The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-01-31
ALLEGED TRAIN RossER TALK
ED TOO MUCH AND GAVE
HiMaELF AWAY.
CONFESSED MUCH.
Tried to Got Letters to His Friends
and Te'd : e''ow Prisoner, Who
Proves TO sd Detective, That He
Was Up Against it-AIl Evidence
circumstantial.
{speelal to The cazette.)

Especial Ito The Gazette.)
Boulder. Jan, 3o.-Practically all Of
the direct evidence Of the state in the
trial Of James g. Tower was in at noon
today and the hearing Of the defense's
side began this afternoon.
One Of the strongest chains Of cir
cumstantial evidence ever wound
around a prisoner in murder case
in the state has been forged by the
prosecution, and 1t looks as II Towes
has scarcely chance Of escaping con-
viction. It is his proclivity of talk
ing to strangers and writing ,etters
That has gotten him in:o NJ. his trou-
bles, for had he kept his mouth shut
after his arrest and had not been SO
anxious to talk about the case and
write letters asking friends to prove
alibis nothing direct could have been
ponen upon him. AS it is 1t looks as
If the state has triumphed. and Y vii,
be practically impossible for the de-
tense to disprove all Of the testimony
which has gone in against the young
man accused of killing Frank w.
Glow
Detective on the Stand.
All Of the forenoon session today
was spent in the reading Of the letters
smuggled out Of the county Jail OF
Lewis and Clark county through the
instrumentality of e. L. Page. a de-
tectlve in the employ Of the North
ern Pacific, who had been sent to Hell
ena for the express purpose Of get
ting all Of the information possible out
of Tower. Page was subjected to q
rigid and searching cross-examination
by the attorneys for the defense, but
his story was little shaken and when
he was finally excused the story was
practically unchanged from the form
in which 1t was first presented to the
jury. However. the attorneys laid con-
siderable stress on his employment as
= detective for the Northern Pacific
and in this manner tried to break
down the effect Of his evidence upon
the jury.
Landlady on Stand.
Mrs. Hungate, his landlady at 230
South Montana street, gave the most
damaging testimony, asserting that
she saw Tower and Gruber leaving
their room, Tower carrying the suit
case. on the night before the holdup,
and that he did not come back for q
day or two.
There was sharp clash between
the witnesses from the detectives Of.
fce In Butte the chief asserting that
certain letters had been given to him
in the office OF the jailer, while an
other plainclothes man and the man
who carried the letters from the jail
asserted that the letters had been
given up in in entirely different place
and not in the presence Of the chief
Of detectives.
This morning number of witnesses
arrived In Boulder from Butte and
other points of the state, 1t being ap.
parently the policy Of the defense to
have them here this afternoon and to
night, and they will be subpoenaed
as fast as they arrive in Boulder.
= Attempt to Prove Alib'.
No intimation has as yet been given
out as to the probable line of de
fense, but It is thought that the abb
question would be the one most con
sidered, remarks OF witnesses having
already foreshadowed that line. Rela
tives Of the young women to whom
Tower had written in his effort tc
have an alibi proven are among the
most recent arrivals In town, ant
they viii probably be asked to tell o
Towers whereabouts on the night o
the holdup.
Tower Is becoming more and more
worried as the trial progresses, and
he sits with drawn face the create
part Of The time. occasionally biting
his lips nervously when an especial!
strong point is brought out G sivinl
vent to whispered ejaculation Q
rage or profanity. He Is realizinl
more and more the tightness Of th,
coils which are surrounding him, bu
the greater part Of the time he make
4 bold appearance and manages not =
show his true feelings during the sea
sions Of the court.