Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-11
ROBBERY TRIAL NEARS END
Arguments for Defense Of Alleged
Bandits About Completed.
ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE ADDS COLOR
Interest I'm Court Drama a. %Intensi-
ned-FederaI Lawyer Finishes
Argument and Counsel for
Prisoners Now Active.

Arguments for the defense in the trial Of
the five men charged with the robbery Of
the Union Pacific mail train are about com
pleted and II Is probable the case Will go
to the jury today. The attempt Of the
prisoners to escape from the county jail
has added high coloring to this remarkable
court drama and has Intensified the Inter
est OF the public IN the outcome OF the case.
After a short conference between the at
torneys for the defense In the train rob
berry trial Il was decided that no more OF
the defendants should go on the stand
and the defense rested its case insofar as
Woods. Torgenson, Grigware and Golden
are concerned.
II. B.. Fleharty, special attorney for
Matthews, presented one witness, John w.
Lane, a barber Of Omaha, who testified to
having seen Matthews in Omaha during
the month Of May the week preceding the
holdup Of the Overland Limited and that
he had shaved him Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday OF that week. There was no
cross-examination of the witness.
Lillian Stephenson was recalled for the
government to state the time Of her first
acquaintance with the several defendants,
which she stated was about the holidays
Of 1s0S.
The defense and government then an
nounced that they had no further testi-
mony to offer.
Lane Begins Argument.
Assistant United States District Attorney
A. w. Lane then opened the argument
for the government. His argument was a
review of the evidence and in the outset
he characterized the case 'as one for
boldness, skill and design, unparalleled in
the history Of crimes OF recent years.
Mr.. Lane did not Finish his argument
until 4:3o yesterday afternoon. He took up
the career and life of each of the defend
ants and undertook to show that each of
the five defendants was equally guilty OF
the robbery in that they were more or less
together at various times during the sew
eral months preceding the robbery, and that
the holdup was the elimination of a we'll
devised scheme that had been incubating
for several months. He gave credit to
BIZ Matthews as the motive spirit and
inspiring genius Of the whole affair, at the
same time ascribing to him executive skill
unparalleled in the history Of modern
felonies."
Takes shot at Matthews.
That there was a fifth man in this af-
fair" said Mr.. Lane, lis unquestioned and
that fifth man was William Matthews. 1t
was he who lighted the signal fire at
Mud Cut to indicate to his confederate
secreted on the engine tank when and
where the train should be stopped. 1t was
he who made the provision for the carry
ing Of the stolen mail sacks to the Brown
Park school house. He was general enough
to keep his own tracks concealed. 1t was
he who proposed to j. c. Kelly that he
would advance $500 to help the boys out,
and it was he who was 80 deeply inter
ested in the welfare Of Grigware."
Mr.. Fleharty, the special counsel for
Matthews, began the argument In behalf
of his client shortly after 4;Sc. The trend
of Mr.. Fleharty,s argument was that only
the merest suspicion had thus far been dt-
rected against Matthews. He held also
that even admitting every particle of evil
dence that the government had brought
against Matthews It was merely circum-
stantial and the jury could not by any
hypothesis find him guilty beyond a rea-
sonable doubt. Mr.. Flehart finished his
argument at 6 o'clock.
The arguments will be resumed at
O'Clock this morning, with Mr.. Macfarland
in behalf of the defendants, Woods, Tor
genson, Grigware and Golden. He will be
followed by Mr.. Gpss for the government
and the case will likely be given to the
fury at noon.