Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-01-05
SENT up FOR LIFE.
Emmett Mitchell Convicted Of MUIR
der in the Second Degree.
The Jury Out -Four Hours---Scenes About
the Court HOuse---Waiting the
Verdict---SynOpsis Of the
Killing Case.
From tie SaHil,Ty Register.

IRON ne SaRtfy hsgtar.
At $50 o'clock Saturday afternoon the
jury in the Emmett Mitchell case, at st.
Clairsville, came in with a verdict OF murder
in the second degree. The court house,
crowded all day, had not lost q man, and
when the jury fled in the silence was OPP
Pressiye. The usual preliminary questions
were asked and the prisoner stood up to
hear the verdict which is to send him to the
penitentiary for Hfe The relatives Of both
prisoner and murdered man were much
affected and the face of the prisoner was
bianched to a deathlike wilderness. Hon.
Lorenzo Danford, counsel for the prisoner,
immediately excepted to the verdict and
moved for q new trial, on which argument
will be heard this week. Our st. Glars
vile correspondent writes:
CHARGING THE JURY.
1t is over, the great Mitchell murder case.
This morning J. W. Shannon ESQ.,. for the
State. concluded the argument at 1915
o'clock and Judge Kelly occupied three
quarters of an hour in charging the jury as
to the law in the case. His charge was
very impartial one, and was listened to with
marked attention by the jury and all In the
court room. At IL o'clock the jury retired.
This case is probably the greatest case OF
the kind ever tried in our court, and the
State and defense have watched closely and
contested every inch Of the ground. We
have tried to give the substance OF the i'm
portant testimony from day to day in the
REGISTER. and have heard no word OF COM
plant as to its account although every
copy that came to this postofhce was ham
died and read till it was worn out
The court house has been crowded
every day, by interested spectators, and as
the Farmers Institute also held crowded
sessions our town has been full of people
the entire week When the argument CON-
menced several ladies visited the court
house and remained until it was concluded,
attentive listeners to the eloquence OF three
among the leaders of the bar of Belmont
county.
WAITING FOR THE VERDICT.
We are now waiting for the verdict" and
il would be out Of place to remark what
ought or viii be done by the jury but hope
that Justice may done to the living, to the
dead and to the laws Of the great State OF
Ohio. If the Jury comes to any verdict be-
fore ~ o clock tonight we will send you
later telegram, giving to the readers Of the
SUNDAY REGIsrER the penalty to be paid by
Emmett Mitchell for the killing of Charles
Griffith on the I'd of September, 1884.
THE GRIFFITH MURDER;
A brief synopsis of the trouble Of Charles
Griffith and Emmett Mitchell which terml-
mated in the killing Of Griffith by the latter
is as follows: Charles Griffith and David
Mitchell owned adjoining farms, the pub
he road dividing them. Griffith was road
Road Supervisor when the fuss originated.
The road above spoken of was not as wide
as was required by law by six feet The
owners of the properties, decided to give
three feet q piece each side of the road.
Here's where young Emmett put his foot IN
To II. He swore the fence should not be
moved, against the protest of his father.
II was moved, nevertheless, by his parent
but it enraged the SON and made him angry
at Griffith. When Griffith ran for Road
Supervisor again, Emmett Mitchell did all
he could against him, and worked tor the
opponent. Matters kept growing very dis
agreeable for Griffith, who it is said was In
suited on the street every time he was met
by Mitchell. Things grew gradually worse
until it was reported abroad that Griffith
had been shot and killed by young Mitchell.
This was on September 2, 1884.