St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-31
1T WAS MURDER.

The Coroner's Jury Find that Officer
Laughtiss Came to His Death at the Hands
of Tony Contieny,
The coroners jury re assembled at Connolly d
O'Reilly's undertaking rooms at three o'clock
yesterday afternoon to renew the investigation
into the cause of the death Of officer Robert
Laughlin. Officer Chas. R. Hill was the first
witness called. He testified as follows: was
in front Of the city lookup at the time OF the
shooting; l heard the report Of the pistol shots ;
Sergt Fox was with me he ran out to ascertain
the cause of the shooting; Mart German was
brought to the lookup by special policeman
and shortly after Sergt. Helm brought Officer
Laughlin to the lookup in q hack. Thos. Cain
was at the lookup at the time, and he appeared
to know who was with German; German refused
to give any information we then took hack
and went direct to Cantieny's place
of business on Washington ave-
nue., they live over the saloon; we sent
an officer up the wrong stairs, at the same time
Cantieny unlocked the front door of the saloon
and stepped out; he said, ''What are you scared
att Don't be afraid am on to it; l had a con-
versaton with Laughlin at noon that day; he
told me that Cantieny shot him; he said he was
a tall man dressed in dark clothes; Laughlin said
he was coming down First avenue north when
he undertook to arrest the three men; he turned
one OF them over to special while he under
took to take the other two; one broke away from
him, and the other followed; he said he started
to give chase when Cantieny shot him had a
talk with Parker afterwards; he said Cantieny
was the only in the party who had re,
volver; also had talk with Cantieny he re-
fused to say who did the shooting but he said he
would live long enough to get even with
me; German denied having anything to do
with the shooting; he said he was not there when
it occurred.
Dr. Edwin Phillips, who attended the muir
dered man professionally, testified: 1 was called
that evening to the Windsor house; there found
the wounded man had been taken to the police
station; then went there; I found Mr., Laughlin
lying on stretcher; on examining him 1 found
| the ball had entered the abdomen about two or
two and one half inches below the naval; he was
suffering from shock and that led me to sus-
pect that the bullet had penetrated the abdomen !;
ordered him removed to his residence and | at
tended him up to the time Of his death; when
we arrived at his residence he was still suffering
from shock and he remained unconscious until
ten o'clock; called soon after and found him
conscious, and under the influence of morphine
he was quite easy; toward evening
the temperature began to rise:
and his pulse grew more rapid,
giving indications of peritonits, the next day
the tendencies increased, his abdomen became
more swollen, his pulse grew more frequent and
was wiry. AT o'clock the next day he grew
worse, the pain was more intense, his symptoms
grew rapidly worse until he died. He was con-
cious all the time. About o'clock on Sunday
he began to yomit, the matter he threw off sim
ulated bile of spinach green, all the anodynes
we administered were given by hypodermic
syringe in the arm. was present when the Of
fcers were there. / think it about ten
o'clock the forenoon of the shooting, he gave
the officers a history of the affair, he saw the
| taller of the two he had Ia special having the
| other) shot him. was also present when he
made his last statement to jos. r. Corrigan, he
was perfectly rational. he was rational up to
within half hour of the time or his death.
Drs. Chas. Simpson and II. j Hill testified to
conducting post mortem examination upon
the remains of Officer Laughlin.
they explained the course Of the bullet, perforat
ing two of the small intestines, and found the
leaden missile in the muscles about an inch from
the skin in the rear; the organs of the chest
were healthy; in their opinion the deceased died
from peritonitus resulting from the bullet
wound
The bullet was exhibited to the jury by DR..
Hill. 1t was 3S calibre and somewhat fattened
as il having come in contact with hard sub
stance.
Capt NJ G. Chase was recalled and testified;
knew Canteny and Parker. and saw them after
they were arrested. Cantieny had on very dark
clothes, should think they were black; Parker
had on gray clothes; Cantieny is considerably
the taller Of the two; he is quite six feet in
height; should think Parker was about thirty
eight or forty years Of age; neither of the pris
oners made statement in my presence; Can
tieny could not have changed his clothes between
the time of the shooting and when 1 saw him.
Officer Hill being recalled corroborated the cap
tains testimony respecting the color of the cloth
ing of the prisoners he said Cantieny was the
tallest Of the three men.
THE VERDICT.
The jury, after few minutes deliberation,
found that Robert Laughlin came to his death
from gunshot wound, the bullet having been
fred from revolver in the hands of Tony Can
tieny.