The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-12-04
muanKRKp AID nunnEp.
". II. Watson Murdersd by Tn
known PARTIES and Hts Body
Burned 30 RI u.


known Parties and BIs BODY
Burned 90 a ,rI y.
On Sunday abouI IA " the build
ing owned by Morris & CrsAfsrd, anu
used IS iced and trOcer7 store. OF
Essi Pscau s'Iert, was di vercd To
be on fiIe. the fire alarm was soun6ed
and but few mOmeLt t. elapsed before
the fire companies were ON the spot,
but IN 'pite of their forts the building
was laid in ashts. A. late hour the
same morning the BODY NJ w 3 Wat
SOD wac fouod in tbs debris. buried t0
$ crisp. He was q olsIE rmpinyed by
Morris & Crawford AID a. sic D. in
The buildIDg. 6ome supposed thas he
hal been drunk the night of the b c
and tina. he wss not ar used from his
stupor in time To cap. Dfs. BiDb
and GivtIs were snmnOnd 10 make
post mcrte N PXsminstlon. Their eX-
animation showed, however, that the
body was free of anything like int"x-
catiDg lq aid. TIE general supposItion,
therefore, IL that the man was murder
I'd and tie house set n tife in order to
destroy the evidences of the crime.
This is merely current rumor on the
streets. Below We apnend the iesti-
mony taken by Justice L e:
Patrick Come ley, sworn, says: /
live across the str, ct from the wagon
yard. b tween thrfe and eight min
utes Of A. n. my daughter called me,
saying the store scToss the street is On
fire. hallooed fire as soon as / OPen-
ed the door. / put on my pants and
boots and ran over the store. tried
70 open the front docr, but could not.
/ went for an ak TO break open the
door; when got back l found Fritz,
the butcher, there. We broke open
the door. l saw two men take veg
on from the rear Of the building into
the east yard. The room Was full OF
smoke when we took the door down.
We could see about ten feet back into
the store. l heard no noise so ut the
place. The heat was veIy great;
could not have possibly gone in more
than eight or ten feet because of the
excessive heat and smoke. l heard no
groans. The building had been On fire
ten minutes. LIQUID rot lave lived
in the room two minutes, owing to the
excessive heat aud smoke. / do not
know the names of the men who took
the wagon away.
G. j. Wilhelm sworn says: / was
woke by Mrs Cotton and went to the
fire about o'clock A NJ. when got
there found the rear part of the
building was on fire; there WIS no fire
in the main building when Ignt there;
II ha I'd
no grosns at that time; | think the
noise of the fire would have awake a
man sleeping in the front of the store;
If he had awakened he could have
been out OF the house five minutes be-
fore the msin building took fire. At
the time the main building took fire
there was enough noise to wake any
man in that building. The south win
dow in the main building was open
saw no person IN the rear of the main
building when / got there; there was
no door IN the rear of the main build
ing.
DIS. ]. G. Owens and r. H. L.
BIDb, practicing physicians in Travis
county, being sworn, testified that
they had examined the remains of a
person found in the ruins of fire that
occurred at the place formerly occu-
pied by Goodwin & Thompson as q
grocery store and wagon yard on the
morning of November 80, 1879, and
that from sad examination they are
unable to arrive al any other conclu-
sion than that deceased came to his
death from the effects of SAID fire.
Mrs. NJ V Hooker sworn: She stat
ed that about five minutes before four
o'clock she saw a light in the window;
she looked out and saw the fire in the
store; it was IN the hay at the south
end of the building; she saw no per-
son about; she heard some noise; she
saw thft the window was open /;
the fire began on the south side or end
OF the building; she heard no roise
inside of the'buIlding; it was Unusual
Tor the window to be open at night.
Mr.. d. III iris being sworn, states
that he was proprietor of the store that
was burned on Pecan street this morn
ing; the whole premises was insured,
5000 on the building, $50 on the fix
lures and 500 on the goods contained
IN said store, amounting to $1,000.
left the store about $50 o'clock; left
Mr.. Watson there; Mr.. Watson was in
my employ as clerk, and slept in the
store; l have seen the remains of the
person found in the ruins of the store !;
l believe the remains to be W. B. Wat
sons; when left the store, Watson
was waiting to settle with some wag-
oners; we use no fire about the store,
except the lamps; the window in the
rear of the building was usually kept
closed; he closed the window before I
left the store the night of the fire; he
closed the window and barred it; there
was no wagons in the yard or around
the house at the time of the fire; there
was no wind blowing.
w. T. Arther, sworn, says that he
was one of the first to see the fire. It
was started at the southeast corner of
the house, outside of the main build
ing, in the hay house.
We, the undersigned jurors, find
that the deceased, w. B. Watson, came
to his death from sutfocation in the
building, situated on East Pecan street,
owned by Morris & Crawford, on the
morning of the thirtieth instant. We
also find that the fire IN said building
originated from an incendisry, the in
cendisry of which beng to US unknown.
@. B. SHERIDAN,