Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1872-03-21
Fatal Testimony
L Contumacious Wftness-Inci-
-. dent of q Murder Trial.

dent of Murder Trial.
The witness of u recent shoot
ing affray Mt Memphis, upon
whose testimony the State; de-
pended chiefly in its prosecn ton
of the offenders, is a man named
Perkins, vino, if his range, hag-
gard appearance and spirltless
manner excited some surprise in
the Criminal Court before which
he was summoned, created still
more astonishment by his com
plete refusal to relate what he
had seen of the murder under in
vestigation. Il know that | shall
be committed to Jail for contempt, :"
he said, in answer to tie Magis-
trate' 8 remonstrance and threats,
"but | will not testify in any case
Of this kind" After vainly, and
not unkindIy pressing for some ex-
PLANTATION of such unexpected con
tumacy, the Court was compelled
to commit the refractory witness
to a cell, where he was subsequent
ly visited by reporter Of the AU'
a3anche and was persuaded to give
the following history Of his " hole
ruined life: When he was in his
eighteenth year, he says, a room
mate and . fellow student with
him at a collegiate boarding, school
"a young man slightly his senior
and to whom he was warmly de-
voted in friendship like that of
David Copperfeld fer Steerforth
had quarrel with another stu
dent, which, although a trifing
matter at frst, matured to the bit.
terest enmity. One hight when
Perkins and his friend were in
their room together, this student,
stimulated to IecklessnesS by drink
ing, forced an entrance there, and
became SO insulting that a fight
ensued. Before the horrified
room mates could separate the
combatants, the insulted student
had shot his enemy through the
brain with a pistol caught from
the mantle, and the other inmates
of the house reached the scene
only in time to witness the death
of the unfortunate invader of the
apartment, and consign his re-
morseful murderer to the hands
of the police. In the trial fol-
lowing, political and family in
hueEce were directed implacably
against the prisoner, whose bosom
friend, to his unspeakahle anguish,
was compelled to testify that he
had witnessed the fatal shooting.
Upon this evidence, principally,
of course, the jury found a YER
dict Of willful murder, and the
unhappy youngman thus branded
was hung for his crime. Driven
nearly frantic by his involuntary
share in the dreadful fate of his
friend, Perkins went down on his
knees beside that friends coffin
and ''took a solemn oath never
again to testify in case where
his testimony might possibly
cause the extreme penalty of The
law to be infict d upon any per
SON." This oath he has kept re-
through all the years
which its tragic cause has made
miserable to him; and, although
of excellent family connection
and possessing some property, his
life since the execution of his
friend has been but a career of
such dissipation as he has sought
for distraction from remorse.
His repeated answer to all remon-
STRANGE against his present course
is: 81 will not testify, | tell you,
gentlemen, though you keep me
in Jail for life. / will not! |
will not ]" And in prison he re-
mains. ....
On lNh,,rcdnu q fnn Nouufonnd