Arizona republican., 1919-05-30
BURGLARY CHARGE AMPbELL-HARR|S
 CASE |S DISMISSED

with no evidence to connect Ser geant B. A. Fern and R. J. Phillips with the alleged burglary of the mili- tary storehouse on May 6, Justice Wheeler dismissed the burglary charges against the soldiers yesterday on mo- tion of County Attorney L. M. Laney The John Doe and Richard Roe com plaint was sworn to by Adjutant Gen eral Harris, but neither he nor the one other witness for the state had any knowledge that Fern or Phillips were connected with the crime for which they appeared for preliminary hearing.
 The case dates to the day when Gov ernor Thomas E. Campbell as comman- Tin chief of the snilitary forces of the state issued an order authorizing Sergeant Fern to take over the military supplies. The sergeant carried the
 message to the adjutant general who refused to comply with the order
 claiming that the governor was without
 authority. The storehouse was taken over by the governors orders the same
 day and arrests followed, after the swearing to a complaint by Col liar
 ris who charged the defendants with
 burglariously entering the storehouse
 with intent to commit larceny.
 | After being continued, the case was finally set for hearing at 10 o'clock yesterday morning at which time the defendants and their counsel, Will F.
 Ryan and P. R. Mines, secretary to the governor, arrived. Half an hour later,
 the court was successful in securing
 attention from the county attorney and
 MT. Laney appeared. MT. Ryan then
 reminded the court of a motion or de-
 mand he had made the week before
 that the defendants be released from
 custody in that they were acting under
 orders of the commander-in-c chief. Ky
 an said he considered that preliminary
 to any other matter and asked that the
 motion be ruled upon at once. The court replied that he would take the motion under advisement. Your honor took the matter under advise . ment a week ago." remonstrated cour sel. Then l will take it under ad- visement for a further period" said the court. stating he would rule after thu states case was in.
 In the meantime Mir. Laney discov- cred that he did not have any witnesse. and by use of the telephone secured tn, presence of Colonel Harris. It was ther l1:25 o'clock and Ryan suggested tha the case go over until 1 o'clock, stating that he had been there an hour and half.
 At the suggestion that the state pu I Colonel Harris on the stand to say time until the arrival of Captain Tenn I pie, MT. Laney declared the state hal z a right to choose it's own order of wit 5 nesses. During the course of the argu - ments that made up the long wait h 5 remarked that he did not care to tr q the case in the newspapers.
 \ These defendants ought to be treate I the same as Jose Martinez just arrive s from Mexico. We don't care for an E political side lights. We want facts t see if this warrants further attention 5 of the prosecution"
 The arrival of Captain Temple GU R short the debate. The captain told o B going to the storehouSe and of findin k a young man in uniform on guard dut at the door. He said the old Yale loc E had been removed and a new lock wa iE it's place. He asked the soldier hi name which he refused to give. refuse nicely" according to the witness. H B said he asked many other question: E but the man was mum He identifie B Phillips as the soldier he saw comin H up the street, but he stated positivel s that Fern was not the man on guar E He testified that there were 800 Rus E sian rifles, A Springfield rifles 19O ! and 10000 rounds of ammunition \ the storehouse at the time, but that l had been unable to check up on , since that time as the storehouse ";
 in possession of the court.
 Colonel Harris was then called to u 1 stand. His official position was large gone into by Ryan and after question \ were ruled out as having no bearing S the case, opposing counsel agreed tn
 burglary charge could not be su tained against the two defendants. T \ county attorney asked the witness if E knew anyone who could be subpoena \ who could identify the boys who e \ tered the storehouse, and the witne E replied he did not unless it be the sta engineer.
 During the brief recess that followt Laney held conference with the COT
 blaming witness and then asked for
 dismissal.