Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1922-11-10

ing as the man who had been in the
car.
Mr.. and Mrs. w. H. Wright, mem
toned above, also visited the Jail af-
ter Mr.. Brackin was incarcerated,
and each OF them instantly picked out
Mr.. Brackin as the man they saw in
the car as it passed their place the
evening before the body was found
the next day.
Mrs. Bell, a daughter of Mr.. Nc
Alester who runs a drug store at
Mead testified that at that time, May
18th, she was single, that she had a
friend of the Prison Farm who drove
Buick; that on the evening before
finding the body the next day she was
expecting her friend to call, that she
was standing in the doorway of her
fathers drug store when she saw a
Buick coming down the street; that
she thought it was her friend and
started to call to him as the car
seemed to pass by, when she noticed
that it was not her friend; that she
then took particular notice of the oc-
cupants of the car; that after the de-
fendant was arrested and lodged in
Jail she went up there and picked
out the defendant, Matt Brackin, as
being one of the men who was in the
car at that time, and she stated that
she was absolutely positive that he
was one of the men who was in the
car at that time.
The above about cover the question
of the Identification of the car and of
the defendant. Testimony from
Dewey Cobb and Noah Huggins of
Mead developed that the boys had
been to party that night and on
their way home, north of Mead, met
two men in the road coming towards
mead afoot. Cobb asked them where
they were going and they in turn
asked if anything was open at the
town and upon being informed that
there was not, asked if there were any
jitney men there and who and were
informed that Street Davis ran a
jitney. Neither of these boys could
identify the men as it was dark.
! Mr.. Cook, living north of Mead tes-
titled that that evening he heard a
car coming up the road, that the
roads were almost impossible north
of his house and that he was salts
fled from the running of the car that
it was not Ford; that the next
morning he passed a car in the mid
die of the road as he was going to
his fathers; that when he came back
he made an investigation, in company
, with a Mr.. and Mrs. Brannon, and
discovered the dead body, etc, and
that they notified the officers.
Ben kiersey further testified that
that night somebody came to his
house and inquired where Street Da.
vic lived and were told where.
Street Davis testified that two mer
came to his house and hired him t.
,, take them to Durant; that he did st
and let them out on the corner cas-,
of the Atwood; that he was unable tt
! identify the defendant.
Further testimony disclosed thai
two strangers purchased tickets fol
Denison that night and We're also seer
at local cafe. but nobody was abb,
to connect them with the defendant
This in substance constituted tn,
testimony upon the part of the state
The defendant not only contendet
that nc had nothing to do with tn
; murder, hut that he was not in Bry
an county on the dates mentioned
Il and to substantiate the plea of hi
absence from the county produced a
witnesses his father, +. p. Brackin
: his brother. Fred Brackin, PHILLIP
i Richardson, Alexander McCrackin
: G. S. Swift and others.
+. p. Brackin father of the dcfen
$ dant, testified that the defendant ha
t been working around Shamrock fo
! sometime prior TO May 1922: that tn
y defendants birthday was ON tn
u Monday following the day on whic
e it is alleged Mr.. Means was killed
l. that the defendant being engaged i
work on a pipe line, was unable
;, be away from his work on Monda!
u that they therefore had birthda
le dinner on Sunday. He was positiv
:. that the defendant had been workin
y up there continuously for sever;
;! weeks prior to the date of the allcgC
II murder of Mr.. Means.
\ Ralph Richardson testified that h
al worked around Shamrock; that h
II Fred Brackin and the defendan
Matt Bracliin, began work on pii
IT, line sometime in April for one Ale,
1t, ander Met rackin; that they workt
ed side by side continuously throue
~ April and May up until about Ii
ZDTu Ol May "uCu NldIb ftib WV
r; that he kept his own time of his wor
al which was the same as Mats, al
produced his time book which shoN
On ed that he worked regularly for som
all time prior to the 18th, laying esne
ar ial stress that the defendant work.
ed there on the 10th, lS, and 10Th,
or shown by his book. That on Il
ld night of the 18th storm hit the
at tent, the four above mentioned beil
e; camped in tent on the pipe lin
ng that he and the defendant had to h?
ey the tent down to keep it from blown
or away. He further fixes the 18th
silr being a day when the defendant W
at- there because of a controversy h
eey between himself and the defenda
lIE over a water pail; also by the fa
rd that merchant from Shamrock cal
70 70 out that day to see about his accou
OF with the boys and that that mercha
eo took a note from Mr.. Henson the
'n. that day and the note was introduc