The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-14

moustaches lie said he judged by his
recoileetions of their faces as he saw
them. Asked again if he positively den-
tilted the defendants, he replied, to the
best of his knowledge. he believed them
to be the men. He heard no outcry al
the time of the assault
NJ. X. Proebstel, yard master for the
Consumers Fuel company. testified to
seeing the defendants in front of his
place of business a few minutes before
the assault. He sat at his desk writing
and saw two mea coming toward the
office. The larger was talking with his
! fists, meaning that he was gesticulating
wildly. They stopped near the scales in
| front of the office and they talked ex-
citedly for some minutes. then contin-
ued in the direction of the scene Of the
| assault, which was four or five blocks
away. When he saw the account of the
| assault the next morning in the papers.
| he concluded it was the assault they
were discussing instead of a disagree
| ment between themselves as he at first
| thought.
On cross-examination the witness
| stated that he was within 80 or 10 feet
| of the men. one of whom looked as
| though he had not shaver for about a
| week. Both Wore what he would call
dark clothes. The witness replying TO
| questions of the defendants counsel
| said he had gone to the county Jail after
/ the assault. with Police Captain DaW-
| son and Detective Murphy. and picked
/ out the defendants from among num-
/ Der of prisoners. When he first saw
/ the men they We're coming east from the
| direction of Arizona street and going in
/ the direction of the place where the as
| sault occurred. They spoke in a for
eign language, and he could not under
| stand what they said. The witness
| thought the time he saw the men was
\ not far from O'Clock. After the wit
| ness saw the men. he said to one of his
| drivers that he thought "A few minutes
/ before that he was going to see a fight,
| but 1t turned out something else.
George Tompkins, a boy. living near
| Second and Greorge streets. was in the
vicinity of the assault and saw the tall
/ man running away from the scene. He
went within II or IA feet of the witness
He felt pretty certain the defendant
1 Nelson, was the man he saw. The man
ran in the direction of the Parrot smell
| ter Nelson was required to stand up
/ for the purpose of the witness getting
an idea of his height, and he said he felt
| quite positive. The witness only saw
one man running away and thought the
man wore a black overcoat. He had
never been called upon before to iden-
/ tify either of the defendants. ON cross
examination the witness got somewhat
| confused about the direction i'll which
the man he saw was running.
DIR. George II. Wells testified to John
! son being brought to his hospital. He
was suffering from surgical shock, had
| a compound fracture Of the skull and a
/ compound fracture of two fingers. also
| a number of scalp wounds. The injuries
| were not necessarily fatal but compi-
| cations might have arisen that would
/ have proven fatal. Johnson. the wit
ness believed. would be as strong men
! tally and physically also. except with
regard to the injured fingers. The
! wounds were Of iacerated chara cter
/ Tnyat haIy hoI hoa
! by more than one blow.
/ City Detective Jerry Murphy testified
to making the arrest of Nelson and to
| the search Of the scene of the assault
/ for the instrument used in which Ser
/ geant Buchanan found a piece of a
| buggy shaft. He also stated that Mel
son wore dark suit of clothes and
| dark overcoat when arrested.
Otto Johnson, the brother of the com
| planning witness, was called to the stand
! to testify to loaning his brother $50 a
! few minutes before the assault, which
was found on his person after it, the
purpose of his evidence being intended
| to show that robbery was not the pur-
pose of the assault.
The state closed upon it being agreed
| that another witness might be called
/ later, and the defense opened by put
ting the defendant Nelson on the stand.
! In accounting for his movements on the
night in question, he said:
4 was i'll the place formerly called
/ the Clipper Shades, now called The
| street, playing cards with Emil Ander-
son, Christ Bertheau. Alfred Holmes,
Oscar Anderson, Andrew Bolla and 9TH
efs | did not know. ! began to play
about O'Clock and played until 6
o'clock and then went home to supper
accompanied by Christ Bertheau and
| Emil Anderson.
He fixed the time by the fact that
! supper was usually ready at o'clock
/ and supper was about over when he
reached home. Continuing. he said:
After supper / went to the postoffice
accompanied by Oscar Anderson, and
! from there went to the place where
was arrested. / was then in the COM
/ pany of Oscar Anderson and a woman"
The witness did not care to give the
womanS name and was excused. He
said he was acquainted With Gus john
son, but never had any business deal
/ ings with him and never had any
trouble with him. He reached the house
of the young woman about o'clock,
and was arrested there about $40. He
replied to direct question of his attor~
ney that he did not assault Gus Johnson
the evening of Dec. . or any other time.
On cross-examination Nelson reas-
serted that he never had any trouble
with Johnson, but Mrs. Johnson had
tried to make trouble for him by gar
nisheeing his wages. Still he had no i'll
| feeling toward her.
Asked by Mr.. Connolly what other
difficulties he had had with Mrs. john
son, Nelson replied that he would prove
/ that some other time. It's a pretty
| good time now" said Mr. Connolly, and
the witness was required to answer.
His reply indicated that the best of
/ feeling did not exist between himself
and Mrs. Johnson. Nelson asserted en-
/ phatically that the statement of the
/ witness. Proebstel, that he saw him
/ tNelson) near his office that day. was
1 falsehood.
Christ Bertheau, a contractor. testi-
/ fled that Nelson had boarded with him
/ five or six months at a boarding house
/ he conducted at "a South Arizona street.
| He spent the afternoon of Dec. at the
| Mountain Home saloon, No. South
/ Arizona street. playing cribbage. Nell
| son came in about o'clock and sat in
the game and played until about .