Los Angeles herald., 1905-02-18
ARGUMENT FOR
WEBER DEFENSE
ATTORNEYS ROBINSON AND
TABOR SPEAK
Claim Is Made That No Evidence Has
Been Presented by the Prose-
cution Connecting Defend
ant With Crime
By Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
AUBURN, Cal, Feb. 17.-Mr. Tabor,
counsel for the Defense consumed the
morning and part of the afternoon in
his argument in the Weber case today
and was followed by District Attorney
Robinson. Mr.. Tuttle of the defense
also made part of the argument which
he will finish in the morning. Grove
l.. Johnson will follow him.
This morning Attorney Tabor made
the opening argument for the defense.
He claimed that no evidence had been
produced by the prosecution connecting
the defendant with the crime. What
reason?" he asked, was there for May
Clark to testify as she did %
He knew the sheriff and prosecuting
attorney too well to think them cap
able, Jealous as they are, to induce
her to give false testimony. He desig-
mated her testimony as rawlings and
a pipe dream"
Why should Lottie Smith and Myrtle
Hall tell the story they did if 1T was
untrue He repudiated the idea that
the defense by it's testimony had desc
Grated the memory of Bertha Weber as
alleged, as it stood too high to be af-
fected He spoke of the finding of the
pistol in the Weber place and the testi-
mony of Carr that Adolph bought it,
discrediting the statement. The re-
uuested testimony of the defendant as
to the route he took that night and the
contradictory testimony of the prose-
cution was adduced
Actions of Defendant
Speaking of the stress placed by the
prosecution on the actions of the de-
fendant on the night of the fire he
said he acted in calm manner at
Cohen's store. If he had wanted to
destroy evidence he would have thrown
the old trousers into a burning room.
not one where there was no fire. 1t
was. he said, McKinstry who jumped
out of the north window not the de-
fendant, and Dunham was mistaken.
The argument consumed the whole
morning.
Mr.. Tuttle argued that Mrs. Weber
received her death wound at 6:5o p.m.'
the first wound being received when
she tried to call for help on the tele-
phone, having taken down the receiver.
Mr. Fellows heard the screams at
6:45 and Mr.. Huen fixes the time at
6:36. The Webers were certainly alive
at that time and the defendant could
not have been in the house, for he
was seen down town at the FORMER
time, and could by Hulen's time have
only eight minutes to commit the MUIR
ders. drag the bodies into the piano
room and burn them and get down
town.
Sufficient to Convict
The district attorney argued that in
this case there were at least two dis
tinct sets of facts sufficient to justify
conviction of defendant for murder as
charged in the information.
First: The conduct of the defendant,
his statements and actions subsequent
to the fire, his actions at the fire, his
going into the dining room at the time
of the fire and his assertion that he
knew his people were not in that room'
were equivalent to confession OF
this crime. His having left the house
according to his own assertions fifteen
minutes prior to the fire and that he
knew that his people at the time were
alive and well.
Second: The identification of the ps-
tol and undisputed proofs that the
same bullets that entered the body of
Mary Weber were fired from the same
pistol.