Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-05
LIBERTY HINGES
ON TRIAL MOTION
TECHNICALITY ENTERS INTO
WARM CONTEST
Man May Escape Long Sentence In
Prison If 1t Can Be Proved That
Preliminary Was Not
Neglected

The desperate struggle for the freedom
of Irving Long, under ten years SEN
tence to Folsom penitentiary for violat-
ing his parole, was begun yesterday
when Attorney Fred Thompson filed
his bill of exceptions with the district
attorney only to have it's most vital
point vigorously contested.
Long is in the county Jail awaiting
the result of his appeal and the story
in connection with his case is most
remarkable one.
Yesterday, when the bill of exception
was filed, it was found that state
ment had been made by Longs repre-
sentative to the effect that a motion
for a new trial had been made at the
time of Longs conviction and had been
denied. Upon that one point most of
the contest hinges because, if the dis
trict attorneys office can prove that
there was no motion for a new trial
fled it will probably go hard with
Long. Assistant District Attorney Nc
Comas, who conducted the prosecution
of Long, said yesterday that the crimi-
nal court record in department one
failed to shoT that any such motion had
been filed.
No Motion on Record
Il was present the morning Long
came up for sentence in the criminal
department" stated McComas yester-
day. His attorney appeared and asked
leave to file a motion for new trial
or made a remark that he intended to
file motion for a new trial and at that
moment Judge Smith stated that he in
tended putting Long on probation and
the attorney for Long withdrew and
nothing further was done about 1t and
no motion for new trial appeared on
the record in the court, so that we will
contest that allegation in this bill of
exceptions"
Long was arrested in the early part Of
April, 1905, by Patrolman Tyler, since
appointed sergeant. He, with two
others, were alleged to have perpetrated
a series of highway robberies. The
gang was known as the Bull Williams"
outfit, and Bull Williams was tried and
acquitted Immeditely following Will
liams' trial Long was taken before the
jury and convicted. In view of the
fact that one man had been acquitted
of the charge and the other had been
convicted when both had been captured
together, Judge Smith placed Long
under two years probation and released
him.
Hides Under Bed
Long enjoyed his liberty for nearly
two years before disaster came upon
him. The flooding of Los Angeles with
wildcat bank notes caused the police to
keep a strict lookout and their endeav-
ors resulted in the capture of Irving
Long. The young man was taken to the
police station and there the handouts
were removed from him while the Off
GERS were standing about in the lobby
talking. Like a flash Long made a
break and managed to get away. He
ran to the Empire lodging house, three
blocks distant, and hid beneath a bed
In one of the rooms while the officers
were searching the place. When they
entered the room in which he had con-
cealed himself he drew a revolver and
forced them to make hasty exit
While the officers were calling rein
forcements Long climbed out the win
dow of the third story of the building
and dropped forty feet to the ground,
crawling more than fifty feet and
hiding in another lodging house
where he was captured.
Long was taken before Judge Smith
the following day on charge of hav-
ing broken his parole and was sentenced
to serve ten years in Folsom peniten-
tiary. His appeal is now awaiting a
hearing in the higher courts.