The daily sentinel., 1907-07-22


> man have believed for an instant ,
: that Frank D. Parks. for years ;
: manager Of the SeIber Cattle =
compauy's big ranch and range Z
on Plnon Mesa and one OF the 4.
; best known cattlemen In western :
: Colorado. is guilty Of the charge ,
OF cattle stealing preferred :
against him by Charles Lines. a :
= cattleman residing on the Big +
= Dolores After the evidence for =
the prosecution had been offered ;
today at the preliminary hear :
ing OF Mr. Parks still fewer peo- =
= pie believed that there was any ,
+ foundation for the complaint =
The case against the we'll known
cattleman Is just about as weak as
II well could be and still be given a
hearing In Justice court. There is
not much likelihood that It could live
entirely through a trial in the dist
rict court should It ever reach that
/ tribunal
I The preliminary hearing was open
ed al ten o'slock this morning with
Deputy District Attorney Fry con
duchng the prosecution and Attorney
Samuel y. Wheeler defending Mr.
/ Parks. Justice sweeney was presld-
/ ing.
Immediately on the opening Of
court Mr. Fry asked to be permitted
/ 70 amend the complaint so az TO make
| II. a. MaHamey one Of the owners Of
I the alleged stolen cattle. The de-
/ feuse objected but the court permit
| ted the amendment TO be made The
! complaint charges Mr.. Parks with
stealing two head Of meat cattle. val
ued at 5000 from Lines and Mahaf-
| fey on July 2, 1907.
I The defendant entered a plea OF not
/ guilty.
\ In his opening statement Deputy
/ District Attorney Fry declared that
he expected to prove that Lines and
I McHaffey leased herd Of cattle from
| a. W. Wilson. that from this herd the
! defendant took two head Of cattle,
/ branded them with the Seiber com
pany brand and put them in his pri-
I vate corral.
Mr.. Fry offered as evidence a con-
tract OF lease signed up by Wilson.
Lines and MaHanery In which Wilson
|. purpOrted to lease to the other two
men some eighty head Of cattle.
u Attorney objected to the introduc-
tion Of the lease on the grounds that
it would indicate that Lines and Ma
| HaRery were simply lessees Of the
cattle while the complaint held that
they were the owners. This brought
mp the question as to whether lease
was the same as an owner and Whe-
ther property could In a legal sense
be stolen from leasee. Attorney
| Fry held that In such cases the lessee
and the owner held the same relation
to each other Attorney Wheeler OBJ
iected. The court finally ruled hold
ing with the district attorney and ad-
! hitting the contract
Lines told a pretty ghtforWard
story but to all appearances made a
fairly good witness for the defense in
stead Of for the prosecution. He seem
ed TO be anxious to tell the truth and
I evidently made no attempt to color
:. any circumstances. Before he was
half through It was apparent that the
\ case was a very weak one. Lines tes-
]. tilted that when he leased the herd Of
/ cattle from Wilson there were two
head Of cows. one OF which he knew
TO have the Selber brand on her. and
the other. whose brand he did not re-
member. over which there was dis
pute. He said he told Wilson he did
not want these cows as they were In
dispute but Wilson told him they
were his alright. Lines said he made
I Investigations about the two cows
but did not ask Parks or any EN-
| pIoyee Of the Seiber company as to
whether the cows belonged to that
company.
Lines testified that or or about
/ July 3. 1907, Mr. Parks took one Of
the COWS, over whose ownership there
/ had been a dispute and her calf, from
I the Tom Smith Corral. Tebranded
them with the seiber brand and took
them to the Seiber ranch. Lines stat
ed that Parks had come to him and
told him that he had taken the cows
and calf, that they rightfully belong
f. ed to the Seiber cattle company and
that he had rebranded them. Lines
declared that Parks made no effort
to conceal any circumstance connect
ed with the taking OF the two head
Of cattle by Parks.
Il Wilson. the man who Lines leas-
ed his herd OF cattle Of, took the
stand this afternoon and told Of Sc
1 curing the herd Of cattle ne leased TO
4 Lines and MaCaffery from Tom
\ Brown, now out OF the state and that
/ Brown told him that the two cows
p1eged to be the property Of the Sci
ber campany. were given to him by
Y Tom Knowles, an employee OF the
/ seiber company, for helping roun
up some cattle. Mr. Wilson said that
for all he knows the cows might have
4 belonged to the Seiber company. he
lonly had Browns word as to how he
secured them. Wilson was very fair
IN his testimony and there was moth
ling therein to give strength 20 the
I charges against Parks. VIII Stubbs
1 and one or two other witnesses for
the prosecution were introduced, all
told about the same story. none de-
MED that the cattle might have be-
\ louged to the Seiber company.
4 At three O'Clock Attorney Wheeler
without introducing witnesses for the
defense made a motion to dismiss
the case on the grounds that there
had not been a single bit OF evidence
I introduced to show that the cows
we're not and had not always been
I the property of the Seiber company
He also asked that te costs OF the
1 case be taxed to the prosecution
\ In speaking of the story about Tom
Knowles giving the cows to Brown
I years ago. Attorney Wheeler declar-
ed that he would never believe Tom
u Knowles did ii unless he said so on
1 Judgment Day" Knowles died years
I ago.