Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-02-20

I went q great many times to see Mr.. Burner
and every time he seemed to be falling and the
condition Of his eyes and skin showed as II he
was approaching DEATH 1 was there about
one dozen times fully before went home. My
I never did hear him express any hope of re-
covery; but exactly the reverse.
He made this statement of his own free will
| l, on the other hand, requested him not to
speak; he spoke kindly and regretfully of the
occurrence. am the Chief of-Police of the
city OF Staunton; l made the arrest; visited
MIR. Burners room and was with the Commons
wealths Attorney; knew that If Mr.. Burner
had any hope of recovery his dying declara-
seen eo9a the 0c pe n6 nos
than about twice; never have seen Burner
with pistol and did not see any in the room
at the hotel he did not say to me that Fannie
Lewis butted against the door; he said An>.ss
| advanced on him and called him "God
damned rascal" Am1ss struck at him and he
| struck him.; and Amiss drew his pistol and
he knocked 1t down, and it shot him in the
| bowels instead of his head:
l think Burner was much more powerful
than Amiss; said he asked Leila Lester to go
| IN and get his oyercoat; this.occurred, If lun-
derstood it, about two feet outside of the door.
| Joseph Lickliter testified: When 1 saw him
between nine and ten ocloc his condition was
about the same as 1t had been. He told me his
prove fatal. did not think he had any hope
of recovery, and all the surrounding circum-
| stances impressed me that he had no hope of
recovery. He did make statement to me
about the difficulty. He said he went down to
this house and was in Fannie Lewis room, and
had been there but short time; was sitting
door; when be knocked he picked up his hat
and got up, but before he could get to the door
Amiss kicked 1t open and came in and said,
"damn you, you are here again, are you? and
Ami made at him and they clinched, and
Amiss pulled his pistol out of his pocked and
was going to shoot him through the head, and
he threw the pistol down and he shot him
/, through the hat and into the bowels, and then
| they scuff1ed out into the hail. and when they
ond time and he said, "George, don't shoot me
again, you have shot me once; get my over
coat and will go. Amiss went in the room,
you, get out of here" and he went out and
come on up TO the hotel.
Mr. Fellows testified: Mr.. Lickliter gave me
pistol after Mr.. Burner was wounded, and
took 1t and put 1t in the drawer and locked it
up; it was afterwards called for by Mr.. L. Burn
er, and gave 1t to him; would not know the
pistol; do not know The make nor the CAR
fridge. just simply took it from Mr.. Licki-
ter and put it in the drawer; and then took 1t
from the draw er and gave it to Mr.. Burner. l
do not know how many cartridges were in that
pistol when it was handed to me- / noticed
that there was one barrel empty when 1t was
handed me. The pistol which Mr.. Lickliter
handed to me had one barrel empty. Mr.. L.
Burner, a brother of the deceased called for
and took the pistol from me on the evening of
Mr. L. Burner testified: I am brother OF
John j. Burner. I arrived at stanton on the
Valley rain about o'clock on the evening my
lows at the Virginia Hotel.
"a pistol being shown to the witness, said
that was the same one ne took from Mr.. Fell
lows at the Virginia Hotel
There was one chamber of the pistol empty.
when received it and the hammer was down
on that chamber. Iput it in my valise and
carried 1t to my fathers where my brother
lived and put 1T in a bureau drawer, where 1T
remained until you (Mr. Echols) sent to me for
box; there was no she'll in the chamber.
Mr. Burner do you know whether or not 1t
was your brothers habit to carry his pistol
with one empty chamber?
Last Fall when l was going away from home
borrowed pistol from my brother, and he
raised the hammer which was down on an
tural implements, and had an agency for the
Prick engine. He Travelled over Vfrg and
West Virginia and to Bristol, Tennessee. He
sometimes had several hundred dollars in
money with him and sometimes had all notes.
CROSS EXAMINATION.
I asked MIR. Fellows for the things which
were in my brothers pock cts and lie gave me
the pistol along with them.
-t MONDAY.
Court met at 10 o'clock. and the jury was
brought in, The Commemorative Attorney
asked for rule against sandy Wilson. for
whom a subpoena had been issued Saturday
evening. 1t turned out that the officer. Mr..
Simpson had not served the subpoena, but had
only summoned the witness verbally, there
fore the Judge refused to issue a rule. Mr..
Echols then asked for another subpoena to be
issued returnable in % minutes. The officer,
Mr.. Hutchinson soon returned, stating the
witness had left the city on sunday and had
not returned.
Luther A. Saunders. of Mt. Crawford. intro
duced by defense: Had conversation with Mr..
Burner about last December County Court at
ON Burke's. Took drink together. Saw
gold headed cane in his hand. Asked him to
make him present of it. Said he could not,
as he had given away too much gold already.
Had given 1t to this girl. Fannie Lewis Had
given her a gold watch. Told him to be care
full or he would get in trouble with Amiss. He
showed me pistol and said he always went
prepared to take care of himself. Saw Mr..
Burner on the morning of the day be was shot,
at Mt. Crawford, at my office. Did not COM
municate this to Mr.. Amiss. Only knew Amss
when he saw him. Had no personal acquaint-
ance with him. Did not know Fannie Lewis or
her character. Did not know that Burner was
married man. Burner said he would give the
watch to his girl. Fannie Lewis.
At this point the case was rested and the
counsel began to prepare for the argument.
Hon. H. H. Riddleberger led off for the prose-
cution in speech that has been highly COM
plimented, and was followed by Mr.. ]. N. Lig-
gett, of Harrisonburg, for the defense, who &C.
quilted himself well and was greeted with the
appreciation of his many friends. The argu-
ment of the case will be resumed to-day at 10
o'clock.