The Nevada journal., 1857-12-25

after man came to the door and said
Vedder was dead. Plumer soon after
said that none of them could scare him,
and he held out his hand and asked me
whether it trembfed.
James E.. Mayfin-I knew John
Vedder. lie was at the Empire Livery
| Stable about or o'clock on the even
ing before he was killed. He came
there after a horse wa, there when
Vedder returned, which was between IL
and II o'clock the same night. The ap-
pearance of the horse indicated that lie
had been rode.
j. &. Palmer Il vas on the coroners
jury in the case of Vedder. l was in
the house about fifteen or twenty min
utes after the shooting. The front door
was shut, and my impression is that it
was nailed. 1t was still nailed on the
next morning. do not know who fast
ened the door, or by whom it was done.
IVm. II. Orr-I was on the coroner's
jury in the case of Vedder. | examin-
ed the interior of the house, but could
find no mark of bullet hole. There
was no smoke or smell of gunpowder in
the house when reached there
J. r. Van Hagan-I was also on the
coroner's jury in the case of the deceas-
ed. | examined the interior of the
house but found no marks of bullets.
Thomas Hp1mes-I entered the house
by the front door about ten minutes af-
ter the shooting. No ball could have
been shot in the house. | went down to
the body of john Vedder. / made a
thorough examination of the premises
and could find no mark of bullet.
There were no cracks in the floor thro'
which ball could have passed without
making a mark. There was no pistol
loose about Vedder when l went there.
l saw Plumer and Mrs. Vedder together
ON Broad street a few days before the
killing. about midday.
bnt few persons on the ground before
| went there. Thee were no knot
holes in the floor of the kitchen of We'd
der's house.
DR.. III. H. TVckes-I made post
mnrtem examination of the body Of
John Vedder on the morning after the
s!l poting. | found two wounds made by
bullets on the person of Vedder-one on
the right arm entering the triceps mus
cles and passing out some two inches be-
low. The entrance of the ball was
rather on the outer side of the arm.
The ball in the side en'e,ed about two
inches above the left nipple. DR.. Over
| nj nI IN ,h h.,
fore the cutting, but dill not succeed, as
the ball entered the thorax below the
external oriice. The ball struck the
third rib, cutting out little more than
a semi-circle. The direction of the ball
was downward. forward and inward
Both wounds had downward tendency,
from which infer that the party re-
ceiving the wounds must have been low
er than the party inhicting them. The
wound in the side or breast was mortal
The ball was found in the head of the
arm bone.
Cross-examined. The ball which en-
tered the breast cut the third rib on each
side. If the skeleton of Vedder had
been set up, the entrance of the ball in
the third ribs on each side would indi-
cate that the shot had been given about
upon level. There are cases in the
books in which persons who were shot
through the heart have lived for sec
onds afterwards. have had very little
experience in gun-shot wounds
| DR.. G. I. Ocerton-I assisted in the
post mortem examination of the body of
| T.I IL
had greater downward tendency than
the one in the chest. | can give no
opinion as to the relative positions of
the parties at the time of the shooting
There were no bruises or contusions
upon the body of John Vedder.
Cross-examined. A person with such
a wound as that inflicted upon Vedders
body, might live a few seconds. think
that it is impossible TO determine after
death the direction of wounds given III
life, owing to the contraction of the L us
cles. No one can tell after death the
position of muscles in life-in proof of
which, | will cite the difficulty of prob
ing wounds after death.
DR.. Jos. Cleburne-I am a physician
and surgeon and am acquainted with the
nature of gun-shot wounds, having been
a surgeon in the army for about seven
years. | assisted in the post mortem
examination of the body of John We'd
der. The were no marks or contusions
on the body Of Vedder, save the two
wounds made by the pistol balls. A
man with the frame of John Ved,ler and
IN good health might very easily have
gone from the door of the house to the
bottom of those stairs. The pistol
which inflicted the w"und in the chest
must have been foot or eighteen inch
es lower than the wound if the parties
were about six feet apart at the time of
The firing.
Cross-examned | found the ball at
he place | designated to the medical
men present during the post mortem ex
animation. 1t is not possible that the
person who gave Vedder the wound in
the breast could have stood at the head
| If the stand Nedier at the foot of the