The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-12

room down stairs. The large room was
crowded to its utmost capacity. Evil
IDENTIFY the case has excited q wonder
full amount of interest in Wilkes Barre
and its vicinity.
THE ACCUSED.
When the squire was ready to pro-
ceed with the hearing the prisoners
were brought from the sheriff's office
and took seats at the defendants table.
Their mother was with them. She is
a somewhat corpulent person and was
dressed in mourning. On one side of
her sat her accused daughter, also IN
mourning, and on the other side was
here oldest son, Patrick Monaghan.
Across the table from him were his
brothers, John and Tom, and beside
them was Thomas Clark, who was ac-
cused Of assisting John and Tom to kill
Corcoran and plunder the home.
John was neatly dresseL and has any,
thing but an evil face. Tom and his
sister impress one less favorably. There
is a shiftiness about their eyes that
is not in their favor. Mary was APP
parently very self composed and did
not seem to be affected by her con-
finement Her brothers were glum and
stolid In appearance, and Clark's face
generally wore a kind of a smile that
was dangerously close to q leer. He is
a young man who is very Indifferent
about his personal appearance and it
is only candid to say that he looks
like a member of the willie" gang.
After Williams gave himself up he
Joined the other defendants at the
ig
breezy to the verge of freshness, but
he is not disGipated looking and while
undeniably tough does not bear the
ear marks of criminal. John Ian
gan, who came forward to surrender
himself, is a tall 1.-the young man with
nothing particularly against him so far
as his personal appearance is concern
ed.
GREAT ARRAY OF COUNSEL.
With the accused sat their attorneys,
James Murray, John +. Shea, James
l.. Morris. NJ. n. Donnelly, NJ. II. Nc
Aniff and Thomas D. Shea. District
! Attorney #. r. Martin looked after the
| commonwealth side of the case and
| with him sat .ohn T. Martin, Of
/ Scranton, private counsel for Ike
! Seidman, and W. II. Gillespie. of Pitts
| ton, attorney for the Corcoran estate.
| The preliminaries with reference to
| pleadings, etc, were satisfactorily dis
| posed of, Coroner Mckee gave some
unimportant testimony and at $50
! Ike" Seidman was called TO the stand
! by the district attorney
There was a great craning of necks
| to get view of the new Sherlock
| Holmes when he went on the stand.
! His English is not the best, although
! born in Oswego, n. Y, and his edu-
cation is evidently very meagre. He
! had some difficulty in reading the in
| formation he swore to, and failed To
comprehend the meaning of such words
! as dimensions" and interior" when
| they found place in some Of the dis
trict attorneys questions.
| Ike made a distinctly bad impress
! sion on the stand. He showed no grasp
/ whatever of the details surrounding
! the crime. For instance: He Sworo
| that he was told that the Monaghan
| boys went to the yard in the rear of
| the hotel on the night of the murder
and cut "a clothesline with which to tie
! their sister and Corcoran. He did not
attempt to find out if there ever was
a clothesline in the yard. AS a mat
ter Of fact, wire was used for line
if the statements made at the hearing
are to be believed.
In reference to the wrecking of the
safe, he said it was forced open with
chisels. If an explosive had been used
| Nellie Murphy, who slept upstairs
would have been thrown out of bed.
No other officer in this end of the state
possibly with the exception of Ike, "
would have made such a statement.
SEIDMAN'S POSITION.
When Seidman went on the stand
the district attorney asked him to state
what his position is.
II look after the mines of the Della
! ware, Lackawanna and Western; stuff
stolen from them, etc." he modestly
replied.
do you look after them as a gen.
eral superintendent or officer?" ques,
toned Mr.. Martin, who likes exact re-
plies.
"As a special officer" replied the
witness.
Seidman then proceeded with his
story, which, in brief, was as follows
He went to Duryea on the day OF the
murder and on the following Monday
and in the presence of John KeatOr
questioned Mary Monaghan. She tolC
him of the manner in which she wa.
awakened, how she came down stairs
was bound and tied to the bed OF
| which Corcoran's body lay. She tolC
him they took everything there was il
the safe, took Corcoran's watch anC
removed his diamond ring from hi
finger.
Ten days later he met Mary Mona
CHAN at the Duryea station. She sale
she was going to Scranton to avoiC
meeting Detective Johnson and Ser
geant Kline, of Wilkes Barre. Sh,
sent word to them that she was sick
but they insisted on coming, so sh
decided to go to Scranton. He in
quired her reason for doing so and, al
though It was their second meeting
and she knew he was an officer, sh,
told him that she was afraid she Nigh
say something that would convict he
and her brothers.
| Seidman then described visits h
paid to her at the house of friends II
West Scranton with the Wilkes Barr
officers, and finally OF inducing her 4
go to Wilkes-Barr to identify prison
ers who he said were under arres
there.
SHE IDENTIFIED ONE.
At Wilkes Barre she was confronte;
by four men who were said to be unde
arrest and she identified one of then
as being in Corcoran's on the night o
the killing. The men were not unde
arrest and the whole matter was mere
ly test. Seidman told Miss Monaghan
that the district attorney had request
ed her presence in Wilkes Barre, bu
| he admitted on the stand todav tha