The daily gazette., 1883-06-09
BURTON NOT GUILTY.
THE SHOOTING OF wELLsJUs.
TIFIABI.E.
VERDICT OF THE coRONER's JURY
The scheutzen Park Tragedy Investigated
and Wells Slayer Acquitted - Other
1nquests.


ever called together In this city to examin
into any case. Promptly at . O'Clock th
nine jurymen were called together at tn
City Hall court room and organized b
electing P. +. Williams as foreman anc
Robert Il. Lewis as secretary, the othe
members being Stansbury Murray, Jr.
James H. Anderson, Charles H. Smith
Edwin F. Sharper, John Dilahay, E.. H
Chippey and James w. Doman.
Nine witnesses were called and all but tw,
Testified In the most unsatlstaetery manpar
Evidently afraid of saying s1nis sthing wlIici
Ilmight possibly implicate their fffeIsls art
It was only by dint of severe and intelligent
ross-questioDinR on the part of the jur,
| that the evidence in most cases was qotteT
| at all.
The first witness called was Manyillt
| Anderson who testifled-Don't remember
the time of day; was coming up from the
| fence along the race course; saw Burton
and Wells standing together; Burton had d
| pistol in his hand and shot Wells In the
stomach; Wells walked away to a wagon
and said he was shot Burton afterward
said that he would shoot two women who
came up; saw no motion on the part oi
Wells as If he would strike Burton; there
was no erowd-only six men standing in
the group; when Wells was shot he
was close enough to hear them had they
been quarreling; never knew him (Wells) tc
carry q pistol.
Frances simmons, testihed-Was standing
| q short distance away; heard Burton saw,
"Don't touch me or l will give you the con
tents of this;" Wells then clspped his hand
on Burton's shoulder and whirled him around
| when Burton fired; W. en- Wells came uu
Burton was talking to his daughter.
Alexander Walters, swOrn-Had just come
| out of the building;s saw Burton shoot Wells,
who bent almost double and said: "I am
shotl" did not see or hear anything else;
went back to the hall as soon as heard the
report.
alfred Grinnage-Was about 90 feet away
from Wells and Burton; heard the pistol
fired; saw Burton have the pistol in his
hand; heard no fuss between the two; there
were several persons standing by the parties;
never saw Wells before that day; don't
think that Burton was drunk; they ap-
peared to be talking together when | came
up to them; but don't know whether they
were quarreling; the witness was closely
questioned by the jury for fully ten minutes
| for the reason that he appeared to be sup
pressing facts which the jury wished to
learn while answering the questions freely
he was still non-committal.
James A. Anderson was affirmed and tes-
| tilted; was on the inside of the building
and heard the report;went in the. direction
and saw Burton backed up against small
| railing; there was q crowd around him and
he had pistol in his hand; he said, 81 amt
able to defend myself. This is the only way
| have" | said to hisn, "GiVe me the pis-
tol, !" which he did. He then started for the
hall and the crowd closed around him;
tried to protect him, but the crowd closed
around him and beat him mp before l had
time to do anything; took the revolver
home; did not examine it; do not know
whether there are any loads out
of It; when came up to
the crowd; Burton had the pistol in his
hand and appeared to be defending himself;
have known Burton ever since he was boy;
was never known as quarrelsome man
Burton had his watch and money stolen on
| that day; his daughter sold me that Wellt
had slapped Burton in the face before Bur.
ton fired; a man named Blandy shot al
| Burton after he had been beaten by the
crowd; Lewis Hamilton was one of the
leaders and l caught him when the crowd
rushed for Burton and said, Don't hurt
him, that is Phil Burton;" he said "I don't
care d. who he is; he shot my cousiI
and we are going to kill him."
DIR. G. 4. Henderson sworn-Was called
on lueSudy 10 bee O6OFSo W6llsi pTOOeC
the wound and found the ball had lodged ii
the muscles of the stomach on the righ
side; the shot undoubtedly caused the death
when first saw the deceased he appeared tt
be under the influence of alcoholic liquors
he never said anything about his wound; h
died Of peritonetis; the ball was given II
evidence.
DR.. j. T. V. Blocksom, sworn-Am at
tending Burton, who is to-day in fair wa!
of recovery; he is very badly bruised; tn
two wounds on the back of the head wer
done with blackjacks; there was pistol hol
through his pants and drawers h
said he had shot Wells, Burton had suffered
from hemorrhages and was in a very veal
condition.
John Butler, sworn-Was standing in tn
door when the quarrel occurred; Wells an
Burton and his daughter were standing To
gether. Wells grabbed Burton by the Goa
with both bands and then took hold Of Bur
toms shoulder and said he could "eat sue
men as him;" Burton then drew his pisto
and shot Wells. From the way
Wells was acting he appeared as /
| he was going to do Burton bodil
harm; Burton told Wells twice no
. to touch him; heard Miss Burton say tina
, Wells had followed her and her father fror
the road.
As
that Burton was trying to get away az fat
as he could, and could not run on accouI
of an old wound received during the war
Jefferson j. Brown call and sworn
Z Was setting out front and heard a shot an
saw Burton coming across the hall; took hol
of him and while / was holding hil
: some one shot at him, he was the
4 beaten up badly; Burton has always been
! peaceable man; the only one l saw that
! recognized was young Hamilton; Burto
went to the park to see friend name
Rodney from Philadelphia; he was vel
delicate and not able to detend bimself.
At A O'Clock the jury retired to the roo
: of the Chief of Police and after an hou
. deliberation, returned to Coroner emith
I verdict of ''justifable homicide"
4 THE TILGHMAN CASE.
2 The Jury in the case of the colored ma
James Tilghman, found dead In the CT
Hall cells, met last evening at 8 O'Clock
y the office of undertaken Palmer. DIR. Grir
Is shaw testified that he had sent Tilghman
' the Almsho lse about two weeks ago al
that he knew nothing more of him unt
called in on Tuesday to examine him In Il
cells. He stated also that Tilghman vi
incoherent in his speech and that
had given a certificate of insanit
% Also that the insanity was caus,
Is by excessive drinking, and that d
rs ceased would have died had he been tax
u TO the Almshouse. Several officers were e
q amined as to Tilghman's condition VIII
o brought to the hall and verdict Of dea
Y from insanity was then rendered.
n THE DEATH OF THOMAS sIPPLE.
nf The same iury held an inquest upon u