The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-21
BELL TESTIF|ES
HE GAVE CHIEF
SHEETS BR.BE
Member of Gang Gives First
Direct Evidence of the
Crime Charged.
GIVES DETAILED STORY
OF THE BUNC0 GAME
SAYS HE PAID SHEETS $3.50 ON
THE DAY FOLLOWING THE
M'WHIRTER ROBBERY.
Contention Of Defense.

= Revised Statutes of Utah. 1898. Il
= Section 4S62.-COnvictiOn on testi- =
:. mony of accOmplice. COrrObOra- =
- ton. A conviction shall not be =
= had on the testimony of an accom- =
- plice, unless he is corroborated by =
y other evidence, which in itself and =
I: without the aid Of the testimony -
= of the aecOmplice. tends to connect -
= the defendant with the commission :.
= of the Offense; and the cOrrobora- =
= ton shall not be sufficient if il =
= merely shows the commission of =
:. the offense or the circumstances :.
:. thereof. =
= On the above statute the defense
= in the Sheets case relies to free -
= former Chief of Police George A. =
= Sheets of the charge of receiving y
= bEibe. The defense viii main =
= tain that the evidence of Bell is :.
y without confederation in any es- -
- sential detail, and that as a result :.
:. it cannot be considered by the -
- jury. The Utah statute is identi- =
- cal in its language with the Idaho -
: statute under which Haywood and =
= Pettibone were acquitted of the =
= charge of murder. =
William ST. Clair. better knoWh in
Salt Lake through his connection with
the McWhirter robbery as w. W. Bel,
took the witness stand yesterday after
noon as the star witness for the state
in the case against George Sheets, for
mer chief of police From this witness
the state secured the only direct evil
dence of the crime of accepting a bride
which is the charge against Sheets.
Bell swore positively that on the df-
tar Of DIV fnlInErlAfgr
the McWhirter robbery, he gave to
Chief Sheets as a portion of his share
of the money stolen from the McWhir-
ters This money, Bell said. was paid
by Bell pursuant to an agreement en-
tered into with Sheets whereby the lat
ter was to get $1,000 for not interfer-
ing with or arresting the members OF
the buncO gang that robbed the Nc
Winters.
His testimony was given in minute
detail. Bell describing all of the move
ments of the bunco gang and detailing
the various alleged conversations he
had with the chief. Bell said under
cross examination that he had not been
promised immunity by the prosecution
for testifying against Sheets. that he
hoped for nothing and expected nothing.
His reason. he said, for testifying was
that Attorney SOren X. Christensen,
counsel for Sheets. had not offered to
defend him or advise him and had re-
fused to retain a lawyer for him.
The story told by Bell was in the Vo-
cabulary of the race track. His slang
was refreshing With constant smile
on his lips he told the story of his wan
derings about town with the McWhir-
ters i'm tow and his frequent efforts TO
rid himself of them. He told of the an
moving persistence of Alexander in ac-
costing every one they met on the street
in an endeavor to learn whether or not
Bell was a policeman.
Bell Loses Weight.
Bell is not nearly so well as when he
was first put in Jail last summer. he
has lost forty pounds in weight through
illness resulting from the confinement.
He talked in a low rapid voice, illus
trating his testimony with frequent ner-
vous gestures. He was on the witness
stand the greater part of the day. ard
win he recalled for further cToss-ex-
animation this morning. Bell is the
states trump card and the other wit
nesses will be called to corroborate
points in his testimony.
William McWhirter continued under
cross-examinatiOn by Attorney +. A.
Wedgwood yesterday morning for near
w an hour. On several OccdSlOiis w IL
liam's temper was aroused and his an
swers to the questions put to him were
spoken in an indignant tone. The at
torney by one of his questions suggested
fine incident on Commercial street which
took William to the police court some
time after the robbery, but this ques-
tion was ruled out by the court
When McWhirter's testimony was
concluded. the state called William St.
clair. alias Bell. Bell was pale from his
recent illness, but looked neat in a mod
est brown suit. In response TO ques-
lions of District Attorney Frederick c.
I,oofbourow he gave running story OF
the entire transaction of the McWhir-
ters from his viewpoint
Parent and l weres standing in front
of Gordon's tailoring establishment on
West Second South street on Sept. Is,
1906 said Bell. when Larry OBrien
came across the street He called Par
rent to one side and spoke to him for a
few minutes. Then Parent came back
Continued on page 2.