The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-29
MURPHY CASE
Defense Rests Today-Little
of Importance Was
Brought Out.


rested today and the state introduced
evidence in rebuttal. Major Murphy
was on the stand for short time
this morning. The case will go to the
jury early this week. Nothing of inn
portance was brought out in the ex-
animation today.
Fargo Forum: The end of the Muir
ply case is in sight and interested
spectators are already commencing to
figure on how much the trial is GO
ing to cost Ward county. The esti-
mates are anywhere from $4,000 to
$4,000, with popular happy medium
of about $4,000.
Court adjourned late yesterday af-
ternoon until Monday morning. The
defense has but two more witnesses
to be examined and it is believed will
close before noon Monday. The state
will then introduce evidence in re-
buttal. 1t is believed that the case
will go to the jury Monday night.
The court ruled for the defense late
yesterday afternoon and allowed the
testimony of Treadwell Twichell, who
was called for the purpose of showing
the prevailing method of handling
road taxes for railway companies.
The witness stated that he had
farmed from 1000 to 10000 acres of
land during the past few years in
Cass county and for the last three
years he had a contract with the
Northern Pacific under the terms of
which he had agreed to work out the
railway taxes for GO per cent. on the
dollar He had found it profitable,
even on that basis of percentage. FIRE.
Quently receipts had been given and
III" actual work done. later.
On cross-examination the witness
stated that he had never had any
trouble with the Northern Pacific, that
he had never signed the name of a
road overseer to a receipt, that he had
never had receipt signed showing
a larger amount than the road over
seer had actually received and that he
had never written the body of a re-
ceipt with lead pencil and, after it
had been signed, erased the pencil
marks and rewritten the body in ink.
"Now as matter of fact, on a large
farm at certain periods of the year
there is little work for the men or
the horses to do, but as rule you
aim to keep the laborers at the farm
so that you may have them when
there is plenty of work, and you took
the contract to work out the road tax
es of the N. P. to give the men some
thing to do. Is not that a fact?" ask
ed Attorney Townsend.
Yes, that is true" replied the wit
ness.
"And those taxes were worked out
during the dullest or slackest period
of the summer, in June and just be-
fore harvest in July, when there was
plenty of time to do the work?''
Eyes, that is So"
"You could afford to work the taxes
out very cheaply at that time, could
you not, much more cheaply than a
farmer with 100 or 800 acres of land?
yes" y
THAT was when the days were
longest and you could get good deal
of work out of your men, You work.
ed them more than eight hours day,
the legal day for road tax work, did
you not?"
Yes. we worked about eleven hours
daily"
"But you figured eight-hour days in
fulfilling the road tax contract, did you
not?"
NO., we never figured it up. We,
worked what we thought was fair
generally more than the contract CALI
ed for. We never figured up the,
amount.
Senator Talcott of Buffalo was the
next witness. His testimony was
along the line Of that given by Mr..
Twichell. 81
& Just before adjournment Mrs. Has
lam, judge Paida's stenographer. was.
Sa,,sa e tns stand or ne pl .I 6
liminary hearing Of Major Murphy.