Bisbee daily review., 1921-10-19


bazZlement,wa suddenly terminated
when court opened this. morning
when the defense announced they
wished to withdraw the plea OF not
guilty and enter plea of guilty.
Shortly after court opened at $3.50
this morning, Geo. w. Brown, chief
expert witness for the state, who has
played a prominent part in gathering
evidence since the arrest of Walker,
resumed the stand to continue intro
duction of documentary evidence to
show shortages attributed to the de-
PENDANT.
Pleads Guilty
No sooner had County Attorney
Ross began his first question, how
ever, when Attorney j. T. Kingsbury,
chief counsel FOR the defense, address
ing the court saying: Your Honor,
we wish to withdraw our plea in this
case and enter plea of guilty"
Judge Lockwood, addressing Walk
er, asked him if such was MS desire.
and being advised by the defendant
that he wished to change his plea to
a plea of guilty, same was recorded
and the case was over.
The court then turned to the jury,
thanked them for their painstaking
services in the case so far as 1t had
gone and excused them for the term.
: general handshaking between mem
hers of the jury with the county attor-
ney and his forces followed, and the
news spread quickly about tle cry
and over the county, that the newt
able had occurred.
History Of the Case
The trial of Walker started on the
10th of the present month, following
a day spent in the selection o: the
jury. Walker had been arrested De-
cember 3rd, 1920, charged with en-
beZZlement of funds from the treasur-
er's office, the sum of $234.4S, which
was the first case filed, and SubSe-
Quent charges totalling Is were filed
against him by County Attorney Ross,
following a complete audit of the
books of the office, conducted by Geo.
w. Brown. A total shortage OF $685.
702.58 was piled up against the de-
PENDANT out of 615 items discovered
ty the auditor.
Connection of WaiHer w,cn .vie
shortage was no small matter, how
ever. and it took over eight months
or more on the part of Brown ana
County Attorney Ross to link up the
chain of damaging evidence and be
prepared to go to trial in manner
that would convince the jury that
Walker was the guilty party.
Evidence Linked
Months of combing the county .or
tax receipts issued by the defendant,
which was the principle method by
which dates of payment of the vari-
Gus items could be established, were
spent by the county attorney and his
force, as most of the shortages were
entered in the handwriting of the de-
PENDANT. without any dates. Finally,
the trial on the first information
against Walker was set for the first
part of September. Illness on the
part OF Jas. Smith, expert witness for
the defence, caused a postponement
until last week.
Plans had been laid by both sides
for a long drawn out trial, second in
length of time only to that of the IA
nous deportation trial held in Tomb
stone last year. But the case had not
progressed week until those in at
tendance daily at the trial, and those
connected with the case on the side
of the defense, began to see what
the states side of the case knew be-
fore the trial was called that
verdict of guilty N-s inevitable.
Sudden Ending
The sudden halt called this morn
IN lxrt tho ,Nlna nf ort.iltN- did
as n surprise to the county attorney,
the court and those in immediate
touch with the situation. To those
who had not followed the case close
ly, possibly the change may have
come as a surprise. but to the coun-
ty attorney, his assistants and expert,
with what information they had at
hand, the "blow-up" was practically
matter reaching a point where the
defendants attorneys would realize
the mass of convincing evidence in
the hands of the county attorney
In fact, it became known after the
trial had ended that the county at
torney had predicted to his close as
sociates that plea of guilty would
be entered before completion of the
states case.
Defense Statement
Attorney J. T. Kingsbury and Alex
hurry, for the defendant, this morn
ing. made the following brief state
ment to the press:
after carefully considering the
evidence adduced by the state up to
he present time and being convinced
that under the circumstances YER
dict of acquittal was impossible, we
deemed lit in the best interests of all
parties concerned to change the plea
entered in this case"
Every member of the Jury interview
ed Immediately following their dis
charge by the court, were of the opin
ion that there was only one possible
conclusion to be drawn and the change
of the defense to nlea of guilty mere
lv saved them the time of going out t
the jury room and writing their yer
dict down in formal matter. One o
the jurors stated, when asked how
he thought the change affected a pos
sible verdict, had the case been al
lowed to proceed: at Just meant