Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-02-18
GOES OVER Until FRIDAY Y
May Hearing Again Continued and
Will be Resumed Again Next
Friday Morning.
Probable that it Will Take Two More
Days to Complete the Testimony
in the Case.

taC lie CAOSe u tut 6iuC III Iue
hearing Of the May case yesterday
States Attorney Allen asked for a
continuance OF the case until next Fri
day, stating that he had business in
Fargo, in connection with the United
States court, and the case was accord
ingly continued until that time. It
will probably take two days more to
complete the evidence before the case
is submitted for the consideration of
Justice Tibbils.
The examination of L. J. Cham
payne occupied the day yesterday. The
most important brought out with ref
erence to this witness was the fact
that he had made several experiments
with the bucket in the well, OF which
it was claimed by May and Mrs. Hibbs
at the coroner's inquest that they saw
the body Of Hibbs lying at the top of
the water, while the ropes and pulley
were lying on the ground above.
Champagne testified that in the expert
ments he had made, that when the
ley was loosed at the tripod at the top.
the bucket would Immediately sink be-
low the water and the upper pulley
would creep toward the curbing, and
be carried into the well, and that il it
was not caught, the pulley and ropes
would 60 into the well, and when the
singletree by which the bucket was
hauled up reached the snatch block,
the bucket would be twenty feet under
water. The witness said several ex-
periments had been made with the
same result. Attorney Register OBJ
jected to this evidence as going into
4 the domain of speculation and as en-
deavoring to show the nature of an
accident of which the defendant claimed
to have no knowledge. He said that
if the state continued along this line,
and endeavored to. eliminate all the
possible means by which an accident
might have happened the trial of the
case would take all summer. States
1aCCol icy @A11Ou od1u I'll HT IdtV AIuol
conduct the case along these lines and
show that an accident could not have
happened in the way it was claimed
this one happened in order to show
that Hibbs did not fall into the well
accidentally, but was murdered. .
Champagne also testified to his ar
rival at the ranch the day after the
accident. He could not say whether
any hay had been swept up off the
floor in the room where Hibbs was and
put in the stove, except as he had been
told, as he did not see it done. In til
morning after he got there the room
in which Hibbs body was lying
been cleaned up. He testified that when
he worked at the ranch in June, 1901,
the bucket in the well would not sink
when it was let down into the water
but the last time he was there it would
sink il it was not sustained in some
way. He said possibly the bucket had
become water logged and this ac-
counted for it.
Attorney Register in his cross-exam-
~ination asked the witness if it was moi
a fact that Hibbs was reckless about
the well. The state objected to this
as calling for a conclusion of the wit.
ness. Attorney Allen said he had nc
objection to the witness stating what
acts he had seen Hibbs perform about
the well. and from these to let thu
court decide whether the deceased hat
been a reckless man, but he did no
want the witness opinion as to reck.
lessness. The witness stated he hat
seer Hibbs stand at the bottom Of TIL,
well and haul up a fish key full of dir
by means Of two pieces OF barbed wir'
attached to the end OF the keg. II,
= had also seen him step from the curb