The record-union., 1897-04-16
TRUE HELD TO ANSW ER.
Witnesses Tell Of The HOld-Up Near
Uintah.
Cullen Narrates How True Wanted
Him to Go Train-RObbing
With Him.

ped United states mail car near
/ Uintah, Utah, on the morning OF the
l4th Of October last, was conducted
before Justice of the Peace G. G. Da-
Wis, acting as United States Commis-
sioner, yesterday afternoon.
| The prosecution was conducted by
| Assistant United States District At
tOrney Bert Schlessinger of San Fran
cisco, and Hiram w. johnson looked
after True'S interests. True was ac-
| companied by his brother and two
! ladies, and gave the closest attention
to the statements made by the several
witnesses.
The robbery which is laid at True's
| door was very cleverly planned, and
was at first believed to have been the
work Of an organized gang OF train
robbers. Subsequently il was learned
! that only one man had been connected
with the case, and that he had made
good use of bombs and explosives in
order to leave the impression that the
train was attacked on all sides.
Daniel Rowland of ogden, the en-
gineer on the train which was robbed,
| said that when close to Devils Gate
he saw a man climbing over the tend
er, who had white sack over his
head and a revolver in his hand. The
robber first searched the witness and
his fireman, Mcfarland, for any Weap-
ons they might have had concealed
upon them, and after satisfying him
self that they were unarmed prevailed
upon the fireman to slip an extra sack
over his head, thus leaving but one
man to watch.
Engineer Rowland explained how the
robber had made him stop the train
when near Uintah, and had then COM
PEELED him and his fireman to march
back to the express car When he
reached this point the robber stopped
and struck match with which to ig-
mite a bomb, and taking advantage of
the occasion Engineer Rowland dodged
under the car and ran to Uintah, where
he Informed the operator of the rob-
berry which was under way. The wit
ness absolutely failed to identify True
as the man who had robbed the train.
S. P Mcfarland of ogden, the fire
man under Engineer Rowland. testified
to having known True for fifteen years
He corroborated the statement made by
Mr. Rowland, and said he had told the
latter the day after the robbery that
who did the work He said, however,
that he had never given tongue to his
suspicious to the railroad detectives and
United States Secret Service men un-
til about two weeks ago. They had
never asked him to name the party
he had suspected was guilty, though
he had told them he believed he knew
the robber. The witness said he could
n
who committed the robbery, but that
his talk, walk and actions were very
like those of the latter.
Attorney Johnson spent a long hour
in his attempts to trip up McFar-
land, but the latter stuck manfully to
his statement, giving as a reason for
not telling the officers that he sus-
pected True that his business was to
fire an engine and not to capture Grim
inals. He had, he said, merely an
swered questions propounded to him,
and was not in a habit of doing work
for which he received no pay He ad-
mitted that he had not felt friendly
towards True'obefore the robbery, on
account of statements the latter had
made in his presence relative to non
union men. The witness had been en-
ployed by the Union Pacific Company
during the strike, and True had said
in his presence. IF there is one thing
like it's a 'scab.
J. w. Walfred was the postal agent
on the Inflated train, and at the time
of the robbery had eighteen pouches of
mail in charge. His attention was
drawn by hearing an explosion at the
neighboring express car, and seeing a
thread of blue smoke curl slowly in at
the half open door of his car.
The witness, upon looking out, saw
three or four men, one of whom pointed
a revolver at him and told him to get
his head in quick, which he did.
About an hour later the witness heard
a knock at the door and opened it.
AS he did so the man outside demand
ed the registered mail pouches. The
witness claimed there were none, but
after further remonstrance threw
them in the doorway and the robber
pulled them cut on the ground, cut
them open and took out number of
packages. The witness had seen Mr..
True since that time and in his opin-
ion he corresponded in appearance with
the man who committed the robbery.
p A McElvoy, the express messen- |
ger. explained how the robber had at
tempted to blow open his safe with
dynamite. but withdrew after the at
tempt failed He was not able to iden- |
tify True as the man who had done the
work.
Z. T. Cullen, the next and last wit
ness for the prosecution, was a living |
exemplifcation of the type Of witness |
so vividIy portrayed in the works of
Charles Lever. He was decidedly Irish |
and rolicking blade at that; with |
hair a verTnilon red Strong taste of
the brogue, and n fund of mother wit |
1t was impossible for the counsel for |
the defense to pin him down to a
straight answer, to the list OF questions
propounded.
In cross-examination it was brought |
out that while personally he preferred |
to meet the hard knocks of the world |
and earn an honest living by the sweat |
Of his brow, there was an. uncle in the
background who was worth millions |
and whose wealth, in time, would pro-
baby become his He told of meeting |
True az various times and places in
San Francisco, having known him pre-
viously in Ogden and how one day in
a saloon while talking of railroad busi-
ness he mentioned the Utah holdup
and said the man who did the job had
lots of nerve. and that True said: 1t
didn't take much nerve and that he was
the man who did it.
True, the witness said, had shown
him, revolver and said that had hop-1