Gunnison news-champion., 1909-09-17
eaesaEa A. UuHlI AOQamYH
Coutlnu.-d frosn Page One.

d
saw Phillip conse ost. do sssaas chsses
AT the bara and at~.-f sesca O'Clock
or q quarter after, ssserss thai Le
sax him take the hide. 60 up Aioax
the creek bottom several hsndred
ward. t. an old shaudoussd naming
shaft and thro~ 1t in lie sav han
by the bright moonlight and kesEd
the splash
Two DAYS later Le ga swsy 10 no
tliv the authorities ~ GsGnlsoa,
~herespon on Monday, OVsoler II.
Sheriff Watson. ssssssed BY 6ftsea OF
twenty of the cattlesnen, went sp 10
the Pres.ler ranches They sssrcked
both ranches aud found NO iresh
hides. In tise shaft. which was full
Of water. they fi.l.ed with loAe poles
finally being Obliged to bail oct the
foul smelling wafer for several fsst.
below they found = sasss Il mad.
rotten Lides, hair. boses, bosldsss,
sunny sscks and the like exsssding
down a. far as they could psobe. 4
dozen Of the prominent csttlemen,
iclading X. II. Andrews, lee IeL-
man, T. W. Gray, Frank Lightly,
Ralph Alien, c. l.. Stcne aud others.
assert il had every appearance Of
being used as cache for old hides
for years. They finally got the fresh
hide, branded and marked - the
detectives described, and another
fairly fresh hide with A. l.. Hyzers
brand upon it.
These are in brief the damaging
facts alleged. The defense intro
duced many witnesses who agreed
upon the movements and remarks OF
the detectives, the killing oi a white
faced steer, selling of the meat. but
alleged thai the steer was branded
MP, that the hide was left hanging
over log IN the corral until Sun
day. the llth, when kasper took it
to his ranch for Frank kunze to
make gun scabbards of. That this
hide was in a tub Of water in the
milk house when the posse came
and searched, that no members of
the posse asked them for fresh hides
prosecuting witnesses had sworn
that the question was several times
asked whether there were any fresh
hides about that on the 18th the
hide was seen and observed by half
dozen witnesses who corroborated
that fact on the stand. Among
these witnesses were Jim Sharrsrd.
Frank aud G. F. kunze, Mrs. Phillip
Pressler, Russell Shaw, Peter and
kasper Pressler. The latter also
testified that Sheriff Watson told
him not to show the hide.
The defense also brought in much
testimony showing the finding of
carcasses in the hills about. to indi
cate that the detectives, not being
able TO make case otherwise. killed
range animals, or took dead ones
skinned them and themselves put
the hides in this shaft
A very interesting point Of diff
terence was over the moon question.
lhe detectives swore that at seven
or quarter after on October Sth.
1908, there was a bright moon bv
which they could see several hun
dred feet, Witnesses for the de
tense all swore that it was clear but
that the moon did not rise till after
$50 at the ranch. One witness tes-
tlmony was direct upon the point
that 1t took about an hour after the
time OF moon rising for it to show
over the top Of Mt. Carbon at the
Phillip Pressler ranch. No calendar
IN Gunnison shows the exact hour
OF moon rising on that date, but on
the 10th OF October the full moon
rose at 90 p. m. The calendar
shows thai the hour Ct rising was
coming later every night bv from SO
TO 80 minutes. Two days earlier
would make its time of rising ON tha
Sth within few minutes of 5:2O
Now the question is, how long did it
really take to rise above the noun
tam peak? As matter of fact this
could only be absolutely determined
by surveyor, or an observer upon
the ground during full moon in Oc-
tober
lhere were many other interest
ing features of the trial, but as the
Jury has found the defendants mot
guilty, 1T is now ancient history.
AT the conclusion of this case
tuesday night district court ad-
Jonrned sine die. OF the three Grim
mai cases tried, all four defendants
were released on the first or second
ballot.
lhe time of the court being so
taken up with criminal casas verr