The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-15
THE HOOPER:ECKLES MURDER
TRIAL.

4
TRIAL.
The trial of the Hooper murde
case was resumed again yeSterda,
I morning and occupied the time of tn
Court all day. 1t will take anothe
day to get the evidence in, and per
haps day to argue it. The evidenc,
yesterday was as follows:
MIR. Roy was the third witness fol
the state and the first one examined
third witness for defendant az
follows: Live in ComaI county.
knew the Mexican barber. He is now
dead. Knew nothing of the size Of
the barber shop. He died in January
1883.
Cross l saw him dead
1t was thought he was poisoned, as
some poison was found in his room
Suppose he suicided. l had seen him
the day before. do no not know of
any friend of his in New Braunfels OF
that he ever had one there.
Mr.. Pfeuffer was the fourth witness
for the state. He testified: live in
New Braunfels and have for twenty
pears. l knew the Mexican barber,
and that he died early in January,
1888. His name was MerimOn. l
think he was sixty years of age.
Cross-eXamination-He was clean
shaved except a mustache, which
was gray; he had grizzly hair; l was
frequently in the part of town where
he had his shop. He was a low-hung
set man, with what we would call Il
fair complexion or olive color. 1 do
not know where he came from.
Mr.. Miller was the fifth witness for
the state. He testified: 1 have lived
in new Braunfels for thirty years. 1
knew a Mexican named Merriam, a
barber. He had been there about a
month before he died, which was on
the 9th of January (witness gave
same description of the Mexican as
the last WitnesS.) [ never saw any
scars or pOx marks on his face.
A. j. Cook was the sixth witness
examined on the part of the state.
| He testified: 1 live at Kingsbury
and know defendant. 1 knew de-
ceased when l saw him, but l had no
acquaintance with him. ] don't re-
member how long L have known
the defendant; have been in Kyle;
was there in June 1882; in regard to
the shooting the first l saw was,
EckleS passed me some SeVenty-fYe
yards from where he was killed; as he
passed L noticed he had a pistol in
his hand going towards bis saddle
shop; he went to his door and here
paused and raised his pistol and pre-
scented it; could see the defendants
hand and arm thrust out of the de-
ceased's shop; he fired his pistol and
Eckles fired and fell back and flour
ished his pistol over himself
as if trying to fire it again. Defend
ant then cooked pistol and placed it to
Eckles' breast, and then reached over
him and took EckleS' pistol from him
and threw it out into the street; he
then got off Eckles, who was shot in
the right breast. Eckles died alone.
Hooper stood around there until 1
left. This occurred about 9 o'clock a.
m; had not seen Hooper that day
before. l think there was a Mexican
barber shop adjoining Eckles', and
think the Mexican was there that
day.
Cross examination There were
two shots fired in all;lEckles fell at
once when shot. The shots were fired
close together. 1t appeared close to
me but 1 might be mistaken. 1 can
not tell certainly that the pistol was
fired with the hand / saw thrust out
of the door towards Eckles OF out of
his other hand. I saw smoke about
that time. heard there was a row
up there and for that reason watch
ed Eckles with the pistol. He stepped
up on the platform about three
steps before he got to his
own door in front of the Mexican's
barber shop; was on the awning of
Groose store, leaning against post; l
was at the extreme south, but not at
the extreme east, on the awning;
VIM. Steele was with me; we came to
Kyle together; from the time Eckles
passed us with the pistol the shooting
occurred as quickly as he could walk
up to the place where the shots were
fired; Mr.. Martin picked up Eckles'
pistol in the street; it was half-cocked;
deceased began to fall as his own pis-
tol went off.
Redirect = The way 1 saw the
shooting, Hooper fired first; though
men often differ as to such facts and
do not see them alike; it is usual to
walk on the plank walk; the direction
Eckles went he walked on the ground.
Wm. Steel was the seventh witness
for the state. He testified: l live in
Kyle and knew EckleS by sight; was
in Kyle at the time of the shooting.
(Witness then gave an account
of the shooting just the same
as the last witness, except he
said Hooper came out of the shop
before he fired. He also testified to
finding a shot in Eckles' ceiling.
DISCRIMINATION = When Eckles
passed he had a pistol openly in his
hand, with the muZZle down; there
was no scabbard in sight; 1 had re-
ceived information he was mad, and
was going to have fight or kill some
body, and l watched him; he stepped
up on the platform about the corner
of his shop, and walked up south of the
house to the door and raised and pre-
sented his pistol in at his door and the
firing commenced; the shots were so
close together I could hardly discover
their difference.
Mr.. Wright was the eighth witness
for the state. He testified: / live in
Kyle; know deceased; saw him in
Kyle the day of the shooting. He
went away and came back by me with
a pistol. 1 looked towards the depot,
heard a pistol and saw smoke come
out of his shop. Gle gave an account
of the shooting the same as
other witnesses). AS Eckles walked
up the street for the pistol Roach ask
ed him where was going and what he
was going to do. He made no reply.
Roach asked him when he came If be
was going to hurt or kill somebody.
He made no reply. When the firing
occurred the smoke come out OF the
| door.
Cross examination :-Eckles seemed
to be in a hurry when he was first
going away.
Mr.. Colger was the ninth witness
for the state. He testified: / know de-
PENDANT by sight; was in Kyle the day
of the shooting; saw deceased going up
the street with a pistol; heard report,
turned and saw the smoke coming
out of the shop; cannot say which
fired the first shot; defendant seemed
to present his pistol at deceased as Of
ten as twice and Eckles pushed it
away.
w. B. Sloan was the tenth witness
| for the state. He testified: l know
the defendant and the deceased; saw
them together on the morning before
the difficulty, about three-fourths of
an hour before it occurred; did not
see the difficulty: had a talk with the