The Washington herald., 1912-10-22

WITNESSES EIaU
Little q latessst psvslsped = -
Trial sf the Aecused lolies
Liertsnant
Dz.rEIsI ImAouAxDAlY

New York, Oct. a.-Ths lawyers de-
Tending Police Lieut.. Charles Becker. On
trial for the murder Of Herman Roeen-
thai, In desperate effort to srold the
necessity Of placing their client on the
stand in his own behalf. called twenty
one witnesses to-day.
The sum of results obtained from this
testimony VS. % unsatisfactory that
by the close Of the day no one connect
ed with the defense would venture to
say what move VIII be made next
Attorney John F. Mcintyre realixes
II Becker 10 permitted to take the stand
an avenue win be open by which the
district attorney on eross-exAmanation.
may get into the evidence the entire
record Of the accused Officers fortune.
alleged to have been collected from
gambling.
Becker nerve has not failed him. He
wants to testify. He told the newspa-
per men tonight he believed he could
convince the jury that he had no part
In the conspiracy which resulted In the
assassination Of Rosenthal.
''Of course, any testimony / might
give" said Becker, would not deal With
the details Of the shooting. 1 know moth
ing about that. As q police office lob
tained a good line on the character OF
-.
perfectly willing to go into all details
of my relations with them. l feel GER
tain that such statement made frank
ly to the jury would greatly aid my
case. shall. however. be guided alb
solutely by the advice Of my attorneys"
Seven Policemen Testify.
Seven Of the witnesses called to testify
for Becker to-day were policemen who
H. ufv- s.v-yr1
squad and in other work: one police in
burglars now in the Tombs accused Of
murder: another prisoner who has been
in prison 50 often that he can best
be identified as Jail bird: four charac-
ter witnesses who have known Becker
socially and never heard anything bad
about him: one theater treasurer intro
duced in an unavaling effort to break
down the testimony Of Norris Luhank:
one county clerk, and two keepers from
the city prison.
The prisoners from the Tombs were
called in an effort to break down the
testimony of Hallen. the convict, who
swore he heard Becker tell his one
time subordinate. Lieut.. James c. White.
to "s,t tight and the public would give
them a medal for killing Rosenthal'
The only witnesses whose testimony
in any way seemed to benefit Becker's
case were the men who have worked
with him in the Police Department for
years On cross-examination. however.
nearly all of these FACED badly. Most
of the questions concerned the arrest Of
Jack Zelig and the raid on Rosenthars
gambling place.
Duxgan Best Witness.
The strongest witness was Detective
Lieut.. william Duggan. who swore
"Bridgey" webber once told him that
Rosenthal had employed Tough Tony"
Feracci to rob Vallons house and also
to assault him CWebber) with brass
knuckles The witness also mentioned
that Webber claims Spanish Louis"
and Boob" Walker had also been in
terested In the robbery and assault.
Lieut. DuRgan was made to say By the
District Attorney that his mind had
been refreshed on this conversation with
webber by Detective OFarrell, Of the
Becker defense.
The last of the twenty-one witnesses
had been excused at O'Clock, and after
some moments OF delay, during which
there was considerable confusion in the
camp Of the defense. Lawyer John w.
Hart asked permission to read into the
record the testimony taken at Hot
Springs concerning statements made by
Sam Schepps at the time OF his arrest
This. occupied sthe remainder of the day.
and added nothing Of material value or
interest to the proceedings.