Omaha daily bee., 1916-12-03
NO PHONE CALLS
FOR M'DANIEL
Operators and Officials of Elk.
change Heard of None on
Fatal Night.
STATE WITNESSES TALK

St. Joseph, Mo-, Dec. 2.--Presenta-
ton of testimony in the trial of Pros
ecutor Oscar D. Mcdaniel, who is
charged with having murdered his
wife. ncared its end in the criminal
court yesterday when the state, in
its rrbuttal, placed twenty-one wit
ncsses upon the stand. Attorneys for
both sides said tonight that one more
day would Complete the introduction
OF evidence.
The state devoted most Of its, eff
forts today to an attempt to show
that Mcdaniel did not receive a tele-
phone call about ll:l5 o'clock the
night of the murder, as he related
on the-witness stand, which drew him
from his home. B. L. Brown, divi-
sion traffic superintendent; Miss
Grace Boyer, chief operator; Miss
Emma Maier, night chief operator +:
Miss Grace Miller. night information
operator, and four night operators of
the local telephone company were
placed on the stand and testified that
so far as they remembered no such
call was made.
No Written Record.
Brown and Miss Boyer both said
their testimony was the result Of in
vestigations, while the others declare
they were at work the night of the
murder and one of them should have
received such a call. ...
1t was explained by each Of the
witnesses that many calls after II
o'clock at night are diverted to the
information operators so that wrong
calls will not awaken patrons. The
defense, in an apparent effort TO
break down the declarations of the
Witnesses, brought out that no writ
ten records Of the calls were made
and that the statements were based
on memory"
Miss Miller said that all calls d.
verted from the regular routine had
gone to her that night and she was
asked by Attorney General John T.
Barker, did you handle any calls to
tie Mcdaniel home between II and
IL o'clock the night Of July IA, when
Mrs. Mcdaniel, was murderedf"
Didn't Handle Any.
Il did not" she answered. is,
y The testimony of Mr.. Mcdaniel
was that lie returned home about II
p. M, after having gone to lodge
meeting and investigated two alleged
road houses. He awakened his wife,
he said, but about ll;l5 o'clock re-
ceiyed telephone call asking him to
go to a certain saloon to get his
brother. He left Immediately, dis
covered that the call was fake, ac-
cordng to the testimony, and re-
turned near midnight to engage in a
revolver duel and to fndthat his wife
had been attacked and beaten.
Miss Boyer testified, under cross
examination, that'a call had come to
the telephone Office about 1890
O'Clock that night, asking the names
and numbers OF saloons in certain
district. The saloon from which Nc
Daniel said thu fake call purpprted
to have come was in that district, at
torneys pointed out. Miss Boyer
said she did not know where the call
had originated.
Didn't Hear Scream.
During the day the state sought
TO break down the testimony of the
defense that Mrs. Della Leslie,
neighbor of Mcdaniel, had screamed
while in a swing before Il o'clock on
the night of the murder. Five neigh
bors Of Mrs. Leslie said they remem-
bered no screams at the time de-
scribed, The cross examination
brought out that none. Of the five had
heard any scream or cat, cries that
night, although two said they were
close neighbors of Mcdaniel.
Acting on Its own behalf. the American
government has informed Germany anew OF
Its deep concern over the deportation Of
Begfans from their own country by the
German military authorities. This action
has been taken as a result OF Information
ha rtat inp t,uf Ilf