Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-09-25
DAMAGING
EVIDENCE
Brought Out by Fifteen Witnes'
ses for Prosecution in
ConIey Murde, Trial
DEFENSE COMMENCED
Dead Man Shot With Pistol Loaned BY
His Father to Accused Several
Days Before Killing.

The prosecution in the case of the
Territory of New Mexico VS.. John
Conley for the murder of James Red
ding, in the district court of the First
Judicial District for the county of
Santa Re, on change of venue from
the county of Taos, shortly before
noon today, called the last of it's fif-
teen witnesses. Judge John R. Nc
ENie was on the bench. With him,
as spectator was Hon. w. o. Peery,
of the federal bench of Oklahoma The
court officials and the attorneys in
the case were present when the court
convened this morning. The defend
ant, John Conley, seemed more nor
vous than during the trial last week.
He stood most of the time, ;nten:ly
following the testimony and suggest
ing to his attorneys questions for the
cross examination. The testimony fire.
Quently was dramatic and the prose
cution claims that it has woven a
perfect chain of circumstantial evil
dence, which the cross examination
by the defense did not damage to any
serious extent. 1t maintains that it
has proven it's theory of the killing
and has established a motive for the
crime.
Henry j. Young, merchant at Cerro
and at Questa, testified this forenoon
that Conley is a drinking man and
that the evening before the murder
he had imbibed freely of whiskey. In
the. afternoon, Conley, Charles Purdy
one OF the victims, and Young. had
been together in the store at Qucsta.
Purdy reiterated again and again that
he was out of money. Conley called
upon Young to prove that the money
which was due Purdy from a man
named Hawk, in Oklahoma, could not
have been sent because Hawk still
owed Young a bill from the ,4antE
before. The night before the muir
der, Conley slept with Young. The
following morning, Young sold James
Redding, one of the victims, bottle
OF whiskey. Shortly after noon, Con-
ley returned to Young's store and
bought a box of cartridges saying that
he had" two or three deer down the
canon. Conley seemed nervous and
excited, but was sober. Young testi-
fled that Charles Purdy was apparent
ly 70 years old, short stockily built
and weighed about IT'S pounds. He
also said that he had never seen
James Redding drunk
| The next witness was Juan Archu-
leta, a boy fifteen years old, who was
herding goats near the Guadalupe
placers where the shooting occurred.
He was the third witness to testify
that he had heard the shot, sustaining
previous evidence that the first two
shots were at intervals of about two
minutes and that five minutes after
wards two other shots were fired at
Intervals of about two minutes. The
prosecution thereby seeks to prove
that the shots were not fired in self
defense, but with coldblooded delib-
Grafton.
The next witness, John H. Young,
gave the most damaging testimony of
all. He and Conley had made a trip
to Taos, several months before the
killing. During that trip Conley car
ried revolver despite the remon-
strances of Young. Conley said he
needed the weapon and said that If
young Redding ever stuck his nose in
to his, Conley's, business, he would
blow the top of his head off. Young
lsaid:
"You ought to be ashamed to lay
your hands on boy who is so slight
that you could knock him over with
your hand and he would never cry"
COnley answered: "I will give the
-- no more of chance than
a snake"
Young also repeated the testimony
: OF Conley at the hearing before JUS
tice of the Peace Juan Archuleta, anG
; which had been ruled out on Satur
, day afternoon on account of being
J hearsay evidence as the justice Of the
peace did not understand English ant
the testimony had to be translated t.
J him. It was to the effect that aftel
} the arrival of Conley, Purdy ant
Redding in camp at Guadalupe, OF
January 16, Purdy refused to work fo
Conley and Redding joined Purdy il
r this refusal. A quarrel ensued il
) which Conley claims, Purdy raised al
! axe to strike him, and that Reddin.
also seized an axe to attack Conley
r Young testified that the tent was to-
t small for Purdy to raise the axe abov
3 his head as Conley had asserted Purd
had done.
$ j. M. Phipps, deputy sheriff at Re
River was the next witness. Conle
: upon returning to Red River afte
the killing, had sent Phipps for
! bottle Of whiskey. Upon his retur
with the bottle, Phipps told Conle
that two Mexicans had just arrive
I. from Questa. Thereupon Conley e,
hibited signs of nervousness. Phipp
then asked him: did you kill Pu