Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-28
TEARS ARE SHE'D
IN JUSTICE COURT
REMEMBRANCE OF CHlLD'S
DEATH is THE CAUSE
~ Have Two Babies Of Ny own" Exc
plains Woman Witness, and Mo-
torman Charged With Neg
lect Also Weeps

Following one of the most pathetic
scenes ever witnessed in local court
room, Justice Pierce of the township
court yesterday decided that he would
reserve his decision for one week In the
preliminary examination of Eugene
Butts, a motorman of the Los Angeles
Railway company, charged with Grim
inal neglect in the killing of a. baby
girl. and accordingly Butts fairly stag
gered from the court ~oom to return
there week from today and learn
whether or not he must face jury in
the higher courts.
The accident for which Butts is being
tried on a criminal negligent charge
occurred Friday, April 49, on Maple
avenue, near Thirty-eighth str It.
Mary b. Raulston, 10 months old, had
strayed from her home, not a block
away, during the afternoon, and in
search of adventure had toddleC toward
Maple avenue, and finally arrived at
the car tracks.
While the infant was trying to make
her way over the rails she became in
terested in something in the dirt and
half stopped to investigate. AS she
raised, her tiny life was sna.ched from
her as a car hurled down on her and
crushed and mangled the tiny body.
Charged With Manslaughter
The coroner's jury handed down an
exoneration for the motorman, but -ater
the babys father applied to ;he district
attorney and received warrant charg-
ing manslaughter against Butts.
Since then the case has been banded
about until finally yesterday it wcs
brought to trial.
Among the first witnesses called yes
terday was Butts, the acc-sed man. He
carefully told how he had been carry
ing the car along at good rate of
speed when he noticed something on
the track about seventy feet away. He
stated that he did not It first see that
it was child, because the youngster
wore tiny frock the color of the dirt
with which she was playing.
Then Butts related that the brakes
refused to work properly and that he
could not have avoided the accident
had his own baby been stretched be-
tween the shining rails, doomed to be a
victim of the oncoming juggernaut.
The switchman at Sixth and Main
streets substantiated Butts story of the
brakes by teStifying that at the time
Butts car passed the switching station
before the accident he noticed that the
brakes refused to work properly.
WITNESS WeepS
Then came the saddest part of the
trial. A little woman, one of the pas
sengers, had been called to the stand.
She had been sitting ON the front seat
os the car, had seen the laugh in the
babys blue eyes as the youngster
turned in startled enjoyment to see the
big car and had seen that tiny mass of
soft flesh and clothing go beneath the
wheels. i-fz
All that she tried to tell, but as she
reached the point in her recital where
the car made it's last leap for its vic
tim her emotion overcame her, and the
haunting face of the dead baby came
back to her like a flash.
She covered her face with her hands
and wept.
Il have two babies of my own,' she
explained to the court as she left the
stand.
And as for Butts, the womans recital
seemed to have taken all the nerve out
of him. He wiped his fac with his
handkerchief, and a few moments -ater
when attorneys were scoring him for
his alleged criminal negligence in not
being able to stop the car and avoid the
accident, he also took -efuge in tears.
The case is being closely watched, as
1t is an effort on the part of the district
attorneys Office to set a precedent for
fatal car accidents and hold the fear of
the law over the heads of reckless
motormen.