Weekly journal-miner., 1916-10-04
NOT GUILTY IS Y [ R DIG I IN
 MURDER CASE
BITTERLY FOUGHT TRIAL ENDS IN FAVOR OF DE- PENDANTS; JURY OUT LESS THAN 2 HOURS; RUNKE IS ARRESTED.
(From Saturdays Daily)
Not guilty"

hours. the jury in the Federal court
 in the case of Ashley Wilson, E. Nash
 and D. NJ. Robertson, charged with
 the murder of Paddy Tin, a Navajo
 Indian, brought in this verdict early
 last night, bringing to a close the
 most bitterly fought trial in the an
 nals of the Federal court in this city.
 Paddy Tin, gigantic Navajo, was
 killed on the Western Navajo reser-
 vation during the latter part of last
 January. The case was considered by
 the Federal grand jury here during
 its session last March and indict-
 ments charging murder were return-
 ed against Wilson, Nash, Robertson and Superintendent Walter Runkc, of
 the reservation. Runke secured bonds
 immediately after the indictment was
 returned, but the three other men were held in the county jail here for several months until they, too, were able to furnish bonds.
 Immediately after the action of the grand jury the defendants put their case in the hands of Attorney E. s. Clark When the case was called in the Federal court last week, United States Attorney Flynn, in charge of the prosecution asked that it be transferred to Phoenix, on the grounds that the sentiment in sym pathy with the defendants in the northern part of the State would pre- vent a fair trial in this city. The motion was denied.
 Throughout the trial the prosecu- ton has been relentless, and almost innumcrablc attempts made by the United States attorneys to batter down the testimony that Paddy Tin was shot by Wilson in self-dcfcnsc. Frequent personal arguments between the attorneys enlivened the hearings.
 The defense introduced testimony tending to show that Paddy Tin had the reputation of being dangerous Indian, that the defendants tried to place him under arrest without using force and that he was killed only after he had tried to kill Wilson and Robertson.
 All three defendants told practical ly the same story of the incidents leading up to, and the killing of Tad dy Tin. They told of having been instructed by Superintendent Runke to bring the Indian 10 the reservation office and of having abandoned their first attempt to carry out the orders on account of bad weather. On their second trip to bring in Paddy Tin. they said, they had entered hogan in which he and several other In dians were talking together, and had attempted to place him under arrest.
 The Indian resisted, they testified, and with almost supcrhuman strength hurled Wilson across the hogan drew a revolver and attempted to fire at him. Robertson attempted to i ovcrpowcr the Indian but was unable | to do so, it was claimed, and attempts | were made by the Navajo to shoot l him also Wilson then fired twice. | the testimony showed, and both shots, although striking the Indian, failed to | cause him to cease his attempts to ire the revolver. The third shot, l however, killed him.
 One of the principal witnesses for the prosecution was Frank Thackeray i of the San Carlos ln- dian reservation, who investigated the . shooting during the early part of Feb ruary. Over the objections of the defense, Thackcray was questioned a statement made to him |, by one of the defendants following the shooting. Thackeray claimed the statement was voluntary, and the de icnsc charged that it was made only after Thackcray had given assurance that it would not be used in the event the case came to trial.
 The final pleas for the defense were made before the jury yesterday by Attorney Runkc, brother of Super Runke, and Attorney E. 5. Clark The latter argued the case for two hours, going over practically every bit of the evidence and making ! strong plea that the defendants be acquitted on the grounds of self-de 'ensc. The arguments for the prose ,ution were made by United States Attorney Flynn and Assistant United States Attorney Langston.
 We have been confident of acquit al since the very first said Robert son last night. We knew that we