The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1860-03-27

the arm which it towards the breast-I pro
ceeded to probe the wounds with an in
struments larger than common probe, with
groove in it, and the end shaped somewha
like scoop, at first had some difficulty il
introducing the probe, but | soon discovered
that the difficulty was produced by the open
lhgs OF the skin, and the parts beneath bein.
mismatched, but on forcing down the left arm
and it required some force, for the body wa
very rigid, the orifces in the wounds CORES
ponded, and introduced the probe withou
any difficulty-l several times INTRODUCED
the probe, and with the scoop end Of ii drew
up from the wounds strings and small masses
OF coagulated blood. One of the wounds
that have described on the breast was con.
siderably larger than the others, and seemed
to have been produced by two bullets or
| together. Into that wound, by using a little
force, could introduce my little finger, and
| could feel the ceagulated blood at the Bottom
OF the wound, and seperate particles of coag-
ulated blood trsm the interior walls of the
breast or thorax. Those wounds upon the
breast were not perpendicular to the surface
OF the body, but had a slight inclination
downwards. There were several wounds Oh
the left side of the neck-one of these
wounds was directly over the course Of the
principal blood vessels, and had wounded
them. | now had the body turned over and
discovered large woand produced by shot
OF a smaller size than those which produced
the wounds in the breast. This wound was
situated under the right shoulder blade, in :
Ginning towards the right arm pit and over
the anterior portion OF the right lung. |
can scarcely say how many shot holes there
were in this wound-they were as close to-
gether as they could well be. The whole
wound was OF an eliptical form, and don't
think uld have covered it with my hand
the shot holes were so close together to-
ward the centre OF this wound that thew
were Joined together. Towards the circum-
terence OF the wound they were further
apart. The wound was, in places, covered
with froth and blubbers of blood. By using
some force and alternately depressing and
raising the arm | could cause these blub-
bers to appear and disappear--I did this Of
ten enough to satisfy myself that the ap-
pearahce and disappearance OF the blubbers
was produced by the ingress and egresss of
ar to and from the lang. did not examine
the head, had seen enough to satisfy me,
beyond all doubt, OF the cause of DEATH
The hair was very thick and matted with
coagulated blood-Iicould not have made an
examination OF the head to nv satisfaction
II l had deemed such an examination neces-
sary, without cutting off the hair, and |
wished to return the body to the family with
as little mutilation as possible, knowing their
distressed condition. All parts of the body
We're rigid; the body was thoroughly and
entirely cold-in forcing my finger in the
breast the interior of the body was as cold as
the exterior. All the dependent parts of
the body were livid from the settling of
blood. | discovered in the wound on the
lower part of the shoulder blade, marks of
insipient putritaction. The clothes we're
very bloody, and in the rain cutters of the
yard, under the porch ewes, was a consid-
cradle quantity OF blood, a part of it coagu-
lated blood, and a part of it not coagulated.
About four or five feet in front of the feet of
the corpse was very considerable mass of
coagulated blood, and in front of the left
side OF the porch, about five or six feet off,
was another considerable quantity ofcoagu-
lated blood. On the step of the porch,
lett side going in, was portion of caked
blood almost dried, it had been coagulated
blood. This was from s to II inches in
diameter. The blood was caked because it
had been there so long there were also
some stains of blood on the floor of the
porch. l discovered none of those stains
near the front door OF the house, but most
or all OF them were from the middle to the
front OF the porch. l went with the jury
into the house, and discovered two shot holes
through the front door, and another hole
which did not seem to penetrate through
the door. The splinters from the holes were
inside, towards the room il the door was
shut; open the door and the splnters were
outward. There was downward inclina-
tion in the holes; as well as l could Judge,
about the same inclination as | discovered
in the wounds on the breast. There was no
blood upon the front room floor; the floor
was covered with Summer mating of
light color, and ii there had been the least
particle of blood think l should have dis
covered it in my search. In the back room
of the house we found everything in very
dlsordered condition; in one corner of the
room was found double barrelled gun and
a shet belt, containing some shet of the size
of squirrel shot. The gun did not parti
ularly examine myself, but handed it to the
jury, several OF whom examined it; one of
them put his finger in the gun, and when he
drew it out his finger was snutty; that ju-
ror is a witness in the case. The inquest
was held Saturday night, and as l felt dis
posed to see the premises by daylight, l
went there Monday morning. could dis
cover no order or arrangement in the blood
stains on the porch floor to show which way
they tended. On that morning (Monday,)
my attention was directed to two impress
sions On the plastering behind the front
door, and somewhat behind the shot holes.
l tried the door in all directions that could
place 1t; and could not place 1t in position
in which the ends of two pins running
through the shot holes would correspond
with the two impressions.
put the door in ouch position that one
shot hole in the door would correspond with
one impression on the wall, the other i'm
preston would then be out of line one and
halt or two inches. | took up the mating
near that part of the wall where the front
door opened to see if could find any shot,
l traced that side Of the room along to the
corner and found buck shot battered in
appearance, as it had been discharged from
fire arms. On the bureau in the back room
found two or three shot the size of buck
shot. Several gentlemen, in my presence
body was lying Saturday night, picked up
several shot similar in size and appearance
to the shot that found in the corner OF the
rnam | handed the shot to Mr.. Waller and