The herald., 1897-09-14
Ed McCamish Testifies in
His Own Behalf
THAT LITTLE RING EPISODE
AND TIE HANDCUFFS ARE Ex-
planned AWAY
A Reverend Gentleman Who Got a
Strong Sniff of Chloroform in
the Defendants Room

The Mechanism trial promises to be
quite an exception in this-that the ar
guments will cut a much more important
figure in the case than is ordinarily the
case.
Day after day the prosecution piled up
evidence upon evidence, fact upon fact
and suspicion upon suspicion, by null
titudinous array of witnesses. The at
torneys for the defense are rushing to
the opposite extreme and, aside from the
defendant himself whose testimony in
any case is of the utmost Importance,
will not put more than two or three wit
nesses forward in their behalf.
All the morning was taken up by char
acter witnesses and they came so thick
that the court called halt. It seems
curious that the average man or woman,
having a more or less intimate knowl-
edge of the elementary forms Of law ss
observed in a court room, should nine
times out of ten mistake as to what they
are called to testify to when called TO
speak as to character. To the statutory
question, DO you know the defendants
general reputation" etc, the witness
more often than not proceeds to deliver
himself of an opinion as to the merits
or demerits, supposed or real, of the de-
fendant. AS a matter Of fact the law
cares not one jot for the witness opinion,
good or bad, but everything for the gen.
Af NH mi " Or n -
the defendant and of which the witness
may be cognizant. General reputa-
tion," approximately speaking, may be
of two kinds, viz, what people in the
community say about person and what
they don't say. With regard to the rep
utation of Mrs. Mccoy Pyle for chastity
and virtue" most of the witnesses testi-
fed that in the years they had known
her they had never heard that discussed.
That the law regards as the very best
kind of evidence, for the discussion of
such essentially private matters means
of necessity that someone must have
impugned those sacred attributes. So,
too, with the defendants reputation for
"peace and quiet" it never having been.
brought into question was the best kind
of reputation in that regard for Mccain
ish-and infinitely more satisfactory for
the witnesses as it almost absolutely
cut off opportunity for cross -examina
ton.
With the end of character witnesses
the main. case for the defense was open
ed with a sharp attack on the very cita-
del of the prosecutions case. The Rev.
A. A. Fields Of the Methodist Episcopal
church at Fillmore, gave such testimony
as lends strength to McCamish's state
ment that he was chloroformed. True,
this witness may be mistaken, but at
least he was perfectly honest in his tes-
timony, and that went to show that some
narcotic drug had been issued about the
defendants room about the time he al
leges that it was.
The ring which was submitted in evil
dence by the prosecution as having been
found in defendants room was repudiat-
ed by Mrs. Jennie Brown as being the
ring of her brother, the defendant. If
her statement is true then it is not the
ring that McCamish says was taken off
his finger by the robbers.
Some other important points were
brought out yesterday, but in interest
they sank into insignificance contrasted
when he went upon the witness stand in
his own defense. His story was we'll
told, but it remains to be seen whether
it will stand the test of cross-examina-
ton. The main circumstances in. the
case are matters of absolute fact; will
McCamish's story explain them reason
ably and naturally? He has not COM
pleted his recital and so it is too early to
say.
THE DEFENSE OPENS
Before the defense opened it's case in
the morning Assistant District Attorney
Williams asked permission to put in ev-
idence the sworn testimony of McCamish
given before the coroner. He stated
that in the hurry of concluding the case
for the people the matter had been over
looked. The defense made no objection
to the introduction of the statement and
1t went in and was read to the jury
H. c. Axtell, law student. was then
called as the first witnes for the defense.
He stated that he went to Castaic and
made certain measurements. The length
Of the switch, witness stated, is 438
yards, the length between the switch
and the main line opposite the door is
thirteen feet; from the station west to
the platform is twentysix feet; from the
house to the warehouse thirtyfour
yards; between the house and switch
ten feet; the house itself measuring 7x9.
The bottom of the window is twenty
nine inches from the floor; the door is
four feet wide; the benches running on
either side are eight feet four inches long
and sixteen inches wide, leaving a space
between of three feet four inches; the
floor Of the house at the sill is five inches
from the ground and there is a drop of
twelve inches in the grade between the
door and the switch.
On cross exa mination witness main
tanned there was no depression lower
than the mean level of the ties. He said
he had yard stick which served the
purpose of a square, and was perfectly
able with that to get the mean level of
the ground without having level
On redirect witness said that for three
feet there Is a depression and from that
point the ground is level to the switch.
CHARACTER WITNESSES
Austin A. Conaway, a resident of Ba-
kersf1eld, but for twenty three years a
resident of Fillmore until two years ago.
stated he knew most of the people about
there and among others the defendant
whom he had known for about seven
years. His general reputation for peace