Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-11-28
train ROBBERS
FOUND GUILTY
PROSECUTION WINS GUT JURY
RECOMMENDS cLEMENcT
TO PRISONERS.
CLOSE OF THE TRIAL
Able Arguments Made by Attorneys
On Both Sides. Matte Wilson
Case Goes Over.

The jury In the train robbery casr
returned Il veIdsct IT quilts tns al,
ternoon ut three O'Clock. after being
out lor Aeyenteen hours. but recoal-
mended clemency, Judge Mills post
poned announcing sentence.
The attorneys for the defense i'm.
mediateiy filed q petition for ne@
trial. but meanwhile the prisoners viii
be taken 10 the penitentiary at san
ia Fe for safe keeping.
The verdict was a surprise 10 a
great many who expected hung jury
or an aequittal from the fact that IL
took the jurors 80 long to agree.
The Closing Scenes
All of Yesterday afternoon and un-
I'll far into the evening were consum.
ed In the argument Of the Black case
and IL was 10 o'clock before the case
was completed and presented 10 the
jury. Attorney Ward spoke for the
first hour In the afternoon. making an
earnest and eloquent appeal In be-
half of the defendants. pointing out
the weak points in the prosecution
and dwelling upon the strong points
for the defense. He gave particular
attention TO the matter OF identified
tion and TO the testimony Of Blair and
Butler, the two witnesses for the
prosecution who are under indictment,
and who claim the defendants made n
confession Of guilt TO them.
Judge f. v. Long made one Of the
greatest efforts OF his long life In his
attempt 10 convince the jury that the
defendants in whose behalf he has
appeared at four successive terms OF
court we're innocent of the charge
made against them. Tn the warmest
terms he denounced the detectives
and special agents who have been en-.
gagged In gathering testimony for the
prosecution. He dwelt upon the i'm
probability that the Identification of
the defendants by the engineer and
expressman could be certain, argued
that the defendants had not bern
in any way connected with Tom Bos-
well, and eloquently presented the evi-
dence for the defense intended TO
prove an alibi.
Court adjourned till 7:30. when Col.
W. II. II. Lleweliyn closed for the de-
Tense The United States attorney
claimed throughout the whole Of his
address that the attorneys for the de-
fense had been witnesses for the de-
PENDANTS In making statements be-
fore the jury not warranted by the
testimony, He defended the detec-
tives and other officers whose mo"
tives had been assailed by the de-
fense with considerable energy. He
spent some time urging the import
ance of the evidence of Dee Butler,
and In showing how 1t was corrob-
Grated Capital was also made of the
fact that the defendants had knocked
a brakeman off train in Oklahoma,
were bad men. had guns and masks
in their possession when arrested.
Then turning to the defense the at
torney took up each witness seriatim
and claimed that his evidence had
been impeached and that not one of
the witnesses who swore to the alibi
could be believed. The colonel clos
ed with an eloquent tribute to the
worth of the descendants Of the Span.
fish conquistadores and appealed to
them to bring in such verdict as
would keep Texas toughs from hold
ing up trains in New Mexico.
The instructions by Judge Mills
were fun, fair and impartial. and
both sides expressed complete salts
faction with them.
The jury has given careful and
alert attention to the case during the
whole of the long trial. The throng
of spectators has increased day by
day until yesterday the court room
was comfortably crowded.
This morning the panel of the ter
Titorfal grand jury Was CONNECTED
after which the court adjourned until
Friday morning. Judge Mills gave no
tice that he would cali the criminal
and civil territorial docket Friday
morning and requested that all the
attorneys be present. The United
States grand jury before being dis