The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1914-03-29
JUDGE ADMON|SHES
BLACK|MA|L LAWYERS
Warns Leatherwood and
Christensen to Discontinue
''Persiflage."
Special to The Tribune.

SPtCldl W Us
OGDEN. March 2s-Owing to the
time required for the members of the
jury to examine the formation Of let
ters to which the expert had called at
tention, Theodore Kytka did not COM
plete his direct testimony in the brief
session of court today, which marked
tho close Of the second week in the
trial OF Joseph Henry Martin. Accord
ing Ing TO The the at MHstoT5Heys 5iy Kytka Will com
nation by Monday evening,
On the request of the attorneys,
Judge J, A. Howell adjourned at 1880
clock until Monday morning Be-
cause OF this arrangement court will
be convened all next week at 9 a. N.
instead Of 10 o'clock as formerly.
Kytka contends that he can complete
his direct testimony in the first hour
on Monday, after which Attorney
Christensen will enter upon tho cross
examination.
Attorneys, iurymen and spectators
showed the effects today of the long
grind Of handwriting evidence. With
scarcely n ripple Of variation, the ma
ture of the testimony for the past three
days has been the same, letters and
figures, followed by long waits during
iurymen. Instead Of the packed court
room, there were at no time moro than
fifty persons in the room IN addition
to the relatives Of tho defendant dur
ing the day s session.
Possibly in an effort to relieve the
monotony, Attorneys Leatherwood and
Christensen indulgcd In more than their
usual amount of verbal sparring, much
of it being what is popularity known
L., hoN M
reference TO the matter in hand. They
were warned repeatedly by Judge
Howell TO desist. under penalty OF an
all-day session of court.
When about to adjourn court for the
day Judge Howell administered final
warning, requesting the attorneys to
eliminate the "persiflage.' Both at
torneys professed ignorance Of just
what the Judge referred to. Later
Judge Howell explained that he sought
a word which the jury probably would
understand. but had upwittinQly struck
upon one which was too deep for the
attorneys.
The handwriting expert during his
testimony Yesterday completed his con-
sideration of the capital letters in the
various specimens and devoted all OF
his time today to small letters apd rig,
ures. In the us samples Of the small
"t" in the standard documents Kytka
found habit characteristic In the clean
cut dainty dash or cross stroke which
intersected the stem evenly 143 times,
nut above it % times and to the left
r. times, The same style Of letters ap-
pears in the disputed documents 202,
62 and 80 times, respectively, with II
additional letters with the dash to the
right of tho stem. Only three Of the
letters were not crossed in the black
mail letters and only one In the stand
ard documents. -,
With regard to tho small letter g.
the expert called particular attention
to the similarity i'll tho endings OF the
word rings in the standards and
blackmail documents. All of the let
ters ''g' were written with the top
open and in the word mentioned the
final "sh was not connected and ap-
peared in the printed style. This was
characteristic where the word was
found in both standard and disputed
documents.
Kytka gave but slight attention to
the sign H$.' indicating that in both
the standards and questioned writings
the writer had squeezed the 81 por-
tion of the sign in between the upright
lines instead Of allowing the lines to
intersect the 49, During the final
hour of tho session he discussed the
figures S, 9, 5. 3 and O. His princiDal
points regarding the construction o.
these were the apparent backward
style Of writing the ''S' and the pear
yhgped cinhers.