Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1888-12-11
CORONER'S INQUEST.
THE LAW IN RELATION TO
POINTING WEAPONS.
Tsyl1r E GoodIey Hold to Answer
For Shooting harvey Turner
on Sunday Afternoon
REt,

Pursuant to adjournment, the Coro
ner's Jury in the casa of Harvey Turner,
the young colorcd man who was shot on
Sunday near Newport by Taylor T.
Goodley,S met at the City Hall at 3 o.
clock yesterday afternoon with all the
jurors present except $. N smeltz. At
torney general BtqRs and Deputy Attor-
ney-Reneral Davis were present, and i'm.
mediately after the rol of the jurors was
called the examination Of witnesses was
commenced
John Wilmer, COlored, was sworn, and
testified that he Is employed on the Flinl
farm, aud was at home On Sunday when
the shooting took plac3. He had been to
the barn fOs an armloaa Of corn cobs,
and was on bis way 10 the house, when
some one struck him with a stone He
had revolver Upstairs which his wi
had frequently asked bin to discharge
and eli an, and as be had nothing else to
DO he thought II good time 10 do it. He
fired it twice in tie air, when Mr.
Cooley asked the witness o allow him
20 shoot II and fred at the gate post Til
| ball did not bit tie post but ent in
the ground, and he snapped the pistol
twice, when Turner made fun of him.
| The witne heard the report but not
zee wien Turner was shot, and at first
| thought it wai q little girl named Cor
della After Harvey was hot he asked
the witness to 60 tor u doctor He had
never known of any trouble OF quarrel
be wten Cooley and Turner,
! Alexander Green, cOloTcd, testified that
be is also employed n the farm. He saw
witness when he was carrying the COPS
| from the barn and ihr-w tie stone wUich
struck him. Cooley was standing ucar
The house and dared witness to come
up He saw Wllmet come out with The
pistol and shoot twice in the air. G odley
then asked for the pistol, aud shot at the
| gate hut missed II, and hit the grouud
! He then snapped it tHice, and Tpner
said something about his being poor
shot when loOdiGy said, 81 can shoot
/ YOU" and fired. lie was standing but
/ lew feet from Turner at the time. The
| witness had never known OF any bad feel
! ing between the men, and they always
scented to be the very byst OF friends
| Dr. Irwin Finn testified that he was
called TO see Turner about noon on Sun
| day, ard found him suffering from a
wound In the abdomen, near the UNI
/ blllcal. As he considered 1t a very
serious case he advised bis removal to the
| Homeopathic Hcspltal. The witress ar.
| rived ut the hospital before GOodl y got
there with the wounded man. When
Goodley was talking to the witness he
did not seem excited or to reslizs that he
! had done anything wrong. He was with
| the patti. NJ at the hospital but went
| home about 5 o'Cl ok Upon learning
that be was worse in the eeveuirg he came
1 over sgair, and four 1T hat lac was dead.
He was present at The post mortem ex.
animation, aud found that the bullet had
4 p nttralcd at least five OF the intcsJlGes,
aud in his opinion dyed in the muscles
o the back The pelvic cavity was filed
with blood, and the man died from
Internal hemnrThages lie considered
the wound m rta', Tor II he had not died
from hemGrrhago, puri Quilts would have
set in, aud he could not have rViyed
more than day or two. Previous to his
death Tur ner told the witRess that the
shooting was purely accidental.
Df. L A. Rttingcr was sworn, anu
testified that between aud O'Clock
| unday afternoon he was summoned to
the hospital to gtteud wounded man
| He found Turner, who had a gun shot
wound in the abdomen, and upon insert
ing probe discovered that the ball had
gone down, inward AID backward. He
dtrssed the wound and gave the patient
some medicine; Turner was conscious
aud told the witness thai he did not
believe that Cooley INTENDED 10 shooi
him. The witness cav him again in the
evening, and was with him until bis
death lie was yresent at the autopsy
and corroborated the testimony OF the
previous witness.
DR. Rile testified that he went out tc
the hospital with DIR Kittinger in the
evening, aud fourd Turner in a very low
con lltlon His respiration was ST and
his pulse about t4O to the minute. IL,
was present at the p 81 mortem eXamiua'
tion, and was sstisfed that Turner died o.
internal he Borrhage.
Lr Springer aud DIR l., W. Finn were
also present at the post mortem, and
corrobOrated the t. ttstimony OF the prs
vious witnesses.
The room was then cleared Of all ex
ccpt be jury and reporters, and after &
short consultation the following verdict
rendeTtd:
Resolved, that Harvey Turner CANT
to his death, December 9th, 1888, by be
accidentally shot with revolver in tht
hands of Taylor E. Good ey
The accused was then, under the ad
vice of Attorney Genera Blggs, held iol
trial This was In accordance with sec
ton 3, Chapter 5IS, volume 16. Laws o
Delaware, which provides:
That it shall be unlawful for any
person either in Jest or otherwiie, lnten
tinnally to point gun, pistol or othel
firearms al or towards any other person
at any time or place. Any peisoI
violating any prot isinn OF this section
shall, upon conviction ihereo, pay tint
0 not less than ten dollars nor NOR
than one bundled d liars, and the cost
Of prosecution, and should death result /,
any person by the discharge of such gun
pistol other fire arm while go pointed
the person pointing the same shall b.
guilty of mar slaughter, when sucl
klllinn eli. Ii nnt q m nrnt tn nnIdnr a.