Arizona republican., 1921-12-07
| N SAN| TY LINE IF DEFENSE F0R .ROY GARDNER |S
 SPRUNG IN TRIAL
Witnesses Testify To Alp normal Acts of Mail Ban dit-Wife Is On Stand Prisoner May Testify In Own Defense Today

The insanity defense which has been prepared in behalf of Roy G. Gardner, mail bandit, who is being tried in the federal court on a charge of having robbed an Arizona Eastern mail car at Maricopa on the morning of Nov. 3, was uncovered yesterday by his attorney, Carl A. Davis, who followed brief outline of the pro- posed defense to the jury with the presentation of evidence which con- cerned Gardner's mental capacity only, with no regard to the case which had been built up against him by Thomas A. Flynn, United States district attorney, and the government agents associated with him.
 When. soon after the resumption of the case yesterday afternoon, the government rested its case, Davis made a brief statement of the plan of the defense to the jury. He said that the nature of the defense would be Gardner's mental unsoundness and his inability to control his intentions, a condition which is due, he said, to an injury suffered by Gardner some years ago at Bisbee. He declared that Gardner is irresponsible, and is unable to follow his own will and vo- lition in many of the things he does. This statement was followed by the Ol SSNtidl NAtlfCSHtS NII had observed the defendant under va rious circumstanees-test which lasted throughout the afternoon and which will be continued today.
 Government Opens Case
 The government opened its case yesterday with a continuance of the testimony which has been a length ening chain, built up link by link connecting Gardner with the Mari copa robbery. A The first witness was E. D. Chance, United States postof- | flee inspector, who gave summary of the registered matter stolen by | Gardner from the mail car. He fol | lowed this by telling of the discovery | of a lady's wrist watch which had | been in the registered mail taker from the car and which had beer gwen by Gardner to Mrs. c. F. Col i Iins, proprietor of Kellys Waffle | Kitchen, in return for meals there and | lodging at the Bachelors Inn, F'irsi ard Monroe streets, which is owned 1 by MT. Collins. Chance also told oi ] finding a number of letters from th' 1 mail car in the brush one mile norti of Maricopa.
 The next witnesss was Mrs. Louis' l Gillespie, housekeeper at Bachelors Inn, who declared that Gardner, un der the name of Nelson" had reg istered there several times, beginning with Oct. 22. He registered again or 1 Nov. l, when he stayed one nigh only, appearing again on Nov. 4. tn day after the Maricopa robbery l From this date until Nov. 15, the dat of his arrest for the attempted rob bery of the Santa Fe car in Phoenix he lived at Bachelors Inn, staying ; | week in room and the rest of tn 1 time in room ,. It was in room | that Fred A. Weage, the witness said ! found the key which Gardner had ha' made for an alleged Pullman lock, bu which the government holds wa really obtained by him to open Southern Pacific car at AIaricopa.
 Key Is Found
 The next witness was Fred A Weage, United States deputy mar shal, who found the key and who b. his discovery completed what ha been described as the most perfec circumstantial evidence case eve prepared in Arizona. He describes searching room with Chance, post iffice inspector and J. B. Kelly, spe cial agent in charge for the Southerl Pacific company, and then figurini that Gardner had left the key in roor 9 after he had changed rooms in orde that the key might be safe. He foun
 the key, he testified, on a joist i
 room g.
 The witness then testified to con versation he had with Gardner in tn county jail after the finding of tn key, including how Gardner told hir how to unfasten the chain across tn end door of a mail car by lifting eff the hook with a piece of wire, an
 Gardner's declaration that after th
 Maricopa robbery he had walked a
 the way from Maricopa to Phoenix.
 c. E. Collins, proprietor of Bach ! elorS' Inn, testified that he kne' , Gardner; that the latter had first be come known to him about Nov. l, an
 that Gardner had showed him a lady
 wrist watch afterward, asking fo
 two meal tickets Ion it as securit.
 whereupon he was told to give it
 Mrs. Collins, who would take care ( him. Collins also identified the Ike,
 and then told of a conversation be tween himself and Gardner in whic
 the latter had described his bein
 hit on the head in Bisbee during
 strike there several years ago.
 Tells of Wrist Watch
 Mrs. Collins also identified Gard ner and told how he had come to he
 with the watch after his conversatio
 with her husband. Jose Lopez, a
 Indian. who is a clerk in a store Q : Maricopa, then testified that Gard
 chased about 35 cents worth of brea
 and butter from him there. He sai ! that Gardner was wearing a mus s tache then. which had been shave a off when he saw him later as a pris |. oner in the county jail.
 P This ended the morning session (