The San Francisco call., 1910-04-03
CONBOY CONVICTED
OF MANSLAUGHIfR
Jury Recommends Slayer of
Lagan TO the Mercy of
the Court
Continued From Page 21

them or understood their meaning. He
kept on gazing fixedly at the foreman
Of the jury His daughter Nina leaned
toward him and touched his broad
shoulders but he waved her aside im-
patiently. She sank back in her seat
and her ewes welled with tears, but.
becoming conscious of the crowd
around her. she dried them hastily and
with a smile passed her hand over her
fathers arm until her fingers met his
and clasped them tightly
The usual preliminaries followed.
Judge Ferral took the expected eXcep-
tion to the verdict and moved for new
trial and an appeal. Judge Dunno set
April as the date on which sentence
would be passed.
The jury cast five ballots before
agreeing. From the outset the sole
question lay between manslaughter ana
self-defense and from the outset, also,
the voting stood 10 to against the de-
fendant. The jury-declared to be the
best chosen in a criminal trial for many
vears-conducted their deliberations in
a quiet. orderly way. The loud shouts,
the heated arguments which character
lied the first jury were absent with
this latter body. They talked the case
over quietly among themselves, never
asking to be released and evidently
fully aware of the necessity of return
ing a verdict.
Ultimately the question narrowed
itself down to the point of whether
drunken man was justified in killing
person If his drunken Imagination led
him to fear dangers which, in his sober
senses. would not present themselves
20 his mind. This question they asked
the court to solve and were told that
man was justified in taking the life of
oil for af1ns-
were sufficient to excite the fears of
reasonable mind"
The explanation settled the question,
and though the jury retired for the
night Conboy's fate was sealed. On
the first ballot taken this morning the
verdict of guilty was unanimous.
Foreman Rulofson was one of the
men who stood for an acquittal. He,
however, remained open to argument at
all times. The delibera tions at. all
times were serious. Personalities and
anger were eliminated entirely.
1T is a just verdict" said Assistant
District Attorney McNutt, but the eX
tenuating circumstances which called
for a plea for mercy are offset by the
manner in which this case has been
conducted.
Now that the Conboy case is settled
it is nay intention to investigate and
go after those whom l sincerely be-
lieve committed perjury for him.
While this case has been pending
1 have been investigating the testi-
mony given on the first trial by Harry
LeaVenworth, the keeper of the pool
room at 765 Market street. This man
testified that he was in room 112 in
the Congress hotel in Fillmore street,
from the windows of which he saw
the entire episode of the shooting.
have witnesses who are. willing to
testify that at that time he was en-
gagged in his occupation of playing
for the house in poker games at what
is known as the Merchants club in
Fillmore street
Furthermore I have the hotel regis
ter and have had Kytka make an in
vestigation of it. This shows that the
register was fixed, that the room No
24S was changed to room No. 112 The
change is palpable. And as confirma-
tion Of the fact that the change was
made for the direct purpose of creating
testimony in the Conboy case, I have
other witnesses who are willing to
testify that the rooms which he occu-
pied In the hotel were in the rear of
the hotel and in a spot from where the
shooting could not be seen.
''Leavenworth's case is but one part
Of the shady tactics which have been
pursued in this trial Had Conboy
acted fairly I would have been the
first to have put IN plea for mercy,
but when he attempted to blanket his
first act by deliberate effort to de-
bauch the court by perjury and sub
ornation of perjury. then l changed my
opinions. The law is greater than
Conboy and after Conboys attempt to
corrupt its workings I for one am not
in favor Of the law showing him mercy"
McNutt said he had not decided as to
whether the prosecution of Leaven-
worth would begin in the police court
or before the grand jury. But he
added, "if any of these people think
that the Conboy matter is settled they
are mistaken"
The penalty for manslaughter is from
one TO ten years in the penitentiary.
Neither Conboy. his daughters nor his
lawyers would discuss the case.