The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-24

pay over $3.50 in order that the NC
Winters could be gotten out of town.
and the robbers could go their way and
rob some more?
Haven't we the right to suppose that
Chief Sheets suggested to Bell during
their conference in the corridor thai
some of the stolen money be returned
to McWhirter as an easy way of get
ting rid Of them?
Dare Judge Varian stand there and
tell your honor that George Sheets is
a collector of the loot of thieves and
robbers and returns one-tenth OF il TO
the victims? This is their only defense.
and on that defense Judge VariaE
wants your honor in the name of JUS
tice to dismiss this defendant.
Calls Sheets "Moriarity."
The able attorney for the defense
apparently tried to throw aspersions on
Attorney Mark Braffet. He calls him
Sherlock Holmes 1t is an apt compar-
isOn and surely if that is d good Illus
tration, then George Sheets is the Nor
iarty. the lieutenant Of the gang of
thieves and robbers
Five or Six Offenses.
Attorney Arthur Brown said in TART:
There is no need of splitting hairs
over the legal aspect of the offense al
legged to have been committed There
Is such a succession of acts committed
as shown by the evidence as TO prove
five or six separate offenses of which
this defendant is guilty There can be
no doubt about the crime he committed
and before this investigation is COM
pleted it would not be surprising Il he
were nat only proven to be accessory
after the fact, but also an accessory
before the ia t, which under our stat
ute is precisely the same as principal
in the commission of the robbery itself.
We are to draw our natural infer
ences from the evidence as presented.
We must believe that the bogus police
officers had been placed outside of the
room by the robbers within easy call.
Larry O'Rrien had Iwenty-four hours
in which to set the stage, prepare the
drama and lay the trap for The Nc
Winters.
suckers" Need Protection.
The defense says these men were
suckers Is that any defense? These
suckers are the class of men that need
the protection of the police department.
1t isn't the men who are familiar with
the city and the ways of the confidence
men who are TO be looked after They
can care for themselves
What did Sheets do to ferret out this
crime or to discover the robbers? IIe
sent Hempel out with young McWhir-
ter to look for the men. The sergeant
walks about town with a sluggish
leaden pace, as slow as he can walk
He does not send out a capable man
like Raleigh or Burbidge, but only this
dull Hempel, asleep on his feet. Merely
sending out Hempel on this dismal
journey was the extent of the efforts of
the Salt Lake police department to
| bring these thieves to justice
when Bell was in his Office Chief
| Sheets would have arrested him if ne
was acting in good faith I'm his efforts
! TO catch the criminals. So would any
one with common sense.
Declares Sheets Falsified.
When Alexander McWhirter asked
| him to send a detective with Bell after
the money, Chief Sheets replied. I
will Why the Justification? Why
didn't he send an officer with the bogus
policeman as he said he would? Again.
| when he was told by the younger Nc
| Whittier that two men had gone TO the
/ New England addition and was asked If
one of these men was the detective the
chief had sent with Bell, and he replied
/ that il was Another Justification.
1.-The defense asks us TO point TO an
overt act of the chief to harbor and
protect these criminals. If the chief
! had given the robbers the money with
which TO escape justice. would not that
have been an overt act making him an
accessory after the fact? What differ
ence Is there between giving the thieves
money to leave town and supplying the
main witnesses of the robbery the
money that will take them out of the
! city and state? And it is not denied
| that Sheets gave the McWhirters $3.50
and hurried them off to a train for CAL
ifornia.
Why Did Robbers Flee?
| After the McWhirters returned to
Salt Lake what made the robbers sud
denly fee from the city like a flock Of
| wild birds? Were they afraid of Chief
Sheets? Oh. no. Through some scrafty
understanding they learned that the
McWhirters had returned and were
| complaining.
| THE evidence of Sheets in the swim
! die is apparent all through this case
Where the footprint is upon the sand
| the nature of the animal that left il
can be determined. From the nature
| of Sheets actions in this robbery all
through, there must be but one conclu-
sion. and that was that he was a mem
Der Of the gang.
"When McWhirter asked Sheets if the
| fact that the money was in thousand
dollar notes would not be a clue to the
discovery of the robbers. the chief re-
piled that bills of that denominati ton
were very common. Maybe they are
around police headquarters. but the or
binary individual knows that bills of
that denomination are rarely seen ex-
cept in banks. The clue was a good
one. and subsequent developments have
shown that if followed up by the police
| department the discovery of the Gull
prits would have followed.
Warned Against Reporters.
1.-The chief told the victims of the rob
| berry to keep away from reporters, and
when his favorite reporter comes into
! his office in full possession Of the facts
i'm the case, the chief bushes him up
and the story of the atrocious robbery
is auieted. 1t may have been wise on
the part of the chief TO have kept it
from publication. had he hoped 10 catch
\ !. L