The herald., 1897-12-24
CRAIG BOUND OVER
ON A CHARGE OF CRIMINALLY
ASSAULTING DAISY PITROFF
Mrs. Pitroff Gets Painfully Ratified on
the Witness Stand and Refers to
Papers in a Divorce Suit

Craig on a charge of rape was held be-
fore Justice Morrison yesterday and the
defendant was held to answer for trial
with his bond fixed at $500. The assault
is alleged to have been committed upon
Daisy Pittroff and the sole question of
his conviction depends upon the dis
puted question of the girls age.
| Mr.. and Mrs. Pittroff, who are famil-
lar figures in the police courts, appeared
yesterday accompanied by their entire
family. Their daughter Daisy, who has
been confined in the city Jail pending the
examination, was the first witness
called.
The girl would pass anywhere for II
or is years of age. She enjoys robust
health and might be termed rather pret-
ty were it not for her emboldened man.
ners. Yesterday she wore mans white
fedora hat and f1irted with the loungers
in the court room
Daisy was the first witness called. In
answer to Deputy District Attorney Joe
Chambers question as to her age she
stated that she would be sixteen years
old next May. This put her below the
age contended for by the defense. She
then narrated the circumstances of her
visit to Arizona and the events which
led up to her relations with Craig. She
said that her mother secured place for
her in a dance hall at Jerome, Ariz.,
where she was to receive S. night. She
soon tired of the life there and returned
to this city. Instead of going home she
took up with Craig and was living with
him at the Euclid house on North Main
street when her mother found her. Much
of the girls story is unfit for publication
but she ratified it off in the crowded
court room without even blushing.
Mrs. Pittroff next took the stand and
told of finding her daughter and Craig
living together in two rooms connected
by folding doors, one of which was oc-
cupied by three or four men. She asked
Daisy to go home but the girl refused.
When she talked with Craig he had said
that he was Daisy's friend and that he
intended living with her for awhile. If
she kept straight he would probably
marry her.
In the afternoon Mrs. Pittroff was
again placed upon the stand for cross
examination. Attorney Copeland, who
is acting as counsel for Craig, had only
asked the woman few questions when
he got her painfully ratified and under
his cross-fire she proved a pitably poor
witness.
The whole question of Craig's guilt
depends upon the claim that Daisy Pitt
rolf was under the age of consent at the
time the alleged criminal relations be-
tween the two existed. Mrs. Pittroff
had already sworn positively that her
daughter was only Is years old, but when
she was asked for the date of the girls
birth she replied that it was A. D. 1881
This would make Daisy 16 instead of 15
years old. When Mrs. Pittroff's atten-
ton was called to this fact she saw her
blunder, but owing to her lack of pro-
ficiency in mathematics was uncertain
whether to set the date a year forward
or backward. Finally she became SO
mixed that she could not swear positive
ly whether it was in 1891 or 1871 that
Daisy was born.
In an effort to help the witness Mr..
Chambers suggested that there might be
some great national event by which the
witness could fix the date with certain
ty. How about the Centennial? Did
this occur before or after Daisy's birth?
Mrs. Pttroff wasn't certain that there
Z IL
her embarrassment Mrs. Pittroff
grasped like a drowning man at a straw
the thought that she could remember
having heard something of President
Garfield's assassination. By this event
she attempted to place the date of
Daisy's birth, but when she saw that she
was likely not to come out right she
gave up the attempt with the remark:
Maybe I'm wrong and it was someone
else who was shot that 1 remember
about"
Mrs. Pittroff was excused but returned
to the stand later with some papers
which she had filed in a divorce suit
against her husband two years ago and
by reference to which she said that she
could state positively the date of Daisy's
birth. The evidence was admitted and
the woman then declared that her
daughter was born in May, 1882.
j. w. Pittroff, Daisy's father, testified
that the girl would be sixteen years old
the 18th of next May.
The defense did not care to introduce
any evidence and the examination end
ed. Craig was bound over for trial in
the superior court with bonds fixed at
$780, in default of which he will be
confined in the county Jail.