The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-15

| tracks in the vicinity of the struggle or
where the body was found except the two
previously mentioned. the only ones to be
/ found coming away were the larger ones
coming down from the point of struggle,
and which had been seen at intervals going
back in the direction Of the pavilion.
In answer to Interrogation by defense;
May have at first made the remark
There is drowned man People were
bathing about II o'clock the night before
betw cen the Pavilion and the wreck. They
| were not nude. Don't know whether they
were white or black. Heard good deal Of
shouting. The was a group-dont know
how many If. On the evening Of the 18th
saw colOred boy, a white girl, Barney
Reyes and Maggie Farrell in tho cars. Saw
Barney the afternoon of the l3'h. ! was
talking to some relatives of the murdered
man when arney came up. Saw him no
| more until the Inquest; never saw him put
out of hotel; don't know of my own lnowl-
edge tnat he was at the Ocean House,
BLOOD on THE SAND.
There was blood on the sand where the
struggle took place; the body had been
dragged probably 40 to 80 feet then the
marks ceased. Witness was unable to ex-
plain why the body did not float out to sea
on ebb tide. Didn't consider it dangerous
to battle at ebb tide Had often bathed at
ehb tide. A little blood was oozing from
/
! limbs were limp and there was some froth
at the mouth. The footprints of Smith and
the other were well defined There were no
| footprints where the body was found Mr.
| McGowan found pearl collar button near
the point of struggle and gave it to me.
gave it to Coroner Dixon. | made no ex-
aminatian of the mans pants pockets; we
| tried the dead mans shoes on, and
| also fitted them in the footprints at the
point of struggle, and at intervals coming
| from the pavilion. The large and small
| footprints were close together coming to-
ward the wreck from the direction of the
| pavilion; the big ones came back toward
the hotel. After leaving the point of strug
| gle at the turn of the bath houses toward
the pavilion, the large footprint was found
! in the hard sand Pending the cross-ex-
animation, at 2 o'clock, the court took a
recess until $50 O'clock
THE FOOT MEASUREMENTS.
At $50 o'clock the cross-examination was
| resumed, and Mr.. Minis was required to go
| over all the details of his measurements at
| the barracks, on the beach and in the
vicinity of the Seaside pavilion. In conclu-
| sion he stated in his REORGANIZATION that
there were at least two distinct imprints of
the larger shoe that he had carefully meas
| ured. it was an unusually large foot the
| foot very broad; such that it was APP
| parently the only one OF the kind worn on
the island; a large broad heel; in all. a
| peculiar foot, such as is not often seen and
| one which would impress itself on the mem
| DRY. The shoe measured at the barracks
was its counterpart; it had not been black
ened; it had the appearance of having been
wet and the beach sand still adhered to it,
| In response to redirect interrogatories
! Mr.. Minis explained that the peculiar shape
did not suggest a misshapen foot, but the
shoe at the barracks was just such an one
as he expected to find to correspond with
the footprints he had measured on the beach,
| The body had TO be removed to a point
nearly as high as the point of struggle to
prevent the next tide from submerging it.
Mr. JoHNsoN's TESTIMONY.
Mr.. J. n. johnson was next called and
corroborated the greater part of Mr.. Minis
statement. He described the wounds pretty
much as Mr.. Minis had described them,
| except that he stated that the
wound on the neck looked as if it
had been made with knife or sharp she'll
The man had not been killed at high water
| or high tide: had it been so the point of
struggle would have been submerged, and
the traces obliterated. The body must have
been dragged some twenty-five steps,
think, by the heels, and then carried in
waste deep and thrown into the water 1t
was about twenty-five steps from where the
drag marks and footprints ceased, ON line
corresponding with the point of termina-
tion. to where the body was found, the body
| lying a little east or north of the trail and
not on a straight line The body was
nearer the hotel than the wreck. about one
half to three quarters of a mile from the
pavilion. The man was evidently killed
when the tide was one-half one-thrd to ebb
The tide was high water by the books at
| / % a. M, and low water at 7:45 a. m
The witness was cross examined at length
by Col. Mercer as to the relative distances
connected with the pavilion, wreck, point
of struggle and location of body without
any material variation from his testimony
! in-chef.
DRAMATIC SCENE.
The most dramatic scene of the day was
the introduction of an early traveller on the
beach on the morning of the murder. Mr.
| johnson stated that at early dawn he had
rSen to prepare for his fishing trip The
window of his room looked out on the beach
IN the direction where the body lay. His
wife called his attention to a man
walking rapidly in the direction of the
pavilion and toward the Ocean House She
wondered what he was doing on the beach.
He was coming diagonally, walking rapidly
| toward the hotel, as If he wanted to catch
train His rapid walk attracted the at
tention of the witness, and he saw the man
| shortly after disappear over the sand hills
north of the Ocean House. He could dis
| tlnguish the outlines of the man, and he
was neither a negro nor a mulatto. He was
white man.
Col Mercer-Was it Cassidy"
Mr.. Johnson-I do not know. / would
! have to see him again.
! Col Mercer TO CaSsldy-Stand up and let
| Mr. johnson see you.
A profound hush came over the audience.
| and every eye was turned toward the pris-
| oner and witness
After a survey of the prisoner, Mr. John
! son said that it was not Cassidy. Ii was a
| slim and tall built man. The witness may
have told his wife when the dead body was
discovered that the murderer must be the
man they had seen i'll the morning II think
he said the man was murdered within TWEEN
ty minutes of half past three, or within
twenty minutes after half past three o'clock
that morning.
Upon redirect examination the witness
said: THE man whom | saw had passed
the Seaside Pavilion and was within sew
enty-tive yards of the Ocean Hotel. | saw
him at the closest between the platform and
the bath houses. | took him TO be a white
man, and though it was not clearly light he
didn't impress me as being "A colored man.
remember that his gait was rapid,
EXPERT TESTIMONY ON TIDES
+. Marmelstein, an old coast pilot, was
introduced to fix the time of the high tide
on the morning of July IL last He was
handed a copy the Nautical Tide Table
Il. L., 4