The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-09-27
used any dangerous weapons.

John Ames and his son. Norris
Ames, were on the stand as witness
es Their evidence as to the general
reputation of Bates was not mater
ial. Peter Noggle of Bourbon, said
he thought the general reputation Of
Bates was that of a quarrelsome
man. Says he is acquainted with
Fred Rettinger and thinks his mind
is not sound because Fred went with
him about two years before the muir
der to sell washing machines and
talked so loud that he frightened the
women.
AMI Burkeypile testified that he
had heard that the reputation of
Bates was not good He would not
say that he was dangerous. He was
not well acquainted with Fred Ret
finger, but he said that he looked
like man of unsound mind and
Fred came to his house once through
very hard rain to buy a wheel; and
he thought that man that was just
right would not go out in such rain.
Benjamin Singrey had known Fred
Rettinger ever since he was borns
was not intimately acquainted with
him, but did carpenter work for John
Rettinger when Fred was six or
eight years old; thought he acted sill
ly. On cross examination could not
describe any actions that he thought
were silly Had known William
Bates for thirty years, thought his
reputation as peaceable citizen was
not good. Gould not say that his
reputation was that of dangerous
man. There was considerable other
evidence along the same line in the
afternoon which is not worth re-
hashing.
William Shearer; Had known
Bates and Rettinger short time;
rode with Bates short time after
the trouble at the time of threshing
Bates told him he would give some
body good money to whip Fred Ret
finger Bates said man ought not
to be allowed to carry a gun to shoot
people, and good whipping might
cure him, of carrying a revolver and
threatening to shoot people.
William Anglin, testified to the
trouble between Ellinger and Ret
finger at threshing; asked Rettinger
to give him the gun and he would
see that he was protected, but Ret
finger refused to give up the gun
He did not prove good witness for
the defense. He said Ellinger said
he did not want any further trouble
Harry Alwine said he did not fee
qualified to say whether Fred Ret
fingers mind was sound or unsound
but he did not think he was insane.
Said the common talk was that Bates
was not a peaceable man.
There were some other witnesses
who testified that Rettinger was call
ed Crazy Fred" and there was con-
siderable evidence in regard to tho
threshing trouble, but nothing new
was drawn out that would interes'
our readers
The material evidence of both
sides is now in. There will be. con-
siderable evidence in rebuttal thai
may change the phase of the evil
dence that has been presented, and
the arguments of attorneys will no
probably commence before Friday.
In summing up it may be said tina
the state has fully proven the unpro
voked shooting of William F. Bate
at the time of the shooting on Ma,
~, and this has not been denied by
the witnesses for the defense-no.
even by Fred Rettinger, when he was
on the stand, except that he say
Bates called him a vile name. Blu
the defense has produced evidence
to show that the defendant Rettinge
had been annoyed by members of the
Bates family, or by men employed
on the Bates farm and really thought
that il would be right for him to kill
Bates.
An effort was also then made to
prove that Bates was a quarrelsomt
dangerous man, but witnesses have
not testified that he carried danger
Gus weapons or that his reputation
had been bad for several years prior
to the time that he was killed
This paper has not attempted to
try the case; it has simply given tn,
gist of the evidence, favoring Meth
err side and allows people to form
their own conclusions just as the
jury will.
The defense has tried hard tc
prove that Fred Rettinger is insane
Parker and Stevens are able lawyer.
and have taken advantage of ever,
technically in law to save their eli
ent and have handled the case we'll
With all due Difference to them, how
ever, we believe they made grea
mistake when they brought DIR. Teri
linger here as an expert witness te
prove the insanity of the prisoner
and also made a mistake when the,
placed Fred Rettinger on the stand
Whatever may be the verdict of TIL
jury, we believe the witnesses abov,
named, weakened the case of the de
Tense