Arizona republican., 1917-02-01
A. |. BEHR|NCER
 CASE DISMISSAL
 ASKED OF COURT

penal code on which was based the charges against Arthur l.. Behringer for attempting to learn contents of a telephone message, was meant to pre- vent tapping of wires and had no refer ence to any other method of gathering information, Alexander X Christy, counsel for the defendant. asked the court to dismiss the charge yesterday. Justice De Souza, before whom the preliminary examination was held, dur ing the afternoon and evening, took the matter under advisement until 10 o'clock this morning.
 The complaint against Mir. Behringer was instituted by Frank C. Armstrong. president of the Ray Hercules Mining company. who discovered the loose wires of a dictagraph leading from his apartments at the Adams to those occu> pied by Mr. Behringer. The evidence brought out by the county attorney from his own witnesses proved that the dictagraph was not connected with the telephone wire but was fully five feet away. It was also noted that the wire was found dangling and no testimony was introduced to show that the bat tery was connected with the dicta- graph, neither was it shown that the notes taken from the defendants suit case by Armstrong and his attorney, William r. Maloney, were taken down by Mir. Behringer.
 Captain Alexander pointed out reason alter reason for oismissiHg tEe action and cited scores of authorities. He argued that the message was an cleo tric impulse on the wire itself and had tU be tempered with to be an offense. He said the statute read that the message had to be taken from the wire to be q criminal offense and had noth- ing to do with vibrations of air caused by the voice,
 This is an ill-advised criminal prosecution contended CaDta.n Alex ander who also inSinuated a frame up."
 Captain Alexander accented the fact of Mr. Armstrongs refusal tO submit certain notes which he admitted he took from the stenographers notebook alleged to have belonged to Mr Behr- inser, while others were translated in court. Captain Alexander stated that II Mir Behringer believed that q conspiracy was generating in famous conference room 400 he had a right to find out for himself or the people he represented. He called the county attorneys attention to the fact that the taxpayers were paying detectives for somewhat similar work
 Notes Found Hard to Read
 The notes which Mir. Armst: ong did not destroy and which he sad were the only ones that had bearing on the ease contained names that save an idea of the importance of the matter though Maloney and the court re- porters who attempted to read tee notes alleged to have been made by Behrin- ger, could not give a very connected half of the conversation charged with having been taken over diciagraph. between Armstrong at the Adams hotel and Preston Slayback. of the Ray Her clles company. at Ray. The president oi the mine. according to tee notes aa translated, asked Mr Slayback to l .Ward letter written by man by the name of Hopkins introducing Arm strong to Colonel Epes Randolph of Tucson There was reference to con fcrences at the Adams hotel and men ton Of Louis Gates. superintendent of the Ray Consolidated Mining company The ending was. II think this the situation of the Ray Con" Sentences were incomplete as read by the witness
 The court room was ded with railroad men. attorneys and prominent mining men of the state. Net q few of the attorneys freely g1ve their ad- vice to County Attorney l. NJ Ianev
 
 occasional laugh. Captain Alexander found occasion to 'call Eugene $ Ives. who rose to argue point. The counsel for MT Behringer charged that if MT Ives wished to be heard that he he associated with the countv attorney. otherwise that he had no business to argue with the court any more than any outsider might walk in and at tempt to discuss case. As private counsel for Armstrong, Mir. Ives was given the privilege of protecting" his clients interests. to prevent his conf dental communications being read those that were not already destroyed.
 The county attorney took occasion to resent Captain. Alexander's statement that he was being coached by Senator Ives, waxing hot in his objections tO allowing o5iiy the notes selected by Mir. Armstrong tO be read. Mir. Ma louey said that by the right of common decency man should be given q fair snow if some thug" came into his room to invaoe his privacy.
 When the court. ruled that the de- mand for the production of other con- VersatiOns he denied Captain AleXan- der turned to MT. Armstrong
 You refuse to submit them r"
 Yes, sir" said Armstrong.
 OtdLe nests us vase
 It was after the state rested that Captain AleXapder asked for dismissal bringing out the points already men toned and adding that the court could not take judicial notice that a dicta graph carries sound. He asked for ref erenccs to that effect. There were none forthcoming by the county attOr- ney, who admitted that there were no authorities. He also WIS forced to admit that there weretno authorities strictly on the point of law involved in the case against Belringer. His principal point raised in his objections to q dismissal was that the charge of learning or attempting 70 learn the contents of a telephone communication while being transmitted over he wire referred to time and not space as con- tended by MT. Alexander.
 Armstrong discovered the telegraph in his room on Sunday, January 2l. As stated in The Republican at the time, the Ray Hercules people occupied rooms 400, 402. 405 and 4O7 and the end of the wires led to 404, in which Behringer was established. After tracing the wire and discovering who occupied the room, Armstrong and Addams vent directly to the room. No one was there. They heard the