The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-03-13
MURDER TRIAL
At Weston-IIfstory OF tho Crlme-Yss.
[, tertiny's ProceedinKs. ...fr

althouRh constant stream OF humanit
was passing 10 and from the court houa
during the entire proceedings. 's.
Promptly at the hour Dappointed, th
young man, George Hall, who as hes beeI
heretofore reported, was indicted for th
shooting Of Abel Outright, at Austin, thi
county, on New Years day, was brough
into court. Ply .lIs.ags sI.1. II
Mesars. John Brannon and W. G. Ben
nett were bis attorneys, and alter examin
ing the indictment, demurred 10 It as
whole and to each particular section
thereof. Judge Henry Brannon, on th,
bench, overrulel tho demurrer, and III,
defendant entered the plea Of mot guilty J
Louis Bennett, Prosecuting Attorney, Il
assisted in behalf Of the State by Messrs
We. Lively and John s. Carlyle.
:. The jury was secured after the usual pre-.
liminaries and very careful study by do.
iendanrs attorneys. The Jury contains
some excellent names, and is az follows:
l. O. Waldo, W.. Woofter, James T, jar.
Wis, Marion Toah, Peter Snyder, Pleasant
Alfred, John Copely, Charles W, Nc.
Whorler, James Alfred, A. A. Brown, B.
Il. Tallnan and P. R Hall. os,60
The witnesses for the State examined to.
day were Robert West, David Morrison.
David Hyre, @. B. Morrison, Fielding Tin.
ney, Leonard Hyre, Jacob "A. Hyre, and
James Martin. !. The evidence was given
BY each In an earnest, straightforward
manner, apparently perfectly, free from
prejudice, and made favorable impres.
sion on the court and heareis.t -. .us'ss.ls.;-
ear THE STORY OF THE SHOOTING. 80
"a The story Of the shooting, as culled from
the. testimony Of the various witnesst 3,
fsrms substantially; this chain Of circum.
stances: George Hall and his brother
Robert, two e!rlppliDgs Of about lS. and 20
years, accompanied by Abel Outright, a
married man, rs or 80 years old, and a coal.
digger, repaiIt d to the little village Of Aus
tin on New Years day. The parties re.
sided IN the community and we're &C.
quainted with one another, as with every.
body around. Outright had taken his coal
pick with him and left 1t at the village
smiths shop to-be; sharpened, while be
and the two boys joined the other people
gathered about the store to exchange the
compliments Of the New Year. 49,
Following in the path OF IN old estab-
lished notion Of persons Of b;bulous habits
that a holiday wouldn't be holiday with.
out something to drink, it was not long
until the fluid OF "Sood cheer" was freely
circulating in the crowd. The result was
that Outright got very drunk, soon after
which the party started for the store Of
young Halls brother, situated about hall a
mila lower down the creek.
I; On the way, Outright being almost too
drunk to walk, was assisted by the Hall
boys, one walking on each side and taking
his arm. In crossing deep drain in some
manner Outright was allowed to iall, and
got miserably muddy and wet. TEis
seemed to cause q struggle, which, accord
ing to witnesses tts.imony, was conducted
good humoredly, aad Outright and George
Hall kept running one another up and
down along the creek bank, pushing and
showing, as an old gentleman on the stand
remarked as hc thought, something like
boys at play"
X; ..ry, TIE DEED DONE. Sc
At one time Hall WAS in the creek where
the water was probably two or three feet
deep, and Outright was continually up and
down aa very drunk man would be. Ar
riving at trough and ready" fence, (posts
put in the ground on which two or three
boards are nailed, merely 10 turn large
stock, the bottom board being from two
to three feet from the ground) Hall got on
one side and Outright on the other and be-
gau pulling or drawing each other across
the fence. This lasted few moments
when George Hall grabbed up coat he
had thrown down and started to run. In
a 7twinkling (which is remarkably quick
for drunken man) Outright lodged
through under the ienca, picked up ths
pick which had been thrown down, and
started after Hall, who was close enough
to have been struck with the pick il Out.
right had SO wished, and the two ran
about thirty yald,, at which point Hall
had increased the distance between him
and his pursuer, to- about ten steps, but
turned and shot Outright, the ball taking
effect in the abdomen, from the effects oi
which he died on the morning Of the fiftli
day afterward., ~ Hu bert Hall. who was
along, was not in any way implicated In
the shooting. s;.., Is, III Sd
The principal points made by the State
were: That Outright WAS almost 30 drunk
as to b. unable to care OF himse,f-could,
scarcely walk in fAc; that he was pushed
or allowed 10 lall in the drain and other
wise sggrasa ed by the Hall boys, who we're
not so drunk but that they knew what
they were doipe;that when they Started on
their last run, Hall WAS 30 close Outright
could have struck him down with pick il
he had desired; that when Hall turned and
shot Cutrgh hs tai gained sufficient in
the race to show that he could easily have
kept out Of the way II he had 80 wished.
and thus avoided the shooting. The prn.
cipal witnesses for the prosecution have
been examined and in all probability tho
State will rest early tomorrow (Wednes:
day.. s,.r5 i
The prisoner ia about medium size, proh.
ably 20 ytara old or upward, dark brown
hair and eyes, with good shaped face on
which the effects oI his situation show their
trscee, and reasonably good head, has a
rather pleasing than r-pus.ve appearance,
is above the average in Intelligence, and
wears 4 "I.don'l-car .-a-dArn' air, tn, I
shows him ttf to cool advantage under
bis trying circumstanc, ~ -
r THE SlIAROS.hILLS SCANDAL,
Tic PlAintiirTaaeHth eH the stand md I elln
nm Interesting Siory. =,
+ SAN FRANCISCO, March l2.-In the Sha.
ron divorce trial today, Frank Rodney,