Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1908-04-28
Crane Gets Twenty Years

DTOWH pttSSeu SciGoilCe upOl HARRY
Crane, convicted by jury last week of
the crime of robbery. Before passing
sentence, Judge Brown asked the de-
PENDANT if he had any legal cause to
show why Judgment should not b@pro-
nounced upon him and his attorney Of
fered motion for new trial, based
upon the evidence of witness he was
unable to have at the trial, the insuffici-
ency of the evidence upon which Crane
was convicted and other grounds. Mr..
Gedney spoke at some length upon the
motion and was briefly replied to by
District Attorney Caine. q,
In passing npon the motion, Judge
Brown held that there was sufficient
evidence to warrant the verdict of the
jury and that the verdict was in &C
cortlance with the law and the evidence
and that ne could not set it aside.
Mr.. Gedney then made a plea for
leniency. At the conclusion of Mr..
Gedney's plea, Judge Brown briefly re-
viewed the evidence in the case and in
formed Crane that if Williamson, the
victim, had been killed in the commits
sion of the robbery. he (Crane) would
have been guilty Of murder in the first
degree and would be hanged or sent to
to prison for life. In his Judgment,
Crane had added treachery to his crime
and deserved severe punishment. He
then told Crane to stand up, and SEN
fenced him to twenty years in the peni-
Tertiary
Crane seemed to be dazed by the Sc
verify of the sentence. At the Jail i'm
mediately after he reiterated his inno-
cence of the crime.
After the court had remanded Crane
to the custody of the sheriff, Attorney
Gedney asked to have the money in the
possession of the court, that was taken
from Crane after his arrest, some $47. 90,
returned to Crane, Judge Brown in re-
fusing the request, said that the money
was not Cranes, as the jury had said by
their verdict that it was stolen money
and belonged to Mr.. Williamson, from
whom it was taken at the time of the
robbery.
While the sentence is severe one, it
is none too severe for the crime of rob
berry. According to the story told by
Crane and Williamson, they left Battle
Mountain shortly after noon on the 10Th
of March for Salt Lake. They arrived
in Elko OH No. 6 that night. They Wis
tied several saloons and finally wound
up at the Bakery saloon where Will
hanson played the roulette wheel and
won $50 or more. From the Bakery
saloon they went to the Elk and had u
drink and then started toward the pass
enger depot. They were within few
feet of the railroad track, when Will
hanson was knocked down, brutally
beaten and robbed. While he was I'M
able to help himself his mind WAS active
and he knew that he was being robbed,
and that Crane was the man who took
the silver from his pocket. After the
robbery, Crane returned to the Bal-
cry saloon and treated crowd, pay
ing for the drinks with SEQ gold piece.
He then left the saloon and went to the
platform of the freight depot and went
to sleep.
In the meantime Officer Cotant had
been notified that n man way lying
drunk in the street. He went to investi-
gate and found Williamson.
Cotant took Williamson to Jail and
started on the search for three men, one
of whom was Crane. He arrested two
tramps, hut they escaped from him.
He then looked for Crane and found
him asleep. on the platform of the
freight depot. Crane was locked up
and Williamson identified him as one of
the men. He was held to answer before
the grand jury by Judge Bruce and
when the grand jury met he, was
indicted. When arraigned, he plead
not guilty. His trial took place last