Exclamations of surprise, disgust and pleasure were heard on every side, but when Catalina began to speak, everything was severely quiet again.
In answer to the question from Miss Hinckley’s attorney: “Did you know the accused in a life gone by?” Catalina replied: “I did, your Honor.”
“Then tell us all you know about him,” said the counsel.
“One cold, rainy night, a cab drove up to our house. I heard it, and childlike I was anxious to know why such an unusual occurrence was happening. My mother opened the door, and Mr. J. Ecarg stepped into the room. He often came to our house, and when he did not have too much pulque he was pleasant. This night he had had much, and told my mother there were two men in the cab outside, and she must let them have the only room we had with a bed in it. My mother said she did not want them, and he told her not to be a fool; that they would stay anyway, and she would be well paid. They came. He did not give their names, but the fellow who was trembling and crying, he afterwards told my mother, was the ‘Plunger from Kansas’—that he was hiding from people in the United States, because he had stolen cattle from these people and sold them. Mr. Ecarg threatened my mother in various ways, if she ever told about the men being at her house, what she saw them do, or heard them say. They often had a Mexican lawyer and an interpreter; this lawyer knew everything and gave them advice. I was often in the room when he was there, playing with my dolls, and I heard all they said. The Plunger gave me centavos often, and said he liked little girls. And he gave me these pictures; this one is of him; this his wife, and this his baby,” concluded Catalina, handing the pictures out to the attorney, and seating herself beside the Governor.
From one to another of the legal profession on the rostrum the photographs were passed.
The accused was then asked to take his place, and the attorney began a series of interrogations.
“What is your name?”
“I am called the ‘Plunger from Kansas.’”
“Have you any knowledge of a previous life on earth?”
“I have, your Honor.”