Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-09-29

'he oody OF the deceased as the nersou
named IN the indictment, tie Com |
monwealth called as its frs witness
woman, Mary Bowen. She bore q bad
reputation for chastity, but nobody
questioned her integrity or her purpose
TO tell, reluctantly, it is true, the whole
truth The prisoners were all her
trends and We're constant visitors to
the drinking saloon of which she was
Iproprietress. She was a woman of
powerful physique, almost masculine
frame, great force Of character and
more than ordinary intelligence.
from her testimony it appeared THAT
col red woman with whom she had
some dispute had hit her on the head
with a stone and ran, and the three
prisoners, coming up at the moment,
started with her up the street in pursuit
OF the fugitive. Although the night
was dark there was snow on the ground,
ana gas amp near by gave sufficient
| light to enable one to recognize a person
with ease some feet away. After run
ming about 100 yards the pursuers came
TO the corner of an alley and stopped
under the gas lamp, being challenged
! by the deceased, who was in uniform,
IN company with his squad She swore
| that when the corporal called "halt,"
short whom she had known intimately
for years, replied, eco to HI" and,
while standing at her side, so t. at their
elbows were touching, both being i'm
medlately under the gaslight, he pulled
out pistol, pointed it at the deceased,
who WAS four or five feet from him, and
fired and then ran down the alley, the
deceased returned, wounded, and Short
disappeared. While the shots were
being fired she saw both Ryan and Grey
standing at the corner some feet away
from her and after that they separated
and she went home. 1t was also proved
that this alley was bounded on either
side by high fences, difficult to climb,
and led down to stream of water about
fifty feet wide and three or four feet
deep. No trace of footsteps were found
III the snow except those of one man
leading down into this stream, and it
was evident that the person who had
fired had not climbed either fence. but
had waded through the stream and
disappeared on the other side.
The next witness was the soldier who
stood close by the deceased when the
first shot was fired, and who, not know
ing either of the prisoners, described
the person who had fred and ran down
the alley as the man With red hair and
side whiskers, dressed in light-blue
army overcoat and white soft hat. and
upon being directed to look at the three
prisoners identified Short rs the man
whom he had seen do the shooting.
The testimony Of these witnesses was
in no way shaken upon cross examina-
| ton.
Then the sworn ante-mortem state
ment of the deceased, taken by mag
istrate, was read to the jury. He said
that he had Anown Short personally for
some time, but had never had any diff
ticulty with him. He fully identified
him as the man who had fired the first
shot and then ran down the alley, fir
| ing one shot after another until he
fired the last and fatal shot almost in
the face of the deceased. He also fully
described the clothing worn by Short
as it had been described by the other
witnesses.
These were all the with esses to the
occurrence, except the prisoners them
selves, and, of course, they could not
be heard. The case against Short
seemed to be as conclusively made out
as though score of witnesses had
sworn that they had seen him do the
shooting. Neither the judge, the jury,
nor the spectators entertained the
slightest doubt of his guilt and when
the commonwealth at this point closed
its case, it seemed as though the fatal
rope was already around his neck and
his escape impossible.
Ryan heaved sigh of relief which
was audible throughout the whole court
room, for he was safe; there was not
one word OF testimony against him, or
any circumstance tending to show any
previous arrangement or concert of ac-
ton between him and Short
After whispered consultation be-
tween the counsel for the defense, one
Of them rose and moved the court to
direct the jury to forthwith return a
verdict of mot guilty" as to Ryan, in
order that he might be called as wit
ness for the other prisoner This was
resisted by the district attorney, and,
after lengthy and elaborate arguments,
the court decided that it was bound to
grant the motion, and accordingly
Ryan was declared mot guilty." and
the verdict recorded
Then came scene as dramatic to
those present as anything ever witness
ed on the stage Without any opening
speech by Shorts counsel, Ryan, in
obedience to nod from his attorney,
stepped out of the prisoners dock and
into the witness box, looked around
the courtroom, took up the Bible and
was sworn to tell "the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth.
Eve-y head was bent forward, every ear
was on the alert, every eye fixed on the
witness-som ething startling was ex-
pected Would he ATTEMPT to show
that Short had done the shooting in
selfdefense' That seemed the only
thing possible. But how could he be
believed in the face of positive testi-
mony of three witnesses, two of them
/ IL.