Arizona republican., 1905-04-18
famous FxtraditiOn Case
 Ended Late Yesterday
THE ALIBI WAS PERFECT
At the Last Moment There Was a Fur ther Failure at Identification by Two Witnesses Who Had Just Been Brought From San Francisco.

before Judge Kent yester- day that he was not the w A. Hobbs who headed a mutiny on the British ship Leicester Castle within ten leagues of Pitcairn Island" on Sept. 2, 1902. Those who had been watching the case closely since the beginning of it last Thursday could see that it could have no other conclusion.
 In rendering his decision Judge Kent said that the prosecution had made out it's case so far as the facts of the mur- der were concerned. w. A. Hobbs was the murderer. It remained to be shown that Lee J. Hobbs and w. A. Hobbs were one and the same. While the proof of the identity of the accused was not satisfactory, if there had been no opposing proof it would have been the duty of the court to issue the writ of eXtradition. The witness WolZ had with difficulty recognized the accused as the murderer but at last he had positively done so. Therefore at the close of the case of the prosecution the court could have done nothing else than grant the writ
 But on the other hand there had been such convincing proof that at the time of the murder the prisoner was in the territory of Arizona and the county of Graham. His presence there had been fixed in such a variety of ways that there could be no doubt that a mistake had been made.
 The court added that he had never seen an alibi established by stronger proof both direct and circumstantiaI. Regarding the witness Wolz the ehn happen to be a strong per sonaI resemblance between w. A. Hobbs and Lee J. Hobbs that would be a justification of the testimony of Wclz. But if there were no such re- semblance there could be no justifica- ton. The discharge of the prisoner was then ordered.
 When this decision had been an nounced. MT. Carmacs representing the British consul general stated to the court that there was still another war rant in the hands of the United States marshal for Hobbs. He said that it re- lated to 9 crime the testimony con- corning which was precisely the same as that which had been gone over. He would therefore suggest that the mar shal be instructed not to serve the war rant The order was made. The crime CnarRGQ wounding of Captain Peety.
 This proceeding followed upon the heels of a sensational proceeding of which few in the court room were aware When the defense had rested the attorneys for the prosecution after a conference asked to see the court in chambers. It was supposed that the request had something to do with the arguments. The request was granted and 2 recess of ten minutes was taken. The ten minutes heightened out into moro than an hour and three-fourths of the audience remained seated.
 What was taking place was this: It had been rumored throughout the day that a couple of sailors of the Leices- ter Castle had been brought to town for the identification of Hobbs. The rumor could not be definitely run down but it was supposed to have grown out of report that Captain John Peety of the Leicester Castle was on his way to this country for some purpose in connection with the proceedings.
 But it was true that two men had come to assist in the identification. One them was Jno. Murray of San Francisco son of the proprietor of Murray's sail ors boarding hous through whom wolz and W. A. Hobbs had signed with the British ship The other was Thomas Lyons who kept a cigar shop near the boarding house at the time Wolz and Hobbs shipped and who knew them both well.
 Lee Hobbs was taken out of the court room quietly and taken to the of fee of the marshal where a dozen cit izens of the town had been collected, nearly filling the offices, Hobbs was seated on a table and Murray and Lyons were brought in. They passed through the office twice looking closely at an of the occupants and then they announced that they lad seen no one who resembIed Hobbs.
 The accused was brought back to court which was reconvened and the decision in his favor rendered.
 Yesterday evening after the release of Hobbs, Murray and Lyons were standing on a street corner and Hobbs accompanied by a party of friends was taken across to be introduced to them. They both said that he in not the slightest degree resembled the mutin- ger Hobbs. Looking through the crowd to find someone who more nearly re- sembled that sought for individual. they selected the Hon. W. T. Webb. speaker of the Twenty third legisla- ture but they alleviated the injured eecling of MT. Webb by admitting that he did not look exactly like the mur- derer.
 THE LAST OF THE EVIDENCE.
 When the case was resumed yester- day morning it was evident that it was failing in interest. To those who had been attending the hearing the proof that the wrong man had been found was convincing. Anything more that might be offered would be unnecessar- fly corroborative and therefore more or less tedious. There would not possibly