The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1900-03-09
THE WEEKLY COURIER.
Carson Letter.

.orney announced in his opening state
nent that he would prove that Willie
Dangberg had pistol in his hand
when he was shot by Joe Pete, and the
proof was made by Willie's own father,
who testified that when he went into
the house he found his son lying on
the floor of the kitchen, and there was
q pistol, which had not been loaded for
months, lying by his right side, and
there were no shells in the chambers,
showing that it had not been fired.
The idea of a District Attorney offer
ing proof in behalf of the defendant
that he was prosecuting excited much
comment. But I am satisfied that if
any attempt whatever had been made
to conceal any material fact in the
case, that the defendant would have
escaped the death penalty. Every fact
was presented to the jury, no matter
which side it helped or hurt, and it is
the first time have ever seen a Dis
trict Attorney march ZIP to that high
standard of the duties of his Office.
The defense Of Joe Pete was that he
was standing in the kitchen, close to
the door, and was talking quietly to
Lucy, asking her to return to him, and
that viii Dangberg stepped into the
kitchen, and stopped and pulled out
pistol from his hip pocket, and adj
vanced right close to the defendant,
and told him to get out of the house,
or he would blow the top of his head
off. and the defendant added that the
deceased gave him no chance what
ever, and that he shot, believing that
he was about to be shot, and that he
would not have shot if he did not be-
lieve that his life was in danger OF
course, the testimony of the other wit
nesses all went to show that Joe Pete
was ordered out of the house, and that
he refused to go, and that he shot
when he could readily have stepped
out of the house in perfect safety, but
the defense seemed to labor under the
belief that if what Joe Pete said was
true, that it would constitute a defense
which would entitle the defendant to
an acquittal; but, rather inconsistently,
after setting up case of self-defense,
counsel for defendant did not ask the
jury to acquit, but asked for verdict
of manslaughter, although there was
no element of manslaughter in the
case. The contention of the State was
that it made no difference whose testi-
mony was accepted as true, that the de-
PENDANT was proven guilty of murder
in the first degree, on the ground that
Joe Pete was the assailant, having
flourished a pistol in the presence of
some of the inmates, and being in the
act of quarreling with them when Will
Dangberg stepped into the kitchen, it
then became his duty to in good faith
decline all combat, and to retreat to
wall or into corner, and if he did so
retreat and so decline combat, and if
the deceased still pursued him, that
then, and not till then, would he be
justified in acting in self-defense. In
short, the foregoing outline of the po-
sitions and contentious of the prosecu-
ton and of the defense, briefly sets
forth the manner in which verdict of
murder in the first degree was obtained.
Rank perjury was committed prob
ably in the boldest manner ever per-
petrated in any court of justice George
Orangey, an Indian, aged about 16,
was one of two eye-witnesses to the
shooting. 1t was pretended in court
that he could not speak English, and an
interpreter named Cooey, an Indian,
being the same person who handled
the negotiations for the surrender of
Joe Pete, was sworn to correctly and
truthfully translate and interpret Eng
lish into Indian, and Indian into Eng
lish. Orangey swore that Willie Dang
berg came into the kitchen with the
pistol in his hand hanging down by
his side and Cooey translated and in
terpreted the testimony, and illustrated
it, as though Orangey had sworn that
Willie Dangberg came into the kitchen
with the pistol in his right hand,
pointing at Joe Pete, and walked right
up to him in that way. He also changed
much other testimony to suit his views.
Upon the first suspicion of what Cooey
was doing Judge Mack promptly
changed interpreters, and it was most
fortunate thing, because the very next
question on cross examination brought
out the fact that Willie Dangberg came
into the kitchen as above stated, and
told Joe Pete to get out of the house,
and Joe Pete said, 81 won't go out, y
and shot instantly. 1t had been pretty
well established before that Joe Pete
was refusing to go out, but this testi-
mony established the fact that he said
he wouldn't go out. Three other wit
nesses testified that they heard Joe
Pete say, "That's a CO." upon being