The daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1889-1890, 1889-11-22
FORE ON TRIAL.
THE STATE WILL ONLY HAVE
ONE MORE WITNESS.
DIR. .JusticeDescribes the wounds
j. Il. West Gives a Full Descrip-
tiOn of the FEiHht-COnsiderab
Interest Manifested.

Interest Manifested.
Once more the court room was filled on
yesterday, and the one hundred good and
true men who had been summoned as a
special venire were present, thcirCounten-
ances showing the deep interest they felt
in their position and their determination
to do their duty fairly and impartially,
i'll case it should fall to their lot to pass
Judgment upon their tellow-man in a
matter of his life or death.
The solicitor again called over his wit
nesses and announced that the State was
ready. Mr.. Gudger, for the defence, said
that the witness Luther had not been
found and his Honor stated that it ap-
peared that he was witully absenting
himself to avoid the process of this court
and requested the solicitor to take such
steps as the case required and on nmotion
of this officer, rule was issued upon said
Luther, to show cause why he should not
be held in contempt
The court then announced the decision
that the affidavit rendered by the de-
fence was not sufficient ground for con-
tinuancc, and after the prisoner had been
placed upon his guard, the regular panel
was called over and from them four were
accepted.
The calling Of the special venire was
then begun and after titty-seven had been
drawn, the remaining eight were chosen.
The Jury in this case is composed of the
following gentlemen: J. H. Foster, ]. NJ.
Israel, 7. K. James, w. o. Wolfe, j. b.
lIglc, G. II. Starnes, W. L. Powders,
rhos F. Wilson, M. 6. Coffee, X. l..
Shook, W. NJ. Weaver, John Brown.
The jury box being filled, the court dis
charged the regular panel until next Mon
day morning at 10 O'Clock.
The prisoner was then required to stand
up, and the bill of indictment was read
to the jury, with the impressive words
that THE defendant has placed himself
upon God and his country, which coun-
try We are"
The witnesses for the State were then
sworn, and the court took a recess until
2 p. III.
1t may be here remarked as evidence OF
the good will prevailing in this county
that ont of siXty-cight men who wercex-
amined as to qualifications to act as u-
rors, only two were exempted on account
of having a suit pending in court. This
is rather bad outlook for the legal fra
tcrnity, but shows that these gentlemen
attend to their clients interests rather
than their own.
The first witness introduced by the
State was DR., J, c. B. Justice, who at
tended Amos Lunsford. He described the
various wounds, especially the fatal stab
i'll the abdomen; said he had not seen the
deceased until twenty minutes after the
wound had been received, and that he
then considered his patient to be past
human help and almost in dying condi-
ton. The Doctor had no doubt that this
wound was the cause of death; hejudgcd
the knife blade to have been two and
half or three inches long.
J. b. West was the next witness. He
was i'll attendance at camp meeting on
the fourth Sunday in August, 1889. Was
by some one saying: They will
fight yet" Witness then approached the
place where a number of persons were
collected. Here he saw prisoner seated
on wagon, and saw deceased approach
and heard a quarrel ensue, when the pris-
oner said, 81 am not afraid to say again
that you are damned liar" whereupun
deceased struck the prisoner in the face
and pulled him down from the wagon.
Deceased drew his right hand from his
pants pocket, and witness saw that the
prisoner had in his hand an open knife a
fight ensued, the deceased striking priS-
oncr on each side of the face, using both
hands, the prisoner striking back with
his knife, sometimes striking deceased in
front of body and sometimes around SO
as apparently to hit in the back. Witness
produced the knife, large pocket knife,
which he had taken from prisoner imme-
diately after the fight, and had preserved
since that time. The location of the con-
tending parties changed to some fifteen
feet from the wagon, then back again,
and finally to the banks OF a large spring,
at which point deceased gave prisoner a
very severe kick, and both combatants
fell into the spring, distance of some
four feet. At this point witness seized
prisoners right hand, in which the knife
was with blade half closed, and witness
demanded the knife, which the prisoner
at once surrendered. Other parties took
hold af the deceased and helped him out
of the spring.
By direction of the court the witness
and the sheriff assumed the positions rel
atively of the deceased ami the prisoner
and showed to the jury that the prisoner
was in front of deceased, and with his
back to the deceased, who was striking
him continuously when the fatal blow
was given by prisoner, striking back
wards. Thecounseltor defence objected to
this illustration, which was noted by his
honor. Witness arrested prisoner, who
smelled of whiskey. Prisoner asked why
he was arrested. Witness said, Because
you have probably killed Amos Luns-
ford" Prisoner replied, 81 did not have
any knife"