Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-06

Sweeping aside all technical objec-
tions made by counsel for the defense,
and at last bringing the case to an is
sue on its merits, Judge Wellborn in
the United States district court yes
terday afternoon opened the way for
the United States to begin proving its
allegations that it has been defrauded
by an alleged conspiracy of Frank N.
Chaplain, his brother David and PAU
! McPherin.
Argument after argument was ad-
Vanced by the defense in an effort to
shut off the introduction of all testi-
mony which is to be submitted by the
prosecution, especially the testimony
of BeVis, but Judge Wellborn over
ruled all objections. The bars are
down now, so far as the government
is concerned.
Bevins frankly admitted he was a
dummy" entryman, eXcusing himself
on the grounds he did not know he
was doing anything wrong The in
PRODUCTION of his testimony is the first
serious blow received by the defense.
When court closed BeVis had not fin
ished his testimony. He will continue
this morning.
Acted as Dummy Entryman
Briefly stated, Bevis testimony is
dummy entryman: that he swore to
having seen the land in the Imperial
valley, when as a matter of fact he
had never seen it, and that he had no
actual knowledge of what he was
doing when he signed the entry blank
and the assignment.
Il signed two papers the afternoon
of March 8, 1909, What those papers
were l do not know. After receiving
my money 1 saw no more of McPherin
until l met him here in court
The two papers for signing which
Bevis received $25 were an entry blank
in the Imperial valley. Both of these
documents are now in evidence in the
case and have been identified partial
ly by Bevis and wholly by R. G.. Ste
vens, former deputy registrar in the
local land office. Stevens was on the
stand most of the morning.
The entry blank was filed in the
land office March 8, 1907 the day
Bevis was paid his $25. The assign
ment blank was signed by Bevis the
same day, but the name of the as
signee was not filed in until three
months after March 8. 1907.
Cost of Trial Heavy
1t is contended that when the Cali
fornia Investment company, a cor
pOfaIlOn dlleSeu TO De ullueI Ile COlI-
troll of McPherin and the Chaplain
brothers, found a purchaser for the
Imperial valley land in the person OF
Littia A higgins her name was filed
in the blank assignment which was
subsequently filed in the land office
without the knowledge of Bevis, the
original entryman. The assignment
was acknowledged before Paul H.
McPherin as notary public. The date
of this acknowledgment is three
months after the date on which Bevis
says he signed it. Herein is one of
the chief points of the government by
which it is sought to show that the
Chaplain brothers and MCPherin con-
spired to obtain government land by
fraud and to dispose of it to who
ever and whenever they chose
One of the interesting phases of the
trial, which is still in its infancy,
judging from the present outlook, is
the cost. There are 1870 witnesses to
be examined for the government. Fig
uring the per diem of these witnesses
and that of the jurors, the cost each
day of the trial totals something like
$780, This does not include the regu-
lar salary of the presiding judge, the
court attaches or the fees of the hall
dozen attorneys for the defense. The
trial has been in progress ten days,
so that the cost to date has been ap-
proXimately $4,000. The value of the
land in question is not half the cost OF
the trial to date.