Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1860-04-14
THE ArFRAY AT SACRAMENTO.

serious, and perhaps fatal atIray says the Sac.
ramentO .X1hdlri,) took place yesterday, at twenty
minutes before one o'clock, in the room 0f the Ser
Eeantat-Arms Of the Assembly, between DIR. Stone,
Of FL DOrado, and John c. He'll, member Of the
Assembly from the same county. in which the lat
ter received five knife wounds, in different parts Of
The body, which are very dangerous. and may prove
fatal. The wounded man was taken tn Il rear room
in the Oriental Saloon, opposite the Capitol, where
he was attended by hrs. Titus, Price, Morton and
Proctor. He was subsequently, removed to the
boarding house Of Mrs. Mara, u few doors below,
on street, where every attention paid to hIm.
DR. Stone gave hnself up To the custody If Officer
McClOry. The Assembly Immediately tsOk recess,
but re.aSscmb'ed in halt an hour, aud adjourned il
10 A. n. to-day. number Uf witnesses sum
moned aud the case was examined before Justice
Barr at O'clock r. n. The facts and particulars Of
the ARRAY may b. gathered from the sworn testimo-
nv Of the witnessCs a. given beiure the Justice 4
prosecution, and Mcssrs. COffrOth and Stewart
for the defense. Attorney General Williams also
sat by the side Of defendants counsel, and partic
pated to some extent in the examination of wit.
aesses. District Attorney Cole asked that the case
be postponed until later hour or until the next
day. as the Court was not advised as TO the nature
aud extent of the injury inflicted, OF thu condition nf
the wounded man. Mr.. COtTTOth said the defense
was not disposed to shrink from nm examination as
they would be able To prove it entirely justiablc
still, they were willing To waive u preliminary cX-
animation and give bail for their appearance, and
let the go before the Grand jury, which were
in session at the present time. There were hun
arcdS 0f friends n the drtrutunt in this
have volunteered to go his bail to any amount and
IN answer any charge. After some further talk they
concluded To 60 on with the case, and the following
witnesses were called
Dr. MoRroN, swOrn-I was in attendance on Mr..
Bell, and partially examined his wounds; he has
fur ~ far rs have discovered; did not make IA
thorough examination; the patient was in the rear
"f the Oriental Saloon he was bleeding internally
after having lost large quantity Of blood external
~ there Ia punctured wound about nm inch 10
the right Of the medium line Of the body, and about
one and Onr-half inches below tho ribs passing up
ward into the cavity Of the abdomen it is about
one-half an inch wide, and two aud one half inches
deep; there IS also n puncturcd wound in the left
side IN the neighborhOOd Of the seventh rib, which
touches the left lung; this was ut first thought tO
he flesh wound, but When the difficulty of breath
ing commenced, air trem the lung was forced thro
the wound there Is IA third wound in the left side
halfway between the hip and the rib, passing up
ward to the depth of two inches; the fourth wound
is u large, ragged wound, below the left hip bone,
and looks rs if it might have been made by pistol
ball; pr0bcd it u the distance Of one inch there
is also slight flesh wound in the back saw the
patient ten minutes since, his pulse WAS better
regard his condition AS critical, very; the wound in
front is below the diaphragm; the wounds were
probably made with small knife nr dirk.
CrOSs-cxamned-It is not possible To make n
thorough examination Of wounds Of that nature
without injury 10 the patient; there were several
other physicians there when came his pulse was
better when left than when | first saw him, which
is an indication in his favor.
JUDGE WILKINS, tmcmbcr of Assembly from So
nomaJ sw0rn-Was present ut the time at the ai
fray; ut my request Mr.. BELL had gone into the Ser
geanat-ArmS room and we were cOnverSInR when
Mr.. Bell turned to DIR. Stone and said doctor,
nm going to defeat your measure;" Stone asked
what were his reasons; the conversation continued
and finally turned upon personal matters and the
politics OF FL Dorado County; Bell charged stone
with having defeated certain members Of the party
an the county ticket; Stone denied it, Bell repeated
il and said he knew it was 80 the lie was then
passCd; my impression is that Stone told him he
was liar; they both put themselves IN an attitude
VI defense; saw Bell put his hand To his pocket ;
there was = talk Of knife, but saw none said.
"Gcntlcmen, this il place to settle difficulty !"
bell raseu his hand to strike, and at that nstant
there pistol shot by Stone; Bell then followed
Stone aud clinched and struck him; they were not
than two feet apart when the pistol was fired ;
after the firing Of the pistol the fight continued =
Bell was striking iercely at Stone, and seemed to
have the better Of him then the pistol II acc.
md time; thought it was q small pocket pistol -
there were several persons in the room; supposed
that Bell MAS going to draw weapon from the p0.
StOn in vhich he stood, with his hand in his pocket.
Cross examined-I thought the offensive language
had been given TO Bell and anxious that he
should not get into difficulty; was paying more
attention tn him than to the Doctor; the motion by
Bell TO strike the Doctor was made before the shot
WIS fired; BELL might have struck, but did not see
him; the action Of both parties was it anxious to
fight; there was remark made that "if you strike
me III cut you or shoot you, but do not know
who made the remark after Bell took his hand
from his pocket he attempted TO strike and the shot
was fired, almost simultaneously.
DIR. PhOcrOR, swOrn-I have been in attendance
on Mr.. Bell for the last hour; he has five wounds
-four tOlerAbly severe, and one Of less importance
they were apparently made with u small knife ;
there is IN the region Of the pit of the stomach
one about the lea nipple, one above the hip bone on
the right side, still lower on the side; think
they are dangerous the patient 10 feeble from loss
NJ blOOd there was much external bleeding; | can
give no idea Of when he may recOver-it would be
4 mere conjecture; have seen men worse wounded
there was no Gunshot wound; none Of the physi
Nisns in ATTENDANCE have discovered any gunshot
wound