Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-03-28
LIVED CLEAN
IN GOLD RUSH
DAYS, He SAYS
Tex Rickard on Stand
in His Own Defense
Denies Girls S Charge.
Sport Promoter Vouch-.
ed for by Rex Beach,
Old Alaskan Partner.

New York. March 27.-Tex RckarG
denied Monday before the supreme
court jury trying him. On charge o.
having assaulted 15-year- Sarah
| Schoenfeld. that he ever had ;niscon-
| Quoted himself with her. The stories
| told about him by Sarah and her 12-
year old chum, Nellie Gasko, were con-
tradicted by the sports promoter al
I, most in their entirety.
! During long cross examination
| Rickard also swore he never had i'm
proper relations with women of Alaska
Or Nevada during the gold ruales in
those sections.
/, 'It never happened" he SAID, when
/ Assistant District Attorney Fecora
! asked if he hadn't lived with woman
at Nome and then abandoned her. He
made the same answer when asked il
he hadn't tried to induce 15-year- old
blonde girl, cigar store clerk, to go
| to a room with him at kawhide, New,
| Is years ago.
| Didn't the girls 1aother threaten
! to shoot you," Pecora inquired.
ut never happened" said kickard.
/ Denies Wronging Girl
/ He also denied that 1fyear- old
girl in Ely. Nev., had been wronged
| by him and that after the girl was
! sent to a hospital when about to be-
come a mother. her own mother Lad
! committed suicide.
+, Il never heard of any woman COM
mitting suicide over me-" Rickard re-
piled.
The promoter testified that he and
!, Mrs. Rickard were married at Seattle
| in 1902. He first went to Alaska IN
| 1896, he said, and had divided his time
there for several years between pros
pecting, mining and operating saloons
and gambling houses in the klondike,
at Dawson City and Nome.
Mrs Rickard came to the defense of
her husband, testifying that he was
dining in their apartment and visiting
beside her sick brother during the
hours on the night of last November
IL, when Rickard is alleged to have
assaulted the Schoenfeld girl. Other
witnesses swore Rickard was at Madi
son Square garden after leaving his
home that night.
Sees Girl at Pool
Rickard admitted having seen Alice
Ruck. Anna Hess and Nellie Gasko,
complainants against him. in three
pending indictments, around the garden
swimming pool last summer. He said
he had talked to and knew hundreds
of the little girls who swan in the
pool.
He might have given them money to
buy lunches, he asserted, but denied
ever having presented to Sarah and
Nellie the sums of $40 to $50 which
they said the promoter gave them on
several occasions.
He recalled having seen the Schoen-
field girl four times, on each occasion,
he said. in connection with her mothers s
effor1s to get Richards aid in trying
to have her SON released from Wis
consin jail
Richard began his testimony by tell
ing of his experiences as Texas cat
tie driver and as participant IN the
Alaska and Nevada gold rushes. He
admitted he had operated gambling
houses in several places but asserted
that one of his strictest rules in every
place he had owned was that under no
circumstances were women permitted to
enter. He declared that he had never
employed women in gambling houses
and did not believe they were neces-
sary. even during the rather wild days
in Alaska
Rex Beach on Stand
Rex Beach testified that Tex Rick
ard was known in Alaska as being one
of the squarest of men. The novelist
was called as character witness by
lawyers defending the sport promoter.
Beach said, he had known Rickard
for "a years and that they had drove
dogs together during the klondike gold
rush. Later Rickard ran gambling
house in Alaska. in which the novelist
said he never had heard of anything
crooked happening.
Asked several hypothetical questions
on whether he thought gambling hon
orable. Beach said that at that time
gambling in the far north was not
against the law and whether the busi-
ness was honorable depended on
whether it was run on the level.
The next character witness was
Charles r. Heron, who described HIM
self as miner. fisherman and publisher
of the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily
Times
Bible Teacher Witness
He also stated that Rickard had a
good reputation in the northland AS
to the ethics of gambling, the witness
said he now abhorred it, but that when
the gold rush was on everyone did it.
and no one thought anything about it.
The symposium of gambling was con-
tinued when Major A. J. Drexel- -Biddle
Of Philadelphia. for IA years leader
in the Bible class movement, testified
that he knew nothing against Richards
character.
After he Ind stated that he had met
the promoter in Toledo on the day of
the Dempsey Willard fight, he was ask
ed what he thought of gambling.