The record-union., 1898-11-17
WILLIAM NEvILLS' PLANT
BEING AIRED BEFORE JUDGE
COOK AND A JURY.
The Complainant Tells How He
Was Induced to Pay Elsie WILL
Jams Two Thousand Dollars.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16-The
trial of Elsie Williams, Grace Loose
and Myron Azhderian was resumed to-
day before Judge Carroll Cook and a
jury. Fresh evidence was taken regard
ing the alleged conspiracy by which the
accused are said to have extOrted mon
ey from Captain William A. Nevills.
DR.. Winslow Anderson testified that
he professionally attended Captain Ne
wills in this city at the beginning of the
present year. On one occasion he saw
Captain Nevills draw a check in favor
of Mrs. Elsie Williams.
Charles A. X. Smith, proprietor of the
Jim Town store, said he talked to N.Y.
ron Azhderian at Jim Town. Azhderian
was telling of abuse he had received at
the hands of Captain Nevills. He said:
We'll, I can stand it, for I'll make old
Nevills pay for it,
George w. Taft, a resident of Fresno,
said he had talked with Elsie Williams
and Grace Loose concerning Neyills.
Both complained of Nevills having
him pay for it,
Mrs. Taft, wife of the last witness,
corroborated his testimony.
The first exciting testimony came from
Thomas Dolan, who was formerly in
Nev1llS employ as a teamster at Fres-
no. Dolan declared that Azhderian, one
OF the defendants, offered him $4,000
to kill Nevills. He refused to under
take the task, and then fed from Fres-
no, for fear that Azhderian would at
tempt his life
The star witness of the day was Ne
Ifc< xrrt1.
under which he paid the Williams wo-
man $1,000. He was induced to do so,
he said, through blackmail to which all
three of the defendants were party. He
very clearly disliked his position, but
for all that was frank in the story of
his disastrous relations with Elsie WILL
lams. 1t was some five years ago that
he formed her acquaintance. She was
then employed as a typewriter in the
Palace Hotel, and he at times called
upon her to assist in his correspond
ence.
Captain Nevills told further how the
acquaintance ripened into intimacy AT
the time he first met the young woman
she lived on Golden Gate avenue She
shortly afterward removed to other
rooms. He called upon her there.
The jury was also told of the rela-
tions of the couple at Fresno, to which
place Nev;lls took the fair Elsie as
bookkeeper. She fell in with Grace
Loose and Azhderian, and then his
troubles commenced. They threatened
him with exposure, damage suits and
the like, and, fearful of notoriety, he
parted with the $1,000 check, which
forms the basis of the present prosecu-
tion. Demands We're made for more
money, accompanied by additional
threats. Then it was that he called a
halt and caused the arrest of the trio
of alleged schemers he now desires to
have sent to San Quentin
Attorney Baker made a mere start
with the cross-examination of Nevills.
Pointed questions called forth objec-
tons. Baker at once offered to prove
that Nevills had parted with the $1,000
willingly, in settlement of threatened
suit for betrayal. He also agreed to
prove a promise by Nevills to divorce
his wife, and marry Mrs. Williams, ac-
companied by declaration from the
witness that if he failed to secure a
divorce he would right in another way
any wrong he might have done the
young woman.
AT this juncture the cross-examina-
ton was interrupted by an adjourn
ment. 1t will be resumed tomorrow,
and promises lively deyelOpments