Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-02-29
HUNT OBJECTS
TO TESTIFYINC
FOR KIDNAPER

HALL OF JUSTICE, LOS AN
GELES, Feb. % GF9--An effort by at
torneys for William E. Hickman to
place Welby Hunt II year old code,
tendant, on the stand as witness for
Hickman himself, precipitated a legal
wrangle that went unsettled in the
closing minutes of the druggist Thoms
murder trial here today
Jerome Walsh, chief of Hickman'S S
counsel, Who had subjected the boyiSh
alleged crime companion of Hickman
to lengthy cross examination earlier
in the day. when Hunt had appeared
OH the stand in his own defense, mo-
toned the Alhambra youth toward the
box as one of the opening gestures CT
Hickman's defense. 3
He had framed his first question be-
fore A. Gray Gilmer Hunts attorney,
offered the first of many strenuous
objections.
s"Welby Hunt, did you kill c. Ivy
Thoms?" Walsh asked.
Gillner leaped to his feet. Il object,
you honor L he began, and declared his
! objection was based on obvious"
grounds, particularly that in being
forced to testify as q witness for Hick-
man Hunt might be asked to incrim-
mate himself
When attorneys in the three-sided
fight began arguing apparently all at
once, Judge Elliott Craig reserved rul-
ing until tomorrow and admonished
/ counsel ito bring some law with them
in the morning"
! The prosecution allied itself with
Hickman's attorneys in battling to
bring the II year old boy once more
/ to the witness stand.
In the same fashion as he figured III
the closing legal skirnlish Of the after
noon, Hunt had been the central fig
ure of the morning session.
/ During the entire forenoon and well
into the afternoon, Hunt offered tesfl-
mony in< glib, classroom style. Only
once did he appear to lose the con-
fidence of one who believed he was
holding the upper hand
That point came during Hunts story
of breaking up and destroying the
pistol used by him in the 1893 Cnrl~A~
mas eve holdup in which Thoms was
killed. He said he had been guided IN
| dismantling the gun by a book OF i'll
4
he bought the weapon.
/ Yesterday he had testified he bought
i the pistol in an FL Paso, Texas, pawn
shop, and Deputy District Attorney
James Costello seized upon what ne
] declared was the usual custom OF
| including book of instructions for an
/, article sold in a paWnshop
Asked whether the book was re-
ceived with the gun from the pawn
I shop, Hunt insisted that it was.
| Hunt then was asked to demonstrate
! his ability to manipulate the ,38 CALI
bre automatic pistol of the type he SAID
I he carried in the drug store holdup.
Rather laboriously the witness loaded,
unloaded and otherwise worked the
mechanism of the weapon under the
guidance of the prosecutors questions
It was .38 calibre bullet which
caused Thoms' death and it was
gun of this size which Hickman has
declared Hunt carried
All through Hunts testimony today
the slender youth had pictured nm
self as dominated by fears-forced into
the holdup, scared to death" of Hick-
man, excusing discrepancies between
his two confessions and his trial testl-
mCny because he was scared OF the
officers, and afraid to appeal to the
police because of his implication IN the
attempted robbery which resulted in
the killing.
One of Hunts final shots from the
stand was the statement that Il gave
information to the police which led
! to the capture of Hickman for the
killing of Marian Parker and the sub
sequent arrest of myself.
An attempt by Gilmer to bring into
this murder trial. the confession 3f
Hickman to the kidnapping and killing
of the school girl was blocked by OBJ
jections not only by Hickman's coun
sci but by the prosecutor himself. Gil
mer declared the confession would
show Hickman's ability to dominate
and maintain leadership over his
younger companion and would disclose
| that at the time of the Parker girls
killing Hickman owned q 38 callhre
pistol
Hickman is under sentence. to die on
/ tie galloWs April 27 for the school,
girls murder.
A part of 80 calibre pistol similar
to the one Hickman maintained he
carried during the drug store holdupi
was introduced in evidence during the
| late afternoon. 1t was found by OIL
ficers where the youth said he threw
| it away in a canyon northeast of Los
Angeles
Most Of the afternoon session was
| taken up with technical discussion and
demonstration of firearms by Capt
I Edward G. Crossan, weapon expert, re-
J called by the state.