The Coconino sun., 1926-06-25


associate, Elmer M. Cundiff, Canyon
Lodge merchant, on March 8. The
trial likely will come to an end to-
day, though perhaps not until tomor-
row. Both sides have several witness
ses subpoenaed who have not been
called.
A side incident Of the trial was the
attempt at suicide made Wednesday
night by A. NJ. Price, witness for the
state and now being sued for divorce,
the widow Of Cundiff being named
as correspondent.
4 Mrs. Price and little daughter are
attending court Price called on her
Wednesday night at a private home
here where she is staying and asked
4 her to come back and live with him.
She refused. Thereupon Price in her
4 presence and with due observance OF
the dramatic possibilities in the event
grabbed some bichloride Of mercury
tablets from his pocket and swallow
ed them. Dr.. r. NJ. Francis and the
sheriff's office were notified by Mrs.
Price and he was pumped out and
taken to the Bank hotel, where he
I is getting along ell right, though his
mouth and throat are badly burned
by the poison.
Price was sworn with the rest Of
4 the witnesses on Tuesday, but so lar
has not been called to the stand. lie
was station agent at Canyon Diablo
until recently, when he was discharg-
ed following his arrest by sheriff
officers following 2 fight at Canyon
Diablo, the start of which, it is al
\ leged, was his threatening his wife
/ with a revolver.
The courtroom has been crowded
/ every moment of the trial and the
SPECTATORS have received many thrills
and a good deal of amusement as
well. the latter from the frequent
tits between attorneys. Several
i times Judge j. f. Jones had TO eau
ton spectators against laughing.
Mrs. Miller, herself part Mohawk
Indian. handsome, refined and we'll
educated, has been at the attorneys
/ table near her husband all during the
trial. The defendant is a full-blood
I Apache wen educated. His sCalwart
| frame is well set of by red ana
black neck handkerchief, buff shirt,
/ khaki trousers and moccaslns. he
/ wears no coat. The long bralds OF
black hair hanging at either side OF
4 his face and down nearly to his waist
are tied at the ends with long mar
row, red ribbons.
Louise Cundiff, the widow, was at
hand all during the trial She may
be recalled to the stand. Strenuous
efforts were made and yet may be
to irnpeach the small amount OF rel
atiyeiy unimportant testimony she
gave.
Defense so far has not been entire
I ly successful in attempting to prove
Cundiff was insane. However that
he was, and incidents tending to show
4 it, came out in the defendants testi-
mony. 1t is believed that had de-
fense succeeded in getting into the
/ evidence the records of the Veterans
bureau they would have thrown some
light On Cundiff's mental condition
i during or following the World war.
j Cundiff, it is reported-thiS is not
part of the trial eVidence-told here
some time ago that he had been out
OF his head a good deal some time
/ ago as a result of falls he received
while he was an officer in the U. S.
aviation service.
The sympathies of the spectators
seem to be with Miller. They huge
/ ~ enjoyed the discontinue numer
Gus several times evidenced by Judge
/ Struckmeyer when Miller, as he fire.
quently did, corrected the phraseolo-
/ gy of Struckmeyer's questions. Mil
/ Ter insisted on the use of words ac-
curately and precisely stating what
ever phase was under discussion. The
/ Indian chief gave the learned coun-
sci quite lot Of unsolicited instruc-
tion in English.
In tile event of Miller's acquittal, a
spectator suggests, Judge Struckmey-
er may wish to employ Miller in
helping him recodify the state laws,
/ in which work he is now engaged.
| 1t took all day Monday to select
/ the jury, though, much to the sur
prise OF everybody, there was little
trouble in finding the 20 men for the
4 panel, examining only 81 of the tales
men. The defense struck 10 men,
County Attorney Harrison striking
seven, leaving the personnel of the
] Jury as 10llOWS, u. ~. DOyCLCy OdFe
Lay, G. G. Cox, H. D. Mclean, w.
w. Durham, T. L. Paine, G. H. Rog-
ers, Raymond Mowery, George i.
Burns, Dick Schultz, Earl Morris,
/ Norman Owen.
| Judge f. C. Struckmeyer of Phoe-
| nix had been engaged to assist Coun-
/ ty Attorney Frank Harrison in the
! prosecution, with Frank NJ. Gold, as
sistant county attorney, making three
lawyers fer the prosecution. w. E.
7 Ferguson of Holbrook, Miller's com
isel, brought Guy Axline of Holbrook
i into the case as assistant, Blaine B.
Shimmal of Flagstaff having with
drawn because of press Of other busi-
mess.
James M. Sheppard, civil engineer
! of st. Johns, was called to the stand
to explain his diagram Of the prenli-
ses at Canyon Lodge where the kill
ing occurred.
/ A. ]. Bright of Anderson Mesa
/ testified that he and his son Archie
were sitting on the rock wall near
the entrance to lliller's residence,
1 Indian Joe Seckakuku working near