The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-12-17
3" NOT GUILTY"
Such Was the Verdict Of the Jury in
the TRIAL Of Jim and T,be Francis
for the Killing Of Les Ross.
RESUME Of TRIAL AND EVIDENCE

JUVE' fIdHh IL. DedTlHE, Ol tnt
Twcnty-iirst judicial district. was
called In to try the case, Judge An.
thony having been sworn of the
bench Monday afternoon special
veniro Of fifty men was summoned, of
which the following qualified and the
last twelve were retained to try the
case: Robert Hin, John Denton, John
leargain. Jcn Simms. W c. Boyd.
George llutchings, Henry O'BannOn,
Fred Elscr, i Y. Ashburn. Dock Mack.
ley, A. Dcgrant. Joseph Carrow, \. j..
Griffin, W. s Sebastian, J. c. Meyer,
p, r Ricl;us, George A .Riclius, Fred
BOhs, J. q. Lucas, James Barker, y.
A. Kinkead, J. u Nchb. David Moran,
Thomas IIowland, NJ G. Mathcwaun.
Il, W. Riggs, a. S. Krckrl. T. K. Mitch.
ell and CretainCd ls the trial jd"y;
Ed. lurks, John Marks, Lee Wclkcr.
T. O. Prcsncll John Kollmcycr. Geo.
Williams, VIM Counts Chris. T'ulock,
w r. Lindsay. A. NJ Bum, John
Trap aud L. S. Hoy
OF those that were scratched the
defense scratched John Yoargain,
Jcfr Simms, James Barker and David
Moran, the State scratching the re.
maindcr
On Thursday afternoon the trial
commenced and the cighty.two wit.
ucsscs summoned were sworn OF
these the State used fourteen and the
defense twenty-five. The testimony
was contradictory in but few in.
stances and In those cases rather Of
omission than commission. II was
in substance as follows
Less Ross was staying at the home
of his brother, William Ross. in Doe
Run Ills father and trrcc sisters
lived In Elvns. About eight O'Clock
Tuesday morning Tom Langley called
at win Ross house and asked for
Less. The two went away together
About nine o'clock they were in the
IIamiItontOwn saloon when the Fran.
els boys came in. They remained n
few minutes when Ross said to Lang
Icy, Tom, give me that five dollars
You owe me; want to go to Elvins
on the 10 O'Clock train They went
toward the depot The Francis boys
remained until about II o'clock. drink
ing James Francis became pretty
we'll intoxicated James took of his
atin brown hat which had several
broken places in H. and, pointing to
them, said to the crowd. See that;
Ross did that. and | am going away
tomorrow and do you think that I'm
fool enough TO go without royengc?"
They left the saloon about II O'Clock
and started to the saloon over on the
other side of town. On their way
Stella Ioman heard them saying
Less Ross Is the man We are looking
for" Mrs. Meyer with whom TobC
had once boarded. saw and heard
them and warned them not to go
down TO the saloon, as Less Ross was
down there On reaching the old Bono
saloon they pushed open the screen
doors and James Git was testified to
10y George Bourgeois) threw his hat
against the wall and said. Are the
losscs here? They are the ones we
are looking for, and we are going to
camp here until We find them" About
this time Dan Sullivan saw Ross
start across TO the saloon from the res.
taurant and went ont and told him
not To go into the saloon, az the Fran
els boys were over there looking for
him Ross said, well. want bot
tie of beer" Sullivan told him to go
back to the restaurant and he would
send the beer over. Ross did so and
Sullivan sent the beer by George Lup-
Key. The Francis boys III the mean
time walked ont the back way follow.
cd by George Bourgeois, who told
them to keep quiet On re.entcrinE
the saloon TObC Francis looked across
the street and saw Less standing in
front of the restaurant with a half
full beer bottle in his hand Tobc
pointed to him and asid. There he is
now" They walked out In front Of
the saloon and Tobe raised his right
hand and said to Ross, You slugged
him when | wasn't there, hut you
cant do II now" Ross replied, Stay
where you are; | don't want trouble
with you at ALL The Francis boys
continued to advance toward the res
taurant and Ross and Ross continued
to warn them away. Tobe Francis
had his right hand in his pants peck
ct on n 3S revolver. The Francis
boys approached within ten feet of
Ross. and Jim Francis said to Tobe.
get that woman out OF the way" Ross
was Immediately behind Mamie Mar
tin and Tobe Francis was Immediate
ly in front of her. and had pulled his
revolver half way from his pocket.
Ross. on seeing this and believing he
was to be shot, suddenly stepped to
the side Of Mamie Martin and threw
the bapr hottie Mt Tnbe and immedi-
ately rushed upon him with an open
knife which he took from his left
pocket. Tobe lodged the bottle and
slipped and partly fell about the time
Ross was upon him with the knife.
1t was here that the testimony d.
verged. One witness swore that
when Ross rushed upon Francis thoy
fell, with Ross on top, and that James
Francis pushed Ross OF. and as Ross
AMI Tobe were rising to their feet