Oroville daily Butte record., 1857-02-27
Trial Of william Miller,


Charles Green, a Portuguese, at the town of
Natchez, in this County, on the 9th day of
October, A d. 1866. The indictment charged
William Miller with having killed Charles
Green by shooting him with pistol
ATTORNEY For State, j. j Kleine.
Dist. Atty, Thos. Wells, Asst; For Defend
ant, Gen. p. II Harris and l.. W. Granger.
JURORS VIM. o Murray, Foreman; VI
Robinson, Chas White, John Bendle, W
Taylor, A. z. Spear, W. W. Bordwell, Ira
Coffee, j. NJ. Brock, f. C. Fouchee, James
Jones, John Spellman.
Two venres were exhausted to obtain
Jury in this cause, aud the empanneling
was not completed until - o'clock, p. NJ
! L. q. Williams, w. I, Sexton and j B
Barker, Esqs., were appointed as tricrs OF
| challengers for actual bias on the part OF
jurors called.
! At p o'clock, p NJ the panel being full,
! the jurors above named were sworn TO try
the cause; after which the Clerk proceeded
to read to them the Indictment, and state
the plea of defendant, to wit Not Guilty"
District Attorney kleine then proceeded to
open the cause, hy brief statement to the
Jury of the evidence he expected to intro
duce on the part of the State.
Gen Harris here asked for "a separation of
the witnesses called by the District Attor-
ncy which was ordered by the Court
The witnesses called and sworn on the
part of the State were, W. +, Stanbaugh,
James Cooper, Florence Salisbury, Joseph
Levitt, Frank Martin, John Wood and J I.
Elliott; aud the substance of the evidence,
as gathered from these several witnesses
may be given briefly as follows;
That, on Sunday afternoon, October 9th,
1856, Chas Green, IL Portuguese, together
with some half n dozen of his Portuguese
friends, who lived a short distance from the
town Of Natchez, came into town; that, ut
an hour before sunset, Chas. Green and his
comrades went up to the store Of Rodman &
Hunter, and there drank some claret wine.
That prisoner and desperate of the name
of Louis Chevaler came into the store soon
after, and Immediately manifested disposi
tion to gcs up quarrel with the Portu
guese, that prisoner and Chevalier succeed
ell IN getting up something of disturbance
by prisoners rolling up his sleeves and
using harsh language towards the Portu
guese; that some demonstrations were then
made by both parties-prisoner throwing
shovel among the Portuguese as he passed
out Of the door, AMI the Portuguese taking
up some pick handles in defense; that Green
at this time stood with his arms stretched |
across the doorway to prevent the rest Of his
Portuguese friends from passing out, but
some two or three Of them succeeded in get
ting out, returning, however, almost imme- /
diatcly and laid down their pick-haudles /
All was again quiet for n few minutes when /
prisoner and Chevaler returned, prisoner
standing at the west door of the store, and
Chevalier bounding in at the north (or tronO |
door, drew n pistol and told those in the
store he was '.ready for them" that the
Portuguese then to d Chevalier and prisoner
that they were friends to them. did not want
to fight, and partly persuaded and partly
forced Cheyalier to give up his pistol to Mr..
Stanbaugh. the clerk ; that the Portuguese
then called upon prisoner and Chevaier to
drink friends, which they did, and peace Sc
cured to be again restored.
That after this, prisoner and Chevalier |
began several quarIels with the Portuguese,
which QuarTels the Portuguese succeeded
each time in quelHng, calling upon prisoner
and Cheyalier in terms Of friendship, and
telling them repeatedly that they did not
want to fight-that they " liked the Ameri- |
cans, etc" In one of these quarre.s, how
ever, they had confused scufile, in which
prisoner had one Of his shirt sleeves torn
off that peace was again restored, through |
the entreaties of the Portuguese, and prs
ones asked Wm Stanbaugh for "A new shirt; |
s. told prisoner to wait until the next morn
ing, and he would give him one; that pris |
oner, during one Of the quarrels, ran be- f.
hind the counter and seized double bar
relied gun, but this weapon was taken from
him by Mr.. Stanbaugh. Prisoner and
Chevalier left the store Of ROdman y Hun
ter, and went up to the store OF Lombard y /
Co., where prisoner procured shirt ana
put it on. Prisoner and Chevaller there |
boasted Of what they had done and what
they cOuid do with the Portuguese; prisoner |
asked the clerk at Lombards for his pistol; |
the clerk, MIR. POWELL told prisoner not to
take it tha, "he, (prisoner) would he sorry |
for it in the morning"
Prisoner and Chevaier then spoke Of 60 |
ing down to Rodman * Hunters store, to
'clean ont" tbe Portuguese. As they were
starting to 60, ChevalIer said to prisoner,
Give me your pistol, have more sense than
you" Prisoner said No. I'll keep my |
self" Prisoner and Chevalier then return
ei to the store ef Rodman & Hunter, and /
soon got ap another quarrel with the Por
tugcse; through the entreates of Charles
Green and the other Portuguese. this quar-
rel was Queled, and most of the parties ac-
knowledged their friendships by drinking |
that prisoner during one of the exciements
went out of the front door, drew his
pis,ol from his boo:, and walked to and fro |
before the door with pistol in hand. Prlso- !
ner again went into the store; peace seemed
to be restored; some ten or fifteen minutes !
elapsed: piisonsr sat upon the counter, and
Chevaler stood at the back part OF the room