The San Francisco call., 1898-12-22
Purged of Contempt by the Courtesy of the
 Defense.

\ The prosecution closed its case and the
 defense announced that 1t will be ready
 to proceed this morning with the intro duction of testimony, the right to make an opening argument to the jury being waived. John P. Cunning was again made yesterday the central figure of interest. He was brought into court m the custody of the Sheriff, after night in the County Jail. He was placed on the witness stand, and George Knight, to the surprise of those interested in the trial of the case, withdrew his de- mand for the names of the women with whom Cunning claimed to have been in- timate.
 The ss-examination of Cunning then proceeded to the close, and something of Knights purpose in releasing Cunning was seen in the result. It is seldom that man is forced to make public confes- sion of personal dishonor and shame such as John P. Cunning made yesterday of himself in the presence of hundreds of listening men and women. He admitted that he had lived upon the bounty of his mistress, accepting her money, sharing her food and her home existing upon her resources and thriving upon her means. He declared that she had shown him more than charity-that she had cared for him, counseled with him for reformation and divided with him the food that she
 
 to her she still clung to the man with whom she was fascinated and gave to him what she should have retained for herself
 More than this, the witness declared Mrs. Botkin had never, not even by in- situation, suggested to him to seek a di- vorce from his wife. This jealous, inn moral mistress knew that her lover never intended to return to her, but as far as he o% +ho fSac that kept him away from her and led him to other fields and another home. This testimony, under cross-examination, startled the courtroom. Cunning appeared more as a witness for the defense than for the prosecution. He presented an ab- feet figure, but his humiliation seemed to be felt more keenly by his hearers than by himself.
 There was an air of conscious boast fitness in his manner when he declared that he had been intimate witk three women whose names he would not give. The defense has already shown that 1t means to make much of this secrecy and to insinuate that perhaps one of these women may have committed the crime of which Mrs. Botkin is accused. The defenders of Mrs. Botkin are grasping at straws, and even the suggestion of doubt, secrecy or mystery is in their hands a weapon as strong as an estab- lished fact.
 During the afternoon Attorney Me Gowan made spectacle of himself Knight was i'll, and McGowan undertook the task of cross-examination. He sue ceeded in disgusting the court and In eIevating Cunning to a plane of compara- tive decency. McGowan carried his ques- tions in relation to the intimacy between Mrs Botkin and Cunning to the point of indecency, and Judge Cook angrlly de- l cIared that he would sustain any ooJec- ! tion made to that sort of an inquiry. As sistant District Attorney Hosmer ! shrugged his shoulders and replied that he had no wish to interrupt the plan Of !. the defense as interpreted by MT Me 1 Gowan.
 If was then that Mrs. Botkin's lawyer ! elicited from Cunning the most damaging testimony he had given against the ac- cused woman McGowan demanded to . LroIU and was informed why Cunning is . hostile to Mrs. Botkin. Cunning replied . that he came here with no thought ot vengeance on the woman. He came with . no hatred toward her, but with sense of dutv he owed to his dead ana ,1,,-roee to. compensate, as far as he may ! for the offenses in the past. He was con yinced that Mrs. Botkin was concerned t,l +bo death of his wife, and he begged | HI,Cou,an +o believe that it was duty, not ! 'ieo-,,ro that inpelled him to become the | accI1eer of Mrs. Botkin. McGowan was not even satisfied with the enect or ms boomerang. He asked to Kno" the req 1o. of Dunning's suspicion toward Mrs. | 3t,-I 1oI. o1d received the reply that with i. or,a borr after the witness reacneu IHo..ar IIi ra was convinced that Mrs. Botkln was guilty. ,.,.ross
 rIoC7or,,o, then drew from the witness . ~ -i oa,, faeeion that he had been in collu- eion with his mistress to decelve ms "iIe' and that while he was speeuiiie o- 4. .-. sIl,,,,a,, +o New York he sent letter aIter letter to Mrs. Botkln- hlS Plia2S PtSottoa1I,. evaroination developed paIheDiCaiIS dramatic recital Dunning letters w[lt- +o,, iron, Cuba and Porto Rico 10 MIS' uo+Lin were read in court The eplsueS u,era uninteresting except for ther reIel- .erce +o great events of which DunnlhS as 2 newspaper correspondent had been dii observer and sometimes paruclpdll. Occasionally the writer "oulu IApie ~ e'o some term of endearment, but not py any means an extravagant one. He wlsheu his mistress well, and told her in passing what was happening at the seat or war.
 On August 13 Dunning wrote his last letter to his paramour. He was at the city of Ponce, in Porto Rico, ana droVe three miles in a carriage to the seaside postoffice to mail his epistle Of anectlon- Having mailed his letter he returned to Ponce and went without delay to the cable office. He there found waiting for him a cabegram telling him that his wife had been poisoned and was dead. His offense to his home and his family had borne its fruit.
 Dunning was then released from the witness stand. Judge Cook then set aside his own order confining Cunning to the County Jail. In committing the witness to the custody of the Sheriff Judge Cook declared that he had simply done his duty. A question had been asked by the defense and the questioner was entitled under the law to an answer With the withdrawal of the question there was no further reason for punishment. The ques- ton had been of such a character, the Judge continued, that he did not feel that he should infict a fine as well as impris- onment. He therefore ordered Cunning released from custody.