The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-08

| just below the shoulder, the third
/ passed through the left hand and
wrist. Only one man heard the re-
port of the firing, and he said nothing
about the shots being too rapid to
have been fired by one man, on the
contrary he said that they did not at
tract his attention very much. In
stead of the Sawyers being seen
coming from the place of the tragedy
and being suspicioned and search be-
ing made and the body of Dixon
found, they rode at once to Green
McCoy's whom they told that w. G.
Sawyer had killed Dixon on the side
of the mountain, when Mccoy with
others went to the spot and found his
body. The above evidence includes
none of the statements of either of the
SawyerS. W. G. Sawyer when he first
reached McCoy's stated that he had
killed Dixon; that they had met on
the side of the mountain; that Dixon
had drawn his gun on him twice that
day, and he thought the last time was
his time. A. NJ. Sawyer, the brother
of the defendant, testified that they
met; that Dixon commenced drawing
his gun from the Scab-
bard when his brother told
him to hold up that just as Dixon
got his gun out, his brother drew his
pistol, commenced firing and killed
him. The coat deceased was wearing
when he was killed, was presented in
court, and did not have single hole
in the rear, all being in front and in
the sides. AS to what has been said
about the Sawyers joining a band of
desperate men, know this to be un-
true, for they voluntarily came in and
surrendered themselves to the author
tiles and brought with them respon-
sible men to go on their bond if neceS-
Sary. / heard on the first day of the
trial that their friends said that they
should neither go to Jail nor give bond.
Having investigated the matter so as
to be prepared for the worst, l found
that their friends had told them af-
ter the trial commenced that they
would have to go to Jail until it was
over. which they were willing to do.
The foregoing statements are true
as any one may learn for himself by
examining the evidence on file in my
office, adduced during the trial and
sworn to by the witnesses.
The trial lasted about three days.
The state was represented by able at
torneyS; they were granted all the
time asked for, and l discharged the
defendant, because from the evil
dence l believe the killing to have
been justifiable homicide. and not
because l was bulldozed; for 1
well know that 1 could in five
minutes get men enough to
arrest and Jail twice the number of
the friends of Sawyer, which Judge
Walters speaks of.
This was a horrible tragedy-one
which all good people regret; and the
slayer may be guilty of much, and if
so ought to receive the punishment
due therefor, but on trial the state
wholly failed to sustain her charges.
Against Mr.. B. F. Dixon and Judge
Walters l have not word to say.
They were badly misinformed as to
the facts in this case, and hence their
statements to the STATESMAN report
er are erroneous from beginning to
end.
Hoping that in justice to Llano
county you will give these lines a
place in the columns of your valuable
paper, am
Yours respectfully,
JOHN G. OATMAN,
County Judge Llano County.
We endorse all of the above and
foregoing statements.
BoNHAM 81 WILKES,
Attorneys for w. G. Sawyer.
A. N. HARGRoVE,
County Attorney Llano County.