Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-15

the train enroute to Monmouth, wrap
ped his others in paper. In regard
to his treatment in Chicago the wit
ness said that handouts were put on
him when he was arrested, taken of
in the patrol enroute to the headquar-
ters, and not put on him again until
Knox and Grimes put them on to start
back to Iowa. He said that the de-
tectives only worked with him a few
minutes until he admitted that he
had killed Mellott, that they were con-
stantly at him for three hours and fin
ally when Sergeant Buggie came to
him In the cell which was cold and
damp and had running water in 1t
and told him he had better admit that
1t was done for robbery, he told them
to 90 ahead and put it down that way.
The young man said that the de-
tectives held up paper before him
and told him that 1t was the woman's
confession; they claimed it was her
statement but that he could not see
the signature on 1t, 1t was so far away.
He said, II wanted to read 1T, but they
never even told me what was In 1t.
They used the argument that she had
confessed in trying to get me to make
a similar statement. We had not
that had promised not to mention the
Mellotts hands. The most Of the
swered by yes and no. They asked
and don't remember half that Is in 1t.
have never read the combined state
ment all through. AS they asked the
VlyVif n
thing which proved to be the state
ment.
Spent Morning In Cell.
Il spent the rest of the morning in
the cell with the running water in 1t.
The first time that | saw Sheriffs
Knox and Grimes was when was TAX
en- up before Chief of Detectives Hal
pin to be examined. No one was In
the room but myself and the chief
when we first talked asked him IL
he was the head man around there and
he said that he was then said that
they had got me to sign a paper that
morning which was not the truth and
that wanted to change it. He said,
Say, kid. know about your state
ment and | have read 1t. Now, you
stick by 1t II you want to get along
with u.s. was then taken out and
when came back for the examination
there was whole crowd in the room.
Chief Halpin told me that there were
some newspaper men there who want
ed to take my picture and / believe
that there were four Of them that
snapped me. At the examination sat
at the chiefs side and Ruth was about
twenty feet from me. ! don't know
what they asked her or when they did
it."
The witness then said that he had
pawned the watch under the name of
Earl Spore and had registered under
that name the first night that he and
the woman had spent in Chicago. He
stated that he was afraid the officers
would get In touch with him the first
day there, and he was hiding from
them, but later decided not to hide out
any more. He said that he gave the
pawn ticket away as he never expect
ed to redeem Mellotts watch, never
wanting to see 1t again. When the
combined statement was read over In
detail to him by the county attorney
and he was questioned on 1t he ac-
knowledged the greater part of 1t, that
relating to his parentage, work, ETC.,
but firmly denied that robbery was the
motive or that the details of the crime
were correct. He stated the part in
which he said, II am sorry shot him
and will try to be man If have
chance" still as true as 1T ever was.
Have Changed Notes.
The young man admitted on the
stand that he and Mrs. Mccullough
had exchanged notes and letters since
they had been prisoners in the Wa
pello county Jail and that he had sent
the woman one in which he told her
to stick by him and they would get out
of this trouble, get married and live
happy ever after. He said that Mellott
had told him once that he had made
100000 in three years and never cent
Of 1t honestly, that he did not know
that Ruth McCollough's husband was
in Ottumwa at the time that he and
the woman were staying at the La
Clede hotel, under the name of Earl
Burton and wife, but thought that the
man was in Fargo, N. D., that he did
not want to take the girl to Lancaster
and went to Chicago to think the
whole matter over. Just before he
concluded his testimony he stated that
he had never before been in the vicin-
ity of Ollie, Richland or Packwood.
Mr. Mccormick left the stand at 4:40
Friday afternoon.
Court Room is Packed.
The largest crowds ever known to
have been in the court room for many
years have heard the Mccormick trial.
All day long from an hour before con-
vening time, in the morning, until 5
o'clock in the afternoon, every seat has
been taken, the entire room lined
around the wall with people and great
throngs crowded into all OF the door,
ways and corridors from all sides OF
the court room, even some Of the
more aggressive ones standing on
top Of tables, in the window lodges
and over the doorways. Several times
it has been necessary for the court to
ask the spectators to stand aside as
they were crowding SO close to the
defendant and the attorneys that the
air in the room became very oppres-
sive in spite Of every ventilation pos
sible.