Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-06-05

The trial of the case of the state
against Peter and James Cuello, charged
with the shooting of Dominick Eercella
at Meaderville on the morning of Febru-
airy IS last, was resumed in Judge Clan
cy's court this morning. with j. e. Nc
Evoy on the witness stand.
Prior to adjournment Saturday the
complaining witness told his story of the
three years and had first
the Cuello brothers at a dance in the
Florence saloon at Meaderville only
about two months before the shooting.
They uttered some impertinent remarks
and asked him what he was doing there.
He told him he was big enough to take
care of himself. AS he left the saloon
both of the men jumped on him. They
knocked him down and beat him Sc
verely, until the s~aioonkeeper came out
and made them stop.
They hit me to beat hell" said Ver-
celia.
The witness said the next time he had
seen them was in the office of a justice
of the peace during the trial of a case
in which the Cuellos We're defendants.
NlllCSS vas q lllCS dSdlIlSl lHC
Cuellos. On the night Of February -
witness saw them at another dance in
the Florence saloon. They were at the
bar drinking when he entered. He paid
no attention to them. He thought they
We're swearing. At y O'Clock they left
the place. Forty-five or fifty minut
later witness also left with the intention
Of going to Bertoglio's saloon, on Smelter
and Main streets. On turning up Smell
ter street he noticed the Cuellos landing
on the sidewalk. They We're swearing,
and he heard II Of them say:
" will eat the heart out Of the --.'
Witness said he reached Bertoglio's
place in a roundabout way, as he knew
the brothers were not buffers. He stayed
at Bertoglio's Is or 20 minutes and then
started to go home. When he reached
the outside Bertoslio stepped to the door
and told him he could stay there all
night. Just then two MEN at the Oppo-
site side of the street came towards him
at a rapid pace. When they got within
the circle of light from the saloon he
recognized them as the Cuello brothers..
The shooting then commenced and before
it had ceased he was shot,; that as a re-
suit of the wound he had spent about
three months in the hospital and had
emerged with one of his ribs sawed off.
He was. he said, unable to do any work
On cross-eXamination he said six shots
IioNA DSCIl L ulu HUI hlOW WHO
fired any Of the shots say the third and
sixth. He thought Peter Cuello was re-
sponsible for the third and he knew
James Cuello fired the sixth. He could
not tell which one struck him. One bull
let had gone through his hat. He ex-
hibited the hole.
Vercella also stated tina the Cuellos
left the saloon forty or fifty minutes be-
fore he die.
McEvoy's testimony Was to the effect
that when the shooting began he was in
his house. He went to the door after
three or our shots had been fired. He
said he had seen the Cuellos shoot twice
and then run up an alley. He was not
mistaken in the identity of the men. He
had also seen a man lying near a tele-
graph pole at the opposite side. After
wards he had learned that the man was
Nercella.
Dominick B~ertoglio was recalled for
the purpose of showing that the shooting
of Nercella was prompted by malice on
the part of the defendants. He said
there had been trouble between the par
ties and others prior to the assault. and
It had ended in court. the Cuellos having
to pay the costs. This had made them
angry and they threatened to get even.
or three weeks before the shooting
he had a talk with James Cuello, and the
latter said he would get even with wit
'iS''' " a pdi iC hb' pIiy III II II. w IL
ness said James invited him outside and
he had gone. James and several others
We're with him assaulted him when
he reached the exterior.
Dominick Salki testified to something
he said Ratiste Strazza had told him
about a week or two ago. Strazza is a
.dairyman, and it was at his house that
one of the defendants had applied for
shelter about A O'Clock on the morning Of
the shooting. When called as a witness
he SAID he did not know whether one of
the defendants was the man. Salki tes-
tilted that StrazZa had told him he had
identified the caller as one of the Cuellos.
This finished the states side.
Before the defense opened it's batteries
Attorney Wines said he would like to
fifteen minutes in which to consult
with his witnesses and the court granted
it. During the recess Mr.. Wines learned
OF the existence of a letter which a wo-
man had attempted to smuggle to the
C1ellos in the county Jail about two
months ago, and, concluding that it was
all off with his clienth, advised them to
plead guilty. The writer of the letter
was 10 testify for the defense, and the
prosecution intended to spring the letter
and create Il sensation that would shock
all Of Meaderville and a section of the
city proper.
When court convened Mr.. Wines asked
That lufthef time De granted IN order
that the matter might be fully fixed up,
and court was accordingly adjourned
until 10 o'clock. At that hour Peter
Cuello came into court With tears in his
eyes, but his brother James was as stern
as 1T is possible for a man to be.
I'm this case l desire to make the re-
quest in their behalf that they be al
lowed to withdraw their plea of not
guilty and substitute one of guilty" said
MI. Wines.
The prisoners were asked if that was
their desire and they answered yes.
The jury was then discharged and the
court aunalnced that GeutHncn would he