Arizona republican., 1898-07-19
THE NEWS OF WILLIAMS.
An Interesting Case Tried in Will
 Hams laSf Friday.

Williams, July 16.-(SDecial corre- spondence of The Republican. )-Joe Spitz, one of the best range riders in Arizona. and who would have made an ideal cavalryman, was prevented from going to the war by warrant charg- ing him with misappropriating horses, just as he was about to leave for the front. The warrant was sworn out by pr. B. B. Perrin and Robert Perrin, land and cattle barons of this place and the preliminary trial, which oc. cured before Justice Sanford yester- day afternoon, attracted widespread interest and developed quite comp1i- cated state of affairs. It was a bitterly contested case and enlisted the ser- vices of some of the best legal talent in the county. B. B. Ellinwood and Henry F. Ashurst were employed by the defense and District Attorney Clark and A. L. Barry appeared for the prosecution.
 At times the proceedings were tinged with excitement, as for instance. when the venerable judge threatened to have MT. Ellinwood elected from the court room and fined for contempt besides. The lawyers offense was the interpo- sition of an objection to a question of one of the opposing attorneys. Mir Ellinwood laughed the matter of and saved his legal anatomy from incar- ceration.
 The history of the case dates back to about year ago, when Spitz. upon the recommendation of Joe Hall, a business associate of the Perrins, was employed by them to gather and breaF horses. The contract was a verbal one and it's conditions, as sworn to by the witnesses for the prosecution, were that the horses were to be rounded UT and taken to an enclosed pasture on the Baca grant, near where there werr other animals of the Perrin brand which were also to be driven into the pasture. Later on there was a slight alteration in the agreement, wher Spitz prevailed upon the owners of tht animals to allow him to take them te Sycamore canyon, where he had pas ture lands enclosed naturally by stone wall. After the horses were al gathered and broken they were to b, taken to New Mexico and sold, Spit receiving all over SIP per head. U1 to the time of their transportation h. was to receive $40 per month. Whel the Perrins heard that Spitz intende, leaving for the war with the last com pany of volunteers that went to Pres colt from Flagstaff they secured tn warrant, which charged specifical1 that the cowboy had inappropriate roan horse branded M. c. and a sor rel branded L. K The misappropria tion consisted in trading one of the M c horses to Bert Johnson for anothe
 horse, which he intended to bran
 with the same iron. The horses 1e was broken in the operation and Spit
 shot him. The l.. K animal was
 colt which had been following an N
 c. mare, and which Spitz gave t
 Johnson for services in herding tn
 Perrin horses.
 On the witness stand Spitz said h , had never been able to collect a cen \ from the Perrins, and when he aban doned the horses to go to the war h
 was without provisions. The wate
 had become scarce in Sycamore car
 yon, and he turned the animals out S
 that they would not perish. As h
 understod the verbal contract he wa
 privileged to trade horses where th
 bargain would be advantageous to tn
 owners. They had promised, he sai' 2. to provide him with four assistant !: and thirty saddle horses, while he ha