Evening journal., 1911-05-04
ROBERTS, APPEAL FOR LIFE
TAKES SENSATIONAL TURN
Chancellor Directs Steps Taken TO Arrest Cooper
Who Says He Was Intoxicated While Making
Affidavit Changing His Testimony.
New Evidence Offered
Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL

Special to THE EVENING JOURNAL,
DOVER. Del, May 4-The most
sensational hearing i'm the Reese
Roberts case yet before the Board of
Pardons was held this morning. when
j. Frank Ball, counsel for. Roberts,
appeared to petition the Board of
Pardons to commute the mans SEN
tence from death to Imprisonment foc
life. Attorney-General Gray, for the
State, opposed the application. At
Gray had several flu
rious lifts with Mr.. Ball and once
declared to the board that he would
not stand for the counsel's insinua-
tions.
The case of the two negro boys,
Earl Hugo Brown and James Sharp
of Georgetown, sentenced to death
for murder, also came before the
board. The crowd Of witnesses. law
yers and petitioners. for both cases,
was so large that the hearing had to
be adjourned TO the Senate chamber.
When the Roberts case was called
after defining his grounds for his ap-
plication for commutation, Mr.. Ball
sprang a sensation by producing
William Cooper a motorman for the
Southern Pennsylvania Traction Com
pany. Cooper was a very unwilling
witness. Mr.. Ball stated to the board
that the witness had sworn to one
thing in court and a made affidavit to
something entirely different later.
Cooper Says He was Paid.
Mr.. Ball then read an affidavit from
Cooper in which Cooper declared he
was mistaken in his testimony in
court when he said he saw Reese
Roberts board his trolley car on the
night Of the Casey murder Cooper
said in the affidavit that this state
ment had given him much trouble and
he believed now that il was not Reese
Roberts, who was on his car that
night The sensational part of the
affidavit then followed. Coopers
affidavit stated that he had been paid
S15 for testifying in court as he had.
The affidavit alleged that he had
been handed the money in an en-
velope by William Danzenbaker, who
stopped his car one evening on the
road. The affidavit said that Cooper
asked him who the money was from
and Cooper replied from Mr.. Nc
Comb"
This ended the AFFIDAVIT. It was
signed and executed before Notary
Public Lawrence J. Broman.
Cooper was shown the affidavit this
morning and asked If be recognized
his signature. He replied. THAT looks
like my signature but ! can write &
great deal better now" Mr.. Ball asked
him If he did not dictate the affidavit
He said u don't think So. If | did il
il was while in a drunken state"
Mr. Ball turned Cooper over to At
torney General Gray. who questioned
him closely about April IS. the day
on which the affidavit was executed
Witness swore that he was paid of
on that day and went to drinking
He went to Chester and met a man
named Van Bigger, and he must have
become badly intoxicated. for he re-
membered waking up at o'clock the
next morning knowing nothing OF
what had happened to him the hours
previous.
Notary Says Man Was Sober.
Mr.. Ball then called Lawrence J
Broman, who swore he had executed
the affidavit for William Cooper. and
that at the time Cooper was sober
Mir. Broman said he well knew when
a man was too drunk to make an afii-