Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-03-09
THEY GIVE IT UP.
The Petticerd Jury 10 Compelled
TO Pass.
They Evidently Believe Murder was Com
mitted, but They Say il was Not
Proved.

his death from conclusion OF the brain,
caused by Q fracture of the skull from
$ me cause unknown to the jurors, which
fracture was produced at the house of Ma
dsme Ship. corner Of Main and Twentieth
streets, IN the city Of Wheeling, Ohio
county, West Virginia, on the LIST day OF
March, 1884"
As will be seen by the above, the jury
failed to find, by the evidence, that Petit
cord fell down the stairs. nor were they
satisfied from the evidence that he was not
murdered. The entire evidence before the
jary was q most complete mass of con-
tradictiops. No person saw the man fall
down the stairs or saw anything else of 9
satisfactory nature. The mass OF the evi.
dence showed he was found at the foot Of
The stairs in al unconscious condition, and
hat is ali iG does show. How he fell, or
anything else of q tangible nature about
the STAIR is still shrouded in the veil Of
mystery, and will never be brought to
light, perhaps.
THE TAKING OF EVIDENCE
was continued at half past 9 o'clock yester-
day morning. The testimony did not dis.
close that any foul means had been used
ON Petticord at Mrs. Ships house, while
on the other hand, no evidence during the
entire inquest showed that the man fell
down the stairs. The testimony Of DIR.
John II. Storer, who attended Petticord at
his home in Elm Grove and made a
post mortem examination OF his head,
shows that il was not probable, barely pos
siblP, that Petticord could have fallen
down the stairs, as alleged, and received
the blow which fractured his skull. Be-
fore giving his testimony in full, the Doc
tor visited Mrs. Ships and made q
thorough examination Of tie stairs and
hallway, and could, therefore, SPEAK very
definitely on the subject. In DR.. BUNS
testimony, however, the reader will lind
that he does not sgree with DR.. Storer, as
20 q fall down the stairs not causing the
fracture, though this gentleman said he
had not examined the stairs, hall and walls
as DR. Storer had done.
VARIOUS TESTIMONY.
The first witness was john S. Armstrong.
He testified: | am foreman OF the Hook
and Ladder Company. Mrs. Ships little
girl csme and asked fer Officer Barum,
about 6'iteen minutes after six o'clock Sat.
urday evening; she said that there WAS
fuss ar Mrs. Ships and they wanted OIL
Ger Barum. She was excited. l heard no
lLOI6 Vi Tue OA1ASOA
'or"m TAXED of it Monday evening. John
rsG,r came shout ten minutes after the
;olOred g'rl and asked for Mr.. Barum.
lIIs. Mary and Miss Irene Muldoon were
x>mirsd bat their testimony had no
direct bearing on the case.
John FAder was examined. His evidence
had no particular bearing on the case, rs he
vas lot present at the time OF the accident.
DIR. JOHN H. sToRER CALLED.
Helped to make the post norton; found
no external wound; saw him before his
death and the indications all pointed to
Drain trouble; We made q careful exsmina.
ton of the skull and train; Here the Doc
tor gave an illustration Of the wound, which
will be found in the post mortem Of he and
DR.. Cracraft.l we could not tell what had
caused the wound other than we supposed
it had been produced by a blow from q
blunt instrument or by fall against some
hard substance. A fall down steep flight
might cause the injury. At this point
Constable st. Myers was directed to take
DR.. Storer to the house of Mrs. Shipp in
order that he might testify rs to the proba-
bility Of fall into The corner at the foot Of
he steps on Twentieth street, causing the
wound. After an absence of nearly an
hour the Doctor returned. He would not
,sy that the fall down the stairs would
cause the blow; it would
DEPEND UPON THE INITIAL VELOCITY;
ne would first fall in a horizontal direction;
after AlightiDg the motion would be 10 q
perpendicular direction; q drunken mans
fall would hardly be attended with the re-
suits developed in the case of Petticord;
naturally Petticord should have struck the
door on the west in his descent which
he ha fpnAapnuy 10 hin,
rather guard him; his hat would to some
extent lessen the force of the blow; his
hat might have fallen OFT in the fail; fall
from the middle of the staircase would not
under ordinary circumstances, be sufficient
70 produce fatal results; if Petticord in his
fall had turned a summersault his head
would have been lying up the stairs or
against the lower step; his death was
caused by q blow from blunt instrument
or by collision with some sharp projection;
found nothing about the foot OF the stairs
that would correspond with the indenta-
tion in the hat; on an examination We
found a confused wound Immediately
above and little posterior to the right ear.
To Juror Wood-The man falling to the
foot Of the stairs would likely remain in
the position he took at the end Of the fall;
il is possible that the injury might have
been caused by the fall; do not think he
bad initial momentum sufficient to carry
him from the top TO the bottom of the
stairs without first striking some portion
Of his body; conclusion and even fracture
has been caused by jumping from wagon
or carriage, or by any sudden jar to the
human frame.
BARUM AGAIN.
Joseph Barum recalled-I think Petti--
rus hat o, wouldn't swear where his
al was; some one gimme his hat when |
1t him in the hack; couldn't swear wheth-
= il was on him when / first saw him or
not; know it had blood on it or at least
il was wet; tie first saw Of the hat that
remember Of was when put MIN in the
hack.
DR.. Richard Blum sworn: Was called to
see PetIicord between 6 and o'clock last
Saturday night; | found several parties in
the house; an officer was there; | was di
Iected to q room where q man lay on q
mattress; he appeared to be intoxicated;
he was in q state of insensibility: l said
ne was dead drunk; one of tho inmates
said he had fallen down stairs; / exam
ined his head. and found blood oozing from
his nostIils, sn'erior and posterIor, and
from his ear; | found q confused wound
near the right ear; concluded to await
The result; after waiting five or ten min
utes and applying restoratiyes, concluded
I
conclusion of the brain; l thought the
bBse Of the brain was fractured; all the
symptoms pointed to that; the hemorr
hage from the ear indicated q lesion of the
brain Of q serious character; advised his
immediate removal home, and told them
to wrap him up carefully; l consid-
cred his case hopeless, aud 80 told
the officer and inmates of the house;
inquired how he had been injured, in
order to obtain q clue to the immediate
cause of his injuries in order to determine
what the result might be-; the girl, Van
Dyme, told me about leading him down
stairs to the second flight, where he dis
missed her with q curse a moment after.
ward; she had heard q fall; think it Is q
very dangerous fight of stairs even for
.ober man. fall OF four or FIVE feet on
those stairs would, in my opinion, cause a
fracture of the skull, without hitting any
other object; had he struck his forehead
probably no fracture would have occurred;
some parts Of the skull are thicker than
others; it is q popular error that q drunken
man don't hurt himself when he falls; the
possibilities o. = fall are incslculable.
Several hypothetical cases were put to
the doctors as 10 the possible injuries that
o drunken man would sustain by falling
down stairs similar to those in Mrs.
hanaa TIKI donknr xv0r,ll onIy