Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-11-25

rnE SPENCER xrRDEa TRIAL.


TnE SPENCER MURDER TRIAL
NEW TACOMA, Nov. ed, 1882.
In the case of the Territory vs. Spen-
Ger, for the killing OF De Witt, the first
witness called today after pm. was J.
J. Hunt, on the part Of the defense.
He testifed:-I visited Chilbergs
house on the evening after the shooting.
and took DeWitt's statement IN writing,
but have lost the manuscript.
Geo. Crawford tessified:-"Was pres
snt and heard the statements made BY
Dewitt, bat cannot remember the con-
tents."
Chas. e. Spencer, the accused, was
next called, and testified a. follows
II came to this Territory on the 7th day
of May, 1881; was not acquainted with
the deceased before / came. Prior to
the shooting and shortly after my arm
val. was informed by Charles Talcott
and others that De Witt was danger
Gus man. On the morning of the day
of the shooting Vas warned by Mrs.
Parker and Miss Ella Fisher that De-
Witt was looking for me, and to look
out for him. That evening went out
TO Burns addition to deliver sewing
machine. On coming back to town !
drove into the upper end Of Pacific ave-
nue. and down to the front Of the Pa
cific saloon. After stopping saw Mr.,
Dougherty on the sidewalk. / said to
Dougherty: Hello, old boy, how are
you?'" "Dougherty said: You are
looking bad. spencer l said: Yes,
am feeling bad He said, won't you
come In and take something" / said
i don't care if do l went into the
saloon, and while there heard one of
the engines in the yard whistle. l ran
to the door, to see IL it had frightened
my team. When l looked out through
the door / saw Dewitt on the sidewalk
in front Of the building. / stepped
back into the saloon. Just then two
boys from the railroad shops came in.
asked thsm to take a drink, saying, i
am going to leave you, boys, in day or
two As l went out of the saloon De-
Witt came up to me and said he wanted
a shuttle or bobbin, or something of
that kind. l told him l had none for
sale. He replied: You are a id
liar. know you have them; where is
that machine you traded from Nolan?'
/ replied, none of your business, and
went to my wagon. Dewitt said Il am
the agent of the Wheeler & Wilson,
White and two or three others, and will
sell them for one half the price you sell
the Singer machine for / replied Il
do not want anything to do with YOU
Dewitt said: You don't know any
thing about fixing machines anyhow,
and will bet you $lC0 that can fix a
machine better than you cam re-
piled, look here, you don't know any
thing about me, and don't want any
conversation with you He replied
you are a - -, and have
been run out of town. | said: That
is none of your ID business; l want
to tell you candidly and positively that
never want you to speak to or reco2-
niZe me again as long as you live De-
Witt then advanced toward me. putting
his right hand behind him. rose from
the seat of the wagon, (which l had got
into to avoid HIM. As Dewitt ad-
vanced, he said: You id -,
I'll run you out of town. As raised
up said: If you don't let me alone
I'll shoot YOU BeforeI bad the words
out of my mouth he was right on me,
and under the excitement, and tho fear
that he was going to use q knife or
whatever he had, pulled the trigger of
my self-cocker. Thinking had missed
him fired again, as l knew the man
intended to do me bodily harm; that he
intended to take advantage of me in
every way he could. was afraid he
would get the advant age of me, and l
pulled the trigger under the excitement.
held the pistol in my left hand and
the reins in the right. l never would
have drawn the pistol if he had not put
his hand behind him, and advanced on
me. He was right on me when fred,
and pushed him away after shooting.
as thought had missed him. As /
showed him he fell out of the wagon to
the ground. whipped my horses up
and started up town to give myself up
to the Sheriff. / had not gone more
than twenty five or thirty yards when l
heard some one call out stop, stop, stop
that wagon, l turned and saw Mr..
Lester. / said. 'WhO are your He an
saered, am the Mayor of this city,
Then said l, If you are the Mayor,
will surrender to YOU He told me to
get out Of the wagon, and did SO. He
then demanded the pistol, and handed
it to him."
During long croas-examination by
brought out. Defense rested after
Spencer's testimony was in.
The Territory then called Miss Ella
Fisher in rebuttal.
She testified that abe could not re-
member warning Mr.. Spencer ON the
morning of the shooting.
Mpo navbor ponoloH hv,k ~--ll
not remember what she had told Mr..
MIR. Gilman was then called, and teS-
titled that Mr.. Dewitt bore aIgood repu-
tatiOn while ON VashOn Island, whore he
had lived for three months.
Up. Chilberg testified:-"Had known
deceased three years in New Tacoma,
and his reputation was good.
Frank Clark testified that Ella Fisher
told him a few days after the shooting
fatal day, in the morning, to look out
for De Witt.
A. Campbell testified that in CONVEX
sation with Ella Fisher in Ross store,
few days after the shooting, abe told
him she had warned Spencer on the
morning before he shot De Witt.
adjourned until o'clock tomorrow
morning.
NEW TACOMA, Nov. ~, 1882.
The argument in the case of the Ter
ritory of Wash ington against Spencer.
for the murder Of Dewitt, was opened
this morning by Prosecuting Attorney
Evans, who spoke very effectively for
three quarters of an hour. He was fol-
lowed by Judge Senter on the part of
the defense. Judge Senter is man of
considerable ability, which he diplayed
with good effect to the jurors for an
hour and quarter. He was followed
by Frank Clark, who spoke 70 tho Jury
for an hour. Mr.. Evans was prevented
from having the assistance of ]. @.
Haines by the Capt. Mountford case
being ordered mp a. the first of tho
Challenger GASES, instead Of the first Of
ficer, as had been previously supposed.
Il was afterward changed to the secord
case, however. Mr.. Evans made O
speech Of an hours duration in closing
the case. His statements were clear
and concise, and he was carefully lis
tened TO by all in the court room. The
cxee vas rested at pm.
The JudRs'a charge TO the jury was