November 27, 1916
Transcribed from: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104717805/ & https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104717841/
CLINE CASE WILL NOT REACH JURY BEFORE TOMORROW
Counsel for Defendant Establishing Strong Alibi and Successfully Impeaches Testimony of One of State’s Main Witnesses
The defense was still putting on witnesses at 4 o’clock this afternoon, and from all indications the arguments will not be begun until tomorrow morning. The state’s attorneys were doing but little cross-examining and very seldom interrupted a witness. L. W. Johnson, a negro attorney from Kansas City, Kan., is attending the trial in the interest of Dr. Chas. P. Washington, the negro physician, arrested in that city a short time ago in connection with the death of Mary Glass.
It was being quietly whispered about the court house this afternoon that the defense planned to spring a big surprise before concluding with its evidence by placing an entirely new witness on the stand. It is understood that this witness will testify to having seen the Glass girl with a colored man on the evening of March 24 and that much concerning her delicate condition and her disappearance will be explained.
Impeach Evidence of Geo. Moore
At 4 o’clock this afternoon F.S. Wettack of the First national bank of this city, took the stand and identified a deposit slip made by the Kellar Sheet Metal works of this city. One item on the slip was a $30 check given by Geo. Moore to the Kellar company in payment of a work bill. The date of the deposit slip was April 10. The purpose of this testimony was to impeached the evidence of Moore who testified to seeing the defendant, Dave Cline, out at the old house on the Cline farm near where the girl is supposed to have been put to death on March 24, and fixed the date in his memory by the day he paid Kellar the $30, according to his testimony.
Established Perfect Alibi
The defense counsel though taken off their feet with the ruling of Judge Flannelly denying their motion demurring to the evidence offered by the state, immediately set about to perfect an alibi for their client, Mr. Dave Cline, on trial for the murder of Mary Glass. The testimony of Mr. Miller, a refinery employee, set forth that he saw Cline in Coffeyville about 5 o’clock in the evening of March 24th.
Earl Wright, a Wells Bros.’ clerk, testified to seeing Mr. Cline driving alone in his car on Walnut street the same evening and about the same time.
Then comes Chas. Harbourt, proprietor of the Kane drug store, with positive evidence that he saw Cline in front of the Krugg hospital some time between five and six o’clock of the same evening, and that he rode with him to his (Harbourt’s) store, and that Cline told him when he got out that he was going to Barnett’s market. This was just before six o’clock. Mr. Barnett and Mr. Harbourt agree on the time, both declaring it was just before six o’clock. Mr. Barnett testified that the defendant was with him about an hour and that he (Cline) drove him to his home, arriving at the Barnett place in this city about a quarter of seven.
Spent Evening with Miss Long
Miss Ruth Long of 304 West Third street, Coffeyville, was the next witness. She testified she met Dave Cline at the Kress store between 5 and 5:30 and rode around with him until a little before 6. She wanted to go to the Krugg hospital to have her ear treated so he took her. Miss Long then went home and later Cline came to the house and stayed while the storm was raging. One incident she remembered that fixed the date was that the wind started Dave’s car and he had to run out in the street and stop it. He got wet and had to borrow her father’s sweater while his coat dried. Witness said Dave Cline stayed until after 9 o’clock and that her parents urged him to stay all night. On cross examination Attorney Neal asked her if she didn’t fall out with Dave Cline later and threaten to tell what she knew about him and the colored girl. Miss Long denied that she ever made any such threat but said that she and Dave had some trouble later. When Attorney Neal asked her if she was engaged to Dave Cline the defense’s attorneys objected and were sustained by the court.
Miss Long Corroborated
Oscar Mehl corroborated the statement of Miss Long by saying that a car resembling Dave Cline’s was in front of the Long home the night of the storm. Mr. and Mrs. Mehl, Mr. and Mrs. Andy Sticleber, and Mr. and Mrs. Asa Talbot were at the Barnhill home that night and about 8:30 or 9 o’clock saw a man chasing a car down the street near the Long home. Witness said this was the same car he saw in front of the Long home. Mr. Mehl said he and his neighbors were engaged in a game of pitch that night.
Asa Talbot was called to the stand and verified the story as to the car being driven by the wind from the Long home, down the street. He said he was a member of the “pitch party” and denied that he or his friends were playing poker, in response to a facetious question by County Attorney Ise. He also declared in response to a question by the county attorney that nothing was being eaten or drunk that night to cause any member of the party to see anything unusual. From the evidence of the two witnesses who testified there was plenty of excitement as the wind blew a perfect gale that threatened to unroof the house and the electric light plant was damaged, putting out the lights. The party then stood on the porch until the rain got to blowing in on them when they returned to the darkened home.
Andy Sticelber was also called in connection with the incident of the runaway car and testified to about the same story. He was also on the porch of the Barnhill home during the storm.
W.B. Barnhill, 306 West Third, assistant cashier of the First National bank and host to the “pitch club” finished the chain of evidence concerning the car that was blown away from the Long house by the storm. He testified positively that it was the Dave Cline car and that the time that it was carried down the street was about 8:15 p.m.
Mr. Long on Stand
S. C. Long, Santa Fe engineer and father of Miss Ruth Long, was the first witness called when court convened this morning. He came in from his run and reached home about 9 o’clock on the night of March 24. Dave Cline was there when the witness arrived and was invited to stay all night but declined, saying his mother would be anxious about him.
The mother of the defendant, Mrs. David Cline Sr., next took the stand and in answer to a question by Attorney Welch said that shortly after 4 o’clock on the afternoon of March 24 her son Dave took his sister, Mrs. Anna Ogden, to her home in Coffeyville. Mrs. Ogden had been spending the day at the Cline home. The next time she saw Dave, Mrs. Cline said, was when he returned from taking his sister home. He was dressed and preparing to leave the house. She asked him to stay, telling him that supper would soon be ready but he said he would go on to town. Witness remembered seeing Mary Glass start home that evening. The girl was just crossing a small culvert on the road leading toward town and this was about thirty minutes after Dave had started to town. At the time Dave took his sister home he wore his old clothes, but when he came home he changed, putting on his best suit. On cross examination by Attorney Neal Mrs. Cline said she noticed Dave and Mrs. Ogden get in the car and start and watched them until the turned the corner to go toward town. She did not know what time Dave got home that night. On redirect examination Mrs. Cline said that when she noticed the Glass girl leaving Abe’s place she said to her daughter Mildred: “There goes Cass, and the road is so muddy.” She said the colored girl was going very slowly.
Russ Cline, brother of the defendant, who lives with Dave and their mother, testified that when Cassie Glass failed to arrive at her home someone called up over the telephone and asked Mrs. Cline if the girl had left the Cline farm. He heard Dave come home on the night of the storm and thought it was about 11:30 or 12 o’clock. Witness was in bed and was asleep until aroused by his brother coming in. Testifying as to the color of the car the witness said the car in question was a deep green, with black fenders and the front of the radiator painted black. To a person meeting the car in the twilight, it would appear to be a black car. On cross examination, witness said the wheels of the car where painted yellow. It has been repainted since coming from the factory. The car was driven frequently by different members of the family, Dave, Abe and Mildred, as well as the witness taking it out whenever they wanted it. So far as the witness knew this was the only Buick roadster of this appearance in Coffeyville.
Henrey Schaub, a farmer who lives northeast of Coffeyville, came to Coffeyville the next morning after the storm to bring a load of hogs. He passed the Cline farm and half a mile beyond he met a car that he took to be Dave Cline’s roadster but when it passed him he realized it was not the Cline car. A man he did not recognize was in the car and both the man and the car were covered with mud. Mr. Schaub was then asked concerning a conversation with Mrs. Walters Friday night in which she spoke of coming to Independence to testify in the Cline case. Witness said this was while he was riding on a street car in Coffeyville. The conversation turned to the Cline case and both Mr. Schaub and Mrs. Walters remarked that they had to go to court to testify. Witness said he remarked that he had plenty to do at home and hated to take the time to go. Mrs. Walters replied that she could not afford to go but for the fact that her car fare and expenses were being paid by Col. Sharpe. On cross examination witness said he had known the Cline family a long time and had voluntarily gone to Attorney Welch and told him about the conversation with Mrs. Walters. Asked why he had taken such an interest in the case he said he didn’t believe Dave Cline was guilty and wanted to help him all he could. Coming back to the incident of the car that looked like Cline’s, witness said it was dark green. He never learned whose car it was nor the identity of the driver. The man was about 35 years old.
That Dave Cline came to the sheriff’s office and surrendered himself the day before the inquest as an assurance that he would not leave the county, was brought out when the defense put Sheriff Lewis on the stand. On cross examination Attorney Neal asked if Dave didn’t tell the sheriff he was afraid he would be mobbed if he stayed in the vicinity of Coffeyville, but the sheriff denied that defendant made any such statement.
A Brother Testifies
Abe Cline testified as to the route a car would have to take to get from the Cline premises to the old Cline farm via Coffeyville, when the streets were muddy. He named the streets that previous witnesses had stated Dave Cline took on the evening of March 24 from the cemetery road to the river farm.
Cassie Glass never stayed alone in his home, the witness said during the daytime and she always went home at night. On the day of the disappearance of the girl, Abe said, he drove the Buick roadster to the river farm and helped Dave load hay on a wagon. Dave drove the wagon. It was about noon when he went to the river farm. Witness said he frequently took Mary Glass home when the weather was bad and often when he had occasion to go to town late in the afternoon he would pick the girl up and take her to her home. It was about 8 o’clock on the night of March 24 that the phone call came to the Abe Cline home inquiring if Mary Glass had gone and incidentally apprising them of the fact that the girl had not returned home. Witness said he talked with Wayne Short, the sexton’s little boy, about two weeks after the disappearance of Mary Glass, and that the boy said that the driver of the car which he saw on the road the evening of March 24 was not Dave Cline, but that Mary Glass was in the car. When asked why he (Wayne) had told that it was the Cline car, witness said the boy said “It looked like it came from your garage.” Photos of the Cline farms, showing the garages and other buildings, were identified by the witness and offered to the jury for examination.
Jury Sees a Buick
Dr. C.C. Surber of Independence, who has a car of the same make and similar in color to the Cline car, was called to the stand, while Mr. Cline was asked to step aside for a few minutes. After asking him a few questions as to his car, the jury was taken to inspect the machine, and on its return Mr. Cline was recalled to the stand. He testified that the Cline car was left hand drive. Attorney Neal asked the witness if Mr. Paxson was in the employ of the Cline family in connection with the case at any time the witness said: “I think he was but I don’t know – I didn’t hire him.”
Abe Cline Resumes
Reverting to a statement the witness made on direct examination to the effect that it would have been impossible for Wayne Short to have seen Mary Glass get in the Cline car from where the boy said he was standing at the time he testified he saw her get in, Attorney Neal asked the witness if he ever stood at the spot where the boy said he was standing at the time. Witness said yes. Asked how many times he had been on the Short premises Mr. Cline said: “Lots of times.” Asked when he was there the last time the witness said it was this morning. The reason he thought it would have been impossible for Wayne to have seen the garage was because a hedge was in the way.
Some discrepancy arose at this point as to what the witness testified to at the preliminary. Attorney Welch questioned the defense’s record and rad the record of the testimony kept by the state. Some differences were shown up and the witness said that the record of the defense was correct. Witness said that he had never seen the roll of wire that Hale Fletcher testified to finding in the barn on the river farm, though he was in the barn as often as once a week on the average. On redirect, the witness testified that the old Cline premises were not occupied and that it would have been easy for people to have driven in there at any time and that access to the barn was easy. The barn door was frequently left open.
Dr. Campbell on Stand
Dr. C. S. Campbell of Coffeyville was called and qualified as a physician and surgeon with 12 years’ practice in Coffeyville. He testified that for the first hour or so after birth it is difficult to tell a white baby from a colored baby. Attorney Welch then asked a hypothetical question dealing with the case of a colored baby, born immediately before being thrown into the water, or at the time of being thrown in, and with the possibility of identification as to race after the body had been placed in the water 4-6 weeks. The witness said it would be impossible to tell if the child were white, mulatto or colored. Attorney Neal asked if the face of such infant had been exposed to sun or air while in the water if it would make any difference in the color. Witness aid the face might be discolored or dark, but that the pigment that gives the colored child its color would be lacking, owing to death occurring before the coloring matter had time to become implanted in the skin.
Dr. Coyle’s Testimony
Dr. E. G. Coyle of Coffeyville was called and the same question propounded to him as was asked Dr. Campbell, and answered it in the negative as to the possibility of identification of an infant thrown into the water at birth and remaining for 6 weeks. As to the color at birth the witness said that there was practically no way of telling by the appearance of a new-born babe whether it is negro or Caucasian. Medical authorities, he said, agreed that children of all races are near the same color at birth but that those of dark skinned races change color very quickly. Witness said it would be impossible to tell by the illumination furnished by a flash light after dark whether the body of a person in the state of decomposition similar to that of the body found in the Verdigris river on May 6 had been choked to death or had met death in some other form. Questions relative to saponification or turning of fatty tissues to soap in the body as a result of decomposition were propounded and the nature of the changes explained by the witness. Witness said this process would make identification more difficult. He thought it might be possible that the taking of the body from the water might have caused the infant’s body to be expelled.
On cross examination by Attorney Ise, Dr. Coyle said he devoted about two hours to reading up on the subject after he knew he would be called. He would not admit that medical authorities differ as to whether it is possible to identify a negro child by its color, at birth. He said he had never seen a medical work that stated there was a marked difference between white and colored children at birth.
Paul Keith Corroborates Cline
Paul Keith, a civil engineer of Coffeyville, was called to identify the plat of the Cline place and that of a part of the city of Coffeyville used in the trial. He said he drew it. He also corroborated the statement of Abe Cline to the effect that it would have been impossible for Wayne Short to have seen Mary Glass get in the Cline car at the spot where the boy said he saw her get in. Witness said he stood on the exact spot from which the Short boy said he (Short) saw the girl get in the car. Witness said that on March 24 a hedge was in the way. The hedge has since been cut as show by photographs.