Amador ledger., 1905-04-21
WANTS CHANGE OF VENUE.


On Thursday the attorneys for f.
N. Staples filed stack of affidavits.
90 in all, asking for change of venue
from Amador county, on the ground
OF prejudice, owing to which defend
ant could not get a fair trial in this
county. The court allowed the pros
ecution until the 2Sth of April to
file counter affidavits, and the defend
ant until the lst day of May-the day
set for trial-to reply thereto. The
affidavit of defendant Staples is as
follows:
f. N. Staples being first duly sworn
deposes and says. l am the defend
ant in the above entitled action;
say upon my oath that | cannot get
fair trial in Amador county, owing
to the prejudice of the people in said
county against me; the sheriff told
me on the way to this county after
he arrested ME that he would have
great difficulty in preventing a mob
from lynching me after my arrival
here; on my entrance into the county
at lone hostile mob met the train
and derided me; | heard mauy ex-
presslons to the effect that | ought to
be hung, and that | was guilty and
ought to be lynched; all the way to
jackson from lone, twelve miles dis
tant, l was greeted by unfIiendly
crowds, and at Jackson several hun
dred people congregated on my ar
rival, and jeered and hooted at me,
and said L was guilty and ought to
be lynched, and the sheriff had diff
Guilty in restraining said crowd; prior
to my arrest the newspapers of Anna
dor county and San Francisco publish
ed untruthful articles against me;
some of the San Francisco papers said
that l would be hung, and that | was
guilty; and the Amador county
papers have published articles against
| ME that have strongly melted the peo-
pie against me. Here following arti-
cles from the county papers,.
Since my incarceration in the couu-
ty Jail L have heard a great many ex-
pressions from people passing said
Jail on my case, and they were all
unanimous that | was guilty and
ought to be hung; | say upon my
| oath that am absolutely innocent of
| the charge against me and can prove
| my innocence if given chance before
an unprejudiced jury; owing to the
great public interest taken in nv
case i'll Amador county, and owing
to my prominenhce as a physician
and surgeon, and prominence of
other people connected with my case,
my case has been thoroughly discussed
throughout the whole county; the
newspapers have been filled with
articles relating to it, and the prose-
cutting officers have diligently circu-
| lated reports to the effect that | am
guilty and every newspaper in San
Francisco and Amador county, about
dozen in all, has condemned me so
that the state of mind of the people
of this county is such that | cannot
get fair trial in this county.
There are only about $500 men in
Amador county who are citizens of
the United States and taxpayers sub
Ject to jury duty; nearly all of these
men reside within a few miles of
Amador City, where it is charged
that committed this crime; the fore
man of the Keystone mine, Mr.. b. |.
Hoxle, employs several hundred men,
and his wife, Mrs. Maud E. Hoxie,
who was arrested with me, is also
| charged with the same crime of mur-
der that it is alleged L committed; {;
the said Hoxie is taking a very great
interest against me, and has circuIat-
ed reports all over the county that |
am guilty; he is a man of consider
able influence and standing, and has
greatly preJudiced the people against
me. The sheriff and district attor-
ney have taken a like course, and
cfo h1k
guilty and that they would convict
me.
l therefore say upon my oath that
| cannot get fair trial in Amador
county, because of the prejudice of
the people against me, and therefore
pray this honorable court to transfer
my case to some other county for
trial. f. N, Staples.
Supporting affidavits were also pre-
sented from the following parties: w.
u. Snyder, A. Caminetti, W. j. Nc
Gee, Maud E. Hoxie, f. A. Orr, S.
J. Futter, S. G. Shealor, Thos. Gil
lick, Morris Brinn, John Ross. ir.,
M. M. Marks, B. b. Haven, JASPER
johnson, Charles Schultz, W. e.
Downs, j. W. Surface, f. E. Ries
dorph, Nj. Jones, S. X. Thornton. w.
W. WoIthing, Edward Records. j. o.
Reeves, f. M. Potter, Thos. Honey
church, Jabez MINIS, Joseph Dat
son, Webb Smith, M. W. Ford, W.
II. Carley, John V. BelIuomini, w.
Q. Hoss, q. Quilici, d. Biscard1,
J: H. Zumalt, W. X. Mcfarland,
Henry Bradley, J. D. Mason, Paul
Guiliani, P. Guirlani, Thos. A. He'd
gepath, G. Cuneo, Giovanni Rossi,
Frank Simcich, W. W. Howser, c..
A. Meiss, L. Marsino, M. Driscoll,
G NJ Rarhnr MiIEorl Don.;.