Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-22
NEARLY KILLED.
John High Arrssied for Pe'onious,y A.
sauiting John ". Lawson In us sH'"o"
Corner Fourth and Houston

streets.
A man named John Il. Lawson, one
of the propri.tors Of the saloon on tli'
sonth east corner of Fourth aud Hnus-
ton streets, was found lying insepsiDlt
In his saloon about o'clock yesterday
morning by the negro porter Dan ha,',
who cleans up the place every morn
ing, Lawson was lying on the moor
near the stove with three ugly cuts on
his head and one Of his little ingers
badly broken and bruised. Wold was
sent TO Lawson's brother, and suose-
auently he was removed to his room IN
the owens house, corner Of Rusk and
Eifth streets, where DIR. Moore WA
called In To attend 10 him. DIR. Adams
WINS called In ~ consulting I MUSICIAN
and IL WIS found that Lawson was
suffering from fractured skull. Al
last report he was sleeping and resting
quietly. a..
Lawson says he was sitting In the
saloon on Sunday night with his
brother, who In partner IN the saloon,
with him and several other men. After
his brother had left he opened the sa-
loon about o'clock, aud for some time
sat talking with John High, who hae
next door kept by Amos Powell. High
wanted to borrow some money from
HIM. saving If he had ten dollars he
could get along Lawson refused 10
lend him the money, and the last
thing he remembered was that Hlgh
WAS in the room with him and that he
was going To sleep siIting near the
stove. when the negro Dan Hall
found him he was lying on the filor
with three ugly cuts ON his head, one
lust above the right eye and two others
near the top of his head. Money To HE
amount Of ti5 was gone from bis per
son aud the money drawer when hc
was found. He was sent home and the
officers notified. Upon searching they
| found Ratchet covered Win blood ON
| the other side of the street, back oI
the fruit stand on the northe ut corner
of Main street which WAS Identified
as one winch belonged in the r,stauI-
ant In which High worked No one
| had access To the kitchen but High,
and the officers commenced To look for
| him ut once.
High did not go to work in the res
taurunt yesterday morning, but about
| II O'Clock he canieintO the saloon and
was arrested. When he was taken
into custody he said he was innocent;
that he had only killed one mar IN
his life that he had been in the saloon
but len IL about O'Clock IN the morn
ing, with Lawson sitting by the stove.
The officers set TO work To find out
where he had been, aud soon learned
that hc had purchased AN undershirl
early In the morning from II peddlrr.
and had LEFT his own, an old under
shirt, nt tue house of an old negro
woman named Holly, on Tnirt enth
street, between Main and Rusk. The
shirts were burned by the woman who
said she did so because there wa-
blood on them High afterwards went
to the store of MrssIs. Washer d Au.
gust where he purchased u new shirt
After he had been arrested some time,
aud the officers hid traced his move.
lnents, Marshall lten had the prisoner
brought before him aud questioned
him in regard 10 the ollense.
High deliberately lied about the shirts
saying he had left them at the store oi
Mcs,rs. Washer& August, but whe,,
pinned down To the truth acknowl-
edged he had lied His language tn
the officer WAS replete with many con
| tINulttiphh,
He said he was the only man la the
saloon with Lawson about o'cioek
Monday morning, and that the shirts,
II they were destroyed, had been burn
ed without his consent
Officer Charlie Garretson, who was
on the up tnwn beat at the time, says
he passed the saloon n short time pre-.
vious 10 the imc the ass ,ult must have
occurred. He had In chnrgea drunken
man who had heated disturbance In
he Grand Central hotel. Al tina
tine there were several persons in the
saloon, but he had no knowled IA to
who they were This IL accounted
for by Lawson who says several young
men came into the saloon and pur-
chased drinks about that hour. They
stuid only few minutes.
Marshall Reu sworc outa complaint
before the county attorney and
High was removed To the county iniI
He VIII probably have preliminary
rial to-day and he bound over t.
await the action Of the grand jurv.
The doctors report Lawson doing "A.
wei ns could be expected under the
circumstances. His condition will be
watched closely and trepaping viii be
rtBnrled Ia II necessary. M trace OF
the SO taken from Lawsun's person
and the money drawer has been found.
When arrested High had hlty-iiye
cents on his person