Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1859-05-27
EVIDENCE BEFORE THE JURY.
Dr.. Thay'r testified as follows:


have known deceased for two years, and
while he has resided in Burlington, Have
teen him. before he resided here, at Winooski
He resided there before he came here. He
was man Of good habits. so far as ! know
saw him soon after he was killed. When
I first Jaw him he vas dead. | examined
him after death, The wound is situated
near the centre of the chest, between the 18th
and 9th ribs; its longest diameter TRANSFER
sely. The wound severed or passed through
tho breast bone, and perforated the chest
The depth and direction did not take. 1t
was made by sharp cutting instrument
from three fourths to one inch in width. |
have the knife which was handed to me by
his partner, Henry NJ. Wight. (Shows tie
knife,)
Henry NJ Wight Il was partner Of the
deceased from May 1853 until about four
weeks ago. ! was with him ut the time of
his death at S. S. Ferries store, His death
occurred shortly after twelve o'clock at
night VIM. II. Logan and Leonard Bliss
were with us in the store Some one came
to the door and made some noise at the key
hole and bowed in it and said something :;
/ did not understand what; and he went t
tho door and | followed after him to the
door. lie went Just out of doors and off the
steps. He left the door open stepped out
of the door, just off the steps. saw three
persons standing outside; two Of them little
way down from the other, eight or ten feet
south, and the others stood quite near de-
ceased 1t was so dark ] could not dis
tinguish their features. Two Of them were
shortsh men / think had caps on and dark
ish clothes. The third was tall man, quite
tall, think had on rather a lighter colored
coat than the others. | thought his vest and
pants were dark and he had on, think, u
soft felt hat. The person nearest to him was
one of the short men. McKcen asked them
first, what they were around there for, and
they made no reply, He then asked which
one it was that came to the door. The one
who stood nearest him said, ''supposng
should say it was me, what are you going to
do about it2" Deceased asked, "Why he
was around the door ~ He made reply,
"that it was none of his business, y and call
ed him some name like 'son of a b--h, or
something like that. Deceased, think, was
standing on the steps at the time, and step
ped down on to the walk, and asked him
"What was that you called me?" when the
fellow rushed on to him, and no more words
passed NicKeen cried /" the -- is
knitting me-" and he was bearing Nc
Keen down towards the steps | turned
and took the fellow off, Deceased had
fallen quite down on the steps, and that
fellow was on top of him. We were not out
ofthe store three minutes probably, just
took hold of him, and threw him off, and he
ran off, and as | did SO, the tall man stepped
up in front of me, and then went off think
he came within reach of me, and then left,
think, upon run. Nothing was said be-
tween them, while the scuflle went on. They
went south down Church Street did not
see the face of the man that took of deccas-
ed. I picked deceased right up and and
carried him in. He did not speak again. |
don't think he lived over three or four min
utes after. | picked him up, The knife
shown me was handed me as stood behind
the counter, right after the death OF Nc
Keen, say, some five minutes, by man who
works for Gilbert Dow, know him, but not
his name. There was blood ON the knife at
the time. handed the knife to DR., Thayer,
who was then present. The first noticed OF
the man, who handed me the knife was atthe
time the knife was handed me. | saw no evil
dence ofntoxication in the three persons who
stood outside when the deceased went out.
The man who had the knife said he picked it