Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-10-18
Circuit Court.


at 10 o'clock a. m. Tuesday. All the
court officers were present as well as a
number of attorneys. After the open
ing of court Judge MCGEE called the
grand jury and there being one of the
regular venire absent, the sheriff with a
special venire secured service upon s. L.
Caple, after which the grand jury was
sworn in and instructed. Following is
the list of grand jurors:
s. L. Caple, foreman, w. G. Allison, A.
II. Herbert, j. A. Morrison, John Nc
Clure, R. N. Painter, Ira Barnett, Ernest
Bellemore.
Judge McGee then proceeded with the
call of the civil calendar.
On Wednesday .gornirg the grand
jury presented an indictment in the
case of Jeston Boehme, alias Jack Cor.
man, for murder. Mr.. B. r. Wood, one
of the attorneys for the defense, asked
the court for time to plead and the court
set the time for half past one in the af.
ternoon, at which time the prisoner
plead mot guilty" The jury was duly
impaneled and the testimony Of wit
nesses for the prosecution commenced
and continued until the hour of noon
on Thursday. Up to this time the evi
dence of the witnesses for the prosecu-
ton was very damaging to the accused.
The afternoon and evening was
occupied in hearing the testimony for
the defense. The testimony Of the wit
nesses for the defendant showed that
Streeter had threatened to kill the de.
fendant and that Streeter was the agres.
sor in the fight that took place on the
corner Crook and Sixth street a very
short time before the killing, and that
he was seen to draw a revolver from his
pocket soon after German had gotten
away from him. A revolver was taken
from his pocket at the time he died in
the rear of the court house
all chambers being fully loaded. This
testimony produced marked change in
the court room.
Witnesses from Deadwood, also one
from Denver, who were called in behalf
of defendant testified to the vicious and
dangerous character ofStreeter. Friday
morning after rebuttal and sur-rebuttaI
of testimony had been given the argu
ment was begun by G. E. Smith on be,
half Of the state followed by w. E. Bene
dict, also for the state, and by Ed. L.
Grantham for defense, Buel r. Wood
closing for defense, and Judge A. J
Plowman for the state. Judge McGee
then instructed the Jury and at $50 p
IN. the jury retired to consider the yer.
dict. Court then took a recess until
O'Clock this morning awaiting the yer.
dict of the jury.
There is a great deal of interest sho own
in the case by the general public, and
the excitement engendered by the pro.
ceedings was noticeable among the peo.
pie as they assembled in the court room
of which large proportion are ladies
States Attorney C. E. Smith is assisted
by Attorneys w. Z. Benedict of Custer
and Judge A. J. Plowman of Deadwood
in the prosecution of the case, while the
defense is ably looked after by Attorneys
B. r. Wood and Ed. l.. Grantham OF
Custer.
For tie benefit of those who are lot
familiar with the nature of the case, we
will give brief outline. 1t was on the
l4th day of August last that the accused
met on the street of Custer and shot and
killed Roy Streeter, who, like himself,
was prize fighter. German is a white
man about % years of age, while Stree.
ter was negro about 81 years of ago.
There had been bad blood existing be-
tween the parties for several months
whicn was, as we learn, first engendered
by the attention of the negro paid to a
woman, and lastly augmented by an un
settle account in which the negro claim
ed that German was in debt to him to
him to the amount $95. On the day
mentioned Streeter, who had just re-
turned from Deadwood, met German on
the street and sharp alteration with
fists insued, in which it is said German
got the worst of it. This took place
about twenty minutes before the shoot
ing occurred.
Up to the time of going to press no
further indictments have been returned
by the grand jury, but they are still in
session.
At Ia. m. this Saturday morning
the jury in the German case is still sut.