The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-30
Wilson and Lille Mitchell to Be
Sentenced Today.
TRIAL HAD YESTERDAY
JURY DECIDED CASE IN FIF-
TEEN MINUTES.
Lewis Thought He Would Be Able to
Clear His Companions By Ac-
z knowledging That the Ownership
of the Burglars Tools Was Vested
In Him, But It Was In Vain.

The jurors in the case against Henry
Wilson and Lille Mitchell, who are ac-
cused of having burglars tools in their
possession. yesterday afternoon found
the defendants guilty of the crime as
charged. The prisoners will be sem
fenced by Judge Timmony at 10 o'clock
this morning.
Henry Lewis, the third member of
| the gang, it will be remembered, plead
ed guilty to the same charge on Tues
day and subsequently was sentenced
| to six months imprisonment in the
county Jail. He apparently labored
under the delusion that this heroic
measure would be the means of al
lowing his comrades to go free, which
surmise on his part proved to be dis
| tinctly incorrect. The convicted man
was put upon the witness stand in or
der to clear his companions in crime.
| Under the leading questions of Attor-
ney Hamilton, Lewis gave a detailed
version of the incident. When Assist
ant County Attorney Gunter took him
in hand, however his story was riddled
in numerous places in a fashion which
aroused the risibilities of the packed
court room.
After the jury which was composed
of j. D. Wright, r. c. Nelson, j. j.
GALLAGHER and Z. j. Jeremy, jr.. had
been selected, Detective George A
Sheets was called. He testified that
he arrested the defendants. and that
the woman stated that Wilson was her
husband. She was seated upon her bed
in a room at 241s West Third South
when he made the arrest, and was COM
placently smoking a cigarette. Witness
searched the room and ultimately dis
covered a lot of broken gold jewelry
and some gold watches secreted in the
stove pipe in the room. The jimmy, he
said, he found outside on the Windows
sill, covered up with a lot of ashes;
he also found a number of skeleton
keys in the pockets of a pair of trou-
serS in the room. Sheets identified the
articles in question as being the same
which he took from the room.
What the Woman Said.
On cross-examination witness said
that when he arrested the woman she
said to him: IF it were not for us
kind of people you fellows would be
out of job"
Sergeant Ed Janney corroborated the
testimony of the previous witness.
E. c. Cotterell was then called and
related the incidents surrounding his
capture of Wilson, after the latter had
broken away from Sheets and was
making a dash for liberty. Otto Pathe,
a newSboy, told the story of the cap
ture and further testified that he
picked up a. gold watch which the
hunted criminal had thrown away in
his flight
Attorney Gunter then Offered in evil
dence the letter written by Wilson and
Lewis to the Mitchell woman. Despite
the strenuous objections on the part of
counsel for the defense the missive was
introduced. At this stage the proSecu-
ton rested.
Lille Mitchell was the first witness
called for the defense. She denied the
statements of Sheets and Janney prac-
tically in toto, and then went on to
and had married Wilson in San Fran,
cisco in 1894, which story she adhered
to on cross-examination.
Wilson Tells His Story.
H. Wilson then told a guilelesss tale.
He said that he came to Salt Lake on
Dec. 20 from the west" He had never
before seen the burglars tools which
lay before him; as to the letter, he
couldn't read and never saw that be-
fore. When he heard Sheets accuse
his partner of being criminal he was
so Mortified that he ran away in order
to rid himself of the suspicious watch
nave De6Il LEWIS
roomed in the same house as he and
his wife, and because his friend had no
key to his room he allowed him to keep
his things in his apartment for secur-
ity.
Cross examined by Attorney Gunter
witness said that he was a stationary
engineer by trade, but had sinco
worked, seven months ago, as a bar
tender for one Pete DAILY in Denver.
Ciroa no ;r;Ix
ed he had been Just travelling" Wit
ness said that he had not met Lewis
for years until he ran across him in
Ogden ten days ago. The watch story
was reviewed in detail. Defendant en-
denied, with panied remon,
STRANGE. that he had ever been an in |
mate of Colorado or Californian peni- |
tentiaries.
Lewis Shoulders Blame.
Henry Lewis then told his story as |
above, with several instances of /
lapse of memory. During his |
recital the Mitchell woman used her |
for the benefit of the |
jury. The letter. he said, was intended. |
for a lady friend. Mary Johnson; later !
he asserted she was his wife; tn !
watch he bought from another John
son. Lewis said he wrote the letter, |
unknown to anyone. AS for the tools |
and everything else they belonged to |
him; the jimmy he bought in Salt Lake
TO use at his trade a carpenter: the
skeleton keys he ha. carried in his I
pockets for months. but didn't know
what they were, and he said he had no
earthly use for them.
Then for twenty awful minutes the
state analysed the letter and asked for
an Interpretation of the crooks par
ance therein. The only ineligible
solution the prosecution could elicit
rom the witness was that ''us means
ne" and 1--WE means t.
After the case had been argued the
ury retired and returned in fifteen
minutes with the verdict of guilty