Morning journal and courier., 1885-02-05
Ehe gn11rna1 and Gnmrier.
THE COURT RECORD.
Superior COurt-Crimfnal Sfde-Judge
Raan6alAV.

| Beardsley.
| Lawyer Blydendurgh continued his cross
examination of Sylvanus Butler, who mapped
the region where the body of Eldridge john
son was found in December, 1888, in the
criminal side of the Superior court yesterday
morning There was large crowd in the
court room.
Edgar johnson, the brother of the murder
ed man, testified that at the time of the muir
| der Whipper boarded at his house. On the
| night of the murder the witness went to bed,
leaving his two sisters and Whippsr in the
sitting room together. A little later ne
heard the accused go out. The next morning
neither Eldridge nor Whipper had returned
up to breakfast hour. Although this was
, unusual, the witness was not alarmed, but as
, | his brother did not return at 10 o'clock he
started in search of him. lie found the
! body lTi1lg on it's back across the smoldering
| charcoal pit.
Being cross-examined, Mr.. Johnson de-
scribed the formation of charcoal pit, the
length of the wood used how it was piled up
| and how it was covered
DR.. Daniel NJ Webb, the medical examiner
for Madison, testified that he made an ex-
animation of the body of the murdered man
at his house ON December 3. He found the
remains badly burned and portions of them
blistered the chest, abdomen and right leg
were burned and charred and the back was
blistered. One foot, the right, was gone and
also small bone of the leg, which looked as
though it has been broken off at the ankle;
the large bone had been separated; several
T,.
| Webb said that he noticed that there were
| no hats nor trousers found, and that the
| money the accused said to have had
| was gone. The mouth was filed with dirt,
and the right hand between the fingers was
| bloody. The shoe of the left foot was gone.
The witness then went to the charcoal pit and
| there found pair of mittens in front of the
| hut He discovered blood extending from
| the hut towards ledge of rocks and from
| there towards the pit. It was too dark to
| continue the search further, and so the wit
ness returned home.
After the noon recess the examination of
Lawyer Watrous He testified that on the
day after the finding of the body he, togeth-
er with Medical Examiner White, of New
Haven made an autopsy. He described the
nature of the injuries found. On the head
were eight wounds and several abrasions of
the scalp.
''By what, in your opinion, were these
wounds nader inquired Mr.. Watrous.
'Some were made with axe and the
others were, in my opinion, made by
stone.''
he
deaths''
ellis death was caused by the wounds on
the head
Cross examined by Mr. Blydenburgh, the
witness said: s'What became of the missing
| shoe and foot do not know. I never saw
| them and never saw the pants. He was
| without them when I first saw the body. can
l not tell whether there was any blood on the
| face it would be difficult to tell, as there
/ was so much dirt on it. The hair was full OF
dirt and presented the appearance of having
| blood mingled with it. The appearance of
| the face indicated that it had been scorched.
The back was blistered its full length and
portion of the hair Oh the back of the neck
| presented the appearance of having been
singed."
Professor NJ G. White testified to making
an investigation at the scene of the murder.
Under ledge of rocks he found several
stones which were sprinkled with blood. One
of these rocks he preserved and it was pro-
duced in court. In his opinion the blood
upon it came from the body of man while
alive. A chemical examination proved that
the drops were human blood.
Three other stones which were found in a
pail near by presented the appearance of
having been in smoke and fire. Some spots
on them indicated that they might be blood;
they were placed under microscope, but
had become too dried to tell whether they
were blood or not While making this eX-
animation Professor White said that he dis
covered sixteen small pieces of human hair
He continued: 81 measured the diameter OF
the pith and noted the color, and then com
pared them with some taken from the head
of Eldridge Johnson I found that they cor
responded as nearly as two hairs could"
The witness next produced a portion of the
skull of the murdered n1an, and held it UP
for the inspection of the jury and spectators
''Ths portion of the skull, " seid DIR. White,
sis that part which was crushed in. l have
taken the pieces and fitted them together
with fine bits of wire.'' The witness went
on to show where one blow i'll
his opinion had been dealt with an axe
Stretched across glass frame was portion
of the scalp of the dead man which the wit
ness said still contained the impression OF
piece of rat or rabbit skin sewed on to the
little glass frame. 1t smelled very strongly
of carbolic acid, and was handled with care
when shown to the jury.
Elizur Hart, farmer of Madison, testified
concerning the locality which is of interest
to the case. Lawyer Willett cross-examined
him in regard to the cart paths of the region.
He admitted that the path from Johnson's
pit to Whipper's pit was in places lost in the
brush, there being at some portions of the
way no evidence of path. There was quite
pool of blood about three feet from the pit
to the eastward and traces of blood about the
pit. There was a slight depression and a
hole on the top of the pit The hole was
through the turf, was oval and about foot
in diameter. He saw tracks in the ploughed
land near by. They led across the field.
Attorney Doolittle asked few questions
on the redirect, being seated at the time.
Judge Beardsley said: ''Mr DoolittIe, it is
the rule of the court that attorneys should
stand while examining witnesses"
Mr.. Doolittle: 81 must beg the courts i'll
diligence, but it is very hard to enforce the
rule on me after I have been here month |
trying cases. These young lawyers who only
have one case during the session can afford
to stand up, but it's hard on me.' He then
arose and asked few questions.
Coroner G.. F. Bollman was the next wit
ness. He said he was summoned to take
charge of the body of Eldridge johnson, ar
irving at the house about 6 o'clock on the
evening of December 8. He observed at the
pit a pair of mitts and some blood
spots near by. The mitts were about three
feet apart, about three or four feet
from the door of the hut. There
was path near them. The door was the
east side of the house away from the pit
There was blood in various places and in a
sort of cavs or ledge of the rocks about
forty feet from the pit there was large flat
tnree-cornered stone with considerable blood
on it. Near by was smaller stone on which |
was blood. The larger stone he gave to the
Chittenden Bros. He left the Chittenden
Bros. in charge of the pit and vicinity. He
questioned the members of the johnson fam
lily, Edgar, Grace and Alice johnson, and |
Whipper. The latter drew his attention par
ticularly, as he looked part of the time
pale and part of the time quite the opposite. |
Witness made the remark at the time that |
Whipper looked as if he had not slept the |
night previous Whippers statement was |
taken. During subsequent examination on
the Saturday following he stated that he
went to sleep Sunday evening between and
10 o'clock and slept two hours; got up and
looked at his watch, which was at fifteen
minutes past 10, then tended to his
pit, then went down below the
hill, got some brands from where
he had kept q pit and placed them in his pit |