The daily Nome industrial worker., 1917-01-05

 | Tor: and on the box-like bench to the ! left of Superior Judge Dunne, the twelve men, good and true, all re- tired business men, well known to the district Attorney for their loyal service in similar capacity on num- erous previous occasions The jurors whose combined age was more than equal to five centuries, listened with varying degrees of attention to the struggling stream of witnesses
 witnesses for the prosecution who testified under oath, so help me God that Billings was in three different places at the same time, dressed in as many different suits of clothes. According to these witnesses. Bill 1 ing was-between 1:50 to 2 p. m. on the fateful day of July 22d- on the corner of Steuart and Market streets, the place of the explosion, with a heavy suitcase, variously and ] positively identified as black, yellow ! ish, and as a small grip; Billings
 was, at the same time, on the roof l of 721 Market street, over a mile
 from the scene of explosion, and he
 was also, at the very same moment
 talking to Policeman Earle Moore l in front of 721 Market street, and also having a long conversation with | l Estelle Smith in the dental office of 1 her employer.
 The prosecutions identification of
 Billings was no less positive and l sure than the establishment ot his
 whereabouts. Estelle Smith, chief
 witness for the State. identified him l by a "pecular scar on his forehead" 1 her certainty remaining unshakcn even after it was proven that the
 only scar or rash Billings ever had
 was on hRs ee. Nor could Miss Smith be swerved from her faithful | ness to obligation when it was established that her mother Mrs. ! Kidwell, had been promised by the
 prosecution a pardon for Mir. Kid
 well. her husband, serving time in i Folsom penitentiary for forgery, and that Miss Smiths uncle is imprison- ed in San Quentin for murder. She protested that the reward of $17, ,O0O
 offered for "the conviction of any one for the outrage of July 22nd," had no temptation for her whatso- ever, though her salary as attend ant at dental office was insufficient for her mode of dressing.
 Equally protesting and confident was the other star witness of the prosecution, a certain McDo9ald, a man about town and notorious dope fiend, who, according to his own tes- timony, "as ill a dream saw the suitcase placed on the sidewalk" Confronted by several witnesses who swore that he boasted of being we'll paid for his testimony, Mcdonald admitted that his hotel expenses were being paid by the police to "protect" him against the defense.
 Quite as devoid of any hope of re- ward were a number of other State witnesses, mostly police and detec- tiVes. whose testimony impressed ev- cry one as told with the facility bred of practice, and who unanimously agreed that they were incapable ot being mistaken or telling lie.
 Subtly woven through the State testimony could be traced the fine handiwork of Private Detective Swanson, confidential representative of the Pacific Gas X Electric Co.,, the United Railroads, chief detective of the Public Utilities Bureau, etc. It was Swanson, looming large in the background of the District At torneys' office; Swanson offering a bribe of 5000 to Billings and Weinberg, in turn, a week before the bomb explosion. to duplicate Mooney in the blowing up of some power towers of the United Rail- roads Corporations; Swanson. through Brennan, promising $15,00O to one of the attorneys for the de- fense for double-crossing Billings | and Mooney; Swanson threatening | friends of the accused labor men | with dire punishment for refusing to | bear false witness against them. It l was always Swanson, the private de- tective, lowering about the court. | prompting the District Attorney at the trial, smiling encouragement | at the State witnesses, gliding in | and out of the court room, and nodding familiarly to the jurors in 1 the corridor during recess.