Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-10-31

to him; l then regarded him 40 fol-
lowing in the wake of Runyon. !
threw off my cloak and attempted to
draw my knife. G. Turner caught
my hand, but i at length succeeded
in drawing il. AS quick as thought
my hand was seized by third party.
Turner then let me go and commence
ed striking me feebly with his fists,
and the knife was wrested from my
hand. / then struck Turner a vio.-
lent blow on the left cheek with my
right hand, which staggered him back
against the crowd; whether he fell
or not, don't know. Being assailed
from behind, ! turned, and seeing my
knife in possession of some person,
for which, apparently, there seemed
to be q, struggle, seized it with my
right hand, and by twisting it with
my left Cutting three of my tlngers)
succeeded in recovering it. For a
short time I was inscnsiblc, probably
the effect of violent blows. I then
heard the bursting of q cap. l found
| was unable to sec; 1 therefore re-
treated a few PAGES out of the dense
crowd. My son, Warfield, IA years
old, came up to me crying, and offer
ed me an old pistol, three-inch barrel,
which had given him some years
before: this rejected as an ineffi-
cient weapon. So soon as / recover
cd my sight and perceived where
Cyrus Turner was, made toward
him; he retreated with tho crowd.
The crowd giving way behind him,
he fell, when / attempted to strike or
did strike him in the abdomen with
my knife. was then borne away.
Believing myself MORALLY wounded,
/ appealed to the crowd to witness
that fell in defense Of the liberties
of the people. My first impression
was that the man who took my knife
from me had stabbed me with my
own knife, but every one who had
seen the wound and the knife, pro-
fessional and unprofessional, pro-
nounce it physically impossible. 1
was struck on the fifth rib, the knife
turned partially round and passed up
in the direction Of the left breast. 1
do not remember at what time j was
stabbed; / know neither who took
the knife, nor who stabbed me; Cy-
rus Turner admitted that he did not.
/ know not who struck me il is adj
mitted on all hands, by friend and
foe, that Alfred Turner cousin Of
Squire Turner) struck me several vi
olent blows with a stick. Thomas
Turner admits that he bursted three
caps at me with asix-barrel revolver,
and was proceeding to fire on when
my friend, Wyatt Wilkerson, threw
him under the table; while many
others whom / forbear to name al
present, seemed to be aiding and
abetting. My friend, w. Wilkerson,
was badly cut in the arm with knife.
l supposed for several days that 1
was stabbed in the right side near
the backbone, but it must have been
the result Of a severe blow. suffer-
cd acute pain in my right shoulder
for ten days. This, too, was produc-
ed by severe blows. 1t is probable
that had as many friends on the
ground as Turner, but they were par.
alyzed by surprise, while must dc
my opponents the Justice to say that
they acted with q speed, concentra.
| NOus uuu CuCI&y WOKLuy Va q UCtCCl
success. After I was borne into the
house could hear G. Turner'S groan!
in another room. Iasked what wal
his condition. 1 was told that he was
not fatally wounded. 1 then sem
him word "that / rejoiced that had
not given him mortal wound" III
returned for an answer that he "hai
not stabbed me-" and / understood
before his death imputed no blame
to me.
Truth requires me to say that Cy
rue Turner's life and character hat
inspired me with the same respec
which is felt by the citizens of Madi
son county generally. While l re
grct his death, not upon me rests tn
responsibility of its necessity. Now
in the third week, 1 still linger ant
suffer from the wound, unable t,
have my bed made up. In this con
dition l have dictated the preceding
statement to an amanuensis.
July 2, 1S49. &. NJ. CLAY.
Mr.. Clay fully recovered from hi
injuries. His recent killing of ne
gro shows that he has not forgotten
how to handle deadly weapons.
The following Washington specia
RI tho Nnv NnrE Ty.noe Uivoe a lafaua,