The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-06-14
A Lawyers Story

One winter evening about o'clock in
the early days of the war, In the quiet
little town of ---,s awhile patrollng the
streets to pick up stragglers from the
camp on the outskirts of the town,
Corporal Julius Frye was shot and kill
ed by one of three men OF bad character,
who We're in company and in open
enmity with the soldiers. The men
were arrested, committed to prison and
brought to trial at the next term of
court. Two of them were gamblers and
desperadoes and supposed to have more
than once had their hands stained in
human blood. The third, whom shall
call Short, though bearing an unenvia-
ble reputation, was regarded as one
unlikely to slay fellow-man except
under compulsion of circumstances On
account of the character of the men and
the trouble they had already brought
upon quiet, law-abiding citizens the
sentiment of the whole community was
strongly against them.
In order to clearly understand the
force of the testimony given upon trial
and the subsequent result it is important
TO bear in mind the physical peculiari-
ties, dress and general appearance of
each of the three prisoners.
Shott was u small man, not more than
five feet six inches in height, slender,
weighing scarcely 1870 pounds, with
bright, fiery-red hair and side -whiskers,
and at the time of the murder wore a
white felt hat and an old lght.blue
army overcoat.
Ryan was fully six feet in height, of
robust frame, dressed in dark clothes
and wore Derby hat.
Grey was heavy, broad shouldered
man of medium height, weighing fully
200 pounds, with full black beard
reaching nearly to his waist. But as
the evidence subsequently showed that
he had not fired the shot it is unneces-
sary to describe his appearance more
infinitely.
Certainly it is difficult to imagine two
men more unlike than Short and Ryan
or less liable to be mistaken for each
other even by strangers, much less by
their acquaintances. There was no
possibility here for case of mistaken
identity.
Short and Ryan were tried together,
with their consent-Grey having asked
for and obtained separate trial-and
each was defended by separate coun-
sell
After the preliminary proof relating
to the post mortem examination, the
cause of death and the Identification of
the body of the deceased as the person
named in the Indictment the Common
wealth called as its first witness a
woman, Mary Bowen. She bore bad
name for chastity, but nobody question
Ell her integrity or purpose to tell, re-
luctantly, it is true, the whole truth.
The prisoners were all her friends and
constant visitors to her drinking saloon,
of which she was proprietress. She was
woman of powerful physique, almost
masculine frame, great force of charac-
ter and more than ordinary intelligence.
From her testimony it appeared that
colored woman with whom she had some
difficulty had hit her on the head with
stone and ran, and the three prisoners
coming up at that moment, started with
her up the street in pursuit of the
fugitive. Although the night was
dark there was snow on the ground, and
gas lamp near by gave sufficient light
to enable one to recognize person with
ease some feet away flor runpinr
about one hundred 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 one of his
squad. She swore that when the cor
poral called "halt" Short, whom she
had known intimately for years replied,
Go to h-l," and, while standing at
her side, so that their elbows were
touching, both being Immediately 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 pursu-
ing him, she heard four or five more
shots fired and Immediately the deceased
returned, wounded, and Short disap-
peared. While the shots were being
fired she saw both Ryan and Grey stand
ing at the corner some feet away from
her and after that they separated and
she went home. 1t was also proved
that the alley was bounded, on either
side, by high fences, difficult to climb,