Fergus County Democrat., 1906-11-27
Jury DeliberdteS Two Hours and Re.
turns Verdict C0nviCtinQ Gilt
fdger Of Horse Stealing.
SENTENCE NOT YET PASSED
Defence Will AJAX for New Trial Case
Against Ryan Set for Dec. 9TH
Civil Cases Disposed of.

| After deliberation Of less than two
hours the jury in the Barney Hedigan
case brought in verdict of guilty
last Wednesday afternoon. Hedigan
was convicted Of stealing a small bunch
Of horses from T. M. Rooney and son,
who live on the Judith. The theft oc-
mails were brought to this city where
they were later sold by Hedigan to var
ious parties.
The case was one of the most re-
| markable and interesting ones ever
| brought into the local tribunal of JUS
| tice. Hedigan was long suspected to
to secure a conviction has always been
lacking heretofore. This time the state
was enabled to make strong and clear
| case against the defendant. Another
| case in which Hedigan is accused of
stealing horse belonging to Leslie
Mccain is still pending against the de
/ lCIludIlt anu w III DC IlcdIu OIl bCC JILL
The case attracted a great deal of at
tention not only in this county but all
over the state. The Montana Stock
growers Association, through it's secre-
tarv, Mr.. Pruitt. took such an in
terest in the case that they secured the
services of o. w. Belden to assist
| County Attorney Ayers in the proSecu-
| ton.
| During the closing argument by the
defense a novel point came up which
called for rather unusual proceeding.
The horses stolen were the property Of
M T. Rooney and Son. Only the SEMI
or member of the firm had appeared, on
the stand and testified that he had new
er sold the animals in question. The
defense claimed that there was moth
| ing to show but what the son, Frank
| T. Rooney, who has an equal interest in
| the horses. had not sold them. Mr.
| Belden protested on the admission of
| this part of the argument, saying that
| he and Mr.. Scott had made an agree
ment, whereby the younger Mr.. Rooney
need not appear to testify. He there
| fore asked that the state be allowed to
| reopen the case SO as to establish the
| complete ownership of the horses. The
| judge allowed this request over the OBJ
| jections of counsel for the defense.
| Frank Rooney was subpoenaed as a
| witness and Wednesday morning he
went on the stand, testifying to the
| fact that the horses We're his and that
he had never sold them.
/ Mr.. Scott, when asked in regard to
his agreement with Mr.. Belden, said
that when Belden mentioned the fact
| to him. he (Scott) said that he would
see Worden. but before he saw Word
en-, court was again in session and the
matter was overlooked.
| A motion for a new trial will be
made by the attorneys for Hedigan
and in case their motion is granted
theyy will make a stronger effort to
/ secure change of venue
Hedigan came from a good Wiscon>
sin family and is man of good appear
ance. He has a wife and three children
who are now visiting in the east His
sister was recently in this city to con-
fer with her brother.
John D. Ryan, who was originally
charged as co-defendant with HEIDI
| gan, will be tried on Dec. 9th. Ryan
made application for a new Judge to sit
upon the bench, making out an affidav-
1t to the effect that he believed Judge
Cheadle to be biased against him. The
motion was denied as the Judge said
that the fair trial law did not apply to
| criminal cases and that. Furthermore,
he had absolutely no prejudice for or
against the defendant.
The horsestealing case of J. H. Elijah
was dismissed by the county attorney
because of the lack of evidence.
Il A second regular venire was drawn
last Thursday and several of the jurors
who had already served We're dismissed
from further utv.
In the civil suit of Lehman vs.
Hirsch, the jury returned a verdict for
the plaintiff. ordering that the amount
of the Judgment asked for, $685. togeth-
er with interest at II per cent, be paid
to Charles Lehman & Co. by Carl
Hirsch & Son, who formerly conducted
a restaurant in this city
An amended calendar was made pub
lie by the judge last week The cases
still on the docket and the dates set
for their hearing are as follows:
Chan VS.. Slater, November eth and
2Sth.
State VS.. Pelican ct AL, December
3rd.
II Cook VS.. Robson, December 4th.
State VS.. Hedigan. December 5th and
9Th.