Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-06-26
The Chambers Trial.

| WIZ spCbt III sCCuliIS jury.
morning, however, the defendants attorney:
appeared in court and submitted the names
of the twelve men Of the original forty whom
they desired as jurors to try the cause. The
names were, Harrison Sweeney, J. Bum
gardner, j. l.. Baldwin, T. j. Vance, j. Fl
Strickland, Ed. Conley, A. Buckner, j. NJ
c. Young, j. III. Sutton, Aaron Elliott, VIM
Henson and John Baird. They were duly
sworn in and the hearing of testimony was
Immediately begun. The first witness in
troduced on the part of the State was Chas.
C. Garrett, the deputy sheriff who was with
Bowman when he was shot and went with
him to Chambers to serve the execution.
CARROTS testimony was in substance that he
and Bowman had gone to Chambers to serve
the execution. Chambers came down and
spoke to them and he and Bowman then
went to one side and had a private talk.
They conversed for few minutes when
Chambers suddenly left and went into the
house. Bowman then came to him and
said, "Garrett, We'll have to levy" In a
few moments Chambers reappeared with a
shot gun, and holding it up said to Bowman,
"I'll give you three minutes to leave this
place" Garrett ld,"Don't, Mr.. Chambers,
don't" Chambers said, "Garrett, go,", and
almost Immediately fired the gun at Bow
maB, who fell to the ground face down and
instantly expired. That was substantially
the case as presented by the prosecution,
the point being that Chambers had fired the
shot without provocatiOn and before Bow
man had time to leave after hearing the
| warning. The State had all its evidence in
by four O'Clock and two or three witnesses
| of the defendant were introduced before the
court adjourned for the following day.
Their testimony, however, was merely cor
roborative of details and not Of special i'm
portance.
Mr.. Chambers was placed on the stand the
first thing Friday morning and kept there
for nearly two hours. He told his story in
a..plain, straightforward, way and answered
all the questions of the cross examination in
free and honest manner that impressed
the nearer he Was telling the truth. His
story was much the same as CARROTS, eX-
cept at the point just before the shooting,
when Bowman made move with his right
hand as if to reach for something in his
pocket, and the witness thinking he was 60
ing to draw a revolver pulled the trigger Of
his gun in sefdefense. lie knew BOwman's
reputation as a marksman and dangerous
character, and thought that he would be
killed if he didn't shoot first. Two other
witnesses testified as to having seen Bow
man make the movement with his arm. This
was the issue as presented by the defendant.
A number of the most prominent men Of st.
Louis gave testimony to Chambers ex-
cellent reputation and Bowman's very bad
name. II was a singular instance that of a
man of Bowman's prominence not one single
individual could be found to say good word
for him or deny that he was man possess |
ing "not one trait worthy the kindly consid- |
Grafton of man or woman.' He died as he
had lived, in the midst of bis sins, and none,
not even one, to mourn or miss him.
The witnesses for the defense were all
through by three O'Clock Friday afternoon |
and the court adjourned until nine O'Clock |
next morning, the Juage taking the interim |
to write up the instructions.
Court reassembled Saturday morning and |
the instructions were delivered to the jury. |
They stated that the jury should either con-
Wet the defendant of murder in the first de-
gree or acquit him on the ground of self
defense. The conditions by which they |
should be guided in reaching a verdict were
set out in full and every feature carefully |
explained.
The arguments were opened by Mr.. f. A.
Heidorn for the State. He was followed by
Gov. Chas. P. Johnson of st. Louis for the
defense, who made one of the best pleas ever
heard in our courthouse. He reviewed the
testimony from the inception of the case to
the time when bowman. cold and stiff in
death, was carried to Clayton on that dark
and dismal Monday evening in last October.
He referred to the character of the two men,
spoke of the long list of wrongs that had
been heaped on his client by the deceased,
and closed with an eloquent appeal to the
jury that they vindicate the Godgiyen right
to protect ones home and property. There
were number of ladies present on this oc
casion, and GOV. johnson at the conclusion
OF his talk was warmly applauded. He also
expressed the thanks of himself and client
for the uniform kindness with which they
had been treated during their stay in Iron
ton.
Prosecuting Attorney Warfield closed the
case for the State in very clear and concise
exposition of the facts as viewed by his side.
The jury retired at aga in the afternoon
and in 35 minutes returned verdict of "not
guilty." Harrison Sweeney, foreman. The
announcement was the signal for grand
hurrah on the part of the friends of the ac-
cused and the merry strain was taken up
again and again until the old court room
fairly resounded with echoes of Joy and
THANKSGIVING. Judge Thomas endeavored 10
FestHre order, but, after surveying the scene,
concluded 1t was useless and said the only
thing consistent with dignity" would be to
adjourn. The jury was not even polled and
the happy crowd filed out of the courthouse
The jury Was gathered together and taken
up to the cottage across from Hotel Peck
where the Chambers contingent m ade their
home during the trial, and treated to grand
old time. The hospitalities were not con-
fined to the jury but everybody was We come
to the best the laIder contained. This iub.
ilation was continued until the late hours
bewarned the Sabbath and the happy hearts
rested in sleep. 1t was an occasion without
precedent in the Valley and will not soon be
forgotten.
Mr.. Chambers and his friends departed
for home on No. 754 Sunday, By their gen.
temanly conduct aud kindly ways they
made many friends during their sojourn
here, and the verdict of the jury was, in
many instances, as joyfully received by the
residents as il was nv the visitors.