Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-07-14
'|NFORM[R ON STAND
MRS. PORTER FIRST WITNESS AT
BEDFORD MURDER
HEARING.
STICKS TO STORY UNDER
SEVERE CROSS. EXAMINATION
Defending Attorney Unable to Shake
Womans Version of Alleged Crime
Of Halt Century Ago. Crowded
Court Room at Night Session Lis
tens to Story of Star Witness.

Bedford. July l4.-Mrs. Maria Por'
ter. Of Quit,nan. Mo. repeated on tht
witness stand here TUESDAY night he1
recollection of what she saw in Sep
TENDER. 1858, in connection with the
murders Of Nathaniel Smith. Mis-
scuri cattle dealer. and his son. Mrs
Porter testified at the preliminar,
hearing OF Bates Huntsman. Samue
Scrivner and John and Henry Dame
Mood. Taylor county pioneers who were
arrested recently on charges of heins
accessories 70 the murder.
The hearing had been set for early
in the day. out because of the non
arrival of several witnesses it wa:
postponed until evening.
Among those called TO testify was
Samuel Anderson, whose plans for
suit against the aged defendants b!
which he sought TO get part OF tbs
$50. 600 said 10 have been buried OF
his farm near Siam. caused the in
vestigation that led 10 the arrest OF the
men.
Mrs. Porter's Story Unchanged.
Mrs Porter. who was "A when the
Smiths We're killed. told her girlhood
experiences on the Collins farm, where
the bodies and the loot were supposed
" buried She then related having
seen certain men bringing the bodies tc
the farm and of having witnessed tbs
burial of one in an old we'll. Her story
was unchanged on cross examination
Mrs Porter told clearly and IN de-
tail how she was awakened on thai
September night. nearly half cen
fury ago, by sounds outside the farm
house, how she went to the door JUS
in time to see a band Of men. amone
whom she said we're the defendants
carrying a quilt containing the body
Of a man; how she saw them throw
the body into an old we'll near The
house, and how later they forced he!
TO wash blood stains from their cloth
ing. threatening her with death If she
ever breathed a word Of what she had
seen.
Woman's Testimony mistaken.
B. ]. Flick, attorney for the defen
dants, Bates Huntsman. Samuel Scriv-
ner and John and Nathan Damewood
hardly denred her tale in a rigid cross
examination.
It was like play and Taylor coun'
" Is looking at it that way. It wal
not always strict melodrama, either
for there was abundant comic relief il
the jibes Attorney Bul.lan and Artor
ney Flick put at each other and in Mrs
Porters acrimonious and often gen
timely witty re,orts when the lawyer
, annoyed her.
The hearing of the case agains
Bates Huntsman. who is the first o
the four to be tried. began little be
Sawyer.
The courtroom was crowded com.
plerely to capacity. It was TANNED
Mrs. Porter, the states star witness
was the first to take the stand Sin
completed her testimony before the
close Of the session
Discrepancy in Dates.
There is nine years difference in tl'
time Of the crime as Mrs, Porter tolC
it from the time given 1t by Attorney
Bulrnan and which is set forth in tn.
Information, 1853. according to Mrs
Porter's testimony the alleged murde,
must have been committed in 1875. Sh'
testified she was So years old. Sh.
said she was Is years old when Than
Smith was killed on Klondyke farm
She could not give the year of her brit,
she said. I'm not educated, and can
figure" she explained And she lie
Bulman think it was in 1858 becaus.
she said her age was none of his bust.
ness
Mrs. Porter's testimony came at the