Wichita eagle., 1888-09-26
THE CORONER'S VERDICT.
THE SHOOTING DONE UNDER FEAR
OF GREAT BODILY HARM
And Without Malice or the Part of
ThOrntOn---The Completion OF
the Inquest.


discussion. The evidence as far as adj
drced was very strongly in favor of Thorn
ton; and, while the people mostly looked
for a verdict of justifable homicide, they
expressed an anxiety to know more Of the
case and to learn the result of the coroner s
inquest. Upon the reassembling of this
body they commenced their investigation
by the examination of Nora Madsgar and
showed the same intelligence. interest and
earnestness to get at the depth of the
whole affair as distinguished their delib-
Grafton the day before Most of the men
on the jury were friends-and some of
them very intimate friends-of the dead
officer; yet they buried all passion and
feeling of friendship and determined to
do what they thought right, just and law
full in dealing with the living.
The first witness put upon the stand was
Nora Medsgar, one of the women in the
case. After giving her name, residence
and brief statement Of her whereabouts
since being in Wichita, she testified to the
occurrence Monday morning in reply to
the questions of the county attorney as
follows: Mr.. Ebenhack came to our house
yesterday morning about O'Clock; was
dressed all except buttoning up my dress;
my sister was not yet up; he came into the
kitchen and went to the bed room; / did
not see Thornton before Ebenhack came;
| thought they both came together; saw
the two men start off together after the
arrest: when the arrest was made MIR.
Thornton went to the door and Mr. Hart
zell said, ''come out here, l want you" and
70 oil
with me'
On cross examination by Mr. Dale, she
said MIR. Thornton came to my room about
6:30; Mr.. Ebenhack about ten minutes af-
forwards. HartZell was the first officer [
saw; he first looked in at the window and
could see Jack sitting on the foot of the
bed; Jack was dressed; when Hart
Zell knocked the door was opened
to him, and when he said
to Thornton Come out, l want you" The
latter went right out and stood on the
porch and asked What do you want?"
Then Hartzell called Ebenhack and said
Come with me-" Ebenhack entered the
house; he came in through the kitchen,
but was stopped by Mr.. Cross and told to
go out. Ebenhack did not come to side
door, but come upon the front porch. He
said to Thornton Come along" did not
hear any alteration at the house.
Lewis Clark was the next witness. |
was sixty or seventy yards away from the
difficulty. / had just started to breakfast
and looked around and saw Hartzell and
Thornton in a kind Of tussle, and the
latter was kind of reaching around to
shoot Ebenhack. Ebenhack commenced
staggering out into the street and fell.
The report of the pistol first called my
attention to the matter. Rartzell and
Thornton were on the sidewalk; Ebenhack
just off, but had one foot on the
edge. The parties were only
six or eight feet apart; Thornton
facing west, Ebenhack sideways facing
southwest and moving out onto the street.
Hartzell was facing to the east. l saw T.
shoot the second time but noticed no eff
feet from either it or the third shot except
a little piece of coat fly at the last. My
judgement is that the third shot did not
kill him; he fell few seconds afterwards,
first on his right arm and then rolled over
on his face. Charley Dixon / saw go to
him first. There was but a few seconds in
tervening between the shots. l saw a bill
ly in Ebenhack's hand. Hartzell's arm
was around Thornton, and l saw him look
up over his shoulder as he shot.
Warren Mckee, another member Of hose
company No. ] was then called. Knew
Ebenhack since he has been on the force;
Thornton slightly i and one of the boys
were Just coming from our boarding house
at the corner of Second and Market and |
was going down. to engine house. Look
ing up the sidewalk / saw Ebenhack strik
ing at Thornton two or three blows, then
Thornton run his hand into his pocket
when Hartzell went between the two and
Thornton shot at Ebenhack around Hart
zeH. Ebenhack threw up one arm and the
other down as a man would do staggering
away. He then stepped off the sidewalk.
Thornton continued firing and Ebenhaek
back. The first thing ! saw was
Ebenhack striking at Thornton; he con
tinued to strike when Mr.. Hartzell
there were any blows afterwards but think
there were. | saw Thornton's pistol
before Hartzell grabbed him or rather just
at the same time, and a second after
wards heard the Shot. When the pistol
came out of Thornton's pocket Ebenhack
was making an effort to strike over Hart
zell's shoulder. 1 saw the first shot fired;
the two men were about four feet apart,
but Ebenhack was on the sidewalk. s'Do
you think Ebenhack had the same imple-
ment in his hand when he struck the last
time as when he struck the first blow?n
inquired a juror Eyes, think he had,
for it was such short time to get out any
other weapon" replied Clark.
On cross-examination he said Thornton
had never said anything about Ebenhack,
but he said that Ebenhack had con-
demped Thornton for talking about
him. There appeared TO be no
antipathy, as far as he knew. between
the patrolmen and police. think Hart
cell saw the pistol coming out just as soon
as did and for this reason grabbed him.
did not retreat any after giving
the blow and before the shot was fired
He here illustrated by showing that Eben-
hack was moving around HartZell in or
to get in blow upon Thornton's head.
The shots came as quickly apparently as
possible and / think the first shot did the
work. All three were on the sidewalk
when the first shot was fred.
John A. Davidson, who knew both
Thornton and Ebenhack, said: l heard
some talk as regarding the former diff
Guilty of the men. Thursday evening about
$50 when was standing on the corner of
Lawrence and Douglas, Henry came along
and said. "Let's go to the Stern building"
asked what was there and he said there
we're couple Of fairies there; and we
walked of together. We weRt up stairs
ana ssw fhorton and Charley Long stand
ing there and we went to the back room
where the women were. l guess that they
learned that Henry had warrant for