The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-07-06
NOTES TAKEN FROM THE TRIAL OF
RENA MOONEY IN SAN FRANCISCO

she had not made any grimaces.
A defense attorney jumped to his
feet with an old copy of Los An
geles newspaper to offer proof that
Estelle Smith had pretended to be-
come hysterical and made exactly
the same claim of persons grimacing
at her at the murder trial of her
uncle in Los Angeles. The court ruled
the evidence out.
Estelle solemnly swore that Bill
ings was trying to throw the bomb
from the roof of the dental office at
the same time precisely that Nc
Donald says he was placing it at
the scene of the crime, mile and
a quarter away. Estelle tried to
get out of it by saying she didn't
know what time it was, but did say
that Billings was present immediate
ly before or Immediately after the
mayor passed at nine minutes to
two o'clock.
After having persistently refused
to admit that Billings left the Of
flee after the arrival of the parade,
Estelle Smith astonished the court
room by volunteering "It might be
ten minutes to two. The parade
was passing downstairs"
Estelle is Spiteful
A grimly amusing late develop
ment is that Estelle Smith was ap-
parently jealous of Oxman's super
seding her as star witness in the
Mooney trial. Oxman's tale was
for the time being considered bet
ter than hers, and, as the two stor-
les contradicted each other, Estelle
was put on the shelf while Oxman
swore Tom MONEYS life away.
When that cattleman was caught
trying to buy perjury, Estelle was
delighted and in spirit of revenge
recalled the fact that Oxman had
offered her a bribe of five figures
to implicate Weinberg.
When Estelle was consoled and
quieted from her talk of "the men
higher up" (Chamber Of Commerce), /,
from whom the money was to come,
by being assured that she would
again be allowed to star in the hang
ing of Mrs. Mooney, Estelle admit
ted having gone under the name of
Estelle Moore, stating that Moore
was the name of. former husband,
but she vigorously denied having at
other times been known in the
underworld as Estelle Starr and as
Estelle Bohannon.
The witness was bluntly asked
whether she had been prostitute
and had been arrested in a Los An
geles house of ill-fame. The police
records of Los Angeles bear out the
contention. The court ruled the
questions inadmissible. The star wo-
man witness was read four news
paper interviews given by her to local
papers, in which she is quoted CIV
ing stories absolutely contradictory
Of her testimony. The four news
paper reporters who wrote the in
terviews were brought into court
and Estelle claimed to have never
seen them. They will take the
stand in impeachment.
John Mcdonald has changed his
tstimony again. He has changed
his testimony twice before. The
chameleon witness" insists that his
former testimony before the grand
jury and in the Billings and Mooney
trials was incorrect in two vital re-
spects, but that this time he is
telling the truth. He now swears
that he first saw Billings walk to
the scene of the crime with the suit
case supposed to contain the bomb
at twenty minutes to two instead of
eight or ten minutes to two and that
the actual planting of the suit case
occurred at eight or ten minutes to
two. Mcdonald first told the grand
jury that the suit case was planted
at about two o'clock, and he has at
each appearance since then stretched
the time out to little earlier hour.
. Different Perjury for Different
Trials
How the state will get out of the
apparently hopeless contradictions
as to time is the problem. "Will
Mcdonald get away with it?" is the
question heard in all directions. "He
got away with it twice BEFORE" is the
grim answer. And Mcdonald cer-
tainly gets away with it skillfully.
With the long bony hand of stage
magician, this ex-circus acrobat il
lustrates to the lawyers just now,
when he swore long ago that
mooney and Billings cut through the