Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-06-29
vaIIandigham's Last Law Case.

The McGahan murder trial, the case in
which the Hon. @. L. Vallandighsm was
engaged as counsel at the time of bis
death, has created great interest In South
ern Ohio, on account of certain political
relations, and becsuse its occurrence in
volved the exposure of many prominent
men of Hamilton, Ohio, as frequanters of
faro den. On the night of December
Gath, Thomas Meyers, a republican, was
shot, as alleged, in gambling saloon, by
one of party of five men, who, accord
ing to the indictment, entered the place
with the intent to commit the murder,
aud according to a preeopcerted conspira-
cy The five men were Thos. Mcclellan,
now on trial; Jack Carver, Daniel Nc.
Glynu, James Mcclellan and Ich. Shelley,
all democrats. The charge against them
each is identical, and the latter four will
be tried in turn after James Mcclellan. J.
E. Owens, one of the chief witnesses for
the prosecution, lis chief Of the fire de-
partment of Hamilton, and was in the
faro saloon when the crime was commit
ted. His story of the ARRAY, as given by
correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga
zette. is as follows: . ..-.
When Mr.. Owens entered the faro room,
be sat at the table, and looked at the
game, with his back directly turned to the
room behind. In five minutes or less he
heard a moving of lehairs and rustling at
the faro table. He then arose, faced about,
and saw a crowd Of half dozen persons
surging between the faro table and the
west wall. Then there appeared TO be a
pistol shot fired, whereupon the crowd
dispersed, a part falling back TO the east
part Of the room. While Mr.. Owens was
trying to escape, Meyers called out muir
der. Mr.. Owens then concluded to try
and stop the riot, and touched Meyers on
the arm and ssid: "My God, Meyers. this
won't do" Meyers turned bis face Owens
discovered spot of blood on his fore
head about the size of dime. Mr.. o.
supposed this was pistol shot through
his brain. From his psralyzed appear
ance, the Flock of his face and eyes, Mr..
Owens supposed he was dead man. He
then fed Before he reached the street
door he heared five successive shots.
Mr.. Follett made long argument fos
the prosecution on Friday. He dwelt at
length upon that part of the evidence in
tended to sustain the plea of the defense
that Meyers may have shot himself, say
ing that the theory of Meyers shooting
himself was emily an evidence Of the straits
to which the defense was pushed Brew
er's lone of the witnesses) eye was on
Movers pistol when the fatal shot was
fired, and he testified that it was not en-
tirely drawn from bis pocket at the time.
In the next place, theory that Joe Mey-
era punched the hole in the vest and pants
of Meyers, was combated by Mr.. Follett.
Counsel for defense smiled and suggested
that il might have been shot through gf.
ter the murder. The speaker then an
swered that the marksman who shot those
holes In the pants and vests after the muir
der must have been a marvel Of
accuracy They were Just where they
would cover the wounds in the body
of Meyers, and the mark of the ball that
passed through the pants was on the part
Of the suspeuders attached to the button
hole torn off by the ball. He then dwelt
upon the difference in weight of the
pistol balls. The one taken from the
door, and evidently fred from Meyers
pistol, was the heaviest. Meyers pistol
was larger and fired heavier ball than
the pistol seen in the hands of Tom Nc
Geban ten days before the murder. The
trial would have been completed to-day ii
it had not been SO sadly interrupted The
following words, written by the cores
pondent Of the Cincinnati Gazette on FRI
dav read very strangely now: "Mr.
Miliiken will commence his argument on
Saturday norning. Whether Mr.. VAL
landipham will follow in the afternoon
depends upon csrcumstances.-N. Y. 1rt-
6une. J,