Arizona republican., 1909-12-31
COMPARTMENTS CASE
 VANISHED N IH|E AIR
,T THE HEARING or ROY CLAY.
 SON YESTERDAY
No Testimony In Support of Charge of Violating Edmunds Act

The case of Roy Clayson. charged | with d violation of the Edmunds act | was dismissed yesterday by Commis- sioner Johnstone on the presentation of the governments case The de- ! fendant was not put on the stand | There had been absolutely no testi-
 mony of the defendants guilt. The | witnesses knew nothing of their
 own knowledge" That is what the prosecuting witness. J. w. Osborn, | told the commissioner when he swore out the complaint; he said he was merely acting for the neighborhood. This proceeding. however. has not | been entirely futile. It has establish ed the valuable fact that the Ed | munds- Tucker act does not forbid the
 rescuing of a lady from drowning.
 the rescuer being a male citizen of ! the United States, or a male alien | temporarily residing in this counry. | It was also brought out that the | Edmunds act is not more rigid than
 the Queensberry rules. which may | be modified in the articles of agree ment. or even at the ringside. per- i hitting the combatants in clinches to strike with one arm free. So. so far as the Edmunds act is concerned, | it was allowable for the defendant to
 hug with one arm free.
 The only overt act proved against | the defendant was committed in the Cross-cut canal by the roadside in | front of the Clayson homestead. It | is a practice of the guests to go in
 swimming there. The old swimming | hole is in swift water below one of | the numerous falls on the Cross-cut,
 and a rope is stretched across the
 canal to which the swimmers who can
 not breast the strong current may | hold. pr. Tower. one of the witnesses for | the government. said that he on one | occasion saw the defendant clad in a ! pair of overalls clingng to the rope f with one arm while his free arm was | co-incident with the waist line of | Miss Kate F. Felker. who has been | described as the lady in the case" | That was all; he just had his arm | around her waist. a performance which ! Attorney Bullard for the defense made II the most of In that trying position. | Mir Clayson was merely lowing to
 the dictates of humanity and was inn periling his good name to rescue Miss
 Felker from a watery grave.
 For that manly act of self sacri- flee" said Mir Bullard. there can
 be no criticism except from those narrow souls who see no other mo- tives in human conduct except such
 as proceed from an abandoned heart.
 The defendant might have turned to.
 them and have said: 'Honi soft que
 maly pense.' In the, same circum-
 stances l would have grasped that
 rope with one hand and with the
 other would have saved the lady
 from burial beneath the turgid waters
 of the canal. You too would have
 done the same thing. Captain Alex
 ander. and you. too. Judge John-
 stone"
 After the trial was over one of
 these gentlemen, it does not matter
 which one, took MT. Bullard to task
 for his personal appeal, See here. young man. You are presuming too much when you say what l would have done or would not have done
 in the narrowing circumstances you described. l would not have hung onto the rope as you would have done; l would have got on the upper side of the rope so that there would 
 have been no need of holding. and l would have hugged the lady with both arrs.''
 one of the charges against the de- fendant at the time of the making of | the complaint was that his wife was cognizant of the illicit relation be- tween him and Miss Felker and in consequence she left home never to
 return. Though there was no opening
 for evidence on this point. Attorney
 Bullard said tbat he had ready a letter from t,s. SClayson to her hus- band The letter was of the friend l.
 Hest character and expressed regret
 that she would be detained longer
 than she had expected She also ask
 ed her husband to thank Kate" for
 the excellent lunch she had put up for
 her on the eve of her journey.