Pioche daily record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1872-1876, 1873-08-27
LOCAL ITEMS
THE FERGUSON MURDER TRI,I-
Testimony for the Prosecu,,.,

OF the four murder cases to be tried dp.
ring the present term of Court The
first and only witness examined in ,bi.
case yesterday was E. s. Williams Hos
pitai steward. Before he was called 70
the stand, however, all the witnesses
present were sworn, and ordered not To
come into court whilst the Testimony of
others was being given. The Court also
requested them not to communicate with
one another about the testimony in N.
case until all the testimony had been
taken.
Z. 5. Williams, sworn-On the 18th ~
July last was steward of the HOSPITAL
OF this county; knew Robert Ash. first
as patient in the Hospital, and after.
wards as cook in the same institution.
on the afternoon of the day before men.
TONED, was sitting in my room reading
paper when I heard two men talking in
very loud and angry manner, in the
hallway, twelve or fourteen feet distant.
! passed through the room where Mr.
Ferguson slept, and found Michael Hunt
and Robert Ash, the cook, ouarrslino
about something's know not what:
told Hunt to go to his bed, or rather to
his room: he went to his bed and sat
down; went back 10 my room, where I
had remained not more than five min.
utes, when heard Ferguson and Robert
Ash quarreling-I supposed about their
respective places of nativity. Ferguson
called the cook an English s. of b.
and the cook Immediately replied by
calling Ferguson an Irish s. of a b;
the cook then asked me for note for
the pay that was coming to him, saying
that he would like to be placed in such
position that he could click" three or
four Irish s. of BIS; Ferguson stood in
the doorway and said that he lash
could not lick him. l told Ferguson to
go and sit down on his bed; he did so,
sitting with his legs across the corner of
the bed, his right hand in his coat pocket;
l told him l thought he was armed
from the attitude he was in at the time.
l asked him to give me that pistol" he
said he had none, and l told him that he
was placing himself in very threaten.
ing attitude, and that if he had been
quarreling with me, should act accord
ingly. 1then put my hand in his pocket
and found no weapon of any kind. felt
somewhat ashamed of having accused
the man of having pistol, and walked
into my room again. Then Ferguson
began talking loudly. He called this
man Ash an English s. of b. again.
/ put the cook outside of the house, and
told Ferguson to go outside of the house
also; if there is any more fighting to be
done it could not be done there. then
had Ferguson by the arm. They Fer
guson and Ash met at the door, they
clinched and both struck each other
Sullivan cried out, my God! that mans
got knife" l saw Ferguson striking
five or six times. The cook iell; and
told Ferguson to give me the knife. he
went outside Of the door and told me he
had no knife. l took him up to the Jail;
went for the doctor; came back and found
dissecting knife lying thirty or forty
yards from the house, and covered with
blood. This knife | recognized as one
belonging to me.
IN ANSWER TO QUESTIONS BY DISTRICT At
ToRNEY.
afterward saw and examined Robert
Ash. He was lying on the floor on
mattress; l counted thirteen knife
wounds in his head, neck and body.
Robert Ash is now dead. He died the
same evening at about half.past eight
O'Clock in the County Hospital.
The quarrel had occurred between
4:3O and 4A5 p. m. IA knife
is handed to the witness.
have seen this knife before. 1t is dis
secting knife from case which belongs
to me. l picked up this knife, with
fresh blood upon it, after the difficulty.
I had seen it last about 10 n. m. was
then cleaning it, and locked it up in the
case. I left the key in the lock of the
case, and left the case in my room, where
any one could have access to it; the de.
Iendant could have access to it. Ques-
lion-Do you, Of your own knowledge,
know whether or not the defendant
knew you had such knife kept in that
room? He did. / know that because
he had seen me have them 1.-THE dissect-
ing knives1 and use them. I searched
the defendant because saw him sitting
on the bed with his right hand in his
coat pocket, and something pointed out
like weapon. The witness here, by
request Of the prosecution, assumed the
position which he had described Fergu-
n
son as having taken, supposing table
near by to be the bed.] He sat with his
right leg over the southwest corner OF
the table, his left foot being on the floor;
in his right hand, under the right side of
his coat, he held the dissecting knife.
+ We would certainly consider his atti.
tude a threatening one.] 1t was about
ten minutes after had reached defend
ant that heard words pass between him
and Robert Ash. When Ash came to
the Hospital he gave his age as IS.
At lively minutes past twelve the court
took recess. At 1:30 p. m. the court
met and Mr.. Williams continued his
testimony as follow: