Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1912-08-27
ASES FOR A FAROIE.

| years. I1G WdS d IUGiIlD6T Ol CUul pd1}
G, under Capt. j. D. Womer, and bore
good reputation up to the time his
troubles commenced in 1892 After
tnat it seemed as if ''old nic' himself
was after him. In referring TO the
files of the PILOT we find that lawyer
John Livermore of this city, had Mr..
Lamont arrested on a trivial charge
and when arrested the officers found
at his home 44-calibre revolver be-
longing to him, which they took. The
| fact that he was the owner of such a
weapon was made much of by those
who were prosecuting him and they
made him out very dangerous man
lished broadcast. There was no evil
dence against him to substantiate the
charge and he was released. Mr.. La
mont knew why he was being perse-
cuted and knew that he was absolute
ly innocent of any wrong doing, but
rather than to give publicity to certain
matters he decided to go elsewhere in
search of work. His revolver was
not given back to him until he returned
| here on some business in 1894, when
he gave it to Peter j. Werle, also
shoulder holster, in payment for doing
some surveying for him in the town
of Weston. When Mr.. Lamont was
accused of the murder of Mccarthy,
the same parties that had prosecuted
him here left no stone unturned to
besmirch his character during the
trial in Douglas county, all of which
helped to make it easy to send him to
prison. The evidence was that La
mont and Mccarthy were together
looking for work, which in fact they
were doing for time, but Lamont
has all the time protested that he
was innocent, and he further says
that if he were able to pay for
transcript of the evidence and to pay
for the work of a lawyer to assist in
the work, is sure he could convince
the public that he is innocent of the
crime.
A letter from III. j. Lond of Benz
idji, Mimi, written on Aug. 8th,
1912, who was interested in the case,
says:
''The evidence showed that you were
at all times within two hundred miles
of Superior, and working under your
own name at Two Harbors, Mimi,
and that you at no time made any
attempt to conceal either your name
or your identity, and that finally the
sheriff at Wausau, or wherever it was
that you lived, telephoned you to
come, and that you went voluntarily
from some place near there where you
were living, to his office, where he
arrested you. Furthermore, while /
was very familiar with all the circum-
stances connected with your stay
around Superior at the time of the
killing of McCarty, 1 never heard of
one solitary word of evidence tending
to connect you with any other crime.
There was a lot of wild newspaper
accusations made as 1 fully believe
without any ground whatever, and
solely for the purpose of increasing
the sales of the papers, and incident
ally of inflaming the public mind
against you. L further believe that
the state of public feeling at the time
was such, owing to the newspapers
efforts, that it was utterly impossible
for you to have a trial before an un-
prejudiced jury, and / had very good
reason to believe just after the trial,
and still so believe, that some at least
of the jurymen not only had, but had
expressed strong feeling against you,
and had done so before the trial. We
were appointed by the court to de-
fend you, and at no time had any
funds whatever to use in your de-
fense, though we were paid some so
or SIS day for the time actually
occupied by the trial, nine days |
think, after the trial was over. We
had no money of our own which we
could use in preparing for trial and
were compelled to take whatever the
states witnesses saw fit to swear to
without being able to Investigate the
truth or falsity of the same. | fully
believe that If we had had very small
amount of money, even two or three
hundred dollars to use in your behalf,
that there would have been no con-
viction. Further, as l recall the case,
there was absolutely no possible mo-
tive shown for the murder. If such it
was. McCarty had spent all of his
money at Dedham, except some IS, as
i 1 remember it, and that fact was
known to the whole party, including
yourself. He was too drunk TO attack
anyone, and too drunk to be able to
object if any person had desired To
take from him the small amount OF
money which ne still possessed. and |
could never imagine what motive in
J duced anyone to Kill him, if he was in
. tentionally killed.
As remember it now, the evidence
on which you were convicted was in
large part that of convicts who were
then in Waupun, and were brought
from there to testify against you
Further, it was wholly circumstan-
ltial, and no man can deny that il
might all have been true, and you
still innocent. In my opinion, the
prejudice against you, created by the
newspapers. and based upon wholly
false accusations and insinnations,
was principally responsible for your