The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-06-15
HENRY KUNTZ
HAS CLEVER
DEFENSE
SUPPOSED TO HAVE BURGLAR
lZED BlGELOW RESIDENCE.
Now Claims He Purchased the Stolen
JeweIry from a Stranger He Met
in Salt Lake.

The preliminary trial of Henry
kuntz, charged with burglarizing the
Bigelow residence in this city last
March. was commenced today before
the municipal Judge. the defendant
having entered a plea of not guilty.
Kuntz, who promises to be one OF
the Smoothest criminals the local po-
lice have had TO deal with in long
time, explains his possession of the
Bigelow jewelry when arrested in
Portland, by simply stating that he
bought II from man in Salt Lake
for SS The jewelry. as produced in
court. Is valued In the neighborhood
of S125.
II will be remembered that, follow
ing the arrest of Kuntz in Portland
and the discovery OF the jewclry upon
his person, the, Boise officers put in a
claim for the man and he was turned
over to them for trial 1t was charged
that he entered a physicians home
there and stole $3.50 diamond brace
let and pawned il at Caldwell. Idaho.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
pawnbrokcrs Of Caldwell positively
identified Kuntz as the man who
brought in the bracelet, the Judge and
the county attorney finally decided
that ii was useless to try to convict
with the evidence available, and the
prisoner was turned over TO the Og-
den police.
KuntS is a German and speaks bro
kenly. He Is about 10 or so years of
age and looks like laborer He has
a wealthy brother in Texas who has
furnished considerable amount of
money for his defense. and a deter
mined fight will he made 10 secure his
release
A number of witnesses were exam
ipcd today. including Mr.. and Mrs.
Archie p. Bigelow and daughter, all
three identifying the jewelry as that
stolen from their home in March
Sheriff James A. Bennett of Boise
was placed on the stand and testified
regarding Kuntz's arrest in Portland,
as well as other incidents relative TO
the mans contemplated trial in Boise,
his alleged crime there and the arti-
cleS OF jewelry which were taken
from KuntZ BY the Portland police.
Detective Bender testified as TO
Kuntz's arrest, his appearance and
the statements he had made regarding
his presence In Ogden,
Mrs. Brown, wife OF the proprietor
of the Valley House hotel of Salt
Lake, was placed on the stand and
testified that Kuntz had come to their
hotel on March 13. and stopped over
that night. also the succeeding night
The witness was very positive regard
ing the mans identity. the dates. the
location nf hn re nTnnriod hfS
luggage, the amount paid. etc, but
as to his personal appearance. she
could see no change of any deScrip-
ton since his visit TO the hotel.
Neither could John Van der Meulen,
House hotel, although he well remem-
bered all the details of the mans ap-
pearance at the hostelry. He could
recall the amount paid for the room.
could remember Low he did not get
up to attend to the customer when he
arrived on account of his being worn
out with hard days work. He did
not propose to get up for a "meaSley
quarter of a dollar" His wife, how
ever, got up and gave the man room
near the Office, for which she charged
a quarter She did not have him reg
loJtls do Wdo lDS usual tuSipht tllCl T.
fore the documentary proof of his
presence there could not be produced,
Neither of the witnesses seemed to
have been aware that kuntz was ar
rested in Portland three of four days
later with an exceptionally heavy
brown moustache, such as would have
taken an ordinary man many months
to have grown Kuntz is now smooth
oh ,-ot ,rfInNGSpG iCpH
nothing different in his appearance
kuntz was placed on the stand. He
stated how he had met stranger near
the station in Salt Lake and, after
considerable parleying, he had given
the latter SO for the S125 worth of |
jewelry. He described the stranger
readily and was profuse and willing |
with his testimony as a whole.
The case was continued.