The herald., 1898-11-13
ALvITRE RELEASED
His Daughter Creates Sensation in
the JUSTICES Court


Another one of the Laguna ranch cattle
stealing cases came up before Justice Young
yesterday, the preliminary examination OF
Ramon Alvitre for completely in the thefts
being set for that time. Deputy District
Attorney James appeared for the prosecu-
ton and A. A. Montana for Alvitre.
Flournoy, the butcher, on the preceding
night, experienced some difficulty in giving
new bond, but after remaining an hour
| in jaig the necessary sureties were obtained
and he was released on the new bond of
S25OO. The charges against Nick Miller,
the interpreter, had been dismissed at Riv-
era, Lopez's case had gone over by consent
of counsel, the defendants confession max
ing it no special hardship, and Vernon
Cruickshank had been discharged, there
being no proof of guilty participation in the
acts of Lopez and others so far as he was
concerned.
| That left only Alvitre, who was supposed
to be the man who assisted Lopez to drive
the cattle in by night to Fournoys corral.
His assistant, whoever he was, according
to the various witnesses appearing at Flour
noy's examination, always kept in the back
ground and Lopez, in his testimony, ap-
parently was intent on shielding his accom-
| PilCC. lac oWolC tHuI uO hiiCu q NioAitoii
boy for IS to help him for half hour in
( driving the cattle to Old Mission San Ga
briel, but this boy was regarded by the dis
| trct attorney as mere creature of imag-
nation, and it was hoped to connect Al
| vtre, who is brother-in-law of Lopez, with
| the acts of the latter.
Some delay occurred on account of the
fact that the various deputies of the dis
trct attorney were engaged elsewhere, but
Mr.. James, who had been assisting in getting
a jury in the Dow case, which was set for
! trial in Judge Smiths department of the
superior court, at last appeared. He said
he thought he could expedite the case not
withstanding the delay, as he had consulted
with the witnesses and found there was no
evidence to connect Alvitre with the crime
of which he was charged. He therefore
moved for the dismissal of the case. This
was granted by the court, and the specta-
tors began to file out.
Alvitre's wife and other members of his
family had been present in court and up to
the moment of his discharge had manifest
ed much anxiety over his condition. The
! joy they experienced when they learned of
the abandonment of the prosecution was
manifested by tears as they came forward
to tender their congratulations, and the
climax was reached when Mrs. Contreras,
his daughter, fell on the floor in ft 1t
required the united efforts of her father
and five other persons to restrain her while
thus affected. The deplorable circumstance
brought the crowd back with rush, but
the young woman soon recovered and the
happy family withdrew.
This leaves only Flournoy and Lopez sub
ject to prosecution. The former has been
held to answer to the superior court and
the latter, having turned states evidence,
is expected to get light sentence when he
comes before the higher court. Meantime.
cattle stealing on the Laguna ranch has
been suspended and the prosecution of these
cases it is thought will insure exemption
for some time to come.