The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-11-16
rHF MDoWBLL BUrcHERY.
rr,., or C.tnsInonss sforSthe nurder-A
Sealed dvsrdios Rendered..


Trial Of o.lnsimons;1orsthe nurdsr-A
sealedvsrdios Rendered,
The trial of the negro Cain simonS for tne
murder of John T. Mcdowell, Jr., Oh tne
night of the 10th of last August, TOOK place
in the Court OF General Sessions yesterday oe-
fore Judge Graham. The State was repre-
aented; by Mr.. A. M. Aackey, acting tempo
rarilv as solicitor, and the prisoner, VINO ls q !,
large and powerful negro, with q mos. o,u'a. a.
and repulslve appearance, was detenoea, a.
| the request of the court, by Mr.. 4. D. o0s
| brook, The Jury was obtained, aitet . nu" :,
her of challenges on behalf OF the s1a1e, anu
zoo comnosed of three white and nine coioreo
,,.n 90 follows: J. d. Albers, white, foreman;
Eranc,s Lee. colered; NJ. G. Csmplln, coiofeo'
| 1amo. lewis. colored; o. Matthews, coloreo;
Edvard NV. Lee, colored; Thomas D. smalls,
ooIored. A. B. Mitchell, colored; 8. G. Brown,
wb,,e: ]. B. Wright, oolored;;. 2. J. Lacca-
.aone. white; and H. J. N. King; colored.
The first witness called for the prosecution
was DR.. j. somers Buist, who testified tnat ne
had made post-mortem examination OF the
hodv.ot John T. Mcdowell, on the llth OF Au-
gust, and fou1dSsix punctared wounds Two
upon the anterior. portion Of the thorax, and
four upon the back, any one Of which would
nave been sufficient to produce death.
P.W. Washington, colored, testified that on
the. afternoon previous. to the killing OF NC
Dowell, he had been in store at the corner o.
Line and St. PnIllp streets, where the prls
oIief had cursed the deceased In most aou'
sivs manner and Without any apparent provo
cation. The witness soon after went home
an, about half an hour thereafter the deceased
who lived at the same place, came IN. Calr
slmons, the prisoner, soon after came INTO the
yard, and Julia Baxter, who occupied the KIT
chen, after some dispute over puppy whicl
The prisoner had taken from the yard anc
had not: returned; ordered him out O.
the ward. Julia Baxter then went up stairs
,nto the house where Mcdowell was, sne
asked him to come down stairs and "put tina
| n,eger out Of the yard" Mcdowell CAM
down and said to slmons, "Please 60 out o
tbe yard.n E!mons said, ''You damned -
-. what have you got to do with tn
ward ~ Mcdowell asked whom he was ours
Inc. and, picking up piece of wood, walked
/ toward sImons and asked him II he meant 1t
sImons replied, ''Yes, you damned -
-. and at the same time put his hand II
hIs pocket and took outa knife. Mcdowell
asked sImons what he was going to do Will
tbe knife. at the same time striking simon
on the nose with his fist simons In falling
cut Mcdowell on the hand, and mcdowell
struck simons several times With his hst
| Mcdowell then went into the Kitchen to ge
Ills hat, saying that he was going out 4
oet rid of the FUSS s'mons also wen
into the kitchen and seized bis gun, which
| was standing there. Mcdowell came up
| took hold OF the gun, and turned around t
see If it was loaded. Atthat moment slmonl
stabbed Mcdowell In the right shoulder with
a knife he had In his right hand. AcDowells
arm dropped, and the butt Of the gun fell OF
the floor. Both then had q tussel, and No
Dowell threw Simons down. Slmona, while
down, and while Mcdowell was on top O
him. reached over and stabbed Mcdowell In
the back. samons then got on top and stabbed
Mcdowell again In the shoulder and once ir
the back. simons then caught Mcdowell BY
the feet, pulled him out Of the house, ant
stabbed him three or four times more. Sim
ons then turned toward the witness saying
wYou will make 1t your las
end tonight" and the witness jumped
through a window and went for the police
and when he returned Mcdowell was dead.
The testimony Of this witness furnished sub
stantially the whole story Of the tragedy. The
other witnesses examined on behalf OF the
prosecution were Miss Julia Baxter, Rachel
Gardner, ,csiored;; William Dowell, ]. Frank
Mason, DR.. B: F. shier,1 Lieutenant Wm. WEBB
of the city rolice, j. Robert Lyons, and Eliza
Robinson, colored. The circumstances OF the
killing were repeated by these witnesses, bat
no new or material facts were ELECTED.
The case was then summed up By Mr.. Mackey
on behalf Of the State, and Mr.. sesbrook for
the defence, after which Judge Graham briefly
charged the Jury, saying that the case pre-
sented to them was narrowed down to the
three propositions: as to the inducement un-
der which the prisoner inflicted the fatal blows,
whether the act was done In self.defence, In
sudden heat and passion, or in malice. If
they should find that the killing had been done
in self-defence. they wonld return verdict OF
not guilty; If In sudden heat and passion, their
verdict would be, guilty of manslaughter; and
II with malice sforethought, either expressed
or rlmplled, they would find the prisoner guilty
of murder.
The jury retired at fifteen minutes past two,
and after about one hours consideration
brought In sealed verdict, which will be
opened at the assembling of the court this
morning.
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