The daily gazette., 1883-02-28
JOHN CRONEY'S TRIAL.
HEARING EVIDENCE IN THE
= CASE
FOUR WITNESSES EXAMINED.
An Agree as TO the Manner of the Shoot
ing and the circumgtsnoes snrround-
ing IL. t-

been aroused and yesterday afternoon the
court room was crowded, the aide aislee and
. portion Of the middle thoroughfare
having number Of men standing In them.
-Four witnesses were examined, all testify
ing 90 to the conversation which took place
in the pool room prior 10 the shooting and
the particulars of the aifais outside. All
agreed In the essential points of the case
and the three following Henry WitSiI mere
ly corrobornted his clear statement. There
were no Interruptions during the examina-
ton, which was conducted by Attorney
General Gray on the part Of the State, and
Levi Bird, Esq, for the defense.
The prisoner sat almost motionless In the
dock between the tipstaves and closely eyed
every witness and the faces Of the judges
when they had occasion 10 speak. He
appeared cool and collected, and haA evil
IDENTIFY made up his mind to 20 through the
| terrible ordeal without hinchlng.
In front of the dock sat William Croney,
brother Of the prisoner, and his mother and
sister, both of whom were dressed in deep
mourning.
STATED that It was O responsible and painful
duty he had been called upon to perfor m
He briefly stated the facts Of the case which
1t was expected to be proven by the State,
| upon which Q verdict Of guilty should be
| rendered. He then explained the two de-
| grees of murder and what manBlauKhter
| was. Croney, he said, was charged with
murder in the first degree, aud the evil
dence would show this, unless the State was
was much mistaken. C
|. He referred TO Mcguire as young Irish
man 2S or 80 years Of age, In the prime of
manhood, born and raised in Wilmington
man who will appear to you as having as
many OF the virtues as the faults of early
manhood. Not ungenerous, goOd-hearted,
gOod-tempered. "We will show" the At.
tornty General continued, "that he was in
the pool room Of Witsil's, surrounded by a
number Of reputable people. Sitting there,
naturally at that time, topics in relation to
the election were considered and talked
over. Mcguire was man whose interest In
lanythlng he took part In was very decided.
| While there he was recounting q
gross outrage upon him the morning
/ Of the election-his arr0st-proyoked by a
brother OF the prisoner, using terms strong
and significant. His language was no doubt
Of Indignation, coming from q man who be-
/ lieved he had been wronged, and it may
have been profane. The prisoner, who was
there, spoke up at once and resented the
charge against his brother. John Croney
| interrupted the conversation ill-naturedly,
| using the first word calculated to raise bad
blood. After an interchange of words
/ Croney challenged Mcguire TO fight, which
the latter declined with an expression Of
Finally crouey was taken out, and re-
fused to go home. Mcguire finally went
out and told Croney he would not hurt him,
| putting his hands upon the latter's shoulders
| In q friendly matter. 1t was while in this
position that the latter drew pistol from his
overcoat pocket and fired the fatal shot.
THE TESTIMONY.
NJ. C. Conwell was first called TO the
stand and explained several plans he had
drawn Of the scene of the shooting, at the
instance of the Attorney General. One was
Of the store property and three larger ones
| gave the location Of the streets. The store,
| he said, was shaped like triangle, being z
/ feet wide In front and 13 feet wide in the
rear, the partition separating the pool room
/ from the cigar store.
Henry Witsll, sworn-Live at Maryland
avenue and Madison street; the plans are
| correct; keep cigar store; back of 1t Is q
| pool room, and back of that dwelling; the
| polls were In the pool room; the voting win
| dow on the Madison street side; recollect
| the day and night on NoY Z, last; know
| John Croney, and have known him 8 or 0
years; knew Daniel Mcguire; Mcguire lived
on Logan street; he was about 2S or 80
years of age; saw hini on the evening Uf
| Nov. Z; at or near 12 o'clock. Mcguire came
| into the pool room; Croney came In
soon after; the counting had not been fin
| ished; and the election officers were busy In
| the kitchen; Creney came In and bought q
cigar; Mcguire was sitting at the south end
/ Of the pool table; there were many people
| in the room waiting to hear the returns;
| among them were men named Bailey,
Reeder, Mcguire, White, Russell, Brittle,
/ Carey, Mullen and others; when Croney
came into the pool-room Mr.. White and Mr..
Mulcahey were having political argument
| less than q minute after Croney went into
| pool room followed; Croney was then
/ talking to White; Mulcahey had stopped;
| White didn't seemed pleased and passed
around TO where Mcguire was sitting;
Mcguire then began to tell White about his
| arrest, and spoke in severe terms of It; he
said It was outrageous; he said CrOney's
brother was the cause Of 1t and he would get
square with him; Mcguire said he could
whip both William Croney and his brother;
John Croney said, eight 1t out man for
man.; Mcguire wanted to fight both
Croneys for $50; begged Mcguire to keep
| quiet; both parties were excited; Mcguire
| says, will go cut If you say so"; ! said
'tNo, Dan, but keep quiet"; then walked
| TO the other side of Croney and got him TO
sit by me at the door leading to the store;
Mcguire then began again to tell Of his
arrest and said, in speaking Of the prisoners
brother, "the damn - - had
me arrested this morning, and it
was 9 put up job to stop my vote";
John jumped to his feet from alongside Of
me and said, {" He Is no l- - -,
Dan ," +; stepped to John and begged him
not to interfere, for fear, and persuaded
him to 90 back to the door; Mcguire said,
His brother Is -, and can
lick him !" got John In front of me Croney
proposed 10 Mcguire to 60 outside and fight
II out Croney was calling TO Dan over my
shoulder got him outside by gently push.
ing him, and asked him to go home out
side tried to get him away for fear Of q
disturbance Croney said, ~ viii not 20
away, damned If do" soon after they all
came out, Mcguire among them he
stopped on the pavement a second
or two; / still urged John TO
90 home; Mcguire came In front Croney and
/; Dan then put bis hand ON Croney's
shoulder and said, 'sYou don't want to
| fight me. God damn your heart, you are
no at msn to fight me"i thought there
would be no light; turned away and heard
the report Of pistol; took hold Of Mcguire
aud led him ia the pool room; he unbuttened
bis pants and ahowed me where he was
slot; we put him on the pool table; he was
afterwards taken home; Mcguire had his
hands on Croney's shoulder when the shot
was fred was close enough
70 Croney 10 touch him, was
looking him In the face; felt his
arm being raised; when the frut shot was