The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-11
1.-THE TRIAL WILL Be
BITTERLY CONTESTED
Melvin L. Wines and Edwin g. Booth Face q Jury Charged With
subornation Of Perjury in the Shafer Csss-Attornsy
General Nolan Appears for the State.

The trial Of Melvin L. Wines and Ed
win s. Booth. attorneys. OF the charge
Of s~ubornation OF perjury in connection
with the trial Of Joseph shafer for the
murder Of John Hawkins. was begun
in Judge Clancy's department OF the
district court yesterday morning. Be
fore the case had proceeded far 1t be-
came evident that 1t would develop into
one of the most bitterly fought cases
ever tried in the criminal court of Silver
Bow county Attorney General Nolan
appeared alone to prosecute for the
state. Against him were arrayed. for
the defense, william Scallon. John w.
Cotter and Frank e. Corbett.
Very little difficulty was met in Sc
lecting a Jury. h state only exercised
two Of its peremptory challenges and
the defense five. The jury. as retained.
was composed of John L. Carroll, Dan
iel Cahan, Thomas Walker. James Brett.
Ed Sweeney, T. p. Newton, Con B. Sui
Ivan, Terry Lennon, Amos Booth, j. j.
Harrington, c.. w. Gideon and Joseph
Lagg.
MIR. Nolan made a long opening state
ment to the jury as to what the state
eA ~ INV n Soho NV
ants were attorneys for Shafer on his
trial for murder. The defense in the
case was self-defense and 1t became
necessary to show that Hawkins had
threatened Shafer and that he had the
ability to carry out his threat. A de-
position of one Ed Laney was therefore
introduced. The deposition was taken
at Seattle and in it was set forth the
sworn statements that Hawkins had
borrowed a revolver from Laney with
which to kill Shafer and that Laney
warned Shafer of the fact. To sub
stantiate the deposition other witnesses
testified that Hawkins had a gun in his
hand when he was shot and that after
the shooting one Eva Smith picked up
the gun which Hawkins was alleged
to have dropped and carried II to a wo-
man named Gabrielle, from whom she
afterwards recovered it. When the Of
ficers arrived a gun was found in the
hands of Hawkins. but the facts OF 1t
were that Hawkins had wrested the
weapon from Shafer after he had been
shot, n the weapon produced at the
trial as the one alleged to have been
picked up by Eva Smith was provided
for the purpose by the defendants. who
had purchased it in a Park street pawn
shop. Ed Laney was a fictitious per-
son, a man of straw. The defendants
approached one James w. Bacher and
suggested to him the propriety Of going
to Seattle and representing himself as
Ed Laney and there make a certain de-
position. He was provided with money
with which to make the trip, and was
furnished with the questions that would
be ~propounded to him by the notary a
Seattle. The answers were prepared foi
him, and he repeatedly rehearsed them
before leaving for Seattle. For the pur'
pose of disarming suspicion and estab'
fishing the identity of Bacher as Ed
Laney, MIR. Booth wrote a letter te
Laney at Seattle which was mailed In
Butte before Bacher left the city. WheI
he arrived at Seattle he got the letter
from the postoffice, and his possession
Of 1t was prima facie evidence to tht
notary that he was Ed Laney. Bachel
presented himself to the notary, an
swered the questions propounded to him
signed the deposition with the name o.
Ed Laney and then Immediately re
turned to Butte. The deposition wal
used in the trial of Joe Shafer.
n evidence of Eva Smith was als'
used and she testified that she picked vi
the gun which presumably had beer
used by Hawkins. During the trial o
the case the witnesses for the defens
repeatedly appeared in the law Office o
Mr.. Booth and rehearsed their testimon!
so that the should make no error whel
1 on the WlI1csS Stdnu. AtloIIty III
Cavanaugh was associated with tn
Shafer defense and made the opening
statement to the jury. and made al
outline of the evidence OF the defense
including the perjured' testimony. TIL
Information as to what the evidence o
the defense would be was not obtaine'
by him from the witnesses. but was out
lined to him by Mr.. Wines and MI
Booth.
Cr5danl,r and u-itho,,t oov anna ron
cause, Mr.. Cavanaugh dropped out o
the case. The reason for his suddel
disappearance from 1t vas an admission
made to him by Eva Smith. She toll
him that she was afraid she would brea
down. A contention of the state in tn
Shafer case was that Eva Smith use
a razor in the part she took in the al
fair which resulted in the murder q
Hawkins, and the defense claimed tha
she used the alleged revolver she pickle
up from the floor. Mr.. Cavanaug
asked her il ii was not a fact that sh
used the gun; that she a picked II u
and afterwards given 1t to Gabrielle
Eva Smith replied that there had bee
no such u at all and that Shafer
gun was the one found IN the hands
Hawkins and had been by him wreste
from Shafer. She said she used q raxo
This knowledge at once caused M
Cavanaugh to withdraw from the cas-
One day Booth and Cavanaugh wei
walking along Park street and M
Booth entered the ~pawnshop of Ed Ros
saying he wanted to get a revolver wit
which to experiment for the purpose I
determining how close to an object ii
weapon could be discharged and lea,
powder marks on the object fired a
Mr.. Cavanaugh waited on the outsid
Mr.. Wines came along and also entere
the pawnshop and both remained
there for some time. When they can
they Joined Mr.. C~avanaugh n Il
statement was made that the revolv
was obtained. The fact Is that VI wi
the Identical u used at the trial
Shafer and alleged to have been pickle
up by Ev Smith and used for the pu
pose of substantiating the perjured d
position OF James w. Bacher.
One morning Bacher, Eva Smith ar
Booth were together in h latter's o
fee when Attorney Bernard Noon hal
pouad In Eva Smith was eyaminir