Volume 17 , Issue 27

(August, 1915) Johnson Testifies In His Own Behalf

Tuesday, 10 August 1915, the Tulsa Daily World reported on its front page the following: "(Charles) Johnson Testifies In His Own Behalf." It seems there were questions of an identity principal factor in a Stroud, Oklahoma Bank robbery trial. The defendant, Charles Johnson, tallied with the description of Liege Higgins, it was claimed.

Charles Johnson took the stand in his own defense Monday, 9 August 1915, and denied that he was implicated in the robbery of two banks at Stroud during the morning of March 27, 1915. Johnson was being tried there on the charge of having been a member of Henry Starr's band of robbers who raided the two banks at Stroud. Johnson asserted that until he was placed in the Lincoln county jail he was unacquainted with any member or alleged member of the Starr band. Practically all of Johnson's testimony was corroborative of testimony given by others who had testified in his defense. He was endeavoring to prove that he was 100 miles northeast of Stroud on the morning of the robbery.

Johnson gave a description of Liege Higgins, who was a member of the band, according to the testimony of Lewis Estes, confessed participant in the raid. Several witnesses had identified Johnson as one of the robbers, and Johnson sought to show that the witnesses probably mistook him for Higgins. Several witnesses while on the stand quoted Lee Patrick, vice-president of the Stroud National bank, as having said, following the robbery, that he suspected a man named Morgan as having done the work that he now attributes to Johnson. The Morgan referred to was arrested following the robbery, but was released when witnesses failed to identify him as a participant in the robbery.

Arguments of attorneys were in progress when court adjourned Monday night and would be continued Tuesday morning.

The case would be given to the jury some time Tuesday. Bud Mayfield, another alleged participant in the raid, would be placed on trial following the termination of the Johnson trial.
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