The Anaconda standard., 1899-12-07
Hesley Case Went to Them at 4
O'Clock.
EVIDENCE PUT IN RAPIDLY
He Is Accused OF Numbering John
Currie With a Club-The Jury
Locked Up for tho
Night.

| afternoon. The evidence was put III
rapidly, and it was expected that a YER
dict would be soon rendered. But at
II o'clock last night the jury was still
out and Deputy Sheriff Shea, who had
it in charge, had gone to bed.
The case was resumed before Judge
| Clancy yesterday morning at 10 o'clock.
The taking Of evidence having been
finished Tuesday and instructions sub
mltted to the court Tuesday evening.
the trial had arrived at the point of
argument, and Judge Clancy said to
| the respective counsel:
| Gentlemen, there's no limit to the
! addresses in this kind of a case: you
may proceed with the arguments"
| Chief Deputy District Attorney Kelley
| opened the arguments for the state.
Though the court says there Is no
| limit to the addresses, and while fully
| appreciate the gravity of the duty that
falls upon me, I'll be brief" said Mr.
Kelly. While We may not entirely for
| get the victim in cases of this kind, we
are likely to bear with the perpetrator
OF the act that took him off and let
4 our sympathieS interfere with our
sworn duties. But it is our duty, gen
tlemen OF the jury, to investigate the
| facts and circumstances surrounding
the offenSe, and then for you to weigh
them in the light of the law laid down
by the court and make up your verdict
| with Justice and impartiality," contin-
| ued Mr.. Kelley.
He then reviewed the evidence at the
trial. He laid weight upon the fact that
the dead man, Currie, after tinding
Mrs. Hesley. the wife of the defendant,
at Mrs. Decker's on the night he was
killed. left her there and went across
the street to Hesley's to visit Hesley:
and also upon the fact that Curr;e and
his companions and Hesley and his
wife and Mrs. Decker all gathered to-
gether at Hesleys house in friendly in
tercourse. He said that as Hesley de-
MED uttering the outcry, Stop him,
stop him" as he was pursuing Currie,
| which cry had been heard by witnesses,
it was reasonable to suppose that Cur
rie had uttered it. The counsel for the
defendant had announced that he in
| tended to prove excusable homicide,
said Mr. Kelley, and the question of ex-
| cuse or justification was the only ques-
ton in the case. Hesley having admit
ted that he killed Currie. Excusable
! homicide is where one man kills an
other in a sudden passion, with due
| prOvccation, without a deadly weapon
| and not in a cruel or unusual manner
| Mr.. Kelley asked the jury to apply this
test to the killing or Currie. He con-
tended that the evidence did not sup
| port such a defense in the least; that
over two blocks and had been inter-
| rupted in the chase, allowing him to go
| free for awhile after the interruption,
instead of killing him in a sudden pas
| sion, and that there was no evidence
| of due proyocatiOn.
| John N. Kirk, counsel for the defend
ant followed MI Kelley.
| IF the court please, and gentlemen
! of the jury" said Mr.. Kirk, Il do not
intend to bore you with a long adj
| dress. It is customary for the district
| attorney in criminal cases to admonish
| the jury to put aside its sympathies and
think of it's sworn duty. That is well
enough, perhaps. But what is the pur-
pose of the law? The laws are to pro-
tect society, and they are to be in
| terpreted and applied with that object
| in view. You are here to interpret them
in this case, and though the states
counsel tells you the case is not includ-
ed within the literal terms defining ex-
| cusabie homicide, you are still to inter-
pret the laws in a human fashion. You
| must interpret the laws humanity
Mr.. Kirk talked at length on what
he termed the human aspect of the
case, and urged the jury to weigh the
| evidence in that light. He said that
| one OF the unWrltten principles of So
clety is that mans home is sacred,
| and that the man who violates the
home Of another must take the conse-
by his actions at Hesley's made the
killing OF himself justifiable or eXcusa-
pie homicide from human stand
point.
THE district attorney will tell you
that this is not the law of the case
| But l care not for that; you must re-
gard it just the same" said Mr.. Kirk
He laid stress upon the fact that
| neither Counnehan nor Connors, the
companions of Currie the night he was
| slain, had seen fit to be present at the
| trial. He drew from this that both
thelr conduct and that of Currie on that
night We're reprehensible. He dwelt
upon the sanctity of the home, and ar
| eued that Currie violated Hesleys
rights and acted in a way at the lat
ter's nome and toward Mrs. Hesley that
excused the killing. He asked the Jury
if it intended to uphold the trespasser,
Currle, or say to Mr.. Hesley that he
had no right to protect his little home?
| Inc closing argument for the state
was made by District Attorney Con-
molly. Mr.. Connolly said that the man
who has committed a murder, when
put upon trial for his life, has far bet
| ter opportunity to defend himself than
| had the man who was killed, consider
ing the legal rights and safeguards ac-
| corded him. Currie,. he said, was flee
| ing from danger the night he was
| killed. He had no time to defend him
| self nor to offer an excuse for his acts.
| such as had the man before the bar.
! Hesley was charged with premeditated,
| malicious murder, but what kind of a
defense had he made, Mr.. Connolly
asked. Mr.. Connolly expressed surprise
at the light, complacent, Indifferent de-
| fense made by the defendants coun-
sci; also at his argument He said that
| the latter has conjured up imaginary
uffenses on Currie's part, and contend
ed that the evidence of the state was
| practically uncontroverted.
| THE evidence shows that Hesley was
| stopped while pursuing Currie. Hesley
| says he can't recollect this, yet he can
remember that Currie faced about when
he overlook him. Hesley did not tell
the truth here. After he was stopped
and Currie went on he was either re-
leased or he broke away and resumed
the pursuit. He had had time to re-
fleet and his acts were premeditated,"