The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-01


seemed to be telling the truth TO every one
who heard him when he said that at 3
o'clock looking in the direction of the
Hassemer House, ne saw William Kenyon
coming from it, If that is so Kenyon was
away from the Jail after O'Clock, was he
not? AT that hour the accused was at that
corner, Skeen and Stenmetz tell you.
Steinmetz had at that time just placed Levi
and Jenkins in jail If the lynching had to
be held back until the five men We're in jail
chat is the way it would have happened, is
IL not? What did Kenyon go to that corner
Tor. If not to see Hez Hughes, Calvin Skeen
and Charles Wilson? He had been out rid
Ing. After his riding William Beggatt comes
to see the lynching. o., they say, no one
has said what they talked about Does
your honor suppose that until some one OF
this guilty crowd has computations OF con-
science or is in fear of punishment you VIII
ever know what they said? Do conspirators
ever tell such things?'
The attorney general showed how Blacks
testimony discredited the story told by
Kenyon with reference to the assault on
the JAIL Those vigilant guards were there
30 that when the sheriff might be called
to account he might say he. had placed
men to watch, who were oyerpowered. 1t
WAS q shame and farce.
a puff in the lamp, step to the left,
q call for help and Ripley county would not
have been disgraced." said Mr.. Ketcham.
HUGHES'S ALLEGED ALIRI.
Hughes was in town morning, afternoon
and night. What was he doing all day and
all night? At IL O'Clock he went to Calvin
Skeens house. What for? Why did he
not go home? He got in Cal Skeen's bed,
banished Skeen's wife; got in bed long
enough to establish an alibi, and then, hear
ing a noise, went UP town and found the
plot so carefully Matched was working. At
1 O'Clock he went home, not back to bed
with Skeen so that his absence would not
be known, so that it could be said he was
at homo. Mrs. Hughes, although q wit
ness, asked to be allowed to remain through
this hearing with her husband. After Stein
metz had her husband in Versailles at 8
and IL o'clock and Cal Skeen had him in
town at ., II, II and 1 o'clock she did not
testify"
Mr.. Ketcham then took up the attempt to
impeach Charles Kelly. He admitted he
was a convict, d poor, motherless and
fatherless waif, who had never had good
influences about him. If he were not of
bad character he would not be in the Re-
form School
What is there that should induce him to
further soil his soul by laying the charge
of murder on this man if it were not true?'
exclaimed the attorney general. HE saw
that face and heard in that voice the man
who struck the life out of Henry Scheuter
There was not one word OF evidence to
show he had any feeling against the de-
PENDANT. He was not asked a question on
that score. The evidence points with al
most unerring certainty to the guilt of the
defendant. We do not say that your Honor
should find Hughes guilty beyond posi-
bility of doubt, but that if there is doubt
of his innocence he should be sent to
higher court
THE DEFENSE OPENS.
Major Cravens. of counsel for the defend
ant, followed Mr.. Ketcham. He declared
ne was neither an advocate nor apologist
for lawlessness.
For the helpless men in Jail who were
massacred," said he, my heart beats as
tenderly as the attorney generals. We are
not here investigating the crime, but inves-
tigating an honorable and upright citizen
of the county We don't ask any conceal
ment or darkness Whether the sheriff of
the county was at his post is no business
OF yours or mine, nor of the attorney gen
eral, nor of the defendant. Whether Bag
gott went to Versailles on Sept. Ia on an
errand OF mercy is no business of ours. But
why not quote him truly. He said he had
information from two sources that there
was to be excitement at Versailles either
a rescue of the prisoners by their friends or
a lyncliing. Why did the learned attorney
Inention q rescue?
He asks why did not Hez Hughes go
nome? For the same reason l would not
go home if you, squire, should say to me-
'Cravens, abide with me tonight And if,
during the night, there should be crime
in Cross Plains, would any one say l was
guilty because did not go home?
My distinguished friend says all the evil
Uo0cg defense q
of Kelly. All the evidence of the State is
the evidence of Kelly. For an hour he en-
tertained you, but not more than five min
Htes was given to Hez Hughes. The rest
of the time was given to the sheriff, to Bag
gott, TO Kenyon. They. are as foreign to
the case you have been investigating as the
sins of Adam in the garden.
, He said that Kelly came to the hearing,
got on a process, but In company of Judge
AIeMulen, who got out of a sick bed to ex-
anime him, not as q representative of the
State, but as Mr.. McMullen.
PRICE OF KEfLY'S TESTIMONY.
kelly said he would not stay in the Re-
formatory until he was twenty-one years
of age" said the attorney. HE would not
run away, but would walk away. How?
by q pardon from the Governor for giving
evidence against tho men charged with the
lynching. That accounts for his being here
and testifying against Hez Hughes. Would
any court incarcerate a man on evidence
OF that kind? Will the great State of In
diana ask such thing? 1 am not here
representing VIM. Baggott, Baylor An
hrews nor anybody that testified in this
case but my neighbor, Hez Hughes, and
that Is what your Honor is here for. Is
Hughes accountable for Baggott? No; only
Hcr himself. These men may be guilty
Pc Cam, but what has that to do with HeZ
Hughes? He said Calvin Skeen had been
called TO the stand by the state, and had
testified Hughes was there with refer
enca 10 the purchase by the county of the
Osgood and Versailles pike, and that the
trip to Osgood taken by himself and Will
son was to see Daily Wilson, who owned a
controlling interest. Hughes was there
without disguise-just plain, honest, Ripley
county Hez Hughes.
Two grand juries, since the preparation
OF this heinOuS OffenSe, who enjoyed adj
NantageS your Honor has not-procesS of
court TO compel witnesses to appear and
thS prosecuting attorney, besides a judge
On the bench to aid them-have inVeSti-
gated this horrible deed. If they failed to
return an indictment, why is it we find our
selves here to-day before justice of the
peace in a remote part of the county? Is
g. because it entered the mind of some one
that Justice Craig would assume the re-
EpoIAsibilty of doing what two grand iuries,
q. Judge and prosecutor have not done2"
He reviewed the evidence that had been
introduced to impeach Kelly and quoted
the statute with regard To reasonable doubt.
Black said the voices he heard were dis
guised When Kelly says he recognized
lfuuhaEfS VOica he iS n ipfapnn4fc Iiug.t ba