The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-15
IN IETEREsTxNG TRIAL,


; -Yongue and William Yongue, charged
with the murder of William II. Steven
son Oh the 1st Of March last, was call
cd on Thursday morning, the 10th
instant. The defendants were repre-
sented by Messrs. Gaillafd & Rcy-
nolds, and A, NJ. Mackey, Esq, and the
State by Solicitor Castor, assisted by
Col, j. D. Wylie, of the Lancaster bar.
The prisoners were placed in the
dock, and being arraigncd, pleaded
"Not guilty." and announced them.
selves ready for trial. Tho names of
tho jurors were drawn from list by
little boy, and each juror was exam
tncd as to his bias or prejudice in the
matter. A few were set aside on the
ground of relationship to the deceased
or to the prisoners, and quite num-
bcr because they had expressed opin-
ions as to tho guilt or innocence Of tho
accused. The prisoners also made
several pcrcmptory challenges, and the
State two. The original panel Of thir-
ty-six was exhausted, and there were
but ten jurors sworn. An order was
accordingly taken for the drawing and
summoning Of twenty additional ju-
rors, and the Court adjourned till three
O'Clock, From this new list but one
juror was procured, and another order
was issued for the summonibg of
twenty more. OF these last, only
fourteen appeared. The twelfth ju-
ror was ut last procured, and the jury,
all white, organized rs follows: Hen
ry Helms (foreman). II. M. Dunlevy,
w. B. Woodward, Jr., Jno. B. Pat
rick, j. M. Bea'y, w. Nc. Blair, Hen
ry Robertson, Jcphtha r. Arledgc,
Wm. NJ. Nelson, II. L. Broom, w. T..
Smith, Jno. Y. Scott.
AS this case has excited no little in
tercst and comment throughout our
county, both by reason Of the character
Of the parties concerned, and the cir.
cumstances attending thc commission
Of the alleged crime, we deem it Of inn
portancc that the facts, as brought out
on the witness stand, be laid before
the public.
The theory Of the State was that the
killing was the result of al old grudge
dating back about five years, and that
the acts of the defendant on the day of
the killing all showed malicious III
tent. The position of the defence was
that the prior differences between the
parties had all been amicably settled;
that their relations up to the morning
they met in Winnsboro were perfectly
friendly; that they left town without
any hostile feelings towards each 9TH
er; that the threats of Joseph Yonguc,
if any were made, were but the empty
bravado Of n drunken man; and that
tho stabs inflicted were given in self
defence. AS to the defendant Wm.
Ionguc, il was claimed that so far
from any anticipation III the killing, he
actually tried to prevent the difficulty
During the trial his innocence was
virtually coli coded by the States coun-
sci.
The case asmade out and dcvclopcd
by the State is III substance as follows:
On tho day of the fatal difficulty that
terminated in the death Of Mr.. Stevcn-
son, all the parties to the unfortunate
occurrence were in Winnsboro.
About i o'clock Mr.. Stevenson, the de-
ceased, in company with his cousin,
Mr.. james Stevenson, left town and
started for home. They had gone
about Two and quarter miles, when
they were ovcrtaken by Mr.. Joseph
Iongue, who came up to them in q
rapid manner and commenced to use
profanc language to Mr.. Stevenson,
the deceased. He had inquired Of
several parties before overtaking the
Mcssrs. Stevensons, how far the de-
ceased was ahead of him. and intimat-
ed. in very strong language, his intcn-
ton to catch the deceased, if nc was
in the road. Mr.. Stevenson evinccd o
disinclination to quarrel with Mr..
Joseph Yongue, and the three, the
two Stcvcnsons and Yonguc, ali rode
along together, but Mr.. Yongue would
not dcsist from his language until the
parties had gone some two or three
ilii'oS IoSCtllCi, "IiCll llc iOuC unCuu O1
them. When the Stevensons came up
Joseph Yongue was down in the road
and they passed him. Hc soon over
took them and continued to use pro-
fame language to the deceased. Tho
Stcvcnsons stopped on the road side to
look at the place where the deceased
und his wife had been thrown from
their buggy the week before, when
Mr.. Stcvcnson's horse had run off with
him. While here Joseph Yonguc Of
cred the Stcvcnsons some whiskcy to
drink, but they refused it and Yonguc
took some himself, and again made
use Of abusive language to the dcccas-
cd. William Ionguc passed them at
this point and cndeavorcd to get his
brother to go on with him, but he fail
cd in this and passed. on by thcm.
The party then rode on after q short
time, WIN. II. Stevenson riding iii the
rear Of Joseph Yonguc and James Stc-
vcnson. Before coming to Little Riv-
CT, Joseph Yonguc again rode ahead
and stopped until the Stcvensons
came up to him, when he made some
insulting remark to the deceased in re-
gard to his family. The deceased then
f~1l Il l,o 4