The herald., 1898-01-04

when it came for trial another case wa.
being tried, and 1t was continued unit
the 9Th. Kitty Calvert and others went
down to our office and instructed hel
not to come back here until the ninth
| On the 7th the case was dismissed;
was in court, but Kitty Calvert was not
here, and she was our Witness"
"She was your witness, and not wit
ness for the people?" Intercepted the
court.
Certainly" was the reply, "she was
our witness, and not a witness for the
people,"
Fundamentally, these explanations dis
posed of the charge upon which the
Times articles were based, but Mr.. Nc
Comas had warmed up. Sinking both
hands deep in his trousers pockets and
taking another hitch to leeward, he re-
sumed:
1T would not have made any differ
ence," said he, eff she had been sitting
on this table. I want the court to hear
the reporters notes, as he took them on
that occasion"
Court Reporter McAllister thereupon
read as follows:
eff the court pleases, am under the ne
cessity of Diminishing the Phillips case, that
has been set for Thursday, for want of ev-
idence."
The Court-The Phillips case is dismissed
on motion of the district attorney and de-
fandant discharged for want of evidence.
Eyes, sir; there is not sufficient evidence
to warrant us in trying the case. want
that to appear"
IF anybody questions the correctness
of what 1 say" resumed Mr.. McComas,
"the transcript of the testimony taken at
the preliminary examination is on
file in room 9, in what is known as the
criminal room of this court house, and
that will show whether there was any
evidence to go to trial on or not.
1.-The reason I dismissed was that if
we had gone to trial it would simply
have resulted in an acquittal, hands
down., figuratively speaking, whereas
by Diminishing it. if any witnesses turned
up thereafter, the case might be again
brought to trial or examination"
That ended Mr.. McComas' explana-
ton, and then LIE Compile Davis had an
other turn.
"Mr. Phillips is now in the court room,"
said he, land ready at any time for trial
He has never been in Arizona, as the
Times report said he was. AS soon as
read the article 1 telephoned the gen.
eral office in Santa Monica and called
him, and he answered within fifteen
minutes, and is here now"
While the several counsel were speak
ing Judge Smith looked somewhat Sc
we're. Explanations being in order, how
ever, he took his turn, and his words
being both judicial and explanatory
were by no means the least interesting
of those given during this most inter-
esting session of court
1T has been suggested" said the court,
that the article was very severe on Mr..
Willis. In looking over the Times this
morning found that if you read the ar
ticle then appearing very carefully you
will see that, while they do not exactly
charge the Judge of this court as being to
blame, any one reading it would natural
ly think that had told them that Mr.
Willis dismissed the case. That was my
first impression of the article, but when
I read it the second time 1 saw that they
did not really intend to say that, but it is
worded in such manner that presume
of the people who read
that article will say that Judge Smith
told the reporter, or, rather, Mr. Kelly,
the city editor of the Times (the only
man l ever had any word with about it,
and that was over the telephone), that
told him that Mr.. Willis dismissed the
case. There was nothing of the kind.
Il replied to the query: L think it was
Mr.. McComas-that is my general recol-
lection and he replied: No; we have
had men working on that case for three
weeks. 1t was Willis I said: "Very
good, if you know that is right
Il did not pretend to know positively or
reasonably well. I was not asked the
question. 1t came up incidentally, and
Mr.. Kelly said to me over the telephone
that he had had men at work on that
case for three weeks, and that Willis
was the man. 1 never intimated to any,
body, the Times or anybody else, that
Mr.. Willis dismissed the case. And thew
positively and affirmatiyely
said to me over the telephone that they
knew all about it. 1t is great injustice
to Mr.. Willis. 1t is not right, it Is not fair
and it is not just to stand a man I'D in
that way who has always done his duty
in this court.
"Of course, If it was true, as it appear
ed in their first article, it was a very
grave matter. 1t was something that
needed investigation. But as long as
there does not seem to be any truth in
the article at all but something that
seems to have been made out of whole
cloth, and the wrong man attacked, 1
think it is due to Mr.. Willis that the
court make this statement in regard
to the matter. do not want anybody
to think that I intimated in any shape
or manner that Mr.. Willis was the man:
it is not true and nobody knows it better
than Mr.. Kelly"
AS the court concluded, Deputy Dis
trict Attorney Willis approached in
front of the bench, ami. while laboring
under some emotion, said that he sim
ply desired to say that in reading over
The articles under discussion it appeared
as if some persons might draw from
them the inference that he was absent
from the city on account Of the matter.