The daily sentinel., 1907-03-12
THE TRIAL is ENDED
Fate of Morgan Williams and Ed
James Now Rests With
The Jury.

shortly before eleven O'Clock this
morning the last witness in the case
of Morgan Williams and Ed James.
charged with murderous assault, was
called. The jury was then excused
until two o'clock and the Judge and
attorneys took up the work of pre-
J pairing the Instructions. There were
many lively tilts between the counsel
over various provisions of the In
structions.
At two o'clock the instructions
were read to the jury and the argu-
ments were then entered upon. At
torneys Wheeler and Weiser spoke
/ for the defense and Attorneys Carna-
han and Fry Spoke for the prose
tion. The arguments were all force
full and mastery. each side putting
up a fierce fight to win the case.
The case was turned over to the
jury about four O'Clock. 1t is predict
ed by many that the jury will be out
for several hours.
The last witness for the prosecu-
tion was introduced yesterday after
noon about three o'clock and then the
defense opened its testimony. Nor
gan Williams and Ed James were of
course the most important witnesses.
Each described the row that occur
red on the street at Fruita. as he
saw it, Williams made very good
vvitpagc and naitbnr ba nov Tor,ag
were badly confused by the prosecu-
ton. Their accounts of the trouble
We're similar in all the important de-
tails and neither's testimony was
shaken to any extent by the prosecu-
tion.
Williams stated that on the after
noon of December cath, he and jam
es went to Fruita from the Williams
ranch to get shaved. They stopped at
Mrs. Williams millinery shop and
got their mail, each receiving a let
ter Williams states that his letter
informed him of threats that Bert
effect that Younts would shoot Will
liams when he saw him. Williams
testified that he left the millinery |
store with James and started down
the street saw Younts. He approach |
ed Younts. laid his hand on his shoul- |
der and drawing him around, states
that he asked him about the gun he
was carrying for him (Williamg !
10
made a move as if to draw a gun and
then in order to protect himself he
struck at Younts, knocking him back, |
and then striking him two or three
ground. He admitted kicking Younts
and said that he did so in order to /
disable him so that he could not
draw his gun and shoot him. In the
meantime, he said, a big revolver had
fallen out of Younts' pocket. Will
liams detailed the part that James
took in the ARRAY and also told of
the interference of Nearing, the half
brother of Younts.
James testimony bore out the
statements of Williams He declar-
ed that Williams simply acted in self
defense and was justifable.
Miss Lizzie williams, a sister of
Morgan Williams. an eyewitness of
the fight. made an excellent witness
for the defense. a number of other
witnesses were introduced by the de-
fense yesterday afternoon and this
morning.
An uninterested spectator listen
ing to the testimony on both sides
would not have much trouble in conf
cluding that neither side is free from
blame. It was simply a clash be-
tween two pretty tough characters,
The prosecution endeavored to !
prove the assault on Younts unpro-
voked while the defense endeavored
to prove it justifable.
The institutions given to the jury
we're very lengthy and neither side
could claim any advantages from the
instructions. The court declared that
If Morgan Williams and Ed James
were convinced beyond reasohdplS
doubt that Bert Younts was going tol
make an effort to kill them, they had
a right to attack him even if he had
not struck the first blow or drew a
gun. On the other hand the court in
strueted the jury that If man pur-
posely accosted an enemy when heI
knew that the result of the encounter
might prove fatal to one or the other
if he sought the trouble. then he was
not justified in making a plea of self
defense.
The instructions seem to cover
every point of the case most thor
oughly.
The court room was crowded tol
overnowing all afternoon. The in-I
terest in the case is great.