man in tn room
who'd be man enough to say this were a
lie. But there wasn't a man there who
didn't believe il, and the Texan said:
Come, boys, tn verdicts not guilty
Then they all got in line. filed into the
court room. and the clerk recorded the |
verdict. Eight of the jurors We're pale
faced when they came in. The faces of
three were very red The 18th man was
the Texan. His face appeared normal
and. as he warmly grasped the hand of
the man who did the deed. he remarked:
% Yer right pard. I'd er did it meself
if I war thar
Now" said Mr. Bell. you wouldn't
believe such a thing could happen in |
great New York. but it did, and Iadierre |
is back home in Morrisania now"