The San Francisco call., 1897-02-13

ler's room TO borrow razor, again showed
him the gold bangle, gold watch, a
ladies' ring, a South American silver dol
lar, a revolver and two boxes of cartridges,
q masters certificate marked Lee Weller
and certificate that he had been mate on
the ship Wooster.
Attorney Block objected TO the compe-
tency of the depositious on the several
grounds, in brief, that no proper diplo-
matte certificate was attached; that Con-
sui George w. Bell is not 4 diplomatic or
consular agent in the province in which
the crime was committed; that the first
paper of the bundle of-depositions pur-
porting to give list of the articles found
in Buffers possession is not PACED; that
they were not competent under the
statute of 1892 or of the statutes of the
United States; that there was nothing to
show that all the papers in the bundle
were included and consequently not SUI
ficient identification.
The court called attention to the fact
that the papers were all attached by a
string through q hole in the corner, the
ends sealed and seal unbroken. He over
ruled this objection and Attorney Block
took the usual exception.
Senior First-cass Detective John Roche,
who came from Sydney via London and
Washington, d. c., with requisition papers
and arrived here in time to sec Butler ar
corroborative of Sergeant Burners iden-
tifying the many trlnkets, papers, books,
etc, found in the valise Butler had when
arrested. He identified Lee Weller s
handwriting; said he was familiar with
it; that the signatures on the certificates
and in certain books was Weilers and not
Buffers. He detailed the hunt in the
mountains for the bodies OF Weller and
Preston and followed up the clews till
they fastened on Butler. He handled all
the grewsome things in the valise, and
identified them one by one as belonging
TO Weller. He swore to a personal ac-
quaintance with Captain Lee Weller and
that Butler is not Lee Weller. He testi-
fed 10 his thoroughly Identifying Weller
when Weller was dug out of his grave,
partly on account of the black curly beard
on his face.
The cross examination by Attorney
Block brought out admissions from Roche
that his Identification of a number of arti-
cles in the valiSe was not of his own per-
sonal knowledge, but what other persons
told him; that he had never seen Captain
Weller write or sign his name, but that
be had seen the captains signature many
times and seen 1t sworn 20 by others. He
swore he was positive he knew Weller's
signature.
Further cross-examination brought out
the fact that a tolal reward of f200 had
Oeen Onered ana already PAID IN cOnnec-
tion with the tracing and Identification OF
Butler or Harwood and that f100 IS still
offered by the Government for his con-
viction.
In order to strengthen his familiarity
with the evidence and with the entire
scene of the several murders charged
against the prisoner, blackboard was
set up in the courtroom and Detective
Roche was requested to draw on it the
location OF the many towns mentioned in
the evidence, the railroads. the Blue
Mountains and mark the spot where
Weller's body was found.
Though not accustomed to drawing geo.
graphical maps, Roche took up the chalk
and drew a series of lines and dots, which
showed that he is no stranger in the coun-
try from which he came, or with the
mountains, or with the tracks of Butle
and his alleged victims into the noun
tains. All eyes we're riveted on the detec.
tive as he worked, chalk in hand.
The examination was continued to next
Monday at 2 o'clock, when Attorney
Donohoe also gave notice that the charge
of the murder of Arthur Preston by But
ler would be taken up.-