Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-11-09
ARGUMENTS CONCLUDED SHORT.
" BEFORE NOON Tuesday
WE'RE BEGUN MONDAY.
1MPEACHED WITNESS
Quartet of Lawyers State Reputation
of Defendant For Truth 10 BAD g
Date Of Deal Proved Hard
to Establish.

The poston forgery case wcs given
IL the iury at 11:4O yesterday when
he arguments by counsel were fnisheo
and the instructions which were nov ol
great length were read to the tweive
men by the court. The close 81 me
case was not without its excltlng Tea
ture and this was emphasized Wnen
counsel for the defense charged the
county attorney with misconduct ana
wilf,,l misstatement in his argument
to the Jury. The county attorney very
promptly reminded the counsel tnat II
misstatements were made they were
,unintentional and his objection 10 tne s.
wording of counseps exception as A.
would appear in the record, were sus-
tanned by the court.
= Defense Excerpts to Argument. J.
Tho instance came up at the close OF
the prosecutors closing argument 70
the Jury, when the defenses counsel
arose and asked the court to permit
exceptions to the argument OF tne
prosecution. The reporter was caleo
and the defense's counsel read MS ex-
cention to the county attorneys re-
marks on the grounds that they we're
reinstatement of facts brought out
in the evidence as regards G. II. Bank
ar his counsel In the matter OF resist
inc the assigning Of the saloon cases:
The objection cited the letter. exnlDlt
No. 4. purporting to have been VIII
ten nv Poston to Rankin and calling MS
attention to the assignment Of the
cases in question. In has reading OF
the objection he used the terms vii
fully misstated facts" to "nlcn tne
county attorney Immediately oD]ecteu
and the court ruled out the one OFFENSIVE
The arguments opened about 1925
Monday afternoon when County Al.
torney stock spoke fifteen minutes ana
was followed by Attorney l.. L. DUKE
for the defense who spoke the rest OF
the afternoon and until 10 o'clock TINS
morning. The closing argument was
then taken up by the county attorney
and finished at 1870 o'clock.
Impeach Defendant
The Impeachment of Joe Poston ny
fonr members of the bar Monday
q ~ arnoon was not without CLEAN OF
humor, and while thrusts were
launched at the general character OF
the defendant, he. with MS counsel
enjoyed the cross examlna-
tion of the men whose testimony was
riyen against the good name OF me
defendant. The first witness was W.:
A Work. who said the reputation OF
Poston for truth and veracity and his
general reputation for moral character
we're not good. He admitted, however,
of having written Chicago publish
inp company advocating the selection
of Position as collector for the firm
in Ottumwa and said that he might
hay,, been beaten in the justice courts
nv Mr.. Poston in cases where each
was engaged. William McNett would
not answer as to the defendants moral
but as to his reputation for
he said it was not good. He
would not admit of having been beaten
IN the Justice courts, but said Walter
McNett had been once. w., w. Epps
was then figure in the impeachment
and like Mr.. McNett
would not say as to the moral char
acter of the defendant, but said
Poston's reputation for veracity was
not good. Upon his denial OF having
been beaten by Poston in the Justice
courts, Mr. Epps was cited to case
during his administration as county
attorney in which his questioner asked
If it was not true he had been beaten
by Poston when the jury in the case
was out but six minutes. Mr.. Epps did
not recall the case. Chester Whitmore
came In for the revival of painful
recollections when the counsel for Mr..
Poston asked him if it was not true
that the defendant worked against
him politically when the witness and
defendants counsel were candidates
for senator and county attorney
respectively and both defeated. The
witness said that Poston's vefacity
and moral reputation were bad. '.
Patsey Not Sure Of Date
Following the testimony of Clarence
Judd Monday afternoon, Mr.. Rankin
was placed on the stand to testify as
to the deeds mentioned earlier in the
testimony. His wife and daughter testi.
fled as to his coming home about
1890 the night of March "a for his
supper after the land deal had been
closed. Mrs. Rankin stated she signed
the deed the day 1t was acknowledged.
Henry Merrick of the Phoenix Trust
Co., who had the abstract for the Ran.
kin property transferred to Mr..
Patsey, was called to testify as
to this instrument and :, stated
that the abstract for the prop.
erty was gotten about p. m.., March
"a. and that he did not know If the
abstract had been examined before