The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-26
MANY HOT WORDS
Lawyers in Wilcox Libel Suit
Are Bitter.
Defendants Are Denounced in
Scathing Terms.
The HARPER COUNTY FIGHT
One Asserts 1t Started Over
WilcOx's Devotion to Duty.
Captain Waters Criticises LO-
cal Officers for Action.

Black-Ericsson criminal libel case,
which for ten days has been on trial
before a jury in Judge Whitcomb's
court. Perhaps the most telling
speech of the morning session was
that of j. N. Tincher of Medicine
Lodge, who for As minutes appeared
the court room bound and gagged as
he pleaded for a conviction of all of
the three defendants.
The oppressive hea in the court
room did not seem to discourage the
crowd and many people stood through
the long arguments that they might
be a witness to the parade of ora
tory. AT the suggestion of County At
tended the time for arguments from
six to seven hours. This gives each
side three and a half hours for a dis
cussion of the evidence. AT 8:35 the
court began the reading of his charge
to the jury. 1t was 9:06 when Frank
GiIett of FL Reno, Okla brother of
Judge Preston B. GiIlett, the COM
plainant-began the opening argu-
ment.
GiIIett talked 40 minutes. His re-
ark were aimed almost entirely at
the a%bsurdity of the defense and he
referred in bitter one to the methods
of Detective Ericsson, prompted, as he
declared, by the animosity and venom
of the co-defendants, Black and Will
cox.
Makes Touching Appeal.
Following Gillett, Attorney Warple
opened for the defense. Warple is
because of the persecution of wilcox,
of Black and of Ericsson, whom he
gave the jury to understand stood as
Gibraltar for law enforcement and de-
cent living. 1t gave Warple great de-
light to connect Gillett with all the
notorious politicians whom he could
recall without advance preparation.
BY reason of these connections-which
thn xuun CntI was a dean and nPIV
plot to ruin the innocent Wilcox-he
wanted an acquittal. 1t was because
Wilcox was running wild, enforcing all
the laws on the statute books and
making life a burden for the unjust,
that Warple was convinced that the
groundless prosecutions were filed
against the three men. 1t is becaus
Wilcox is conscientious, law abiding,
an advocate of all that is good and an
enemy of everything that has a dark
look that Gillett and his gang" want
the men sent to Jail. Warple told the
jury. This feeling was intenstR;d, the
lawyer said, when WilcoX's- promi-j
nence and high standing landed him
in the prosecutors Office in Harper
county, where he began creating tenn
peratures that were too sultry for the
wicked 1
Tincher Made Bitter Speech.
Then the court tool a recess and
Tincher waded into the testimony.
Tincher carries some 240 pounds ton
dRe ana mas d voice IIldI SIldIlSS d 1OS
horn. He also displayed a collection
of personal and general epigrams that
are mixed with a review of evidence
in a telling manner.
Right from the start, Tincher had
the jury sitting up for observation and
the crowd stood up to look at h
lawyer and hear the arraignment of
the defendants-each and all of them.
He began by referring to the defen-
dants' Zine up" He pointed to Char
Inftn -FThOmann SITTING inst behind the |
three on trial, to Detective
MedIock who was also inside the rail
and told the jury that the conscien-
tious Mr.. Warple was defending the
blackest criminals ever defended in
this court house in the history of the
county," Then Tincher paid respects
to Ericsson individually.
There is no greater enemy of the
law than this foul and de-
graded man." declared h lawyer,
the man who is so cowardly as to
behind a great and good law to
shield his crime. This is either a most
of a man who helped to
build up the state, or a scheme and
plot and plan to use these
to help Wilcox. Either Judge Gillett
is the buzzard who brought down lit
tie Leta Foster, or thesc 8 defendants
are the Vultures who seek to tear
down.. When these affidavit
were turned over to Simon, these men
knew they were false as hell. They
knew that they were up against 1t n
had to fight back"
Then Tincher sat for a time in the
witness chair and talked to the jury
about Blacks testimony. He referred
Black as 'one of the most
in the state" and again
that for dirty, venomous, low dow
plot and smooth skulldugglery, the
crime has no equal in Kansas" For
As minutes the Medicine Lodge man
~ ~ His cII1nhITiO remarks
hurled right at the men
defendants table. Then he closed
with an appeal to be permitted to
to Topeka to attend ~vent1o
and public functions tho
made the subject for blackmafl-
ing schemes at the hands of such
Waters Criticises Officers.
Captain Joseph G.. Waters, who fol-
for the defense. criticised the
of Harry J. Bone, United states
district attorney, and County Attorney
He questioned Bones pro
instincts when he talked to
the three defendants and related these
conversations from the stand in a case
in which he was employees as an attor-
ney. Then he waded into Simon. On
Simon's shoulders he heaped the bur-
den of the tremendous expense of the
engthv trial and vowed that Shawnee
county bore no responsibility to air
local fights in Judge Gillett's dis
trict.
There is a lot of dirty linen on dis
play here said Waters; "a terrible
lot. They wanted it WASHED up at the
expense of Shawnee county and Simon
lost his head and permitted this dis
play before a jury in county
at great xpense An alibi-the most
miserable subterfuge-is offered as a
defense for Judge Gillet- in this case
persons in this case have been
to as sleuthhounds- 1 want
to refer to some on the other side as
and in this fight of ragtag and
1obtaiI lawyers ell the envious and gan
sentiment against Wilcox has
been dragged before this jury"