The herald., 1898-12-30
JOE HUNTERS DfffNSf
EXPERIMENTS IN DRAGGING
MEN UNDER A HOUSE
Further Disclosures Regarding the
Way Hunters Attorneys Will
Handle His Case

"Your article relative to the evidence to
be introduced on behalf of Joseph Hunter
when his trial for the murder of Wong
Sing Hay is held was in strict accordance
with the facts" said Horace Appel, one Of
Hunters attorneys, to the Herad's repre-
sentative after the publication referred to
was made He continued: The identity
OF those witnesses canno. with proprlety
be disclosed at this time. 1t is enough for
the general public to know tha. we are pre-
pared to prove the matters stated, without
knowing by whom we propose to prove
them.
Il will, however, say that we will prove
by the very witnesses for the state. who in
this case are those friendly 10 Clark, The
utter absurdity oi the theory on which they
hope to convict Hunter. Not only VII we
show that the bloodstainde collar was buried
in the ash heap for the purpose of later dis.
covery and use as evidence against Hun
ter, but we will prove tha. il was not in the
heap the very day previous to that on which
it was found. The sol. is even now undis-
turbed to greater depth than about one
inch. On the first day every effort was ex-
hausted to find some incriminating hit Of
evidence in the pile, and nothing of conse-
quence was found After the collar was
buried they went out with great flourish
of trumpets and dug it up again. 1t was a
mighty raw attempt to manufacture ev-
dence
''Then that story about Mrs. Edueer, who
was alleged to have told one Mittendort that
Joe had confessed that he killed the China
man is untrue. He never made such Il state
ment to her or to any one else. She may
have told Mittendorf that he did, and Nit
etndorf's affidavit would not make him
amenable to the law for perjury, while her
statement, not being made under oath,
would leave her free from the. danger of
prosecution. They pretend that she will
swear to the truth of the facts as stated by
her to Mittendorf. Don't you believe it.
She will never do so. Do you believe they
would let woman whose sworn testimony
would throw the responsibility of the mur-
der on Joe Hunter stay down in Arizona
and be writing back and forth about affi-
davits? Why, they would take the first
train down there and bring her back on a
requisition if she would not come freely.
They would even pay her wages for the time
lost and her expenses while here and in
travelling back and forth if they thought
tuCy SOuiu iuOutC HCi " oNCli on tHC stdHu
to the facts as related by Mttendorf
"Stop and consider for momen. the
greater weight her testimony would have
if delivered in person than if given in the
form of an affidavit Is it reasonable to
suppose that they would be contented with
a mere affidavit when they could bring her
back in person and put her on tae stand in
the very face of the jury to swear to a
statement SO damaging to our client. They
are merely 'pollyfoxing,' as McComas would
put it. Their idea is to arouse public SEN
timent against the punishment of young
Clark for the crime he committed when Joe
Hunter was away. They don't care whether
Joe is punished or not, provided they can
clear Clark.
another thing about which much &C.
count has been made is the physical in
armity of Clark, which his friends allege
yould prevent him or any other man from
u 1InraGging the Chinaman under the house.
We VIII prove by witnesses what can be
zone n that line. A series Of experiments
uas nn peen made, in which men weighing from
loo 10 over 200 pounds have been dragged
ahoer tne mouse by the unaided strength of
a single man. and the result will be testified
TO on the witness stand. These experiments
nave set at rest the theory that one man
cannot do what we contend Clark did to-
ward concealing the evidences OF his crime
before Joe Hunter came home drunk that
night last May when Wong Sing Hav was
shot at Hunters house by this young liar
whom he had befriended.
I'VE have other and more important ev.
idence, but even this would not have be.n
revealed had you not ferreted out the facts.
and no harm could be done by confirming
the correctness of your information. Our
further defense will be a complete ,esuta-
tion Of the story manufactured for young
Clark to swear to, which he was not smart
enough to tell without additions Of his own.
such as his going ahead of the wagon to spy
out the situation and warn Joe of any
chance passers-by, when he says Joe led the
Chinaman's horse down to the San Fer
nando road and turned loose His father
and his attorneys had no idea of such turn
to the story and he made himself out clearly
an accessory after the fact, even while swear
ing the crime itself on Joe Hunter. As an
accessory merely he deserved conviction
of murder in the second degree, and am
astonished that his attorneys should try to
secure second trial for him, when there /,
a chance that next time he would be found
guilty in the first degree and get a sentence
ending on the scaffold instead of III the
states prison. II he had been my client
l would have thought it piece of unusual
good luck that l got him off with a safe
neck, without tempting providence again. -
Other friends of Hunter say i; would be
the most natural thing in the world for him
to skip his bail and leave the country if not
conscious of his own innocence and his abl-
ity to prove it. As for the forfeiture Of his
bond, they say his property has been decided
TO his uncles in consideration OF their sig
natures on his bond and they could not lose
anything even if they had to advance the
$4,000 in which amount they bound them
selves for his appearance for trial, That
Joe is staying right here and making ready
for his defense his friends regard as circum-
stantial proof of the truth of the statements
of such evidence being available as will
acquit him definitely of the crime of which
he has been accused. Mrs. Edinger, it is
said, will never swear to any statement Of
a confession having been made to her by
Hunter.