Arizona republican., 1917-05-17

later. This statement, the sheriff said
was taken down by the stenographer
If the county attorney. The sheriff
could not remember all that Croft had
said.
He was asked on cross examination
# Croft had been informed of his
, rights previous to making the state
ment; if he had been told what he
might say would be used against him.
! The sheriff said he had not been so in
ofrmed though the county attorney had
told him that the statement was to be
made without any promise of leniency.
Croft replied that he was expecting no
iprOmise. Mr.. Brumback moved to strike
out all of the testimony of the sheriff
relating to the statement of Croft The
motion was denied.
The next witness was T. J. Hughes
, a brother of the murdered man who
told the same story as that of the sher-
| iff and remembered something more
That was that Croft on the Chandler
| trip told Anderson that he had been
| hired to murder Hughes; he was to be
paid $4,000 by two prominent citizens
Of Tempe and had received a part of
that sum. He proposed on this trip to
sub-let the bloody contract to Ander
son.
The witness was asked if Croft had
not been threatened with capital pun
ishment # he would not make a state
| ment: if A. ]. Bruce, a detective had
not intimated to him that he would be
turned over to vengeance and a
mob unless he should make it. Mr.
Hughes denied that any such threat
had been made and he also denied that
he himself had made any threat against
Croft in case the latter should be given
his freedom.
Detective Testifies
The next witness was Bruce the de-
tective representative of a detective
agency with which the county had
made an arrangement for an investi-
cation Of the crime. He was present at
a meeting in the office of the county
| attorney on March where there were
present Croft. the county attorney and
| his assistant and a representative from
| the office of the sheriff. There Bruce
| said Croft made a statement similar to
that made by him two days before. On
cross examination, he said that Croft
related that he had met the two Tempe
men at the Hotel Adams in this city
where the contract was made for the
| killing of Hughes. He said that he was
! taken out on the road to Glendale
where the sum of $4,000 was agreed
upon as the price on Hughes head.
! Each of the men, Croft said gave him
, 5 900 and the rest was to be paid after
the money had been earned. On the
way back to town, Croft said, he was
| let out of the car at the fair grounds
and returned to the city on a street
car.
+, Bruce was asked if he now believed
| this part of the story of Croft. He said
| he did not; when it was first told him
| he said he knew nothing of the men
mentioned by Croft and of their high
standing in the community. He had
| investigated the story since and he
now was certain that that part of
| Groff's statement was untrue.
| Among other things related by Croft
was that he had buried $500 of the
blood money in an irrigating ditch. The
money had been put into an old tin can
and buried under rocks and graval The
next day after Croft made this state
ment he was taken to the place where
he said he had buried the money. There
was hole in the bottom of the ditch
but there was no tin can or any other
object in the hole. Croft cody re-
marked. Somebody's beat us to it."
| The detective said he had no inter-
est in the conviction of Croft. He was
being paid by his agency. He was not
aware Of the terms of the agency's
arrangement with the county. On
cross examination he said that he had
been employed among the detectives
engaged in gathering evidence against
the McNamara's convicted of blowing
up the Los Angeles Times building.
Proceeds of Crime
There were two or three other wit
nesses whose testimony related to the
sale by Anderson of the stock and hay
on the Hughes ranch after the murder
and then Anderson himself went on the
stand. He is a progressing youth
looking hardly nineteen. He showed nc
sign of trepidation. He said that the
subject of killing Hughes was first
| brought up by Croft on a trip to
Chandler sometime in November. On
the way over the proposition was men,
toned lightly but on the way back
Croft introduced it again. They had
been drinking and the plot began tc
take form. 1t was later carried out
generally according to the plan then
outlined by Croft. 1t was several days
before it was put into execution. II
was finally arranged that the murder
should be committed on a certain Fri
day night. Hughes was seen to leave
! his place and he was followed by Croft
Anderson went to the Hughes house
and lay in wait as he had done before
but at a late hour Hughes having not
returned he went away. The next day
/ be and Croft decided that the thins
should ''come Off the next night Again
Hughes went to Tempe and was fol-
lowed by Croft. Anderson waited in
the Hughes house and Hughes returned
about ten or half past ten o'clock
Anderson stationed himself with the
appraised ak near middle door and an
Hughes entered, he struck him on the
left side of the head. Hughes went
down and Anderson said he struck
him, he did not know how often. with
the ak.
When he was dead, he wrapped the
[ body in quilt and dragged it into a
bedroom and went to tell Croft who
replied. That's good" Croft said