The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-05-06
Billy WhitIa Points Out His
Abduct0r in Court.
Trial of James H. Boyle Begins
at Mercer.
BOY FIRST WITNESS
Creates Amusement by His Idea
of Oath's Sanctity.
Defendant Entered Formal Plea
of Not Guilty.

Mercer. Pa, May 6.-After being out
Is minutes, the jury returned a verdict
of guilty as indicted against James H
Boyle. charged with kidnapping Willie
Whitla
Mercer, Pa, May 6-''Billy'' Whitla,
on the witness stand in the trial of
James H. Bowie, his alleged abductor,
today pointed his finger at the defend
ant as the latter sat in the prisoners
box and said with a positiveness that
could not be doubted, that is the
man." He had been asked if he could
point out the man who took him away
from Sharon last March. and his an
swer was given without the slightest
hesitation.
Hundreds crowded the frail building
serving for a temporary court house
when court convened this morning and
the doors were ordered locked to pre-
vent possible disaster from over
crowding. James Boyle entered a for
NAL plea of not guilty, the jury select
ed was sworn and the opening address
to the jury was made by T. c. Cochran.
in charge of the prosecution. He spoke
nearly half an hour. outlining what the
state will attempt to prove, which diff
fers in no material point from accounts
of the kidnapping already published.
BILLY" Whitla was the first witness
and before being sworn caused rip
pie of laughter when he answered the
question as to where boys go who do
not tell the truth by saying they go
to hell
Billy's Story.
In his boyish way he told the story
of the man who said his name was Mr..
Jones, calling for him with a buggy
at the school and telling him he had
been sent to take him away on ac-
count of smallpox. that he was to take
others also. and that Billy would
meet his friends on the train
Billy said MIR. Jones" gave him
a letter and asked him to write his
mothers name and address on it, that
he did so with pencil and the man
mailed it in Sharon. When asked to
describe the difference in the mans
appearance then aad now Billy said
that when he first< saw the man -'he
had his whiskers here pointing to his
upper lip. He said the zn1an took the
whiskers off after awhile. When Alb
ner Hancock. a barber of Niles, o.,
was asked to stand up Billy identified
him as the man who shaved Boyle.
He told of the drive to Warren, the
subsequent trip to Niles and Ashta-
bula, of visiting park at Ashtabula
and standing beside cannon. Then
he said he was taken to Cleveland
where he was told he was in a, hospi-
tai. 1t contained, he said TWO rooms
and a bath. He told of hiding in the
bottom of the buggy and in the box
under the washstand in the hospital
lest the doctors should see him and
put him in a pest house. He said Mr.
and Mrs. Jones directed him to do so
| Plea of Nolle Contendre.
| When court convened this afternoon
counsel for Boyle entered a plea of
| no1le contendre or a refusal to offer
any evidence. This assured Boyle S
| conviction.
Numerous witnesses at the morning
| session testified to having seen Boyle
and the kidnapped boy in each others
company. Witnesses told of having
| seen them in a carriage, as previously
| described, and of Willie's mailing the
| ransom letter to his father.
| J. P. Whitla, told of the abduction
and the three letters he received de-
manding a ransom. He told of his
| compliances with all the conditions
! imposed. On corss examination he
! denied having and any conversation
with Boyle in Cleveland prior to the
| latter's arrest. Mrs. B. A. Hendrick-
son. with whom the package contain
| ing $1,000 was left in the Cleveland
store, identified Boyle as the man who
| secured the package from her.