The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-17
MIGHTY HUNTER
HELPS THE STATE
Charles W. Jones Reveals the Plot in
Bounty Frauds.
ACCUSES PRISON FELLOWS
SAYS CERTIFICATES WERE IN
EXCESS OF HIDES TURNED IN.

Ia hunter" as he has been called
! ever since the authorities Of
the county and state had their eyes
/ opened by the extensive bounty
/ frauds. went on the stand yes
terday afternoon in Judge c. b.
Diehrs court and made a clean breast
of his connection with the frauds by
/ turning states evidence thereby charg-
( ing David B. Davies and Win f. Phil
/ Hps with direct completely, not as prin-
i Clpals- but as active. energetic first
Heutenants, in rounding out the con-
Spiracy to defraud the county and state
OF many thousands of dollars.
When the days work was over the
7 prosecution was jubilant. The scene
| IN the court room while Jones was tes-
/ Trying was dramatic the court law
| yerS, witnesses, spectators and prison
! eTS hanging on every word that fell
| ircm Jones' lips as he disclosed the
manner i'm which the conspiracy was
conceived. and its varying success down
! 10 the moment when suspicion was first
! aroused.
Jones to Get Light Sentence.
Jones. who. by arrangement between
/ his counsel and the county attorney. il
/ Is UNDERSTOOD to receive a light sen
! tepcc i'm j2il by pleading guilty i'm the
/ district court and turning states evil
! Harry J. Roberts had been recalled and
( a. SS-eXamined.' Jones was perfectly
/ calm when he took the witness chair.
and i'm a clear. even voice, replied to
! questions from the county attorney.
/ He said;
( My name is Charles w. Jones. and /
| have been known lately as one OF the
/ great hunters. Before that. however.
was employed as commissary for the
! Utah Construction company. and 1 also
| ran a restaurant in Ogden"
When did you come TO Salt Lake,"
! he was asked
About eighteen months ago
| Where did you first meet James Cor
! man, who is also known as a mighty
/ hunter. but whose Wherea bouts we
/ have been unable TO ascertain
| Il met German in Ogden 1 saw
him again when / came TO this city. II
/ was about the 18th of June, 1904. on
] West Temple street. He inquired about
my welfare and asked il did not want
/ something to do. l told him that / did.
/ Then he opened up this bounty business
/ to me and explained what I would have
/ to do if I wanted 10 work for him.
4 did not like the idea very much at first.
! but told him / would take until the
next day to think it over The next
day we met in front OF a store on Main
street and Z accepted the offer. Then
] he gave me n valise full of hides and
/ / took them to the county clerks office
I in the city and county building"
Jones then related how he received
| the certificate for all the hides he had
/ delivered, and how he had cashed the
warrant and gave German his share
| of the proceeds while he kept his own
( share Davies, according to his testi-
mOny and according TO the Office rec
ord. did not wait upon him on his first
/ visit. The next journey TO the county
| clerks office was about the last of
i n a T,7r
| then. In reply 10 a question as to
whether or not he ever met DadieS out
side OF the office the witness said:
Yes. ? met Davies on either the 10Th
or 30th Of June 1904. on Main street
near Third South. We had a little talk
and ne asked me when I was coming
! In again 1 told him maybe the next
day He said he was hard up and
wanted some money to get some shoes
with. [ gave him s. and we adjourned
to saloon and stayed there until II
was too late for him 10 get them. After
awhile he proposed that we go further
down the street SO that no one could
hear our conversation and then he told
me that he had lately buried his sis
ter-fn-Iaw and thar he needed $500. He
asked me if [ would swear that 1 had
taken some hides into the office when
such was not the case. ! told him I
did not want TO do that but finally
consented.
Lavish With Blank Certificates.
The next day 7 met him and he gave
I me the blank certificate which had
| been partially made out by himself.
/ The place where he handed me the GER
| tificate was upon the south steps Of
the KnutsfOrd hotel. AT that time he
proposed that I turn his share of tho
money over to a go-between, that is. to
his cousin, whom he called kid
rs Mr. Phillips there the man he
meant by the kid" the prosecuting
attorney asked.
He is. as 1 afterwards learned the
witness replied.
Jones then stated that he had 70
ceived many other certificates. some
/ of these he got by going to the clerks
! Office himself and taking the hides
with nim and sometimes the certificates
were given to him by Phillips in a
! room at the New Southern hotel and
he would sign for them the next time
that he went to the county clerks Of
flee. Where the certificates were too
far back i'm the book they never were
checked upon the stub. as Davies and
he We're afraid that some one would
see what had been done and begin to
suspect something was wrong Some
times the certificate called Tor more
hides than he delivered and he would
be paid accordingly That method was
called raising" In that case Davies
received a third Of what the certificate
called for. When he. Davies. made
them out in blank himself Jones al
ways gave him half the amount OBJ
tanned One certificate was given to
him by Davies lin a saloon. Davies had
brought along some of the office ink
so that when he. Jones. signed for it on
the stub book the next day the ink
would look the same when dry.
Must Spread His Feet Some.
Along about the last of September
or the list OF October did you have
meeting with German. Davies and Phil
hpe? the witness was asked
i did 1t was in front of the New
Southern hotel in the evening. Cor
man told Davies that the time was
getting short, and that ne would have
TO begin spreading his feet some.
What did he mean by spreading his
feet'?"
well, the year was most up and
there was not a great deal of time
left in which to work the graft. Davies
asked if there were not some other
names that we could use. We thought
it over and DECIDED that we could get
some short ones, some that We're nor
hard TO write. After that 1 used the
names of John Ward. John Wade Ed
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