New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1915-06-23

he declared he never uttered Not an
instant elapsed between the question
and the answer and those who looked
for the Russian prisoner to break
down and become entangled in a
mesh Of contradictory statements were
disappointed.
Story He Claims Is True.
Briefly, Montv;d's story which he
told to the jury and which he claims
is, the only truthful account Of the
murder, is as follows:
On the night of February he met
Krakas by appointment in a Main
street saloon He did not know what
Krakas wanted but after they started
to walk and Krakas led the way along
the railroad tracks he unfolded to him
his plan Of robbing Father Zebris.
Montvid demurred and said he would
be a party to no such plan. Krakas
then threatened to kill him and leave
his body on the railroad track so that
it would be mangled by the trains and
no one would know he had been muir
dered. As it was, Krakas fired a shot
from his overcoat pocket which went
through the heel Of Montvids shoe
and grazed the foot. Thus terrified,
Montvid followed. Krakas to the par
ish house where the latter rang the
bell and the two were admitted by
Eva Gilmanaitis Montvid entered last
and closed the door. Krakas at once
ordered the inmates Of the house to
throw UP their hands. The woman
did so but the priest did not and
Krakas at once shot him and tied a
Il ~. t
holding the revolver and using but one
hand and his foot to tie the cords.
I his.prevented Montvid from trying to
escape Krakas then punched the
helpless woman and asked where the
money was. Krakas led the way up
stairs, light being furnished by his
pocket searchlight; as he had extin-
guished the gas. He ordered Montvid
to pry open the closet door (tlnis was
the attic door, He broke the shears
In doing SO and also used a screw
driver Krakas handed him. Eventu-
ally Krakas wrenched the door open,
using a monkey wrench. AT this
point Eva Gilmanaitis suddenly fled
up the attic stairs and Krakas pur-
sued her.
Montvid was left standing in the
/ darkness on the second floor but fear
of the dead priest downstairs made
him unable to move or think. After
six or seven minutes Krakas returned
and told him he had tied a rope
around the woman5s neck. He then
gave Montvid 1926 of $7.35 pre-
yiously found, and one bunch of
keys, telling him to keep them and
keep still
( This is substantially Montvid's
-
the prosecution was unable to shake
him, materially. He attributed hts
lack Of action In trying to prevent
the murder or to escape and spread
the alarm to fear for his own life.
Although other parts of his story
around the woman's neck. He then
tains that they are the facts. s
Brands Police as Liars.
Regarding the many confessions he
made, the prisoner branded them
all as lies. He said the police lied
to him. He said = ergeant Bamforth
nervously shook bunch of keys un-
der his nose and accused him of muir
der. Malinowski, he said, Informed
him that Krakas had confessed and
implicated him. This he claims, he
knew was lie because Krakas had
He furthermore declared that the po
lice told ninety-nine lies to one truth
in talking to him. He by his at
titude, scored Sergeant Bamforth and
Interpreter Malinowski and to a
question from States Attorney Alcorn
he readily admitted that he did not
like them and had 1t in for them
state Policeman Robert Hurley he
called .sMr. Bob" and said he was
good man and told the truth. He had
wanted to confess truthfully to him,
he said.
Denies Any "Red Hand
Later, in response to further ques
tions by the states attorney, Mont
vid denied that he was member OF
any Red Hand society or that he
knew Of the existence of any such
organizations This refuted q pre-
vious statement he made before the
trial in which he said he and Kra-
kas had paid IS initiation fee into
this society, which threatens rich
men and priests and if they refuse to
pay money are murdered, the as
sassins being chosen by drawing lots.
In denying all Of his previous con-
ressions Montvid took refuge in his
statement that he had lied because
the police had lied to him.
Montyid jerks out his statements
and answers interse sentences. While
he speaks English fairly well no
does not speak it fuently and the
court stenographer has to ask him
to repeat many times. The prisoner
also frequently arises to his feet to
demonstrate by gesture that to which
he Is testifying and once yesterday
he left the witness box to point out
on map of the parish house tho
respective positions Of the principals
81 tha fine OF the murder