Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1908-05-01

Brown paaeed sentence upon darry
Crane, convicted BY tury last weekof
tho crime of robbery Before passing
sentence, Judge Brown asked the de-
PENDANT IL he had amy legal cause !
show why Judgment should not be pro-
nounced upon him and his attorney Of
fered q motion for q new trial. based
upon the evidence of q witness he was
unable to have at the trial, the insufici-
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 Game.
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 nc
cordance with the law and the evidence
and that he could not set it Inside.
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 tCrane) would
have been guilty Of murder in the first
degree and would be hanged or sent to
to prison for life. In his Judgment,
CRIME had added treachery to his crime
and deserved severe punishment. He
then told Crane to stand mp, and SEN
fenced him to twenty years i'll the peni-
Tertiary.
Crane seemed to be daEed 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 $47.00
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 IL 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 1.-THE 10th
Of March for Salt Lake. They arrived
in Elko on No. Q 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 q
drink and then started toward the pass
enger depot. They were within q few
feet of the railroad track, when Will
hanson was knocked down, brutally
beaten and robbed. While he was un-
able to help himself, his mind was active
and he knew That he was being robbed,
and that Crane was tho man who took
the silver from his pocket. After the
robbery, Crane returned to the Bak-
cry saloon and treated o crowd, pay
ing for the drinks with a 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 o 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, but 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 rs one of
the men. He was held to answer before
tho 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
week and twelve good citizens of Elko
county pronounced him guilty of the
crime.
1t is due to Crane to say that he has
persistently maintained his innocence
of the crime. He admits, however,
that he was within a few feet OF
Williamson when he was knocked down
and says that he ran away for fear that
he would be arrested for being drunk.
He told his story to the jury, but il
does not seem to have carried any
weight rs their verdict was guilty.