The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-05
Kroeger identified could not have been

hroeSerS testimony was entirely oppO-
! site. What he did say was that the
man in front of him and whose voice
he Identified as that of Franey's, was
the robber whose right hand was ban
daged or in some manner covered.
Mr.. Thresher said he believed that
kroeger was so much excited at the
time of the murder that he did not
remember anything beyond the fact
that he was held up. Thresher said he
had been held up once when he was a
boy, and he knew how 1t was and what
imagination could do. The attorney
devoted considerable time to the wit
ness Sigmund Meyer, the Semitic who
had followed Franey and Moodysas he
claimed, on the night of the murder and
left them at the Parochial school on
West Park street. THAT little he viz
gin, Sigmund Meyer" was the way Mr..
Thresher referred to the witness. The
little detective who followed men
around at 10 O'Clock at night" This
monstrosity of a witness" His appear
ance on the witness stand. his demean-
or ana his every action speaks for it,
self, and it was not necessary to bring
witnesses to impeach him. He i'm
peached himself.
In all my life" said Mr. Thresher,
lin all my practice as LAWYER | have
found that of all the dangerous wit
nesses and the ones most apt TO mali
ciously falsify, are those from the age
or 10 to % years of age j refer now to
the witness Lewis as we'll as Never
That age is period of life in which
they seek after notoriety and are fond
of public praise. That is why you see
so many young men of that age max
ing fools of themselves"
The attorney declared that the noto-
riety of being pointed at on the streets
as the star witness was the idea the
two witnesses had in their minds from
he .JAfz
II was not Tor justice but for notoriety
that they appeared as Witnesses That
was the reason Meyer falsitied when he
said he had followed the two men as
far as the Parochial school and said
Franey turned around and gave him "A
stare with his bad eye whereupon
Meyer pulled out his watch and saw IL
was 10 o'clock. Mr.. Thresher said
Meyers testimony was cock-and- bull
story manufactured from beginning to
end. The state" he said. had gone
down into the spittoons and cuspidores
TO dig up witnesses and got such wit
nesses as Dudley Numerical Dickinson
Neno Dodge Reno. Recore or Rotten
core, and Steve Simpson, whose de-
pravity and loathesomeness the state
Itself Shrunk from and asked to be re-
leased from him by the court and not
be required to call him to the stand"
Thresher then started in and roasted
us A'inlt anu client,
Eeno Dickinson, after which he re-
ferred to the unmpeached testimony of
Mike Dreamer. the alib witness He
said the prosecution had searched
heaven, hell and earth for impeaching
witnesses, but could find none to inn
peach Mike Creamer. He said that be-
fore the jury could convict the defend
ant 1t would have to throw away and
disregard the testimony of Creamer
MRS. AlthoH. Franey and Moody, and
1t could not consider any of that testi-
mony and say there was not a reason
able doubt of the defendants guilt. He
said the jury should be slow to convict
on circumstantial evidence. Mr..
Thresher also referred To the fact that
special prosecutor had been en-
ployed with the money offered as re-
ward, and said Mr.. Baldwin's fee de-
pended on the verdict of the jury, and
that all his work in the case had been
for remuneration and reward.
John Il. McClernan made the de-
lenses closing argument. Il can say
with clear conscience" he said that
i am here to assist justice and not to
defeat II. l am not here craving pity
or mercy sympathize with the poor
ana unfortunate. sympathize with the
man who through persecution and mis-
fortune has been led into crime, but
give to US only what we are entitled To
oiutt tue law ana evidence III TINS case,
III YOU believe the state has proven this
defendant guilty beyond reasonable
doubt you would not be true to your
self to your family or your community
II You did not return verdict of guilty
OF murder in the first degree. There is
no middle ground and no mitigating
If on the other hand Won
believe that the defendants guilt has |
not been proven you should acquit I
him."
Mr.. McClernan, in beginning his
review of the testimony, said Henry /
kroegerS public admissions that he 4
had seen Franey in Jail and that he /
was not one of the TWO robbers should |
show discredit on his testimony The !
attorney said Kroeger had not thought |
Of the alleged bandaged hand of his !
sssailant until after he had consulted /
and had been pumped up by that
modern sleuth. Henry Wey." The
states testimony as TO identification
could be applied to a thousand men in
Butte. Mr. Thresher devoted consid-
,rable time to the witnesses Henry
Ney and Sigmund Meyer. He said ne
lid not believe that The human race
lad so degenerated that any man
would wilfully swear away the life of
another, but that some witnesses came
near criminality in their
testimony. He said Wey and Never
you'd not only sell their Christ for 80
pieces of silver. but that they would
brow in all the apostles Mr.. McCler-
Ia said the jury should consider the
orm and shape Of the witness Never.
Who said he would accept no money as
! reward and from that form an estf-
nate of the weight that should be given
q his testimony. Mr.. McClernan said
hat the testimony Of Henry Kroeger
positively fixed the time of the murder
Il 1926 O'Clock. From the scene OF the
murder back 10 the Will house the dis
ance alleged To have been Travelled was
! mile and d tenth and the defendant
would have had To cover the distance
n five minutes. which the best sprinter
n America could not have done and
ct the state would have it believed
hat Franey and Moody ran the DIS
ance without even attracting atten-
ion from any one along the route and
EriVed at the VIII house without
howing a sign of exhaustion or having
n appearance Of being flushed from
he long run. Mr.. Mcclernan said that
{ there was any doubt as to the time
he dpfpU1au would have ha eyix+ay,