The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-17

scauent movements are detailed nbove. He ar
! rived home Mt O'Clock. His wife. son, mi
! daughter all agreo that Bings had been thcrd
! 81 least twenty minutes, Both tho son and tho
| inthcr looked Mt the clock when Mr.. Billings
| lett tho father taking out his watch to wind II.
II was two minutg nftcr 9. Mr. Washburn.
| though friend Of Killings. hns boon a SUPER
| visor and Justice OF the Peace over thirty years.
II ,s chma"ter y unimppachable
But tho evidence as to the timo Of the shot Is
borne out by ono Conkling. who was vlelting n
Bingss house. lie iook hs' watch pp out of
70 nine / must got homc.7 Before he re-.
was qrcd. II Mrs Billings was murdered at
40. Billings must have been in Washburn's
unt The District Attorney has evidence that
! Mrs Billings was killed not ator than 8 80. II
Is also said that witnesses will swear that Mr..
| Washturns eycsght IS SO poor that he WIS in
! the habit Of taking out his watch and asking
M, commpnnions 70 tell him what time it was;
| MIR. Bilingss bank II the next house north Of
his residence. neighbor lives in house
ten feet from his garden. Tho tracks Of rubber
TFs hoas aDS his sn sne on rqRS
| lowing morning. These tracks could not
have been made after the murder, bccopse
! saw no one pass after the shot was fred. The
tracks are nexplicable. Billings saws he. WIS
| not there. And Detective Markham declares
| that he saw the tracks and fitted the rubber
| boots TO them
BILLINGs's EXAMINATION.
=, Billings wns Swallowed after the arrival o.
with him on "Wednesday night aud saws that
| he slept as sweetly ~ an infant. On Thursday
| he sat in his bank surrounded by friends and
! neighbors Iie read aloud report " the muir
! der in tho Troy. Times. IN which he was indi-
I recty accused 81 being the pcrpetrator OF the
/ deed. and made joculur comments thereon. On
| the same day he engaged men TO 20 up on the
| farm and reset the PROSTATE fences. He was
! the fir-t witness examined before the Coroner.
/ He acknowledged the tracks. aud gave his
| movements uptn the time of the murder. rs Do
tailed above. The following is the most inter-
! esting portion OF the examinations
q DO you know the perpetrator Of this murder' A.
al mc iccdf Yes. sir WV WIN W '''" WIN
Q-ltis NOW about eighteen hours since the deed was
done Whnt measures have Ncu taken ~ ascertain the
! rcrI"tratorf A-Taikiug with my friends and answer
INK stons that my ncrhbofs and officers have asked
--fsusecsi,d that We have several arrests made and
that We employ detective from Troy made tie sus
y ,llow many dld you suspect concerned In her
! murder Al can't tell how many.
Did you name anybody to he arrcspdi A-No
xpm YOU have any suspicious of any particular one'
an , ,SS s ." apms nS an naean1 mature
any one that you could describe Al tIiiuk had.
o % Rse h no asy 9 ANY gTan ysa Soe
| Q WY A-Iwas not asked
Did you deem It your dutN 60 keen such knowledge
/ secret. A Il iid from the nature Of the Ease.
you did mot name an, onci A-From The indefinite ea
had supposed arrests could he made any time. That
You ss, mat YOU suggested that arrest. he made
Was II iea e. allow oniccr TO arrest At random
an, he cho-c' \ i mai no idea about It thought
| q -Con.mracS aeain.t whom A-Aeans several I
muushi thtre might be conspiracy among my neigh
3-Asainst whom Al would not like to name that
SS v MAT re spsgs 9 NAM ig mo-, dS a, present
Q Not prudent Tor whom. yourself or The cgn,pira
tween YOU aud your wife for the last ycar-leasant nr
ul'nsan.. ,A-ihat y a ltvuN broad question since
toward me II have always been pleasant enough
On the morning after the murder sherman
| swears that Billings stopped him. saying I've
\ whore you can De found. | understand that
you have turned traitor to me. You can't
! prove that you were in the store at the time Mrs
| Billings was shot" He added that a cuniiden-
| ual friend and a good. Trustworthy man had
| told him that sherman was engaged to his
| 10 II. and insinuated that his daughter and
sherman were interested in getting Mrs. BIZ
! lings out Of the way.
1HE cARBINE.
The strongest evidence is tho carbine. the
I SUBJECT ~ conversation on sunday, June 2. be-
! oiling the wagon. on Wednesday, sherman
| looked Tor tho gun IN the little room on
/ Onlcer Chase searched the closets and iumbsr
! piles, but could not ind II. The general belief
| " That y h't ''.rn brown into the river. On
lane md stopped ut the spot where billings md
tied his horse; lie saw spot Of mud on the
| tied. Some one had jumped over. There WIS a
| trail through the tail, wet grass, H. followed
! IL thirty feet. and came 10 an old well covered
| with roiting boards. One 81 the boards had
| lately been misplaced and there WAS foot
! print IN small blot of gravel on the edge Of the
/ well. house had formerly stood near this
well, but WAS burned down over twenty years
ago. Cary informed tho District Attorney
81 his discovery. Some old hunters told ON rer
! Chas, that they knew Of the existence Of this
| well. and hasc. experienced in graphing for
things on the bottom Of the river. deter
/ mai tn oh fri ....r
SAYS that he heard that Billings, on being
| informed Of the discovery OF the we'll
did The desd threw the '1 w0ap .n' into noe b
| river. II Billings said that. rcmarked the
District Attorney we VIII look into the well. .
! morning with patent srApnrl, something llkc
! an eng claw FISH hook. lie took out an old tin
| pail with sodlen rope attached 10 IT, a piece II
! pun i. and many sodden sticks Of wood. After
| two hours he touched iron. There Is the bar
| rel of the gun" said he. He worked the crapucl
| carefully Ia the stock and sprang the CATCH
| He was ten minutes IN getting the gun ont, as
| there WAS seventeen feet Of water IA the well,
! shell remained. And II this was the gun spo-
Sen Of by sherman in HIS conversation
he cae pf ron for sbermSS so WIEN iso he
| never saw one that would fit il.
Chase immediately took tho gun to Schuy-
who told him 70 lock il up in his house
and i keep i. Their Intentions were, to
corning the weapon. When Cow went up 10
| Miller's Bridge he found that Offlcer Gilbert
had teiegraphed to New York for diver to
District Attorney that he had the gun
| Mr. Ormsby aud Officer Gilbert went to Schuy-
! lervie and demanded the gun from
W.. TlereSp S the Bstrict Auorhsy e tot
! cgraphed to magistrate In Saratoga
for warrant for Mr. Blllings's arrest. The
warrant. and Billings was arrested. He
was much SURPRISED, for he evidently eNuecfpl
that no arrest would Ice mnde until after the
Coroner's Jury had returned verdict. Tho ar
rest was made carly IN tho, afternoon. Billings
| did not ask TO see the dead body Of
his wife. He went to his daughters
cried like a CHILD and left his beautiful
| home with cXtreme reiuctancc. That
same afternoon he WIS shackled to an officer
and driven 10 Saratoga. Oniccr Chase had been
| subpUnacd e. appear AZ Saratoga with the gun
| forthwith. and the case was practically taken
out Of the hands Of the Coroner Chase gave
up the gIn TO the District Attorney on
tho Coroners order, and thus avoided
the journey to tho Springs. Tho Dis
trict. Attorney says that he wanted tho
gun because &c was fearful that il might disap-
pear or another gun be substituted for It, and
the strongest evidence against the prisoner be-
thereby removed. Tho Coroner's Jury without
sooing or knowing about the gun. and without
takink the evidence of the daughter or tho
EirNd girl, returned a verdict that Mr6 Billings
was murdered by some person unknown.