Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-15
CLAIMS HE WAS BEATEN
 TO BRING OUT CONFESSION

Pasouale Capognia, put on the stand to testify in his own defense on the ac
 cusation of taking part in the burglary al the Glen Woolen mills last Decemoer' gave sensational testimony in the su-
 perior court at New London Friday a1t- ernoon.
 Capognia is charged jointly with Tony Baldi of Groton and Matteo Guastanna-
 chia of Norwich Town with having com rnitted the burglary, all standing trial at the same time.
 On the stand Friday Capognia testified that on the day he was arrested he was taken by County Investigator William E. Jackson, detective Roache and two or three other officers to the building where States Attorney Hadlai A. Hulfs offices are in New London and that he was given a beating for about two hours by the officers in an attempt to get him to confess to the burglary. Capognia was put on the stand by his attorney. Perry Hollandersky and ill continuing his testimony said that he was kept in the rooms by the officers | from about 1 o'clock in the afternoon till l o'clock the next morning, that about | three o'clock he was given 8 sandwlch, and that he kept on refusing to confess and persisting that he knew nothing about the burglary until he finally told | the officers that he had heard that Baldi and Guastamachia had done it.
 1 Then the officers patted him on the | back, he said, and told him he was a good fellow and that they knew Baldi 1 had done it.
 l When court came in at 10 o'clock Fri day morning to continue the trial of the l case against Matteo Guastamachio, l Col. Henry S. Dorsey and Capt. David | Conner of New London were the first witnesses called. They qualified as ex- i perts on the use of firearms and the eff | feet of bullets from revolvers and pis- l tols of various calibres on metal targets. | Colonel Dorsey and Captain Conner gave l testimony for the defense in connection with a modk on the hood oe the auto l truck which it is alleged was used by | the burglars and which the state claims
 was made by a bullet from the revolver
 of man named Houlihan who fired at the burglars from the window of his house across the street.
 l Both Colonel Dorsey and Captain Con- ner testified that in their opinion tine dent upon the hood could not have beer made by a bullet from a .32 calibre re volver such as was used and fired at the distance and angle claimed by the state Both went into technical explanation: and descriptions of marks made by bull lets upon sheet metal targets at variou: i distances.
 Daniel J. Mccormick of the firm ot
 Frisbie $ Mccormick of Norwich, va!
 called to the stand by the attorney! for Guastamachia, lawyers H. H. Pert
 and T. M. Shields. He testified that i
 was practically impossible to run with , out a battery a Rec auto truck, sucl as it has been claimed was used by tn
 burglars in the Glen woolen mill case Previous testimony has been to the ef feet that the batteries from the trucl
 had been taken to repair shop abou
 nine days before the burglary and har
 remained at the shop for several months
 James Loren Chapman, farmer 0 l Norwich Town was brought to tn l stand, giving testimony to support t claim by Guastamachia that the den l in the hood of the auto truck was fror X wrench that Guastamachia threw a g the hood one day when he got mad a a getting stuck in the road out in tn country. Guastaamachia has testified
 that man came along with a team c > horses and lowed the machine hom ,, Chapman testified that he was the ma t with the horses.
 ? Mrs. Carmelia Lumbrella of Norwic e was the concluding witness in the Guas 0 tamachia case. She testified that tn
 woolen cloth she sold was some give
 her to sell by two men who said the
 got 1t at an auction and that she doe : not know who the men were nor wher ' they are as they went from her house U Groton without paying the rent.